 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Sep 2006 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Sep 2006 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Sep 2006 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Sep 2006 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Sep 2006 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Sep 2006 |
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| 04 Sep 2006 - Flushing Meadows, New York - Eleanor Preston | |
| Play Underway in New York |
Just as one era of American tennis drew to a close with the retirement of Andre Agassi, so a new chapter was opened by 14-year-old Chase Buchanan, who marked his US Open junior debut with a 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 first round win over seventh-seeded Romanian Petru-Alexandru Luncanu on Sunday.
“I watched Agassi say goodbye and I thought it was kind of cool that his career ended on the same day as mind kind of started,” said Buchanan. “He has always been one of my heroes.”
Agassi would have been proud of the fighting spirit Buchanan showed in battling before his noisy team of supporters on a crowded Court 14. Buchanan brought fans all the way from Ohio to cheer him on, and was glad of their shouts of encouragement, particularly when Luncanu threatened to claw his way back into the match in the second set. He needed them again when the Romanian mustered two break points at five-all in the end of the third set, as the match moved towards a fascinating conclusion.
“I don’t always listen to everything they shout but I could hear them all the way through the match,” said Buchanan, who plays Madagascan Lofo Jean Ramiaramanana in the next round. “It really fires you up when things get close. Support like that always gives you a lift. You don’t want to let anybody down out there.”
Buchanan showed remarkable confidence and mental toughness on court considering that, at 14, he is young even by junior standards and, by his own admission, lacks experience at this level. He certainly did not seem overawed at finding himself up against a seeded player in the first round. “I never mind playing seeds because, if you are going to get through the draw, you have to play them sometimes,” he said. “Whether it’s the first round, the fourth round of whatever, you have to beat them sometime. I haven’t played a whole lot of ITF junior events and it’s good to pick a result like this.”
Buchanan’s compatriot Dennis Lajola also moved through to the second round, notching up 7-6, 6-0 win over Andrej Martin of Slovakia. Americans Kellen Damico and Dylan Arnould are both out of the tournament though. Damico lost 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 to the Ukraine’s Artem Smirnov; while Arnould was demolished 6-1, 6-0 by Matteo Trevisan of Italy.
In the girls’ draw, the day’s main talking point centred around the first round exit of second seed and junior Wimbledon champion Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, who was defaulted from her match against Russia’s Alexandra Panova when she was leading 6-4, 1-2 after verbally abusing the line judge. Top seed and double junior grand slam champion Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia is due to begin her junior US Open campaign on Monday.
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