 Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 11 Oct 2006 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 06 Jul 2006 |  Photographer: Ron Angle
Date: 25 Jan 2006 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 06 Jul 2006 |  Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 11 Oct 2006 |  Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 11 Oct 2006 |  Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 11 Oct 2006 |  Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 11 Oct 2006 |  Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 11 Oct 2006 |
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| 11 Oct 2006 - ITF - James Harrisson | |
| Seeds see success in Osaka |
In the girls’ event top seed Caroline Wozniacki made light work of her first round opponent, Japanese Machiko Shigefuji, winning for the loss of just one game. The reigning Wimbledon Champion cruised to a 60 61 victory and now plays local qualifier Ai Koga in round two.
Home favourite Ayumi Morita, from the province of Gunma, just north of Tokyo, also began the tournament convincingly. The second seed, currently ranked five in the world, beat compatriot Risa Hasegawa 61 61 and now faces tougher opposition in the form of Romanian Irina-Alexandra Paraschiv. In 2005 Morita was runner-up in Osaka, losing to World Champion Victoria Azarenka in the final. This time round, if the draw goes according to the seeding plan, she will meet Wozniacki in the final, having beaten her in a close semifinal last year.
Third seed Nikola Hofmanova (AUT) made it through to the second round, beating Tomoko Iyori (JPN) 62 61, while fourth seeded Russian Anastasia Pivovarova quickly saw off Rie Koganei (JPN), winning 60 61. Elena Chernyakova (RUS), seeded five, and Ling Zhang (HKG), seeded seven, also picked up straight set victories.
Home players who made it through were Aki Yamamoto, seeded 12, who beat Juri Hayashi (JPN) 76(3) 64 and wild card Sachie Ishizu, who battled through against qualifier Natsumi Yokota (JPN) 62 16 75.
Among the seeded players who failed to make it through the first round of the girls’ event were sixth seed Sung-Hee Han (KOR), who was beaten in a thrilling three setter by Misaki Doi (JPN), eventually going down 62 57 64. Ninth seeded Australian Brittany Sheed was also knocked out; losing 76(7) 64 to world number 171 Erina Kikuchi.
In the boys’ event, tournament top seed Luka Belic from Croatia notched up a 62 60 win over Chinese Hong-Bo Deng. The US Open semifinalist, is the only top 10 player in the draw and is strong favourite to pick up his second title of the year, having won on home soil at the 24th International Junior Championships of Croatia in April. In round two Belic faces South African Damian Hume, who came from behind to narrowly beat Japanese Jun Ito 36 64 64.
Looking to challenge Belic for the title will be Hsin-Han Lee from Chinese Taipei. Lee won three consecutive tournaments in Bangladesh at the beginning of 2006, followed by the Grade 1 Mitsubishi-Lancer Junior Championships in the Philippines. Since then, however, he has failed to live up to expectations, only once advancing past the last 16 in eight attempts. Lee made it into the second round with a 64 64 defeat of Thai Khunpol Issara and next faces Tadayuki Longhi of Japan.
Third seed Sho Aida was semifinalist in Osaka last year, and reached two finals in Asia early this year. Since then his win-loss ratio is 3-6 and his ranking has dropped to outside the top 20 from a career high of eight in April. However, Aida started well here, overcoming Spaniard David Costa-Soria 61 62 to set up a second round match against his compatriot Kosaku Hirota.
Fourth seed Hsien-Yin Peng (TPE) beat Iino Shota (JPN) 63 64 to make it to round two and fifth seed Greg Jones (AUS) easily overcame Hyun-Soo Lim (KOR) 61 61. Japanese players Yuya Tomisaki and Yuichi Sugita also made it through.
The Koreans were the biggest first round casualties in the boys’ draw. Soong-Jae Cho, seeded six, lost by the closest of margins to Japan Open Junior champion Tatsuma Ito (JPN). The match went to a final set tiebreak, which Ito clinched to win 36 62 76(1). Seventh seed Yong-Kyu Lim then lost to Peerakit Siributwong. Having lost the first set, Lim found some form in the second but was unable to sustain any pressure and went down 63 06 63.
Wednesday will see all the top seeds in action again, as the second round gets underway. Visit itftennis.com/juniors for daily reports and results.
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