 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 01 Jul 2006 |  Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 11 Jan 2007 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 06 Sep 2006 |  Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 07 Nov 2006 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Sep 2006 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 09 Jun 2006 |  Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 12 Oct 2006 |  Photographer: Ron Angle
Date: 23 Jan 2006 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jun 2006 |
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| 18 Jan 2007 - Helen McFetridge | |
| Australian Open Preview |
The first junior Grand Slam of 2007 gets underway in Melbourne on Sunday, with the girls’ event set to feature an intriguing battle between the current stars of the junior circuit and those who have already made the leap into the professional game. No fewer than five of this year’s entrants played in the main draw this week, but with none of them having yet claimed a junior Grand Slam, they return to the junior ranks in search of that first major.
Yung-Jan Chan (TPE) is currently at 75 in the WTA rankings and has become a regular in the main draw of Grand Slams. However, in her three visits to Melbourne as a junior she has never gone past the third round, and she will be expecting to improve on that showing this time around.
Tamira Paszek gave an impressive performance in the Australian Open main draw, defeating Severine Bremond before losing to Vera Zvonareva. The Austrian won a WTA event in Slovenia last year as a qualifier, but she has never won a junior Grand Slam despite being runner-up twice. Paszek had consistent results in the Grand Slams in 2006, reaching at least the quarters of all four, but world number one Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was her conqueror in two of them and she may find the Russian standing in her way again this year.
Pavlyuchenkova goes into the event as favourite to retain her title, with winning records over both Chan and Paszek and a commanding lead at the top of the junior rankings. She was defeated surprisingly easily by Jasmina Tinjic (CRO) in the semifinals at Traralgon last week, but remains the player to beat.
One player who has beaten Pavlyuchenkova more than once is world number three Ksenia Milevskaya (BLR). Milevskaya defeated Pavlyuchenkova on grass last June and repeated the feat in the Junior Fed Cup final on clay in September, so the world number one should hold no fear for her. Milevskaya won five Grade 1 tournaments last year and her 74-14 career record on the ITF junior circuit is comparable with Pavlyuchenkova’s, but she has under-achieved at Grand Slams. The Belarussian has won just three matches in four events played, and she will feel it is time her Grand Slam record matched her ability.
Others who could contend for the girls’ title include Alizé Cornet (FRA), who qualified for the Australian Open main draw before losing to Daniela Hantuchova, and Ayumi Morita (JPN), a semi-finalist last year.
The boys’ event looks set to be even more open than the girls’, with very little to separate the top few. Roland Garros champion Martin Klizan (SVK) and Jonathan Eysseric (FRA), winner of the Italian Open and European Championships in 2006, have already switched places at the top of the junior rankings twice this year. Klizan, currently world number one, has not reached a final since his surprise Roland Garros win, but as the only player in the draw to have won a Grand Slam his experience could prove crucial. Eysseric has also struggled to get beyond the quarters at his last few tournaments, but is currently still going strong at Nottinghill so may be finding his best form again at the right time.
The only other player in the draw to have won a Grade A title is Orange Bowl champion Alex Luncanu of Romania. The world number five is capable of defeating anyone in the world: he won the Yucatan Cup in 2005 by defeating the world’s top two players Donald Young and Marin Cilic back to back, and at last year’s Orange Bowl again beat the top two seeds, Young and Nicolas Santos, in the semis and final. However, the Romanian is not the most consistent performer on the junior circuit, as he showed when losing in the third round at Nottinghill this week.
World number three Roman Jebavy (CZE) has started the year in impressive fashion, winning the title at Traralgon. Jebavy was a quarter-finalist at last year’s US Open and could be ready to make his Grand Slam breakthrough in Melbourne.
Australia provided the runner-up in last year’s boys’ singles in Nick Lindahl, and this year they have another player capable of going that far. World number six Greg Jones lost in the third round at Traralgon to runner-up Yan Bai (CHN) and is currently at the semi-final stage in Nottinghill. Jones ended 2006 by winning two consecutive tournaments and is another player who seems to be coming into form at the right time. As is Asian Champion Bai, who followed up his final appearance at Traralgon with a defeat of Klizan at Nottinghill before being forced to retire from his quarter-final match.
Check www.itftennis.com/juniors for daily results and reports from the Australian Open.
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