 Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 21 Jan 2007 |  Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 21 Jan 2007 |  Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 21 Jan 2007 |  Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 21 Jan 2007 |  Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 21 Jan 2007 |  Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 21 Jan 2007 |
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| 21 Jan 2007 - Melbourne, Autralia - Eleanor Preston |  Related Audio |
| Milevskaya dodges defeat and rain clouds |
 An Interview with Ksenia Milevskaya (MP3 format)
An Interview with Urzsula Radwanska (MP3 format)
An Interview with Greg Jones (MP3 format)
 
If you cannot play the audio on your computer, then you can update your media player by following one of the links above.
Ksenia Milevskaya was one of the outstanding junior players of 2006 and, so far, 2007 seems to be going swimmingly too. Milevskaya finished inside the top ten of the junior rankings last season, won a slew of titles and helped Belarus to victory in the Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas. Now she says she is determined to add junior grand slam success to her list of accomplishments, starting at the Australian Open.
“I started the year as No.50 and I finished at No.3 and that’s not bad,” said the 16-year-old. “I won a lot of grade 1 tournaments but I have never done anything good in grand slams and I really want to now.”
Milevskaya got her Junior Australian Open campaign off to an ideal start by beating Australian Anna Wishink 36 61 64 to move through to the second round. She will play either Erika Zanchetta of Italy or Arina Rodionova of Russia in the second round. Their match was held up by the persistent rain which affected much of the play on the outside courts on day one of the junior tournament. “It was tough because it’s the first round and that’s always tough,” said Milevskaya. “I was nervous when everyone is when they play the first round. I lost the first set but then I got my confidence back in the second. The third set was tough but I’m the third seed and I think maybe that’s why I won.”
Milevskaya admitted that Melbourne’s inclement weather gave her cause for concern as she tried to close the match out against Wishink, putting her under pressure as the darkening skies closed in. “I was lucky because I finished before it started raining but I was like “come on, come on, you can finish before it starts raining" because I kept looking at the sky and it looked like it was about to start.”
The wet weather meant only four matches were completed in the girls’ draw, the most eagerly anticipated of which was probably Urzsula Radwanska’s battle with Australia’s Tyra Calderwood. Radwanska – sister of two-time junior grand slam winner Agnieszka Radwanska – won the match in some style, beating Calderwood 64 64. Radwanska now plays the USA’s Courtney Clayton, who was a 63 64 winner over Emiko Ito of Japan.
Calderwood’s sometime Junior Fed Cup team-mate Alison Bai kept the Australian flag flying at Melbourne Park by moving through to the second round, courtesy of a 61 63 win over Natasa Zoric of Serbia. It was not a good day for the Australians in the boys’ draw though, with John Millman the only local hero on a day beset by three-set defeats for the home players. Millman bucked the trend by scoring a notable 62 60 upset win over seventh seeded Russian Danila Arsenov. He plays Indonesia’s Christopher Rungkat in the second round.
To listen to audio interviews with junior players click on the above links.
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