 Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 20 Jan 2008 |  Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 20 Jan 2008 |  Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 20 Jan 2008 |  Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 20 Jan 2008 |  Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 20 Jan 2008 |  Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 20 Jan 2008 |
|
| 20 Jan 2008 - Melbourne Park - Eleanor Preston | |
| Keeping up with the Joneses - Day 1 Australian Open |
The Australian Open styles itself “the Grand Slam of Asia Pacific”, so it is no surprise to hear that New Zealand’s top female junior Sacha Jones regards the tournament as her home grand slam.
“My dad’s an Australian but we don’t spread the word on that,” says Jones, laughing. “Seriously, though, coming here does feel good. There are a lot of kiwi supporters and it’s not too far for family and friends to come over and not just support me but to watch great tennis as well through the week. The odd New Zealander also pops up to say hello that I’ve never met before and, yeah, I suppose it does feel a lot more like home than, say, France.”
Jones is only 17 but she is something of a veteran of the Australian Open, having been coming here for years both to watch and to play. “I first came here when I was 12 or 13 and watched my brother play in the juniors and I really, really enjoyed it,” says Jones. “I vividly remember going out to watch all the junior girls play because it was the second week of the tournament and I didn’t have tickets to the showcourts. I actually learned a lot from watching those juniors then, even though I wasn’t yet ready to play with them. It feels surreal in some ways but now I’m getting used to it. I think playing some women’s tournaments lately has helped me feel more comfortable in these surroundings, especially playing the qualifying here. I know where to go; I know which way to go in the tunnels and things like that.”
Jones’s career is in a transitional phase as she attempts to mix junior and senior tournaments with a view to turning professional later this year. She assumed that last year’s junior US Open was going to be her last junior event but the lure of playing the junior event at Melbourne Park proved too much. “This is a great opportunity to progress far in the tournament and get some experience and get some more matches,” says Jones. “Perhaps some people don’t know about the juniors but for us it’s a very big deal because there’s a lot of prestige and honour in doing well in these sorts of tournaments. You look at the record and the people who have done well in the junior grand slams and gone on and done pretty darn well in the seniors. I would like to emulate that and that’s a big deal for me.”
Despite how highly she rates the Junior Australian Open, Jones showed no sign of anxiety as she whipped past Australian Olivia Rich 6-2, 6-1 in her opening match on Sunday. She was joined in the second round by Ksenia Lykina of Belarus, Katarzyna Piter of Poland and the USA’s Madison Brengle, all of whom she might consider rivals for the girls’ title. Australia’s Alison Bai is also through, though only after a marathon 63 36 97 victory over Kanyapat Narattana of Thailand.
In the boys’ competition, Japan’s Tadayuki Longhi scored the day’s biggest upset by beating 9th seeded Australian Matt Reid 26 75 64.
Related Articles
> Pavlyuchenkova favourite to retain Australia title
^ Back to Top
|
