 Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 23 Jan 2008 |  Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 23 Jan 2008 |  Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 23 Jan 2008 |  Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 23 Jan 2008 |  Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 23 Jan 2008 |  Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 23 Jan 2008 |  Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 23 Jan 2008 |  Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 23 Jan 2008 |
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| 23 Jan 2008 - Melbourne, Australia - Eleanor Preston | |
| Pavlyuchenkova takes home advantage - Day 4 Australian Open |
Top seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova must feel very much at home in Melbourne. The Russian teenager is the junior Australian Open’s defending champion and remains on course for a hat trick of victories at the place she rates as one of her favourite tournaments.
“I’m really excited to be here again and I feel really great to be back here because I really like this tournament,” said Pavlyuchenkova, who beat Lesley Kerkhove 7-6, 6-3 to move through to the quarter-finals. “I’m very motivated to be here. I’m looking to try to take the title again but I just want to improve my game and do the things I have to do. I want to be in the best condition.” Pavlyuchenkova is vastly experienced in the ways of the ITF’s Junior Circuit and this year she wants to use all that she has learned to progress at junior level and make the transition to the senior tour.
“I think every time, after each match, you’ve learned something. It doesn’t matter if it’s juniors or seniors because juniors play quite well. You can see in the seniors that a lot of juniors have gone into the main draw and done really well. I am kind of proud of that because you feel that the junior level is good. I learn something even from easy matches because you have to be focused and fight on every point, no matter the score. My coach and I would like to improve my results in the singles. I think I can do much better than I did last year. There are some small things that lead me to play better. I just want to take all the opportunities I have, to work hard and practice and to show that on the court. I want to get some results in WTA events and in juniors. Every match I play I want to win.”
Pavlyuchenkova was joined in the last eight by her next opponent Simona Halep of Romania. Australian Jessica Moore takes on Jasmina Tinjic of Croatia; Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia plays Aranxta Rus of the Netherlands and Denmark’s Karen Barbat takes on Yi-Miao Zhou to complete the quarter-final line-up.
In the boys’ competition, 15-year-old Australian Bernard Tomic showed his fighting qualities by outlasting Jaan-Frederik Brunken of the Germany 5-7, 6-3, 8-6 to set up a quarter-final against top seeded Mexican Cesar Ramirez. In the other boys’ quarter-finals, Great Britain’s Dan Evans takes on India’s Yuki Bhambri; China’s Di Wu plays American Ryan Harrison and Tsung-Hua Yang of Tapei faces last year’s Junior US Open runner-up Jerzy Janowicz of Poland.
Related Articles
> Easton Promise - Day 3 Australian Open
> More wins for Moore - Day 2 Australian Open
> Keeping up with the Joneses - Day 1 Australian Open
> Pavlyuchenkova favourite to retain Australia title
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