 Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 23 Jan 2008 |  Photographer: Marcelo Ruschel
Date: 24 Mar 2008 |  Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 24 Jan 2008 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 03 Sep 2007 |  Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 11 May 2007 |  Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 23 Jan 2008 |
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| 15 May 2008 - Helen McFetridge | |
| World's top juniors head for Grade A in Milan |
Europe’s Grade A tournament, the Trofeo Bonfliglio Italian Open, gets underway on Monday with five of the world’s top ten boys and four of the top ten girls in action. In both events the seedings will be headed by the Australian Open champions, undefeated in 2008 but pursued by challengers with impressive clay-court records.
Bernard Tomic stormed to number three in the world rankings after winning his home Grand Slam in Australia in January, but has not played on the ITF Junior Circuit since. He has a perfect 12-0 record on the junior circuit this year but has comparatively little experience on clay and will have to produce his best tennis to see off the Central and South Americans snapping at his heels.
Cesar Ramirez (MEX) cannot be termed a clay-court specialist, having won the Grade A Casablanca Cup on hard courts in his homeland at the start of the year. However, Ramirez won a Grade 1 title on clay last year and also reached the Roland Garros quarter-finals, so he definitely looks capable of winning in Italy. Right behind Ramirez in the rankings is someone who certainly fits the description of clay-court specialist, as Jose Pereira (BRA) has never played an ITF Junior Circuit event on any other surface. Nevertheless, he has had enough success on clay to take him into the world top ten, including winning this year’s previous clay-court Grade A, the Gerdau Cup in Brazil. Pereira’s junior career record on clay is an impressive 42-5, making him one of the firm favourites to win the Italian Open.
The other two members of the top ten in action in Italy, Argentina’s Juan Vazquez Valenzuela and El Salvador’s Marcelo Arevalo, have also had success on clay this year. Vazquez Valenzuela has reached four finals so far, including winning the Grade 1 Banana Bowl in Brazil, while Arevalo won the Grade 2 Inka Bowl in Peru and was runner-up to Pereira at the Gerdau Cup. A more surprising contender might be Great Britain’s Marcus Willis, who has an excellent record on clay having won five of his six ITF titles on the surface.
All three boys’ Grade A titles of 2008 so far have been won by players from the home country, and Italian fans will be hoping one of their players can repeat Matteo Trevisan’s success of last year and keep the streak going. Their best hope looks to be world number 31 Giacomo Miccini, who had some success on hard courts at the beginning of the year but who has not played much on the ITF Junior Circuit since then.
On the girls’ side, world number three Arantxa Rus (NED) has mirrored Tomic’s success this year. Both players won the Australian Open warm-up tournament in Nottinghill and followed it up with Grand Slam success, and both have spent their time since concentrating on their professional rankings.
Rus’s main rival in Milan could be world number five Bojana Jovanovski (SRB). Jovanovski was runner-up in last year’s Italian Open, and will be aiming to go one better this year. She also reached the final of the Grade A Gerdau Cup this year, and has the best clay-court record of all the top girls. Jovanovski’s conqueror in the Gerdau Cup final, Elena Bogdan of Romania, could also be in contention for the title. Bogdan also won the Grade 2 Uruguay Bowl earlier this year, but her European clay-court season got off to a bad start as she lost her opening match in Santa Croce this week. Bogdan has had an up and down year with two titles, a Grade 1 semi-final in Traralgon and a last 16 appearance at the Australian Open balanced out by four losses in the first or second round.
Two Asian players, Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA) and Kurumi Nara (JPN) are currently on unbeaten runs of 16 and 11 matches respectively on the ITF Junior Circuit. Lertcheewakarn has won her last three tournaments at Grade 1 level and risen to number four in the world, while Nara won the Grade A Osaka Mayor’s Cup last year and the Grade 1 Japan Junior Open in April. Both players have had their best results on the hard courts of Asia and it remains to be seen if they can transfer their form to European clay.
Other players who could challenge for the title include world number 16 Ksenia Lykina (RUS), last year’s Grade A Banana Bowl winner Cindy Chala (FRA), and the top South American Aranza Salut (ARG), who has one title and two runner-up finishes on clay already this year. The top Italian is Anastasia Grymalska, who won the Grade 1 Perin Memorial in Croatia on clay in April, so clearly knows how to win big tournaments on the surface.
Results, reports and photos will be available every day next week on www.itftennis.com/juniors.
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