 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 02 Jun 2008 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 02 Jun 2008 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 02 Jun 2008 | | | |
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| 02 Jun 2008 - Paris, France - Eleanor Preston |  Related Audio |
| Evans battles through and Mladenovic takes home advantage in Paris |
 An Interview with Kristina Mladenovic (MP3 format)
 
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France’s Kristina Mladenovic led the charge into the second round on Monday at Junior Roland Garros with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over highly promising Polish girl Katarzyna Piter.
“For me it was very important to win this first round and it was very difficult,” said Mladenovic. “There was nothing very much between her and me. It was very tough. I think it was just in the head. At some important points I was more aggressive and that’s why I won today. I’m very happy to win today.” Mladenovic, who trains at Roland Garros with the French Tennis Federation, made light of the damp, humid conditions to knock out the 16th seed and set up a second round meeting with Czech Zuzana Linhova. “There were so many people there for me; they supported me. I like having people watch me. There was my family and friends and just big support. I think it’s a good thing and I hope everybody will be there. It’s very special because all the year I practice here at Roland Garros. Here I am like at home. I like this place. It’s different when the tournament comes but it’s special…but I’m not afraid of that. I just play and see what happens.”
Piter was not the only seed upset on Monday. Eighth seed Karumi Nara of Japan was knocked out by Lenka Jurikova of Slovakia, while 14th seed Jessy Rompies of Indonesia was defeated by Anastassia Grymalska of Italy.
Top seed in the boys’ competition Bernard Tomic wasted little time in laying down his challenge for the title in Paris. The Australian beat Ilija Vucic 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round and will face Nassim Slilam of France after he came through one of the day’s longest matches by squeaking past Borut Poc of Slovenia 3-6, 7-6, 9-7. “First rounds are always tough but I prepared well for the French Open. My favourite surface isn’t clay so I struggle a bit but we’ll see how it goes,” said Tomic, who is reigning Australian Open boys’ champion following his stunning victory in Melbourne in January. “I love hardcourts the most, clay is difficult, especially for Australians you don’t have many clay courts around but I’ve been playing on it for a few weeks now so it’s coming good.”
Tomic was part of the victorious Australian team at last year’s Davis Cup by BNP Paribas finals on clay in Reggio Emilia, an achievement which, he says, makes him confident of playing well at Roland Garros. “Any clay-court experience is good and you use it to your advantage,” he said. “It’s good to learn young how to move on these surfaces and you start developing on clay. I enjoy playing here and just the competition on the clay is the best part of it.”
Great Britain’s Dan Evans scored one of the more surprising turnarounds on Monday when he knocked out eighth-seeded Argentine Juan Vazquez-Valenzuela 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 in a match which had been delayed overnight from Sunday by bad light. Evans and Vazquez-Valenzuela resumed with the Argentine having won the first set on a tiebreak but with Evans 4-2 up in the second set. When they returned to court, the Briton continued his fightback. “These first few rounds are all hard. He plays well and he’s ranked quite high I think so it’s a good win,” said Evans. “I’m just going to keep going through each round, round by round. I’ve just got to keep plodding along. When you get towards the end of the week there are obviously fewer players around. When you get to the latter rounds then anything can happen.”
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