 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jul 2008 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jul 2008 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jul 2008 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jul 2008 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jul 2008 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 03 Jul 2008 |
|
| 04 Jul 2008 - Wimbledon - Eleanor Preston | |
| Flying Finn into final |
Finland’s Henri Kontinen knocked out top seed Bernard Tomic of Australia 7-6, 6-4 to earn himself a place in Sunday’s Junior Wimbledon final, where he will take on in-form Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. Fourteen-year-old Briton Laura Robson became the toast of her home grand slam by reaching the final. Robson will take on Thailand’s Noppawan Lertcheewakarn on the Championships’ famous No.1 Court on Saturday.
Kontinen’s quickfire victory over Tomic ensured more success for the ITF/Grand Slam Touring Team. The Finnish teenager believes he owes much of his success to the support he gets from tennis’s governing body though the Team. He certainly looked sure-footed and confident against 15-year-old Tomic, the reigning Australian Open boys’ champion.
“Of course there were nerves and serving for the match I definitely felt it,” said Kontinen. “I kept cool and I finished it off very well. I had belief in my game and in my shots and I knew I could beat him if I played my game well. I played good matches during the week and that also gives you confidence. I felt like I was more aggressive, tried to take control of the points and I was probably holding my serve more easily than he was and in the end the pressure got him. For sure this is the best result of my career so far and I hope to have a lot more moments like this to come. This is the best place for it to happen.”
Kontinen knows how tough the final will be against Dimitrov, who beat Filip
Krajinovic of Serbia 6-3, 6-3 in the semi-finals. The Bulgarian was troubled by an arm injury against Krajinovic but fought through to make what will be his first Junior Grand Slam singles final. “My arm was hurting a lot so I couldn’t serve well at the start, so I was waiting for a chance on his serve,” explained Dimitrov. “The serve was the difficult part for me today because I was serving so slow but then I think he was feeling a little nervous so I was able to control the situation.”
Robson earned her chance to become Great Britain’s first Junior Wimbledon champion since 1984 girls’ winner Annabel Croft by beating Romana Tabakova 6-2, 7-5, while Lertcheewakarn defeated Tamaryn Hendler of Belgium 7-6, 6-3. Robson, who was runner-up to American Melanie Oudin at the Grade 1 Wimbledon warm-up event in Roehampton last week, has caused a string of upsets, including an avenging win over Oudin earlier this week. Robson’s achievement has received plenty of attention and she has found herself in Wimbledon’s main interview room after her last three matches.
Tabakova did all she could to make a battle out of it against the big-serving lefthander and even tried serving underarm in the hope of unsettling her opponent, a tactic which caused a ripple of consternation in the packed crowd on Court No.3. “That was the first time I've ever seen that in my life. But it worked so fair play to her. But I don't think the crowd liked it very much,” said Robson. “This is just an overwhelming experience. There were so many people watching me today. The crowd and the support is really, really good. I'm just playing as well as I can and then trying to keep my cool all the time, and that's paying off.”
Related Articles
> Rain man Dimitrov wins at Wimbledon
> Robson and Evans knock out form players
> Robson and Oudin set up Roehampton rematch
> Tomic downs Boluda in Wimbledon opener
> Junior Wimbledon Preview
^ Back to Top
|
