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| 05 Sep 2008 - New York - Eleanor Preston |  Related Audio |
| Final fours flourish at Flushing Meadows |
 An interview with Tsung-Hua Yang (MP3 format)
 
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Tsung-Hua Yang of Chinese Tapei will take on Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov in the boys’ US Open semi-finals in a battle of the Junior grand slam champions on Saturday. Serbian Filip Krajinovic will play American Devin Britten in the other boys’ semi-final. In the girls’ semi-finals, American Coco Vandeweghe will take on Kristina Mladenovic of France and Gabriela Paz-Franco of Venezuela plays another American, Melanie Oudin.
Yang beat American Rhyne Williams 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 in Friday’s quarter-finals and afterwards praised Williams, who he described as “a new star for America”. Dimitrov had to battle past American opposition too when he defeated Chase Buchanan 6-4, 6-3. Britten beat Cedric-Marcel Stebe of Germany 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 and Krajinovic was too strong for Finland’s Henri Kontinen, beating the Junior Wimbledon runner-up 7-6, 7-6.
“It was a tough match,” said Krajinovic. “He was playing good and he served for the first set but I came back. He was up 5-3 in the second set too and eventually I won that won too. Every match I’ve played has been tough. From the first match to now, it feels like every set has been a tiebreak. It was a difficult draw so I am very happy to be in the semi-finals. It’s always good when you are down and you come back, it gives you extra confidence when you almost lose and then you win. It’s pretty fast here and I like fast courts so it’s good. To be honest the first grand slam I played I made the third round at Roland Garros I was pretty happy but then I made the semi-finals at Wimbledon, so this is big so I want more. I feel like I am taking steps forward. It’s come in stages.”
Krajinovic trains at Nick Bollettieri’s Academy in Bradenton, Florida and said practicing the Florida’s steamy air was the ideal preparation for playing in late New York summer. “For me the conditions are not a problem, even when I have to play when it is very hot because back in Bradenton it is more humid,” he said.
On a busy day at Flushing Meadows on Friday, Vandeweghe was much too strong for Belgian seed Tamaryn Hendler, beating her 6-2, 6-0; Mladenovic won a high quality encounter with American Gail Brodsky 7-5, 6-7, 6-4; Paz France beat Elena Bogdan of Romania 6-3, 6-0 and Oudin came through an all-American quarter-final against two-time Junior grand slam finalist Madison Brengle 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Friday also saw the boys’ and girls’ US Open doubles titles decided after the tournament organisers scheduled the semi-finals and the finals on the same day to allow for a poor weather forecast for Saturday. Nickolaus Moser of Austria joined with Stebe to beat Kontinen and Christopher Rungkat of Indonesia 7-6, 6-3, 10-8 in a closely contested boys’ final; Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand and Sandra Roma of Sweden beat Americans Mallory Burdette and Sloane Stephens 6-0, 6-2. “This is Sandra’s last Junior grand slam and I wanted us to win it for her,” said Lertcheewakarn. Like Moser and Stebe, Lertcheewakarn and Roma were a scratch pairing. “Now I’m wondering why we didn’t play together before,” said Stebe. “For sure I think we will play together more in the future.”
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