 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 31 May 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 03 Jun 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 03 Jun 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 03 Jun 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 03 Jun 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jun 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 03 Jun 2009 |
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| 03 Jun 2009 - Paris, France - Simon Cambers | |
| Mina and Mladenovic reach round of last eight in Paris |
The French tricolore was flying high over Roland Garros on Wednesday as Gianni Mina and Kristina Mladenovic reached the quarter-finals of their respective junior singles events.
Eleventh seed Mina, who looks and plays a lot like Gael Monfils, battled past Swede Patrk Brydolf 76 26 62 to take his place in a last eight that includes players from seven nations.
Mina even had to cope with the net falling down during his match with Brydolf, who hit back well in the second set before being outplayed in the third.
“I don’t know what happened,” Mina laughed. “It was funny, I served without the net, so I thought that was quite amusing.”
Brydolf made a superb start as he raced to a 5-1 lead but he recovered brilliantly to take the set.
“At 5-2, my opponent was relaxing a bit,” he said. “I managed to get the 5-3 game and I got some confidence back, and from then on I had the right attitude.”
Mina is hoping to become the fourth home player to win the title this century, following on from Paul-Henri Mathieu (2000), Richard Gasquet (2002) and Monfils (2004).
Like Monfils, Mina struggles with tendinitis in his knees, but he too is a superb mover around the court and his hard work in the gym helped him wear down Brydolf.
“During the last couple of tournaments I have played, I have made mental progress and I took advantage of that,” he said. “Today I was really motivated so I was able to find the energy from deep down.”
Mina will now play third seed Andrea Collarini of Argentina, who cruised past Yannik Reuter 64 61.
The biggest shock of the day saw second seed Bernard Tomic go out, beaten 76 76 by German Dominik Schulz.
Richard Becker – no relation to Boris – caused another surprise as he beat American Tennys Sandgren 64 63 to join Mina in the last eight.
Becker had beaten Liang-Chi Huang of Taipei in round one and said he had nothing to lose.
“I have been practising hard on clay for a few years now, so I think that explains why I am playing well,” he said. “I was really pleased to win that first round match and now I am very relaxed.”
In the girls’ event, Mladenovic, big-serving ninth seed Mladenovic crushed Nastia Kolar of Slovenia 61 60.
Mladenovic shares the record with Venus Williams for the fastest serve at this year’s event, at 200kmph/hr, but she was reluctant to reveal the secret behind her power.
“I used to serve very fast, but I made a lot of double faults, so we changed a lot of things in my serve. I don’t want to tell you exactly the secret but a lot of work and it’s easier for me because I think I am tall,” she said.
Should she go on to win the title, Mladenovic would follow in the footsteps of recent winners Alize Cornet (2007) Virginie Razzano (2000) and Amelie Mauresmo (1996).
She now plays South African Chanel Simmonds, another of the ITF/Grand Slam Development touring team, after Simmonds beat Laura Robson’s conqueror, Sandra Zaniewska of Poland 64 62.
Australian Open junior champion Ksenia Pervak of Russia saw off American Christina McHale 64 46 62, but sixth seed Alija Tomljanovic of Croatia went out 61 36 75 to Peru’s Bianca Botto.
Related Articles
> Top seed Robson latest seed to fall
> Robson through on day of upsets
> Tomic off to a successful start at Roland Garros
> 2009 Roland Garros Preview
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