 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Jun 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Jun 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Jun 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Jun 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Jun 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Jun 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Jun 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Jun 2009 |
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| 05 Jun 2009 - Paris, France
- Simon Cambers | |
| Mladenovic and Mina in Junior French Open Finals |
France will be hoping for a double celebration at Roland Garros this weekend after Gianni Mina and Kristina Mladenovic reached the final of their respective singles events.
Mina, looking to follow in the footsteps of Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet, takes on Sweden’s Daniel Berta in the boys’ final while Mladenovic will play 15-year-old Russian Daria Gavrilova in the girls’ final.
Eleventh seed Mina saw off German 14th seed Dominik Schulz 76 62 on Friday to reach the final, while Berta beat Finland’s Henri Laaksonen 64 75.
The pressure of performing in front of his home crowd did not seem to bother 17-year-old Mina, who saved two set points in the first set before easing away in the second.
“Because I had some pain in my knee, I was even more relaxed, so I did not have any time to be too stressed,” Mina said. “I am very proud because it’s my first final and I hope that I can play well on Sunday.”
To take the title, Mina will have to get the better of Berta, who has been practising with Robin Soderling, the men’s finalist.
It is clearly paying off because Berta has dropped just one set en route to the final and is just one win away from emulating the victories of Mats Wilander (1981), Stefan Edberg (1983) and Kent Carlsson (1984).
“It’d be a great honour to win it but I’ll do my best and see where that takes me. I was really happy to win the semi-final. I played him last year in the European Championship semis and I lost so not only to make it to the finals in a grand slam but to beat him, I was very happy.”
The girls’ final will be a match of opposites as the tall Mladenovic, who boasts the joint fastest serve of the entire championships, at 200km/hr, takes on the diminutive Gavrilova.
Mladenovic came through a tough, bruising encounter with Sloane Stephens, eventually triumphing 75 63, ending the American’s 16-match winning streak. The 16-year-old has not dropped a set on her way to her first grand slam final.
“I know (Stephens) very well , she is a good player and I think it was the final before the final,” she said. “She played very good today, we played such a good match, long also for two sets.”
Gavrilova teased Australian Open champion Ksenia Pervak to death with numerous drop shots and lobs as she beat her fellow Russian 46, 76, 62.
Pervak came back from 5-1 down in the second set to level at 5-5 but Gavrilova held firm and once she had snatched the tiebreak, she dominated the third set to reach the final in her first grand slam event.
“I like to do drop shots and angles,” Gavrilova said. “Actually I do everything when I play. I knew that I don’t have to hit hard against her because it is comfortable for her, she takes the ball early. I was trying to play some lobs, some angles, some drop shots, to spin a lot.”
Gavrilova said she was excited at the prospect of playing Mladenovic in the final.
“I played against her three times and I beat her three times,” she said. “I just know that she is hitting hard, she is tall and her serve is really good. I saw some statistic that said she hit like 200kmph/hr and it was the hardest serve, so I will think about tactics with my coach.
“It is my first grand slam. But actually in France I (always) play really good, I think I have never done worse than semi-finals. I don’t know why, it’s just France.”
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> 2009 Roland Garros Preview
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