 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 02 Jul 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 02 Jul 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 02 Jul 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 02 Jul 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 02 Jul 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 02 Jul 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 02 Jul 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 02 Jul 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 02 Jul 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 02 Jul 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 02 Jul 2009 |
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| 02 Jul 2009 - Wimbledon - Simon Cambers | |
| Doubles partnership turns to rivalry |
Americans Devin Britton and Jordan Cox have been practising with each other all week and are partners in the doubles competition but on Friday their friendship will be put on hold as they square off for a place in the final of the boys’ event at Wimbledon.
The pair both needed three sets to make the semifinals, with Britton continuing his grass court streak with a 67(2) 63 64 victory over another American, Alexander Domijan, while Cox took out No. 4 seed Agustin Velotti of Argentina 75 36 64.
On paper, Britton will be favourite to reach the final, having won the warm-up tournament at Roehampton last weekend, but Cox is a talented player and the fact that they know each other so well will make for an interesting encounter.
“It’s very exciting,” Britton said. “It’s been exiting since the first round but to be in the semis is awesome.
“He’s my doubles partner, one of my very good friends. We know each other very well so it’s going to be a very tough match, but we’ll keep it clean and it will be fun.”
The duo have been practising together throughout the week and Britton said there was no obvious reason that they should not do so again before their semifinal. “We haven’t discussed it yet, but it’s possible,” he said. “He probably doesn’t have a problem with it, and I don’t mind, so we’ll see.”
The second semifinal will be between No. 3 seed and tournament favourite Bernard Tomic of Australia and Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov. Tomic beat No. 9 seed Dominik Schulz of Germany 62 57 61 while Kuznetsov eased past Dino Marcan of Croatia 64 63.
For Tomic, it was sweet revenge over Schulz for his defeat by the German at the French Open.
“He is a tricky player, he played well when we played in Paris and I was happy to win today,” Tomic said. “That second set was tough. I had so many break point opportunities, he kept coming up with good serves and that was getting on my nerves a bit.
“After I was broken at 5-5 it was tough to break back and in the third set I said to myself I needed to step up on the returns. That was what I managed to do and I am proud of myself.
Tomic said he had completely recovered from the virus that affected him at the start of the event and was confident that he could beat Kuznetsov.
“The semifinal is going to be a tough ask but I think I can beat him,” he said. “I think he’s got the second-best ATP ranking behind me in the juniors (557) and he won a Futures event just after Paris. He’s a good player, but I think I know the ways to get him.”
In the girls’ event, No. 1 seed Kristina Mladenovic made mincemeat of American No. 7 seed Sloane Stephens in what was a repeat of their semifinal at the French Open last month.
The 16-year-old needed just 47 minutes to sweep aside the American. “I expected a very tough match,” she said. “I expected this match to be a final because Sloane is a very great player and I am very happy that the match was very fast.
“Everyone is talking to me about (winning) but I had the experience in Roehampton, where I played my first tournament as No. 1 in the world juniors and I did well, so that gave me more confidence. I think now I get used to play with this ranking. I think this is a good pressure.”
Mladenovic will play Japan’s Miyabi Inoue, a 46 62 75 winner over Zsofia Susanyi of Hungary, while the other semifinal will be between ITF junior world champion Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand, the runner-up last year and No. 4 seed this time, and another Hungarian, No. 6 seed Timea Babos.
Noppawan cruised past No. 11 seed Silvia Njiric of Croatia 64 64 while Babos came back to beat Quirine Lemoine of the Netherlands 26 61 64.
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