 Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 06 Aug 2009 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 06 Aug 2009 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 06 Aug 2009 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 06 Aug 2009 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 06 Aug 2009 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 06 Aug 2009 |
|
| 06 Aug 2009 - Prostejov, Czech Republic - Isabelle Gemmel/Catherine Michie | |
| World Junior Tennis Finalists decided |
Semi-finals day at Prostejov saw all of the matches coming right down to the wire as they were all decided in the doubles. The final in the boys’ event will be between Spain and Portugal, after they beat Japan and Czech Republic respectively. The girls’ final will be played between Czech Republic, who knocked out top seeds Russia, and USA, who beat Japan.
BOYS:
1st-4th Play-off:
CZE-POR 1-2
ESP-JPN 2-1
The first tie saw the host nation take on Portugal for a place in the Saturday’s final. Czech Republic’s Marek Routa took to the court against Portugal’s Rodolfo Pereira where he stormed to a 60 61 victory to give Czech Republic a 1-0 lead. It looked as if the second singles would be a similar story when Robin Stanek (CZE) easily secured the first set 63, and found himself 53 up in the second. Silva, however, then took control to win the second set in a tie-break where he conceded just one point. Silva then forced a break in the third and eventually came through with a 64 win in the final set. With the tie at stalemate, Routa and Stanek combined to face Loureiro and Silva in the deciding doubles match. The Portuguese pair claimed the first set, before the Czech duo fought back to take the second. Portugal secured a break in the third to run away with the match 63 36 63 and claim a place in Saturday’s final.
The second tie was between sixth seeds Japan and seventh seeds Spain. Japan secured an early lead, with Saito winning a closely fought first set tie-break, before running away with the second set 61. Albert Alcaraz then faced Japan Yoshihito Nishioka in the second singles, cruising to a 63 75 victory to level the tie. The following doubles match was full of drama and plenty of emotion from both teams as they battled for a place in the final against Portugal. Spain took the first set 62, with Japan coming back to win the second 63. It was all to play for going into the third and final set, and looked to be over when Japan were awarded two match points. Spain, however, at 15-40 managed to hold on and save a further match point later in the game to level the match at 6-6. Alcaraz and Benito then got a break in the next game before securing a win at 8-6 in the final set.
5th-8th Play-off:
ISR-FRA 1-2
TPE-AUS 0-3
Australia claimed the first place in the 5th/6th play-off, with Jay Andrijic and Nicholas Kyrgios securing wins in the two singles. Kyrgios had to fight from one set down, but then ran away with the first rubber to win 26 62 60. Jay Andrijic followed suit beating Chih-Chun Tang 61 63 for a place in tomorrow’s play-off. They will face France who overcame Israel in a deciding doubles.
9th-12th Play-off:
MEX-CHI 1-2
USA-PER 1-2
Last year’s champions, USA, will now play for 11th/12th play-off having lost the deciding doubles to Peru. The American duo of Joseph Di Giulio and Mackenzie McDonald took the first set, however couldn’t hold off a strong fight back from the Peruvian pair, who went on to win 57 62 64. They will face Chile in the play off for 9th/10th place, who beat Mexico in the deciding doubles in the last match of the day.
13th-16th Play-off:
RSA-RUS 0-3
UZB-ARG 0-3
Places for Saturday’s relegation play-off was decided after the first two rubbers in each of the ties, as Russia took on South Africa and Uzbekistan faced Argentina. Both Argentina and Russia raced to a 3-0 victory, leaving South Africa and Uzbekistan to battle it out to for 15th place to determine if the regional allocation for 2009 stays the same or if Africa can conquer back the lost spot last year.
GIRLS
1st-4th Play-off:
RUS-CZE 1-2
USA-JPN 2-1
The girls of USA are one step closer to defending their title at the World Junior Tennis Finals by defeating 6th seed Japan. It was the first semi-final to be decided today even though it also went to the third set of the decisive doubles. Victoria Duval (USA) got the Americans in the lead with a three set victory over Mami Adachi (JPN). Miho Kowase (JPN) then drew Japan level by displaying all her talent against Sachia Vickery (USA) and defeating her in straight sets.
The decisive doubles went to a third set in which Brooke Austin and Victoria Duval had the better nerves. Much to the disappointment of the Japanese team, but to the joy of US captain Kathy Rinaldi. If USA win the final on Sunday, they could become the first country to win the event three times in a row.
In the finals they will face the host nation Czech Republic that won against top seeds Russia in a thrilling tie that was the last semi-final to finish in Prostejov today.
Aneta Dvorakova (CZE) battled down Viktriya Kan (RUS) in the opening singles, before Yulia Putintseva (RUS) dominated Petra Rohanova (CZE) only dropping 3 games in total. All four singles players also went on court for the doubles and it was the Russian pair that got off to the better start. They won the first set, but the Czech girls, aided by the support of the home crowd, then took control over the match and won the next two sets 61 and 62. It is the first time since their victory in 2003, when they had Nicole Vaidisova in their line-up, that the Czech girls reach the finals again.
5th-8th Play-off:
BUL-UKR 2-1
FRA-CHN 2-1
Bulgaria defeated the Urkraine to set up a match against France for 5th place. China, who lost to France, will play against Ukraine for 7th place.
9th-12th Play-off:
AUS-BRA 3-0
ARG-NED 1-2
The Australian girls defeated Brazil and will now play against the Netherlands for 9th place. Brazil will play against Argentina for 11th spot.
13th-16th Play-off:
KOR-CHI 2-1
CAN-RSA 3-0
In the matches that will have an importance for the regional allocation in 2010, Korea had to dig deep to defeat Chile, whilst Canada won against South Africa. Korea will play against Canada for 13th place. South Africa will try to get an extra spot for Africa in 2010 when taking on the Chilean girls on Saturday.
Full results can be found in the PDF documents below.
Please find related articles below:
> Semi-final line-ups decided in Prostejov
> Top seeds stay on course at World Junior Tennis Finals
> Host nation Czech Republic upsets second seeds
> World Junior Tennis Finals 2009 underway
> World Junior Tennis Finals – Qualified teams
| The above documents are in Adobe Acrobat format. To view and print them you require the Acrobat Reader program installed on your computer. Click on the icon to download a free copy of the Reader. |  |
^ Back to Top
|
