 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 06 Sep 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 06 Sep 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 06 Sep 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 06 Sep 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 06 Sep 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 06 Sep 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 06 Sep 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 06 Sep 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 06 Sep 2009 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 06 Sep 2009 |
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| 06 Sep 2009 - Flushing Meadows, New York - Sandra Harwitt |  Related Audio |
| Top Seeds Have Different Luck In First Round |
 Yuki Bhambri interview Day 1 (MP3 format)
Asia Muhammed interview Day 1 (MP3 format)
 
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It was a good day and bad day for the top seeds in the U.S. Open junior competition, which got underway on Sunday in front of packed crowds on the outside courts.
Top seed Yuki Bhambri from India had an easy day against recent Wimbledon junior boys’ finalist Jordan Cox of the United States to secure a 62 61 win and passage into the second round.
However, in the girls’ competition, French top seed Kristina Mladenovic left the court in tears after being upset by Asia Muhammaed of the United States 61 64.
Bhambri and Cox were hardly strangers as they both attend the Nick Bollettieri Academy in Florida.
The Delhi native was clearly in top form and took control almost immediately when he broke serve in the fifth game of the opening set. He broke Cox again in the seventh game of the first set, and only allowed the American to hold his serve in the opening game of the second set.
“I think I started fairly aggressively from the beginning,” Bhambri said. “We were both obviously nervous at the beginning. We’ve practiced a lot at the (Nick) Bollettieri Academy so we know each other’s game. I just got the early break and that’s how changed around.”
Bhambri won four of the last five junior tournaments he played. As a 16-year-old he won the 18s at the Dunlop Orange Bowl in December of last year and captured the coveted Australian Open junior crown this past January.
“I think I played pretty well for a first round match,” Bhambri said. “It’s been a long time since I played a junior tournament. It’s always a lot different than playing the pros because there’s a lot more pressure because you’re playing against people in your same age group.
“So I was definitely impressed with the way I handled the pressure in my first match.”
Of late, Bhambri has been testing his game out at the pro level by playing the ITF Men’s Futures circuit and has been remarkably successful. He won four events in his home country between April and August this year, the last of which came just a week ago, which is a good lead into his goal of winning the U.S. Open junior boys’ title.
“I think you become more mature if you can get those matches under your belt at a fairly young age because that’s the grind you have to go through once you’re finished with the juniors,” said Bhambri, of checking out the competition at the Futures.
Despite being the top seed, Bhambri is taking the tournament one step at a time.
“Obviously, being the top seed you think you’re the favorite to win the Slam,” Bhambri said. “But I’m going to just try and take it one match at a time.”
Muhammad, who is a player who likes to get into the net, settled into the match when she held her serve in the long opening game. While many of the games were long, she had the mental edge in the first set.
In the second set, Mladenovic, who is the reigning Roland Garros junior champion and reached the Wimbledon finals in singles and doubles this year, was able to rebound from a 4-1 deficit to 4-all. But Muhammad dug in her heels to win the final two games.
“I got a little tentative and she got a little more aggressive,” Muhammad said of the second set wobble where she gave up a two-break lead. “I just had to calm down and go back to being a little more aggressive. I started to make a little too many errors because I was too tense.”
In other first round junior news from around the courts at the U.S. Open, No.2 seed Daniel Berta of Sweden was upset in the third set tiebreaker by unseeded Tennys Sandgren of the United States 46 63 76(5).
Third seed Bernard Tomic of Australia scored a 64 63 win over Henri Laaksonen of Finland.
In the girls’ first round action, No.2 seed Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand kept to form with a 64 61 win over Sina Haas of Germany.
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