 Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 01 Nov 2008 |  Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 28 Jan 2009 |  Photographer: Christian Jarno
Date: 03 Feb 2008 |  Photographer: CJ Head
Date: 11 Apr 2008 |  Photographer: Christian Jarno
Date: 22 Jul 2008 |  Photographer: Tennis Foundation
Date: 28 Jan 2009 |
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| 29 Jan 2009 | |
| Reigning champions start well in Tarbes |
There were few surprises during Thursday's first round-robin singles matches at the Cruyff Foundation Junior Masters, with defending champions and world No 1 ranked juniors Gordon Reid and Jordanne Whiley both making great starts.
The match of the day came in the women's singles as second seed Louise Hunt took on Mackenzie Soldan (USA), who is ranked just below Hunt at No 3 in the International Junior Ranking.
Hunt, 17, dropped the first two games to 16-year-old Soldan, but the Briton fought back to level the scores and kept pace with Soldan until earning a break of her own to go 6-5 ahead.
While Soldan broke straight back to take the first set to a tiebreak, Hunt dominated the tiebreak, taking a 5-0 lead. Although Soldan put together three points in a row to reduce the deficit, Hunt held her nerve to earn four set points, needing just the first one to seize the advantage.
Hunt edged a long fourth game in the second set to take a 3-1 lead, but Soldan recovered to take the next three games. Hunt dug in and earned herself a match point at 5-4 up, only to see Soldan draw level once again. A solid service game saw Hunt edge ahead once more and then she earned three successive match points on Soldan's serve, putting the seal on a 76(3) 75 victory at her second attempt. Hunt also beat Soldan in the round-robin phase of last year's Junior Masters, which was their only other previous meeting.
In the day's other girls' singles match, Whiley began her bid for a third successive Junior Masters title with a 61 61 victory over Brechje Widlak (NED) in 56 minutes.
Both last year's boys's singles finalist, Reid and Tom Egberink (NED), dropped their first game in their opening matches before easing to victory. In pool 1, Reid needed just 42 minutes to see off Roby de Bie (NED) 61 60. The other match in pool 1 saw Gustavo Fernandez (ARG) come back from a slow start against Sven Jonker (NED) to prevail 63 61.
In pool 2, last year's runner-up Tom Egberink (NED) was surprised by Tarbes newcomer Dermot Bailey (NED) in their opening game, but Egberink went on to secure the quickest win of the day, neeeding just 31 minues for his 61 60 victory. No 3 ranked junior Philip Cochrane (GBR) also dropped just one game as he eased past Hanno Burger (RSA).
The daily schedule of all round-robin matches can be accessed here.
During play, live scoring for all matches is available here.
RELATED STORIES
2009 Cruyff Foundation Junior Masters: Entries
2009 Cruyff Foundation Junior Masters: Preview
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