Bulgarians on the rise: Radulov joins Dzhenev in AO Juniors 3rd round
Rain was very much the story of the fourth day of the Australian Open Junior Championships with play disrupted for several hours at Melbourne Park.
Matches continued on the three roofed show courts but the entire junior and much of the wheelchair events were called off while the cushion acrylic hard courts dried out.
Second seed Iliyan Radulov was a set and 5-4 up when play was suspended but lost the next two games on the resumption of play against China’s Tianhui Zhang, a sturdy, formidable-looking opponent who beat him at the junior warm-up tournament in Traralgon (Victoria) last week.
“I knew I had to break him right now because the third set would then be 50/50,” said the 17-year-old Bulgarian, who ultimately won 6-4 7-6(2).
Playing his first major, Radulov is staying with good pal Adriano Dzhenev (the No. 15 seed) - both are a part of the Grand Slam Player Development Programme/ITF Touring Team - in Melbourne.
He is yet to step foot onto Rod Laver Arena - the stage for the junior singles finals on Saturday - but says that he has come to try and win the boys' title.
Swiss top-seed Kilian Feldbausch, a long time foe, awaits in the final should they both get there, but Radulov has no fears.
“I very much want to play on that court,” he said.
Hailing from a very sporty family in Bulgaria - he has a twin sister, Yoanna, who is also an accomplished tennis player and plays on the ITF World Tennis Tour - Radulov has played tennis since he was six-years-old and hits regularly with Yoanna.
Winning a J1 Junior tournament on clay in Pancevo in Serbia last August is his overriding tennis memory to date, he says, and fuel for wanting to do better.
The Florida-based Sebastian Korda, who won the Australian Open Junior Championships in 2018, is his sporting hero.
By chance, Korda was battling with Karen Khachanov in an Australian Open main draw quarter-final clash when we spoke. Radulov and Dzhenev, who appeared from nowhere to support his mate in the post-match interview room, couldn’t take their eyes off the TV showing the Korda clash, jumping up and down when the American won a point.
In other notable results, Romania’s fifth-seeded Mihai Coman saw off Tomasz Berkieta from Poland in two quick sets on court 14 while ninth-seeded Czech Maxim Mrva surprisingly went down in two sets to Russia’s Ruslan Tiukaev.
Abel Forger, seeded 16, was another high-profile casualty, going down in 68 minutes to Oliver Ojakaar from Estonia.
The day attendance at Melbourne Park was 23,937, many of them milling around the outside courts on a stop start, sunny, wet and cold day.
Follow the latest results from the Australian Open junior event here