Jacquemot relishes No. 1-seed pressure as Montsi reveals his mission
Ice-cool Elsa Jacquemot progressed to the second round of the Australian Open Junior Championships as a pair of notable seeded players saw their Grand Slam hopes dashed on the tournament’s opening day in Melbourne.
As No.3 seed Kamilla Bartone and No. 4 seed Jeffrey von der Schulenburg exited their respective draws, France’s Jacquemot – the highest-ranked girl on show on Saturday – advanced with her Grand Slam aspirations intact.
That said, the top seed's passage from round one was not seamless as the 16-year-old, who reached the quarter-finals at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 2019, was pegged back in the second set by Russia’s Erika Andreeva before prevailing 6-4 3-6 6-3. She will now face Germany’s Alexandra Vecic in the second round.
While Jacquemot would prefer to distance herself from potentially following in the footsteps of someone like Kristina Mladenovic – the last French girl to win a Junior Grand Slam – the pressure of being one of the frontrunners for silverware is something she relishes.
“It would be amazing to win a Grand Slam and I welcome the pressure of playing here as the No. 1 seeded player,” Jacquemot told itftennis.com. “I am happy with my performance today and I am very happy with the result as it is never easy to win the first match at a Grand Slam."
The highest-seeded player in action in the boys’ draw was Japan’s Shunsuke Mitsui, who recorded his maiden match-win at the Australian Open by overcoming Chinese wild card Xiaofei Wang. The No. 3 seed reigned 7-6(5) 6-4 to set up a second round clash with Martin Krumich of Czech Republic.
An ultimately successful run for Mitsui at the Australian Open would continue the rise of Japanese junior tennis after the nation triumphed at September’s Junior Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Finals in Orlando.
Victory for Mitsui at Melbourne Park would also mean that two of the last three Junior Grand Slam winners would be Japanese following Shintaro Mochizuki’s success at Wimbledon in July.
“Winning a Junior Grand Slam would be such an important moment in my life,” Mitsui told itftennis.com. “Shintaro is so good and he is a friend of mine. He is amazing and I want to reach his level.”
South Africa’s Khololwam Montsi, meanwhile, who is seeded No. 8 at Melbourne Park, continued to write an intriguing narrative by ensuring his Australian Open campaign started in fine style, defeating American qualifier Cash Hanzlik 6-4 6-1.
Junior world No. 12 Montsi hit the headlines in recent weeks as he and Eliakim Coulibaly, from Ivory Coast, ensured that Africa have two boys in the Top 20 of the junior rankings for the first time in history.
Montsi’s role in that was fuelled by a powerful end to 2019 which saw him embark upon a 28-match winning streak and claim his maiden Grade A title at Cape Town in September. In total, he topped the podium on six occasions last season, with all his trophies coming on a hard court.
Such a record has led to admiring glances and suggestions that the 17-year-old – a recipient of significant support from the ITF and Grand Slam Development Fund in recent years – could assume the status of Africa’s first Junior Grand Slam boys’ champion since compatriot Byron Bertram in 1970.
“It’s amazing that Eliakim [he faces qualifier Yu Zhang on Sunday] and I are both in the Top 20,” Montsi, who now faces a showdown with France’s Timo Legout, told itftennis.com. “We have been close friends for maybe five years now. We call ourselves the ‘African brothers’.
“For both of us to be in the Top 20 is an amazing achievement, especially considering where we were a few years back, struggling to win back home. But I believe in God and God has done his part and helped both of us. We’re just happy to be here.
“Winning here would be amazing. I never believed I could beat the top guys but I had a breakthrough in the last few months and I have started to believe. I not playing for experience anymore. I’m on a mission to win Grand Slams.”
The day, however, was not without its shocks. Latvia’s Bartone revealed within her ITF blog that the Australian Open was likely to be her final Junior Grand Slam and she spoke of her ambition to lift silverware in Melbourne which, along with Wimbledon, is her favourite major tournament.
Unfortunately for the 17-year-old, who has experience of winning under the Junior Grand Slam glare after claiming the doubles title alongside Russia’s Oksana Selekhmeteva at the US Open in September, that dream was over before it had really started.
The No. 3 seed crashed out in the first round following a 7-5 7-5 defeat to Russia’s Diana Shnaider – a player ranked 52 places below her in the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Rankings presented by IMG Academy.
For Shnaider, victory over Bartone ended a three-match losing streak at Junior Grand Slam competition having lost in the first round at both Wimbledon and the US Open last year following a second-round finish at Roland Garros. Qualifier Saki Imamura awaits in round two.
Bartone was not alone. In the boys’ draw, Von der Schulenburg of Switzerland succumbed to defeat against Italy’s Lorenzo Rottoli. Despite winning the first set, Von der Schulenburg, who was making his Junior Grand Slam debut, bowed out 62 36 46.
“I knew it would be difficult but I always felt it was possible to beat a seeded player and I managed to so and I'm proud and really happy,” Rottoli told itftennis.com. “This win gives me the motivation to do my best on court."
For Rottoli, this is only his second appearance at a Junior Grand Slam, but he kept his composure to reach the second round, making a statement of intent and maintaining hopes of back-to-back Italian winners of the Australian Open boys’ draw.
Rottoli is bidding to emulate last year’s champion Lorenzo Musetti, a player who competed for Italy alongside at the 2016 ITF World Junior Tennis Finals in Prostejov, who 12 months ago became the first Italian boy to win a Junior Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.