INTERNATIONAL
NEWS
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US Open – WIMBLEDON
CHAMPIONS ON COURSE Barbara
Wancke reports from Flushing Meadows; pictures Fotosports International
Both
fought off stiff opposition to come through to the third round in three-set
contests on Tuesday. Britain’s
Robson trailed 1-4 in the third set before prevailing 4-6 6-1 6-4 over the 7th
seed Lauren Embree of the United States, winning the final five games to win
the match. “Some
would argue that I should never have got to the third set anyway given that I
should’ve won the first two sets,” Robson observed. “But it’s good to come
back from 4-1 behind. Even when I’m behind I try to play as well as I can and
try to keep winning my shots.”
“I
don’t mind,” Robson said. “I mean, being seeded first is a lot of added
pressure so I’m happy to be un-seeded. “When
I won Wimbledon I was un-seeded,” she added, knocking on the wooden desk in
front of her for luck. Robson’s
goal is to add another Grand Slam junior title to her resume. She reached the
Australian Open junior final in January, but has not won a significant junior
trophy since Wimbledon. |
Thailand’s
2nd seeded Noppawan Lertcheewakarn also survived a second round
marathon match against Valeria Solovieva of Russia, eventually winning 2-6 6-4
7-6(4). “I
was playing bad today,” Lertcheewakarn said. “This match, I was supposed to
win, but she played very well but I did my best and in the tiebreak I just go
for it.” Lertcheewakarn
has gained a lot of confidence from her victory at Wimbledon, which she
believes helped her get through the tight match against Solovieva. Winning
at Wimbledon made her quite the celebrity back home in Thailand, which also
means that there’s added pressure on her to succeed. “Everyone
in Thailand expects me to win very much and it’s very tough because tennis is
a tough sport,” Lertcheewakarn said. “It’s tough for me because I’m not used
to it.”
The
11th seed now plays Annika Beck from Germany. Lauren
Davis from the USA upset Timea Babos, the 3rd seeded Hungarian
after easily losing the opening set. She recovered to win the second set on
the tiebreak and won through to reach the last sixteen, 1-6 7-6(3) 6-4. Girls’
seeds safely through included America’s Sloan Stephens (4), Silvia Njiric (6)
from Croatia, Russia’s Daria Gavrilova (9) and Jana Cepelova (14) from
Slovakia. In
Wednesday’s boys action, the Aussie 3rd seed Bernard Tomic
overcame a one-set deficit against big-serving American Alexander Domijan to
advance into the third round with a 4-6 7-5 6-1 win. It
was the second meeting between the two, with the first coming on the red clay
of Roland Garros this year when Tomic took that match in straight sets 7-5
6-3. |
“When
we played at the French Open, it was a much slower surface,” Tomic said.
“These courts here are really fast, and it surprised me that he was using the
serve-and-volley but today he was playing really well.” Tomic,
the 6’ 4”, 16-year-old Australian Open junior champion of 2008 committed a series
of errors, sending shots wide or into the net and lost his serve twice early
on to give Domijan a 4-1 advantage. Despite
breaking back, the 6’ 7” American delivered big serves topping 120 mph to close
out the first set with an ace. Both
players traded breaks in the two opening games of the second set, when Tomic snatched
his opportunity to break Domijan. The
American faced triple set point at 5-6, 0-40, but was only able to save one
before Tomic hit a clean passing shot to send the match into a decisive third
set. Tomic
had figured out his game plan and dominated thereafter. Domijan held serve
only once in the decider, holding to love with Tomic up 5-1. The
Aussie served through two deuce points before he was able to put the match
away by running down a short shot that Domijan could not return. A
student at Nick Bollettieri’s academy in Braedenton, Florida, Tomic is
looking to match his best US Open result, which he achieved in 2007 by
reaching the round of 16. He
will next face Tobias Blomgren, who took out the 15th seed Dominik
Schulz, 6-4 3-6 6-3. Two
boys’ seeds fell at the hands of Brazilians. Jose Pereira overcame Yong-Kyu
Lim, the 6th seed from Korea, 2-6 6-3 7-6(5) and Tiago Fernandes
dispatched France’s Julien Obry, the 12th seed, 2-6 6-4 6-3. In
doubles play Britain’s Ahmed El Menshawy and partner Harry Fowler from the
USA lost to the American pairing of Matthew Kandath and Jack Sock, 6-4 7-5
while Ireland’s John Morrissey teamed up with Sudanwa Siltaram from India, losing
to Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics and Cheng Peng Hseih from Taipei, 4-6 6-3
[10-4]. |
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