INTERNATIONAL
NEWS
|
|||||
|
US Open - WATSON
ON FINE RUN TO FINAL
September 13 - Friday’s
washout resulted in a major re-scheduling of matches at the US Open and, as
last year, the junior events were transferred to Sound Shore Indoor Tennis
Club at Port Chester, starting at 10 am on Saturday. Barbara Wancke reports;
picture Fotosports International. Just
as well, since the forecast was for intermittent rain at the Billie Jean King
National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows… This
year 12 more matches were due to be played in addition to the singles quarter
finals. Prior to the matches being called for the day on Friday, junior
players were hanging out in the player’s lounge alongside the likes of Venus
Williams, who was catching a late lunch and waiting for sister Serena to play
her semi final match, and Rafael Nadal, playing an energetic game of Fusbol with
his friends. When the quarter finals finally got underway, the anticipation
was for some thrilling encounters as four of the remaining contenders had
already captured a Grand Slam singles titles in their junior careers. In the girls’ draw, there were two former Wimbledon champions,
Laura Robson in 2008 and Noppawan Lertcheewakarn in 2009, while among the
boys, there are two former Australian Open champions, Bernard Tomic in 2008
and Yuki Bhambri in 2009. The 11th seed Heather Watson took on 2nd
seed Lertcheewakarn with the un-seeded Robson scheduled to
go up against America’s Lauren Davis. While spectators, media and even accredited photographers were
not allowed to cover the event, LTA President Derek Howarth did make the 45
minute journey from Flushing Meadows to Port Chester to see how the British
girls fared. They were first up as the four girls’ quarter finals were played
on the back indoor courts at Sound Shore and the two British girls both
landed serious first set blows to their opposition, Watson claiming hers 6-2
over Lertcheewakarn and Robson taking hers by the same score over Davis. Watson forged ahead, pushing her advantage to dismiss the top
seed, 6-2 6-1 in an impressive and assertive performance that has secured her
a semi final berth against the Russian Daria Gavrilova. The 9th
seed overcame Jana Cepelova, the 14th seed from Slovakia, 6-4 6-4. |
Ninth
seed Daria Gavrilova of Russia lined up and took out the 14th seed, Jana
Cepelova of Slovakia, 6-4 6-4 in another quarter final, while un-seeded Yana
Buchina of Russia scrapped her way through at the expense of 16th seed
Beatrice Capra of USA, 6-4 2-6 6-4. In
the semi finals played later that same day, Watson continued her fine form to
eliminate Gavrilova quite comfortably, 6-3 6-0, to find herself in the final. The
dream final involving the two Brits was not to be, however, as Robson battled
against Buchina and lost in three tight sets, 1-6 6-3 7-5 leaving Watson,
hopefully, to do the business on Sunday. Meanwhile,
following the semi-finals, Buchina is seeking her third British scalp of the
tournament when she takes on Watson, having knocked out Stephanie Cornish in
the first round. "I
played superb tennis today and didn't make too many unforced errors,"
said 17-year-old Watson. "I was really relaxed. I didn't hit yesterday
and I think that was a benefit to me. "I
was hitting the ball really well. I wasn't getting angry at all. I was
thinking about doing everything and it worked. "My
service percentage was really high today. I didn't step back, I just kept
attacking everything. I was very relaxed and all in all just in a very good
mood. I kept calm, focused and gave nothing away." Watson
admitted Lertcheewakarn, this year's Junior Wimbledon champion, was the scalp
she really wanted. "She
was the one I thought would be the toughest," continued the Channel
Islander. "I went in with a game plan and I stuck to it." Buchina
and Watson should certainly know what to expect from each other after playing
doubles together regularly. "I
still have one more match to go and now have to relax and mentally prepare
for that," she added. "She has a killer forehand so I'm going to
have to stay away from it but I'm so determined to beat her." In the boys’ competition, the top seed Bhambri, who is from New
Delhi, played un-seeded American Chase Buchanan who upset the form book and
toppled the Indian, 6-3 7-6(4). The
3rd seed Tomic of Australia excelled on the faster surface, crushing
Brazilian Tiago Fernandes 6-1 6-4 in the quarter-finals, while 8th seed
Gianni Mina of France took three sets to see off the 16th seeded American
Denis Kudla, 2-6 7-6 6-3. In
an un-seeded quarter final match up, American Raymond Sarmiento and
Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France vied for a semi-final spot, resulting in a
win for the French boy, 6-2 4-6 6-2. |
In
the semis Buchanan took out Mina, 6-3 6-3, quite comfortably, while Tomic saw
off the French boy Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-1 7-6(5). The two will now meet on
Sunday to contest the final. In
doubles, the boys' final is set, with the French duo of Julien Obry and
Adrien Puget taking on Marton Fucsovics of Hungary and Cheng Peng Hsieh of
Chinese Taipei. The
girls' doubles final pits No. 3 Elena Bogdan of Romania and Lertcheewakarn
against Valeria Solovieva of Russia and Maryna Zanevska of Ukraine. JUNIOR
RESULTS: Girls'
singles semi finals: Yana Buchina def. Laura Robson, 1-6 6-3 7-5; Heather
Watson [11] def. Daria Gavrilova [9] 6-3 6-0 Girls'
singles quarter finals: Heather Watson [11] def. Noppawan Lertcheewakarn [2]
6-2 6-1; Daria Gavrilova [9] def. Jana Cepelova [14] 6-4 6-4; Laura Robson
def. Lauren Davis 6-2 6-3; Yana Buchina def. Beatrice Capra [16] 6-4 2-6 6-4 Girls'
doubles semi final: Elena Bogdan/Noppawan Lertcheewakarn [3] def. Jana
Cepelova/Chantal Skamlova, 6-4 6-1; Valeria Solovieka/Maryna Zanevska 1-6 6-3
[10-8] Boys'
singles semi finals: Chase Buchanan def. Gianni Mina [8], 6-3 6-3; Bernard
Tomic [3] def. Pierre-Hugues Herbert, 6-1 7-6(5) Boys'
singles quarter finals: Bernard Tomic [3] def. Tiago Fernandes 6-1 6-4;
Pierre-Hugues Herbert def. Raymond Sarmiento 6-2 4-6 6-2; Gianni Mina [8]
def. Denis Kudla [16] 2-6 7-6(4) 6-3; Chase Buchanan def. Yuki Bhambri [1]
6-3 7-6(4) Boys'
doubles semi finals: Julien Obry/ Adrien Puget def. Matthew Kandath/Jack Sock
6-4 6-7(6) [10-5]; Marton Fucsovics/Cheng-Peng Hsieh def. Facundo
Arguella/Agustin Velotti [2], 6-3 6-2 |
|||
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
