Australian Open junior preview
As the curtain-raising Grand Slam Down Under approaches the business end, as per usual, the midway point signals the start of the Australian Open Junior championships.
The year is still young and there are many exciting tales about to unfold around the show courts with the fresh-faced and wild-eyed tennis stars getting a run out on Melbourne’s famous sun-drenched blue courts.
The top four boys arrive in Melbourne from all four corners of the globe, an Australian, a Brazilian, a Briton and a boy from Japan make up the top contenders for this year’s title.
Luke Saville, the forlorn boys’ finalist 12 months ago, returns to Melbourne as Wimbledon boys' champion and also as junior world No.1.
Saville has lost just two matches since his first round exit at the US Open juniors, since then he went on an unbeaten streak which suddenly came to an end two days ago when Canada’s Filip Peliwo rallied from a set down to win the final of the nearby event the Traralgon International 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4.
The Australian will certainly be fired up for this week and will need to bounce back immediately if he is to join the elite club of multiple junior Grand Slam winners.
Thiago Monteiro is a powerful left-hander from Brazil and his best results come on clay courts. One statistic that should hold him in good stead should he reach the final in Melbourne is that in all of the five finals he competed in last year (three singles and two doubles), he did not lose a single one.
Liam Broady turned on the style during the 2011 grass court season, beating the then best junior player in the world twice on grass, winning the junior event at Roehampton, and reached the boy’s singles final. On the verge of ending a half-century wait for British success in the boy’s event, the Stockport-born Broady was denied by Saville, but has since risen from world No.9 to a career-high third in the past six months.
Kaichi Uchida is Asia’s top ranked junior, he sits at No.4 in the world and is just 17 years old. Having made great strides in 2011, Japan may end its wait for Grand Slam silverware. His 2011 highlights included defeating the current world No.1 Saville at Roland Garros, and reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals.
The girls’ singles will no doubt be as exciting as the boys. Its sparkle has been somewhat diminished by withdrawals from Ashleigh Barty, the 15-year-old Australian Wimbledon girls' champion. However her replacement for the home crowd to cheer is wildcard Sara Tomic, 13, barely six months into her top level junior career and already showing signs she could be as handy with a racket as her brother Bernard.
Another key withdrawal is An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium, who will not be defending her title after injuring her wrist in a warm-up event last week.
The spotlight will thus be firmly fixed on Irina Khromacheva. The 2011 ITF Junior World Champion is a product of the Justine Henin Academy in Belgium and is yet to win a Grand Slam junior event. With a phenomenal 77-9 win-loss record in singles and doubles last year and having featured on No.1 Court in the Wimbledon girls' singles final she may achieve her dream in Melbourne.
Khromacheva, still yet to turn 17, incredibly made the final round of qualifying in the women's singles and is the player everyone will have to raise their game against.
The second seed in the girls’ singles event is Canadian Eugenie Bouchard. Soon to turn 18 she has worked her way up to No.3 in the world and is also breaking into the women's game.
As she enters her final 12 months of junior competition she already has earned two ITF women’s titles. Like the top seed, Bouchard is yet to make her mark in the singles at Grand Slam level.
Earning the third seeding is Anett Kontaveit, the current Orange Bowl champion. She defeated three of the current world’s top 10 girls, Bouchard, Indy De Vroom and Julia Putinseva to earn the prestigious junior title just before Christmas.
Putintseva, 17, is seeded fourth and boasts the highest current professional ranking of all the girls in the draw at 243, proving she can thrive at professional entry-level with three ITF women’s titles in 2011.
The last girl that deserves a mention is China’s unseeded 17-year-old, Zheng Saisai. Having secured a professional ranking of 274 she is proven to be able to compete with the best girls around and is handy on a hard court having reached the final at the $25k event in Berne.
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For all the reports and results from Melbourne Park, visit the Official Australian Open website
