Juniors begin their Australian Open campaign
The first junior Grand Slam of 2007 got underway in Melbourne
on Sunday, with the girls’ event set to feature an intriguing
battle between the current stars of the junior circuit and
those who have already made the leap into the professional
game.
Yung-Jan Chan (TPE) is currently at No. 75 in the WTA rankings
and has become a regular in the main draw of Grand Slams,
while Tamira Paszek (AUT) gave an impressive performance in
reaching the second round of the Australian Open main draw.
However, their success on the professional circuit may not
necessarily translate into victory in the junior event, with
world No. 1 and defending champion Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
(RUS) likely to stand in their way. Pavlyuchenkova has a winning
record over both Chan and Paszek and a commanding lead at
the top of the junior rankings. Another possible contender
is world No. 3 Ksenia Milevskaya (BLR), who won five Grade
1 titles on the ITF junior circuit last year but has under-achieved
at the Grand Slam level so far.
 The
boys’ event looks set to be even more open than the
girls’, with very little to separate the top few. Roland
Garros champion Martin Klizan (SVK)(Photo: Corinne Dubreuil)
and Jonathan Eysseric (FRA) have already switched places at
the top of the junior rankings three times this year. Klizan
is the only player in the draw to have won a Grand Slam, but
current no.1 Eysseric seems to be the player in form, having
won the warm-up tournament in Nottinghill at the weekend.
The only other player in the draw to have won a Grade A title
is Orange Bowl champion Alex Luncanu of Romania. He, along
with world No. 3 Roman Jebavy (CZE), winner of the Grade 1
at Traralgon earlier this month, may also be in contention
at the end of the week. Local fans will be hoping that Sydney’s
Greg Jones, winner of two consecutive tournaments at the end
of last year and runner-up at Nottinghill, can continue his
good form.
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