Juniors take to the courts in Melbourne
The Australian Open Juniors got underway on Sunday, with
Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova the strong favourite
to win her third consecutive title. Pavlyuchenkova has won
all but one of the 33 junior matches she has played in Australia,
and last year won the Australian Open without dropping a set.
Last year’s runner-up Madison Brengle (USA) could be
Pavlyuchenkova’s closest rival again this year. The
American’s form dipped slightly in the second half of
2007 as her ranking dropped from four to nine, but as a two-time
Grand Slam runner-up she has more experience at this level
than any of the other challengers. World No. 7 Ksenia Lykina
(RUS) and World No. 8 Nikola Hofmanova (AUT) could also be
contenders for the title, while Australian hopes will rest
with Tyra Calderwood and Jessica Moore.
In contrast to the girls’ event, the boys’ competition
has no clear favourite and a plethora of Australians among
the seeds. The most prominent among them is 15-year-old Bernard
Tomic, who will be aiming to become the youngest ever winner
of a junior Grand Slam. Tomic won the Grade 1 warm-up tournament
at Nottinghill, Melbourne last week, and although he has never
gone beyond the third round of a Grand Slam he has set himself
up as one of the strongest contenders for the title.
The only player in the draw who has come close to tasting
Grand Slam success previously is Jerzy Janowicz (POL), who
defeated Tomic on his way to last year’s US Open final.
Top seed Cesar Ramirez (MEX) won this year’s first Grade
A in Mexico and has been to the quarterfinal of Roland Garros,
but suffered a first round loss in his only Australian Open
warm-up tournament so there may be a question mark over his
form.
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