Just two of eight Australians have progressed to the second round of the Australian Open junior girls’ singles after a tough opening day at Melbourne Park.
Queenslander Sophie Letcher, 17, was the biggest bright spot in a difficult day for the locals, as she upset 14th-seed Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway. Later in the day, Monika Wejnert overcame Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur 6-3 2-6 6-4.
The only Australian to get direct entry into the draw Viktorija Rajicic, ranked 56, crashed out in straight sets to American Madison Keys 6-3 6-4, while wild card entrants Ashling Sumner, Storm Sanders, Teiwa Casey and Molly Polak also failed to advance past the first round.
Later in the day, Nicole Hoynaski was also beaten in her opening encounter by Canadian Marianne Jodoin.
The tournament’s number one seed, Timea Babos from Hungary, advanced after defeating Australian wildcard Sumner 6-1 7-6(2), but second-seeded Heather Watson of Great Britain was bundled out 6-1 4-6 6-1 by 15-year-old Hoa Chen Tang of China.
Seventeen-year-old Sumner was thrashed in the opening set by top seed Babos, but was more competitive in the second, managing to break tall Hungarian’s serve. Sumner handed back the break one game later, forcing the set to a tie-break, which Babos dominated and won.
Seventeen-year-old Letcher surprised her more highly-fancied opponent, breaking Eikeri early and taking the first set 6-2 in just 24 minutes.
The tables were turned on Letcher in the second set, when the powerful groundstrokes of Eikeri broke the Australian in consecutive games to take the set 6-2.
The two players traded breaks early in the decider, but Letcher was able to grab a second break, and after winning some strong baseline rallies, was able to serve out the set 6-2 and the match.
This is Letcher’s second Australian Open girls’ tournament, but the first time she has qualified for the main draw, something she said gave her confidence coming into the event.
“I played three really good matchers (in qualifying) ... I gained a lot of confidence from that,” Letcher said after the match.
“I had no nerves, and I really went out there and gave (it) everything.
“She (Eikeri) hardly made errors, so I really had to work for each point. It feels good to come out with a win because I actually won, I didn’t win off her errors. “
Letcher comes from a family of tennis players; her father Cliff was a Davis Cup player and former doubles Grand Slam finalist, her mother played on the WTA tour, and both her brothers play.
While she concentrated more on her Year 12 studies than tennis in 2009, Letcher hopes to play a number of Australian and Asian tournaments this year. In the second round, she will play Russian Anna Arina Marenko, who defeated Nour Abbes of Tunisia 7-6(3) 6-4.
West Australian Sanders came back from losing the first set 6-0 to push the number three seed Daria Gavrilova of Russia to three sets. Sanders fought gallantly in the decider, her strong forehand return saving four match points, but Gavrilova prevailed, winning 6-0 3-6 6-3.
Fellow West Australian Casey also looked like she was gunning for an upset when she took the first set in a tie-break against fifth seed Croatian Silvia Njiric, but her higher-ranked opponent prevailed in three, 6-7(4) 6-0 6-3.
Polak was comprehensively defeated 6-0 6-0 by Czech Kristyna Pliskova.
On Monday, Australian Belinda Woolcock will play Australian Open 2009 junior girls’ finalist Britain Laura Robson, who today advanced to the second round of the senior women’s doubles tournament with her Australian partner Sally Peers. Abbie Myers and Alexandra Nancarrow are the remaining Australian girls commencing their tournament tomorrow.
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