FORMER JUNIOR CHAMPIONS FARING WELL AT FRENCH OPEN BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 29th May 2014

French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros

FORMER JUNIOR CHAMPIONS FARING WELL AT FRENCH OPEN BY RICKY DIMON

epa04232239 Taylor Townsend of USA returns to Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain during their third round match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 30 May 2014. EPA/CAROLINE BLUMBERG |

Recent junior Grand Slam champions are accounting themselves well at the highest level so far at the French Open, especially on the women’s side.

The French crowd has already been treated to a memorable run by an underdog of their own in Kristina Mladenovic. She upset former Roland Garros champion Li Na in the opening round and fought past Alison Riske 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3 on Thursday. Mladenovic captured the French Open girls title in 2009.

In 2012, Taylor Townsend won the girls event at the Australian Open and Genie Bouchard did the same at Wimbledon. Both women are still alive through two rounds of the current fortnight. Townsend booked a spot in the last 32 of a major for the first time in her career by upsetting Alize Cornet on Wednesday. Cornet was a Roland Garros junior champion, herself (2007). Bouchard, far more established at this level than Townsend and arguably one of the favorites to win the women’s title, has advanced with wins over Shahar Peer and Julia Goerges.

Elina Svitolina and Kristyna Pliskova have been ousted, but not before advancing to the second round. Svitolina, the 2009 French Open girls champion, fell to Ana Ivanovic on Thursday. Pliskova, the girls winner at Wimbledon in 2009, lost to Agnieszka Radwanska in the round of 64.

On the men’s side, you have to go back four years to find a junior Grand Slam champion who is still alive in Paris. Jack Sock, the 2010 U.S. Open boys winner, benefited from a Nicolas Almagro retirement in the first round before defeating fellow American Steve Johnson on Thursday. After that, the last junior champion still in the men’s main draw at the French Open is Donald Young. He triumphed at Wimbledon in 2007 and has victories this week over Dudi Sela and Feliciano Lopez.

Going back further, back-to-back-to-back French Open boys titles from 2004 to 2006 were won by Gael Monfils, Marin Cilic, and Martin Klizan. Monfils is through to the third round for rematch of a 2010 Roland Garros thriller against Fabio Fognini. Cilic will face Novak Djokovic on Friday and Klizan has an all-unseeded matchup on his hands with Marcel Granollers.

This year’s French Open junior draws will be revealed on Saturday. Alexander Zverev, the recent Australian Open champ, is the top-ranked boy. Belinda Bencic, who prevailed last season at Roland Garros and at the All-England Club, is the No. 1 girl in the world.

Topics: French Open, Ricky Dimon, Roland Garros, Taylor Townsend, Tennis

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10sBalls_com says:

May 29, 2014 at 10:12 pm

FORMER JUNIOR CHAMPIONS FARING WELL AT FRENCH OPEN BY RICKY DIMON (@RD_Tennistalk) – http://t.co/cxDsfloNez #FrenchOpen #RG14 #tennis