Welcome back!!
The withdrawal deadline for Trofeo Bonfiglio has now expired and, as predictable, few players withdrew in the meantime; if I can survive the tragedy that one of them is N.B.O., I will spend a few lines on the final entry lists, in order to complete my previous article.
Both numbers 1 (Liang and Korda), unfortunately, are out. Korda is the only top 10 defection within boys’ tournament, which is then stronger then the girls’, as 7 top 10 will take part. Beside Korda’s, there are no other noticeable defections compared to the entry list uploaded two weeks ago and the cut of the main draw is thus set at 68: the tournament will be very, very strong, better than the Slams not held in Europe. As per the girls’ event, we lost Xy Yu Wang (but the first seed is Xinyu Wang, and the gap between the two is just an “n” and a “space”). Cut is set at 66 and there will be 4 top 10s; since, as said, three top 10s are “out of games”, also the girls’ tournament is to be judged as very strong. Personally, I do not like very much the first seed Wang and I think that the favourite is the Danish Tauson, but also Molinaro and Naho Sato must be seriously taken into account.
In the meantime, also the Roland Garros entry list has come out. As predictable, Anisimova and Kostyuk have not enrolled and, a bit more surprisingly, also Olga Danilovic has not; Juvan and Swiatek, on whom we will speak soon after, are instead scheduled to play. As per the boys’ tournament, all the top 50 players are in.
Let’s now switch to the Pro Tour, to speak about our old friends BerghemIga Swiatek and Kaja Juvan. The Polish girl, having won a 15k just after her comeback, competed in 4 tournaments in the US, two 25k and two 80k. Iga usually wins one tournament over two in which she competes: even if she qualified easily (having lost 3 games overall in the three qualifying matches), the first 25k (in Jackson) was indeed the bad one: Iga beat a good player such as Louisa Chirico in the first round with the noticeable score of 6-2 6-1; the next match, though, wasn’t good at all, as she lost with the same (but reversed) score, against American Caterina Stewart. Of course, the following 25k (in Pelham) was instead the good one, so that the Polish girl could keep her ratio intact: Iga didn’t beat any noticeable player to win this tournament (except for, again, Chirico, this time by 6-2 6-4), but her performance was very solid: starting from the quali, she lost 21 games overall, and never dropped a set (losing three games or more in a single set only twice): it seems that, currently, Iga can overcome players ranking around 250th spot with fair ease. 80ks went even better for the Polish girl, even if she didn’t win any of them: she demonstrated, though, to be able to give a tough time to top 100s, which is a very important test for young players. In the first 80k (in Charlottesville), Iga qualified and lost in the first round against top 100 Duque Marino, the first very good tennis player she played against in her career: the match between the two was tight, as the final score was 7-6 6-3 in favour of the Columbian. The second tournament (in Charleston) went even better, as the Polish girl reached the semifinal: she was harshly beaten by Madison Brengle (1-6 1-6) but, in the process, Iga won her rematch against Marino (6-4 6-2 was the score) and beat Irina Falconi by 6-3 6-1. Thanks to these results Iga entered top 350 and gained direct access to the main draw of the Junior French Open.
Switching to Slovenia, the turn of Kaja Juvan came, as the golden-handed girl eventually won her first 25k, held in Hungary. She was granted a wild card and, honestly speaking, she didn’t have to escalate Everest to secure herself this achievement, as she had to beat only 1 player ranking in the top 300. Nevertheless, apart from the pleasure of the win itself, this is an important step for the Slovenian as, for the first time, she found noticeable consistency throughout a Pro tournament (not taking in account 15ks): Kaja beat all her opponents with severe scores, losing only 19 games in the five matches she played and has demonstrated for the first time to be able to compete at high levels also on the Pro Tour. Let’s hope that this win helps Kaja to find good trust in herself because I think that, up to now, on the Pro Tour she didn’t express her current full potential.
Also, Junior n. 1 Whitney Osuigwe joined in the America campaign: in my view the young American too still lacks consistency (she is only 15) but, in her ups and downs, she already reached interesting peaks. Whitney grabbed a final in a 25k in January; she didn’t play in Pelham, but she reached the semifinals in Jackson, didn’t qualify in Charlottesville and reached the quarters in Charleston.
Let’s focus on Europe (and Asia), to say that Olga Danilovic, after her Porceddus, played another solid tournament, having reached the quarterfinals in a 60k in Istanbul. In the meantime, Kostyuk lost in the first round of the qualifications in Prague (yes, she is human, maybe) against Rumanian Ruse; Burel reached a semifinal in a 15k in Hammameth and Anastasia Potapova has resurrected: after quite a long anonymous period, the Russian reached the quarters in the 60k in Istanbul and, more noticeably, the final in a 100k in Khimki, having beaten in the process Rodina, the great Niculescu (she must be real tough to play against, for a junior) and having lost against Vera Lapko. Beside Anastasia’s one, there was another a greatly welcome comeback (from an injury, unfortunately): lovely Maja Chwalinska played in Hungary (in the event won by Juvan) and qualified: she lost in the first round against the second seed Paquet, but it’s anyway nice to see her back: I hope she finds great satisfaction after the long stop she was forced to.
Finally, let’s switch again to the junior tour, just to say that Molinaro is continuing to win: after the Grade 2 in Cap d’Ail, she won the Grade 1 in Beaulieu sur Mer, having beaten in the quarters the second seed, Italian Cocciaretto, by 6-4 6-4. Thanks to these results, Molinaro will be a high seed in one week time in Milan.
I guess I won’t write any more until Bonfiglio as I am quite busy with my job. Though, stay tuned, you never know if something for you, foreign readers, may appear before.
