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 01.12.2002
In the girl's 18 final, fifteen year old Ana Ivanovic (13) (YUG) wins her first ITF junior circuit title over Jarmila Gajdosova (2) (SVK) , in straight sets, 7-6(7); 6-1. "After winning the tie break I had more confidence," said Ana. "But I think that we can both play much better." Ana broke in the first game of the second set, and Jarmila immediately broke back, but that was the only game Jarmila won that set. Serving to stay in the match at 5-1 Ana capitalized on Jarmila's unforced errors and broke for the third time in the set to win the championship. Ana's coach, Begen Vranef could barely contain his nerves watching the match.
The number two seed had three set point opportunities in the first set tie breaker, but did not convert. "She double faulted to give me the third set point, but I didn't play good," said Jarmila. "I can't win if I play like that."
After this Ana has a hectic schedule, going to the International Winter and Orange Bowl, followed by ITF tournaments in Mexico. "I hope I can repeat this and play again in the final," she smiled. At present she is 43 on the ITF junior rankings, but this win should place her up in the twenties.
Friday
29th November
In another exciting match of
the day, Ana Ivanovic (13) (YUG) came back from behind
in both sets to defeat Viktoriya Kutuzova (UKR) 7-5;
7-6(6). In the first set she was down 2-5 and in the
second she came back from 1-4. Both girl's were rifling
their ground strokes at a whopping pace, with plenty of
variety and very few errors. It was a match of the
highest quality, much to the appreciation of those lucky
enough to watch.
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