8th January 2007
New year headlines
by Rose Mather
Nearly half the boys aged out of the top 100 junior ITF rankings, leaving plenty of room for the next wave of talent to jump in. The grade A Copa Casablanca winner, Eduardo Peralta from Mexico, shot up to the 82nd spot, while Copa Casablanca finalist, Radu Albot MDA, leapt from 91 to a more secure 20th place.

Although ranked 69 in his native Australia, John Millman placed 84th in the world. In fact, most of the latter half of the boy's ITF ranking list are enjoying their first run in the top 100.

Conversely, on the girl's side, there is not much movement in the top 100 girl's rankings as many of the older girls are already playing pro. Julia Cohen USA, climbed only one more rung to reach 6th place after winning the grade A Copa Casablanca.

Martin Klizan SVK enjoyed being number one boy in the world for a week at the start of the year, but was overtaken today by Jonathan Eysseric FRA and the rest of the pack are closing in. Meanwhile, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova RUS remains confidently perched atop the girl's ranking for the second year in a row. After cutting down on her junior events, Anastasia is building her resume on the women's circuit by winning a 10k last May and making it to the finals in Minsk (25K) last November. 2nd ranked Caroline Wozniacki DEN is also racking up her WTA points, with wins like the 25k in Istanbul last October.

This should be a busy month for the rankings with the grade A Australian Open plus several grade 1's also scheduled.

To recap, the last few months' on the junior circuit, things have been busy. Nicolas Santos BRA ended out his junior career by winning the Eddie Herr International and reached the finals of the Orange Bowl. Although ranked number one in COSAT, his highest ITF ranking remained at number 2. Petru Luncanu ROM took the dream of winning the Orange Bowl away from Nicolas and kept it for himself.

Eddie Herr International singles girls 18 winner Urszula Radwanska POL managed to gain her first gold cup by winning the Orange Bowl doubles title with Sorana Cirstea ROM.

Orange Bowl girls 18 singles winner, Nikola Hofmanova AUT, saved her best tennis for the end of the year and still young enough to capture the title for the next few years. In the girls 16's division, US wild card, Allie Will ran to the finish line and took the title of champion, with great wins over top seed Valeria Solovieva RUS and seventh seed Charlotte Rodier FRA. Also, let's not forget her unseeded American opponent, Lauren Embree who took out Olivia Bennett (2) TRI and Sarah Guzick (6) USA enroute to the finals.

Grigor Dimitrov BUL made history by winning back-to-back Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl titles in the boy 16's division. Hanna Orlik BLR matched Grigor's efforts and won both tournaments in the girls 14's division and topped that by receiving the Eddie Herr Rising Star Award. She also took home both titles last year in the 12's division.

At the end of the year Florida, USA, always attracts a huge number of players from all over the world in the 12s and 14s age divisions. Yasutaka Uchiyam JPN walked away with the Eddie Herr boy's 14 title. The US had their share of winners as Mitchell Krueger titled in the boys 12's. In a battle of the Brits, Laura Robson GBR won the Eddie Herr girls 12's over arch rival, Jessica Ren GBR. Undeterred Jessica went on to capture the Junior Orange Bowl girls 12's crown.

Adding another Junior Orange Bowl title to his list, Bernard Tomic AUS defeated David Vargas VEN in one of the best finals the tournament has ever seen. And last, but not least, Reo Asami, now USTA number 1, took home the trophy in the boys 12's.


2007 Movers & Shakers: