Key on-court contenders in 2022 BOYS
GIRLS
The Brazilian-born American comes into this event as the top ranked player. In 2021, he reached the quarter-finals of the Wimbledon juniors, the highlight of a year where he bowed out after the third round of the French Open and second round of the US Open. He trains under the guidance of renowned coach Brian Baker and gained great experience from playing alongside Elvina Kalieva in the mixed doubles at the senior US Open in 2021. The big challenge for Kuzuhara is to land that elusive tournament win after some near misses towards the back end of 2021.
Going by the rankings, Shnaider is the top player who will be on the courts of Traralgon during the AGL Loy Yang International. Her resume backs that up. The Russian was a doubles champion in the Wimbledon juniors in 2021 alongside partner Kristina Dmitruk. That followed up an excellent showing when she reached the semi-finals of the French Open juniors earlier in the year. Shnaider finished 2021 with a three-set loss to Petra Marcinko in the final at Plantation and will be keen to go one better in the Latrobe Valley.
Name: Bruno Kuzuhara Age: 17 Nationality: American ITF junior ranking: 9
Name: Mili Poljicak Age: 17 Nationality: Croatian ITF junior ranking: 11
Name: Diana Shnaider Age: 17 Nationality: Russian ITF junior ranking: 7
Bruno Kuzuhara.
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tournament success of 2021, a result which saw him power up to a career-best ranking. Mensik is a dogged competitor with weapons on both sides of his body.
Poljicak is coming off a 2021 campaign where he like Kuzuhara reached the quarter-finals of the Wimbledon juniors. He collected the biggest win of his young career to date in the Merida in Mexico, fighting back from a set down to defeat Paraguay’s Adolfo Daniel Vallejo. He made his ATP main draw debut at the Croatian Open after receiving a wildcard into the doubles main draw. He and partner Admir Kalender caused something of a surprise in that event when they downed second seeds Pablo Cuevas and Fabrice Martin.
Name: Jakub Mensik Age: 16 Nationality: Czech ITF junior ranking: 14
Name: Adolfo Daniel Vallejo Age: 17 Nationality: Paraguayian ITF junior ranking: 17
Vallejo is the fourth player inside the top 20 ranked players to make the trek to Traralgon for this event. He brings great experience, having represented his country at Davis Cup level, where he has a win-loss record of 2-1. Vallejo’s formlines tie through the top two ranked players in this event. He defeated Bruno Kuzuhara in the event at Plantation (US) in December, but lost to Poljicak in Merida two weeks earlier.
AUSSIE CHALLENGERS
The top ranked Czech is bringing winning form with him to Traralgon after taking out the Cape Town event in November. Mensik upset top seed Leo Borg to land a first
MAIN DRAW: None. QUALIFIERS: Edward Winter (184), Jeremy Jin (187), Zachary Viiala (321), Hayden Jones (333), Charlie Camus (397), Jiayang Dong (435), Alex Braund (502).
Name: Ksenia Zaytseva Age: 17 Nationality: Russian ITF junior ranking: 11
Zaytseva features in the two-pronged Russian bid likely to take out this title. 2021 proved a great year for the emerging talent, winning titles in Pansevo (Serbia) and Hannover (Germany). Dynamite on clay courts, Zaytseva’s form has not quite been as strong on the hard courts, but expect her to stay the course deep into this tournament.
Name: Solana Sierra Age: 17 Nationality: Argentinian ITF junior ranking: 13
Diana Shnaider.
Name: Clervie Ngounoue Age: 15 Nationality: American ITF junior ranking: 20
This young lady is a player going places. Despite her tender age, in relation to her fellow juniors, Ngounoue has the game to match it with the world’s best. Ngounoue, who hails from Washington D.C, reached the final of the Cape Town event in October 2021 and the semi-finals of Milan in July. The right-hander’s preferred surface is clay, but as she showed in South Africa, her game stands up well to the rigours of the hard court.
AUSSIE CHALLENGERS
MAIN DRAW: Charlotte Kempenears-Pocz (133) QUALIFIERS: Taylah Preston (200), Catherine Aulia (208), Talia Gibson (232), Roisin Gilheany (322), Elena Micic (335), Lily Taylor (338), Anja Nayar (399), Zara Larke (402), Lily Fairclough (457), Stefani Webb (505), Tianyu Dong (531), Yilin Yan (580), Mia Tsoukalas (648), Darina Kamenoff (687), Sarah Rokusek (766), Jelena Cvijanovic (916), Madison Schwarz (1250), Piper Freeman (1405).
The Argentinian ace looks the biggest threat to Russian dominance of the women’s event. Sierra is coming off a solid finish to 2021 where she reached the semi-finals at Bradenton (United States) and the US Open juniors, where she lost to Robin Montgomery in three sets. The right-hander boasts a solid all-round clay game and is equally adept on all surfaces.
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Page 10 — The Latrobe Valley Express, Wednesday, 12 January, 2022
