Friday, January 29, 2010

Karolina Pliskova wins Australian Open junior girls championship

For the second time in two years, Laura Robson is the junior girls Australian Open finalist. Robson was defeated 6-1, 7-6 by Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in a match that went terribly wrong for Robson at the end.

After winning the first set handily, Pliskova went up a break immediately in the second set. But when she served for the match at 5-4, Robson broke her. Robson then held at love, and the momentum of the match appeared to have turned dramatically. She was unable to break Pliskova, however, so the match went into a tiebreak.

Robson got a mini-break right away and went up 4-1, but Pliskova eventually got the score even at 4-all. When Robson committed her second double-fault of the match, Pliskova went up 6-4. Robson saved a match point with a down-the-line winner, but then double-faulted again on the second match point.

Robson defeated Pliskova's twin, Kristyna, in the semifinals.

The new junior champion, who was seeded 6th at the tournament, hit thirteen aces in the final.

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