Radwanska Captures Girls' Title:: Wimbledon.org

Radwanska Captures Girls' Title--

Before Wimbledon recedes into memory, I wanted to post this story (the only one I could find) about the girls finals.

Both Wimbledon girls finalists are a lesson in the unpredictability of junior tennis. I actually can claim to have seen Radwanska play, in March at the International Bavarian Junior Challenge, where she and her sister won the doubles. Seeded third there, she lost in singles in the second round to a qualifier. Her opponent in the Wimbledon final, Tamira Paszek of Austria, was also at the ITF Grade 2 event, seeded fourth, and she lost in the first round. (Makarova, who won the Bavarian, lost in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon to second seed Agnes Szavay, who Radwanska beat in the semifinals.)

There was nothing to suggest that four months later, both would find grass much more to their liking than indoor carpet and would meet in the Wimbledon Junior championship match, unseeded, of course, having eliminated the top two seeds in the semifinals. The 14-year-old Austrian beat Jessica Kirkland, the third seed, and top seeded and junior world number one Viktoria Azarenka, as well as two other seeds, so it isn't as if she was the beneficiary of a host of upsets.

The boys finalists were not truly surprising, with Chardy having made the singles semis and Haase the doubles finals at Wimbledon last year. But I don't think anyone could have seen a Radwanska - Pazsek girls singles final coming, if only because neither one of them is Russian.