Glatch's Birthday Present--A Trip to U.S. Open Jr. Finals

©Colette Lewis 2005
Flushing Meadows, NY
Alex Glatch has been playing some great tennis lately. Her last two losses have been to Sania Mirza and Jelena Jankovic, two WTA top 50 players.

She kept it up on Saturday, her 16th birthday, by using her serve and creativity to baffle unseeded Nina Henkel of Germany, whose nerves were evident in the quick 6-1 first set. Henkel found her bearings, and it isn't often that Glatch, now six feet tall, faces someone bigger than she is. But Henkel's power was on display in the second set, and it was only Glatch's ability to hit the big serve at the key time that allowed her the opportunity to close it in straight sets, with the 7-5 second set.

"I never expected to do this well," said Glatch, seeded seventh at the Open. "I'm just very happy with the way I've played this week. I've just got to keep it going."

Playing in the doubles championship a few hours later, Glatch and partner Vania King, seeded second, were not able to stop the freight train that was the seventh seeded team of Nikola Frankova and Alisa Kleybanova. The Czech and Russian pair powered their way to a 7-5, 7-6 (3) victory over the Southern Californian friends.

Glatch will take on top seed and ITF number one Viktoria Azarenka in the finals on Sunday. The sixteen-year-old Azarenka, of Belarus, lost her first set of the tournament, but roared back to subdue 14th seeded Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Azarenka, the reigning Australian Open Jr. Champion, owns a win over Glatch in their only meeting at the 2004 Canadian Open, but she is not making too much of that. "She is a much better player now, she has so much more experience than she did."

Asked how she was going to celebrate her birthday, Glatch said she wasn't sure. But partner King assured reporters that she had given her friend several gifts of candy and cookies to mark the occasion.