Damico and Schnugg Fall to Unseeded Polish Team in Australian Junior Open Doubles Final

Damico and Schnugg Fall to Unseeded Polish Team in Australian Junior Open Doubles Final ~~~
©Colette Lewis 2006
Melbourne--

In a match that finished at 10:30 p.m., Kellen Damico and Nate Schnugg were unable to regain the energy they had displayed in their tense semifinal win less than two hours earlier, falling 7-6 (5), 6-3 to the unseeded team of Blazej Koniusz and Grzegorz Panfil of Poland.

In a decision that caught Damico and Schnugg by surprise, tournament officials informed the pair that, despite what they had been told earlier, the doubles final would be played one hour after the completion of their semifinal match.

"We had no say," said Damico, whose coach Rich Benvin had rearranged flights for Monday when being told during a rain delay that the doubles final would be played on Sunday, not on Saturday as originally scheduled. So after an emotional 7-6 in the third win in the semifinals, Damico and Schnugg had virtually no time to regroup.

"They came out firing," Schnugg said of the vocal and emotional Polish team. "They had it a lot easier," added Damico of Koniusz and Panfil's straight-set win in the semifinals.

It was certainly not a Baghdatis-style crowd that lifted the Polish team, as there were more ballrunners and officials than spectators in the eerily quiet Margaret Court arena.

"It was disappointing," Schnugg said of the sparse crowd. "It's didn't seem like a Grand Slam final."

"When we had 100 people cheering against us, in our (semifinal) match with Kei (Nishikori) and Peter (Polansky), in the semis, it was more fun," said Damico. "It's what you want to do, play your best when it matters."

But in the finals, Damico and Schnugg could not hold on to a break in the third game of the first set, and when they fell behind an early break in the second, they were unable to recapture the emotion and grit they displayed in their semifinal victory.

Even with all the distractions and the last-minute scheduling changes,however, Damico and Schnugg were most disappointed with their own poor play in the final.

"They outplayed us," Schnugg admitted. "They handled everything better than we did."

The girls doubles finals was also decided under similar circumstances next door at Show Court 2. Sharon Fichman of Canada and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia defeated Alize Cornet of France and Corinna Dentoni of Italy 6-2, 6-2 for the championship