Unseeded Sidorenko Bounds to Australian Junior Open Boys Singles Title

Unseeded Sidorenko Bounds to Australian Junior Open Boys Singles Title~~~
©Colette Lewis 2006
Melbourne--

Alexandre Sidorenko was determined to see a kangaroo while in Australia, but he was too busy winning tennis matches during the Australian ITF Summer Circuit to do any sightseeing.

It wasn’t until a day off Thursday that he had time to visit the Melbourne Zoo and its kangaroos, and after capturing the Australian Junior Open championship on Sunday afternoon with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over Australian wild card Nick Lindahl, Sidorenko now also has the junior champion’s stuffed version to remind him of his stunning run Down Under.

Sidorenko earned a special exemption from qualifying this week, but it was only by the slimmest of margins. Because he played very few ITF events in 2005, concentrating instead on Futures tournaments in France, his ranking was too low for direct acceptance. Reaching the semifinals in doubles in the previous tournament at Nottinghill gave the seventeen-year-old Russian-born Parisian hope that he could avoid the one-day, two-match qualifying tournament.

"The referee say to me, if you want special exempt, you have special exempt if you win-- if you lose, you play qualies," Sidorenko said. "I won 7-6 in the third set, so you can imagine how I be nervous."

With that win assuring him a main draw slot, Sidorenko cruised past his opponents, losing only one set, and if he felt any nerves in the final, it wasn’t indicated by his play.

Up 3-0 after he won the first twelve points of the match, the unseeded Sidorenko could not have hoped for better start; his dominance subdued the enthusiasm of the dozens of Lindahl’s Aussi fans hiding from the midafternoon sun under the canopies in Margaret Court arena. With an audience that included Australian tennis legends Ken Rosewall, Mark Woodforde and John Alexander, Lindahl couldn’t put his usually punishing forehand in court during the match’s first game.

"I was a bit shocked really," said the Swedish-born Lindahl, who moved to Australia as an infant. "Missed a bad forehand bottom of the net. I think I did four after that. I wasn’t feeling nervous—just maybe overexcited or too happy. I was just really confused."



Lindahl managed to find a solution to the Sudoku puzzle Sidorenko presented however, and ran out to a 5-2 lead in the second set, But Siderenko, who had looked listless after taking a medical timeout at the 2-3 changeover, suddenly rediscovered his strokes, getting the break back when Lindahl doublefaulted at 5-3, 30-40.

In the ensuing tiebreak, the two seventeen-year-olds held serve through 4-4 but at that point Lindahl’s forehand again let him down, with two errors giving Sidorenko the only match point he needed when Lindahl’s return of serve floated long.

And although Lindahl was disappointed by his loss, he had little time to brood, as he was asked by Australian Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald if he would like to accompany the team to Switzerland for the upcoming Davis Cup tie.

“It’s a bit of a shock still because I wasn’t expecting that,” said Lindahl, who wore an NBA Pistons jersey at the postmatch press conference. “I feel like I don’t really know yet what’s going on, but I think I’ll be going,”

Sidorenko and the kangaroo that he calls his “talisman” will return to France knowing that the days of special exemptions and qualifying for junior events are over.

“Before I come to Australia my ranking was like 130 ITF. Now I think I will be second or first. So in a month, it’s a good progress,” he smiled.

”If I can progress like this on ATP it will be nice. I’ll come every time to Australia.”

With a kangaroo in his luggage, no doubt.