Wild Card Lindahl and Unseeded Sidorenko Vie For Australian Junior Open Boys Championship Sunday

Wild Card Lindahl and Unseeded Sidorenko Vie For Australian Junior Open Boys Championship Sunday~~~
©Colette Lewis 2006
Melbourne--

Wild card Nick Lindahl, unfazed by the change from Margaret Court Arena to the indoor practice courts due to a drenching rain, easily dispatched fellow New South Welchman Ryan Bellamy 6-4, 6-0 to become the first Australian since Todd Reid in 2002 to reach the Junior Open final in Melbourne. His opponent in the final will be unseeded Alexandre Sidorenko of France, who avenged last week’s three-set loss to friend Pavel Chekhov 6-4, 6-0.

Sent to court during a brief dry spell on Saturday afternoon, both boys semifinal matches were just a few games old when the steady rain returned. Lindahl, who has recently moved to Melbourne from Newcastle to train at the new National Academy, believes he took the disruption in stride better than his opponent.

"I think he was a bit unhappy with moving to indoors," said the seventeen-year-old from Newcastle. “I just played really solid, and defended really well and attacked well.”

Bellamy agreed that the change of venue threw him off his game.

“I was really prepared to play outdoors, and it’s completely different playing indoors, especially with all the engines going,” Bellamy said, referring to the high-decibel temporary air conditioners installed for the nearby corporate tents.

“It’s hard to hear….on the serve you don’t know whether it’s going to be a slice serve or a kick serve, Bellamy said. “It’s like playing in the dark really.”

Russian Pavel Chekhov, who in the 16th position was the lone remaining seed in the boys draw, also felt the effects of the move indoors and the toll of three consecutive three-set matches, including his third round upset of top seed Thiemo de Bakker.

“Indoors is more better for him,” Chekhov said. “He has a very good game… he had more energy today. He just played one three set match, yesterday,” said the seventeen-year-old IMG/Bollettieri Academy scholarship student.

Siderenko received a special exemption into the main draw of the Australian Junior Open based on his appearance in the doubles final of the Nottinghill Grade 1, but like Lindahl, he spent most of 2005 on the Futures Circuit, not playing the ITF junior events that would have earned him a seed in 2006’s first junior Grand Slam.

The right-handed Siderenko cited his return, his focus and his abillty to forget his off-court friendship with Chekhov as keys to the victory.

“It’s not easy, I know him very well, but I have to forget he’s my friend and play my game,” said the Russian-born seventeen-year-old who moved to France at age 4.

With the big serve and forehand Siderenko has displayed all week, the move indoors would seem a tantalizing prospect for him. But he thought it gave him no advantage against Chekhov.

“He serves very well, so you know it will be very tough to return, but I returned very well his serve,” said Siderenko, who travels with his coach and father Valery.

“It was very hot, and the generators also I heard, but I was concentrated on my game and not thinking of everything else.”

Siderenko attributed the difference between Saturday’s victory and the three-set loss to Chekhov in the third round at Nottinghill to his own consistency.

“He played about the same, this match as last week,” Siderenko said. “I was more concentrated. Last week I would get a break, and he would come back but here I would take a break and keep it. I was more regular on my game.”

Asked if he came to Australia expecting to win his junior title, Siderenko answered that his was his objective, but he refused to add pressure to himself now that he is one win away from his goal.

“I try to play this match like it’s first round, you know.” Siderenko said. “Don’t make something special, that it’s the final so I have to be nervous, but I just play the match like I do and we’ll see.”

Siderenko shouldn't expect to capitalize on his opponent’s nerves, however. Lindahl, who will have the added pressure of playing in front of a pro-Aussie crowd, is not a player prone to self-doubt.

When asked if he was nervous at the prospect of playing his first Grand Slam final, Lindahl answered “not really” before amending the comment.

"Let me rephrase that," he said. "No."

As an example of his mental strength, Lindahl pointed to his results this week.

“When I was down 5-3 in his first set with Austen Childs (in the quarterfinals on Friday) and he was serving, I knew I was going to win that match, because mentally he wasn’t that well. I knew I was stronger mentally than him.”

Asked where that strength came from, Lindahl thought before answering.

“Belief, really. I know I can beat these guys.”

To become the first Australian Junior Grand Slam Champion since Ben Ellwood in 1994, he’ll only have to beat one more.