Playing against a 15-year-old whose resume is clearly becoming more impressive by the day, Jessica Yang (ITF 22) put forth a flawless display to beat 56th-ranked Anna Orlik of Belarus, 6-2, 6-1, to set up a chancy rendezvous with second-seeded reigning Australian Open Junior Champion, Arantxa Rus (ITF 3), in round two of The Junior Championships, Wimbledon.
Rus, who was just recently signed on by IMG, defeated Milana Spremo of Serbia, 6-1, 6-3. Aside from winning the AOJC back in January, the Dutch teenager also managed to reach the semis at Roland Garros before she was upended by eventual champion and current world No. 1, Simona Halep, 6-3, 7-5.
The 18-year-old from Holland presently holds a WTA Singles Ranking of No. 282 after having captured the C25 Bari earlier this April. Last year, she was a runner-up at the C25 San Luis Potosí, but bagged the C10s in Alphen A/D Rijn and Vlaardingen in the Netherlands.
Rus made her Fed Cup debut for the Dutch this year in Euro/Africa Group I where she won both her singles in the round robins before suffering her only loss to world No. 3 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in two close sets, 6-4 7-6(7), in the ensuing 1st - 4th Playoffs.
As reported earlier, although Anna Orlik is currently ranked outside the Top-50, the 15-year-old had already peaked at a career-best No. 26 earlier this year after capturing both singles and doubles titles at the Grade 2 Slovak Junior Indoor Tournament. She then added another doubles win and a singles runner-up finishes at the Grade 1 Czech International Junior Indoor Championships the following week.
The Belarusian also commands a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Singles Ranking of No. 687 at present.
However, as Travelling Coach Hee-June Choi reports from SW19: "Jessica played flawlessly today [Saturday] and we should be proud of her because she was focused 100 percent from the beginning to the end. We will next play the number two seed in the following round."
Although Jessica Yang has had no prior experience playing on the hallowed green grass of Wimbledon, the match statistics showed that she had a clear advantage in almost all major areas of play. In all, Jessica won 90% (18 of 20) of points on first serve, won 59% of points on second serve, and had only 12 unforced errors compared with her opponent's 25.
Moreover, she was successful on 5 out of the 7 break point opportunities that came her way and enjoyed a healthy 57-30 advantage in terms of total points won.
A number of girls' seeds failed to venture past the opening hurdle, however, as evidenced by the demise of No. 4 Elena Bogdan of Romania, No. 7 Ana Bogdan, No. 8 Kurumi Nara of Japan, and No. 11 Ksenia Lykina of Russia.
Note that only the first half of the opening round matches have been completed, with the remaining matches to complete later on Monday.
In the boys' draw, top-seeded Aussie Open Junior Champion, Bernard Tomic (ITF 2), simply had too much all-court game for clay specialist Carlos Boluda, as he ran away with their first round encounter, 6-2, 6-1, in double quick time.
Chinese Taipei's No. 2 seed Yang Tsung-Hua (ITF 3), who became the first player from his country to win the boys' singles title at the Roland Garros Junior Championships, also saw off Jose Hernandez of the Dominican Republic in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.
The last time a player from Taiwan reached the boys' singles final at a Junior Grand Slam was Wang Yeu-Tzuoo, who got to the finals at both the Australian and US Open Junior Championships in 2001.
Other seeds did not enjoy such a convincing outing, however, as No. 5 Yuki Bhambri of India, No. 8 Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador, and Thai No. 12 seed Peerakit Siributwong were all sent packing from the first round.
Former Hong Kong resident, Tara Moore (ITF 117, WTA 844), a wildcard entry, bowed out to Hungary's Zsofia Susanyi in two very close sets, 7-6(5), 6-4.
Having said that, Tara Moore was clearly disadvantaged in the unforced errors department, as she chalked up 41 in all compared to only 15 by her opponent.
In the doubles, Jessica Yang will team up with Kanyapat Narattana (ITF 77, WTA 906), who won the Thai National 18U girls' singles this year. She was also a member of Thailand's Junior Fed Cup Team that came first at the Asia/Oceania Qualifying in 2007 when they beat Australia in the final.
However, the HK-Thai duo had been drawn to face No. 6 seeds Jessica Moore of Australia and Polona Hercog of Slovenia in a tough opening round encounter.
Hercog and Moore are seeded fifth and sixth respectively in the girls' singles championship.
Results
The Junior Championships, Wimbledon (GA)
AELTC, London, England
28 June-5 July 2008
GIRLS' SINGLES
First Round
Jessica Yang (HKG) d. Anna Orlik (BLR) 6-2 6-1