Tournament Preview
Bencic, Zverev Lead US Open Junior Fields
by
Colette Lewis, 30 August 2013
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The summer of 2013 has belonged to Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, who aims for her third consecutive junior slam title at the US Open Junior Championships next week.
The top-ranked 16-year-old, who is the reigning
French and
Wimbledon girls champion, is attempting to become the first girl to win three slams in one year since Bulgaria's Magdalena Maleeva in 1990. But Bencic will be tested by a deep and accomplished field that features every member of the ITF junior Top 10.
Bencic's perfect record this summer and her 39-match winning streak in junior competition ended at the European Championships, with a semifinal loss to Barbora Krejcikova, who went on to claim that prestigious title and has earned the No. 4 seed in New York. Another Czech, No. 3 Katerina Siniakova, is also a threat, having reached the Orange Bowl and Australian Open junior finals while simultaneously earning a Top 300 WTA ranking.
World No. 2 and Australian Open girls champion Ana Konjuh of Croatia could bookend her year with another junior slam title, and although only 15, she too has won enough on the ITF Women's Circuit to reach the WTA Top 300.
Japan's Mayo Hibi, who lives and trains in California, also has had enough success on the Pro Circuit to earn a Top 300 WTA ranking, which resulted in her direct entry into the US Open juniors, where she will be seeded. The 17-year-old, who won both the Carson and Easter Bowl ITF tournaments this spring, is making her junior slam main draw debut after falling in the final round of qualifying last year in New York.
Like Hibi, Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo also received entry based on her WTA ranking, and although she will not be seeded, her experience on the professional circuit makes her one to watch in her US Open debut.
