French boys set for final battle as Jimenez Kasintseva makes history
The only tennis watched in the household of Arthur Cazaux’s family in southern France as a kid was Roland Garros, turned on the TV each spring and early summer by his father, who ignored the sport otherwise.
It was in 2005, when Arthur was only three, that a certain ball-bashing Spaniard by the name of Rafael Nadal caught their eye. Cazaux was transfixed.
“I don’t know why, but I had a shock, a ‘wow moment’ when I saw Rafa hitting the ball,” Cazaux, 17, told itftennis.com. “His grunt, the sound of the ball coming off his racquet. I said to my mum, ‘I want to play tennis. So she bought me a small tennis racquet and I hit inside our house against the wall. I drove my parents crazy.”
Some 15 years later, Cazaux said he could barely make eye contact with Nadal this fortnight when crossing paths with the 19-time major champion in Melbourne. But this weekend, it’s Cazaux who will be playing in a championship match inside Rod Laver Arena – not Nadal.
The teenager came through his fourth three-set match in five rounds to make the final, where he will play good friend and his doubles partner, No.1 seed Harold Mayot, also of France, in the first all-French boys final in 16 years (2004: Gael Monfils def. Josselin Ouanna).
“It’s amazing to have two French boys in the final,” said Mayot, who also needed three sets to beat Timo Legout on a blazing hot Friday in Melbourne. “Arthur is my good friend, I’ve known him since we were eight years old. … It’s going to be tough facing a good friend like this, but we have to play the match, to remember it is the final of a Grand Slam.”
The boys will kick off championship Saturday for the junior singles event, followed by the girls. Both finals are set to be played inside Rod Laver Arena.
No.9 seed Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva is the first junior from Andorra to make a major final, and also the youngest – at 14 years and five months – since Coco Gauff at the French Open in 2018. She had little trouble with No.13 seed Bai Zhuoxuan 6-3, 6-2 after winning two consecutive come-from-behind three-setters to make the semis.
“I want more, tomorrow is the final,” said a determined Jimenez Kasintseva, whose father, Joan, played on the ATP Tour in the 1990s. “I would have told you you’re crazy if you told me before the tournament I would be in the final. I had to go match by match. It’s tennis… you have to manage your game every week.”
It’s in the final where she’ll take on unseeded Polish player Weronika Baszak, who won a tough three-setter, 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 over Alexandra Vecic of Germany. Baszak threw her arms up to celebrate the win, then covered her face in disbelief after the triumph.
Her coach, Krzysztof Czubak, has been video chatting with her on a daily basis from Poland, where he stayed home, watching her matches in the middle of the night on a livestream. She’s been supported by good friend Iga Swiatek, the 2018 Wimbledon junior champion who is now ranked No.56 in the world.
“I don’t like to play long rallies,” said Baszak, who is 17. “I am serving well. I’m trying to hit the first ball very aggressive, make my opponent run. That’s my game. I believe in myself. And I fight, of course.”
It will be the first-ever meeting between Baszak, the world No.44, and Jimenez Kasintseva.
Friday was a challenging day for players across Melbourne Park, as the extreme heat delayed the start of matches by three hours, then wind and rain caused further interruptions.
But the first winners of the day were in the girls’ doubles title match, which saw No.4 seeds Alexandra Eala of the Philippines and Priska Madelyn Nugroho of Indonesia beat Ziva Falkner and Matilda Mutavdzic 6-1, 6-2 in just 49 minutes. The duo didn’t drop serve in the match.
“We played really well,” said Eala, who trains at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain. “We’ve learned throughout the week playing with each other how our games work best together. That really helped us today.”
While players from both Indonesia and the Philippines have had success in tennis prior, both women express pride in their victory at the Grand Slam level.
“This week was a very emotional week,” said Nugroho. Eala added: “Every time we step on the court we are representing our countries. There are not a lot of high-level players from where we come from, so it means a lot. We are trying to put those countries on the map.”
Eala has trained for two years at the Nadal Academy, having grown up in Manila. She’s been there two years.
“They’ve helped me out tremendously, boosting my game and taking it to the next level,” she said. “I’m a scholar, I have a full scholarship. There are a lot of new experiences there. I’m growing as a person and as a player.”
In the boys’ doubles final, No.5 seeds Nicholas David Ionel and Leandro Riedi squeaked out a hard-fought, tough contest in the late evening, beating 6th-seeded Mikolaj Lorens and Karlis Ozolins 6-7(8), 7-5, 10-4.
Ionel had made the semi-finals at the US Open a few months ago with a different partner.
“Leandro has been with me for every point this week,” Nicholas, a Romanian, said on court about his Swiss teammate. “He helped me a lot during the hard moments. Our teams were there for us in every match, no matter when we played. This is one of my favorite tournaments.”
Riedi was looking forward to visiting the Fortnite Summer Smash, a gaming competition set to start on Saturday inside Margaret Court Arena. Riedi is a recreational player of the popular online game, though the Summer Smash offers $100,000 to its winner this weekend.
All eyes will turn back onto the singles for Jimenez Kasintseva versus Baszak and Mayot versus. Cazaux, with the quartet set to take centre stage Saturday morning and early afternoon inside Laver. “It’s so exciting to play on this kind of court – it will be my first time,” said Mayot. “My biggest court so far has been in Chengdu (ITF Junior Masters). Rod Laver Arena is much bigger and I hope I can enjoy this occasion.”