Van Assche wins battle of the French
France was guaranteed a winner in the boys’ singles after history was made earlier this week with an all-French semi-final line-up at junior Roland Garros.
The question was, which one of the current crop of talented teenagers would become the 14th French player to triumph on home soil and, after a one-sided final in Paris, it was Luca Van Assche who downed his compatriot Arthur Fils 6-4 6-2 to lift the silverware.
“I’m very happy to win Roland Garros,” said Van Assche, who joins the likes of Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet and Paul-Henri Mathieu in winning the junior title at their home Grand Slam. “I will work a lot to be like them in the future and to have the same career as them.”
Fils, who was celebrating his 17th birthday on Saturday, struggled on serve and, in the opening set, nerves showed on both sides of the net as the players traded three breaks in the third, fourth and fifth games of the match.
Once Van Assche moved 3-2 up in the opening set, he never looked back. The 17-year-old held serve for the remainder of the match and took his opportunities to break his opponent twice more in the second set to seal victory in front of a vocal crowd on Court 14.
“I looked to my team and we were celebrating the victory,” recalled Van Assche of the moment he clinched the title. “I was very, very happy to win this big tournament in France, in front of French people. It was very cool.”
But Van Assche won’t be letting the victory go to his head. Despite ambitions to become a professional tennis player in the future, he also wants to carry on with his studies in order to go to university in France.
He explained that any celebrations would have to be put on hold as he has a philosophy exam next week as part of his Baccalaureat.
He plans to play the J1 Roehampton event, which is the traditional warm-up for junior Wimbledon, and he will be hoping to carry on his fine form at the All England Lawn Tennis Club next month.
Fils did have something to celebrate on his birthday after taking the boys' doubles title alongside countryman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 7-5 6-2 against Belgium's Martin Katz and Ukraine's German Samofalov.