New Zealand tennis player Barrett Franks caused a minor upset
in the first round of the Australian Open junior tennis
tournament, coming from behind to beat Spaniard Carlos
Boluda-Purkiss 3-6 7-6 6-2.
Despite lacking his highly regarded opponent's power, Franks,
17, was able to take the pace off the ball and frustrate a
player who has been ranked just outside the world's top 20
juniors. Franks is ranked in the 60s. Franks said he had been
working on varying his game against hard-hitters.
"I've been working with coach Al Hunt on making more balls
and not hitting people off the court but wait for the short
ball and come into the net rather than hitting winners all
the time," he said.
"I guess I started off quite nervously in the first set. Took
me most of the first set to get over actually being in the
Australian Open, but after I settled down in the second set I
started playing some of the best tennis I've played for a
long time."
Franks will now face Swedish top seed and world No 1 Daniel
Berta, who won the French Open junior title last year.
The other New Zealand players in the first round of singles
lost their matches. Paris-based Aucklander Sebastian Lavie
was beaten by Australian Sean Berman in three sets while Ben
McLachlan of Queenstown lost to Slovakian ninth seed Filip
Horansky 6-3 1-6 7-9.
In the girls' draw, North Harbour's Briar Preston was beaten
by Japan's Riza Ozaki 2-6 4-6.
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