Vladimir Ignatic became the first Belarusian to win a French Open boys singles title today, when he beat Greg Jones from Australia 6-3, 6-4.
Ranked 14 in the world in juniors, Ignatic was overcome with emotion at the end of the match, throwing himself to the floor as a final ace clinched victory: “I was so happy. I never thought I could win this tournament,” he explained later. Ignatic’s clay court game got the better of the Australian’s serve and volley tactics in an exciting match. The Belarusian was always in control except at one point in the second set, when having led 6-3, 31, he allowed Jones back in to lead 4-3.
The Belarusian had reason to be wary of Jones, who saved two matches against world number one Matteo Trevisan in his semi-final. Ignatic came back from 6-1, 3-0 in his own semi-final against Kellen Damico from the USA.
Ignatic becomes the third Belarusian to win a juniors title after Vladimir Voltchkov, who won Wimbledon in 1996, and Viktoria Azarenka, who won the French and US Opens in 2005.
“We have good juniors. I think tennis in Belarus is on the up,” said Ignatic, who splits his training between Minsk, and San Antonio in Texas. He will celebrate his 17th birthday on 14 July.
