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Notebook Men's final one for the agedPosted: Saturday September 07, 2002 7:10 PMFLUSHING, N.Y. (Ticker) -- Sunday's championship match between Americans Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi will be the first U.S. Open final between two players over age 30 in the Open era. Agassi will be 32 years, four months, 10 days on Sunday. Sampras will be 31 years, 27 days. The final also will be the first between over-30 players in Grand Slam competition since the 1972 Australian Open, when 37-year-old Ken Rosewall defeated 36-year-old Mal Anderson. The winner Sunday will be the oldest U.S. Open champion since Rosewall won in 1970 at age 35. If Agassi wins, he will be the oldest winner of a Grand Slam since Andres Gimeno won the French Open at 34 in 1972. Sampras would be the oldest Grand Slam champion since Arthur Ashe won Wimbledon in 1975 at 31 years, 11 months. Juniors resultsRoss Hutchins of England was scheduled to compete in Saturday's junior boys' doubles semifinals. He never got to play. Hutchins, who is from Wimbledon, England, was rushed to a hospital after suffering a possible appendicitis attack as early in the semi. He and partner Steve Darcis of Belgium forfeited, and Brian Baker of the United States and Chris Guccione of Australia advanced to the final in a walkover. Baker, who is from Nashville, Tenn., and Guccione will play Michael Koning and Bas van der Valk of the Netherlands, who defeated Michael Ryerstedt of Sweden and Dudi Sela of Israel, 6-3, 6-4, in the boys' final Sunday at the National Tennis Center. The junior girls' doubles final will have a distinct local flavor. In an all-American semifinal, Shadisha Robinson and Tory Zawacki defeated Cory Ann Avants and Shenay Perry, 6-4, 7-5. Robinson is from South Ozone Park, N.Y., which is a short drive from the National Tennis Center. Zawacki, who trains in Hilton Head, S.C., is from Union, N.J., just across the Hudson River from Manhattan. The 17-year-old Zawacki is the fourth girl in her family to stand out playing junior tennis and is on her way to being the most successful. Older sisters Tracy, 31, and Terry, 28, played at Wake Forest. Another sister, Tammy, 26, played for Seton Hall. Robinson and Zawacki will play the second-seeded team of Elke Clijsters and Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium in the final. Clijsters is the 17-year-old sister of Kim Clijsters. Also among the juniors, top seed Richard Gasquet of France moved into position for his second junior Grand Slam title of the year by defeating Ryan Henry of Australia, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. Gasquet's opponent in Sunday's final will be fifth seed Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, who defeated second seed Robin Soderling of Sweden, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-4). Barbara Strycova of the Czech Republic, the top seed among girls, also moved into position for her second junior Grand Slam this year. Strycova, the Australian Open winner, defeated Tatiana Golovin of France, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1. Her opponent in the final will be 12th-seeded Maria Kirillenko of Russia, a 6-0, 6-1 winner of Jarmila Gajdosova of Slovakia. Kirillenko, who is 15 but much younger, has been one of the most impressive juniors in the U.S. Open. She came within one point of a 6-0, 6-0 "double bagel," losing her only game after building a 6-0, 5-0 lead. Kirillenko was a semifinalist at the Wimbledon Junior Championships and recently won the prestigious Canadian International. She defeated promising American junior Ally Baker, 6-4, 6-3, in the quarterfinals. She is coached by former women's pro tour player Elena Brioukhovets. Schalken misses the doubleSjeng Schalken's loss to Sampras in Saturday's men's semifinals kept former Swedish star Stefan Edberg in exclusive company. Schalken's loss means that Edberg remains the only player to win both the junior and men's singles titles at the U.S. Open. Edberg won the boys title in 1983 and captured consecutive U.S. Open championships in 1991 and 1992. Schalken won the junior title in 1994. Other former U.S. Open junior boys champions in this year's draw were Andrea Gaudenzi of Italy (1990), Marcelo Rios of Chile (1993), Nicolas Kiefer of Germany (1995), David Nalbandian of Argentina (1998), Jarkko Nieminen of Finland (1999) and Andy Roddick of the United States (2000). A fitting first honoreeThe WTA announced the establishment of the Corina Morariu Courage Award to be unveiled in November at the 2002 WTA Championships at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Morariu will be the first winner of the award named in her honor. The Floridian overcame leukemia last year and returned to compete in the U.S. Open this year after a 14-month absence from the tour.
© 2003 SportsTicker Enterprises, LP
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