Mladenovic sweeps to girls’ title

France’s Kristina Mladenovic cruised to victory in girls’ singles final, dominating Daria Gavrilova of Russia 6-3 6-2. 16-year-old Mladenovic became the 14th French player to win the juniors title at the French Open as she despatched her opponent in a little over an hour on Suzanne Lenglen court in front of a sizeable crowd. The French girl won the tournament with flair, not dropping a single set along the way, and the former European under-14 champion plays an exciting brand of aggressive game. The match was a contrast in styles, with Mladenovic leaning on her strong serve and forehand, while Gavrilova played more defensively, varying the height and angles of the ball. The 15-year-old Russian, coached by Patrick Mouratoglou, was too passive however, and let her opponent dictate too many points. “Kiki” as Mladenovic is known did not have it all her own way in the final, however, and found herself two games down before she was barely out of the locker-room. Boosted by enthusiastic support of her fan club, mostly made up of members of her brother’s football team, Mladenovic got her focus back to break twice and take the first set 6-3 in 33 minutes. Mladenovic was 2-1 up in the second set when Gavrilova fumbled a smash and crashed to her knees. The trainer strapped up her painful knee but the Russian could not drag herself back into contention – Mladenovic controlled play and again broke twice to sail to victory, bagging the second set 6-2. The French girl celebrated her first big win by blowing kisses to her friends and family in the stands, and then climbed up to kiss Georges Goven, her coach, and Dragan, her father. After lifting her trophy, she kept on top of her emotions just long enough to thank her loved ones. “Thank you to everyone who supported me!” she smiled, “and special thanks to the person in navy blue with his head down [Goven]. I’m so happy to have won this tournament!” Already ranked No338 in the world, Mladenovic is hoping to follow in her the footsteps of her idols Elena Dementieva and Mario Ancic by breaking into the top 100 by the end of the season. Her attacking game and powerful serve (clocked at 200 km/h in her first-round match in the main draw against Magdalena Rybarikova) will play integral parts in helping her dream come true, and perhaps she will even follow in the footsteps of Amélie Mauresmo or Alizé Cornet, both of whom won the juniors here at Roland Garros.