By Frankie Chee
RUSSIAN tennis player Daria Gavrilova can always be counted on to bounce back after losing the first set.
Yesterday, she did just that and claimed a big prize – the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) girls’ singles title.
After losing the first set 2-6, the 16-year- old fought back to beat China’s Zheng Saisai, also 16, before a packed crowd at Kallang Tennis Centre.
The final score: 2-6, 6-2, 6-0.
The blonde Russian had also staged a comeback in the semi-finals. She was a set down and 3-5 behind in the second set, against Slovakian Jana Cepelova.
But Daria went on to notch a 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 victory.
In fact, she almost gave her opponent a walkover when she did not make it back to the match area on time after the semi-final was pushed back due to rain. Play began earlier than she thought and she had to rush back to the venue, losing her mobile phone in the frenzy.
Jana was one of the five opponents she beat en route to her shiny gold medal. Among them: Singapore’s only tennis representative Stefanie Tan and Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.
Fresh from her Roland Garros Junior Championship win in June, Elina, the former world junior No.1, had been the favourite to win the YOG gold medal. But she was beaten 2-6, 3-6 by Daria in the second round.
Now, Daria has the gold medal.
“She was tired, her mental focus dropped, and I won because I was fitter,” she said, referring to her comeback against Saisai in the second set.
But the Chinese silver medallist is also a winner in her own right. She was unseeded in the competition but defeated both the second and third seeds, and did not drop a single set until the final.
The YOG success is Daria’s biggest breakthrough to date, after making it to the semi-finals – which she lost – at last year’s US Open Junior Tennis Championship.
Currently 16th in the junior world rankings, the win has given Daria hope but she remains humble. “Yes, I want to be in the 2012 Olympics, but I will not get there. There are too many Russians, good Russians. But maybe in six years, I would love to,” she said.
