Marina Erakovic yesterday continued her run of good results in the Australian Open junior girls singles by scoring a 6-3, 6-4 win over the fifth seed, Yung-Jan Chan, of Taiwan.
The victory puts the Auckland 16-year-old into the quarter-finals, equalling her best singles effort at a junior Grand Slam (United States Open 2004).
She will play her doubles partner and the singles top seed Victoria Azarenka, of Belarus, in the quarters.
Azarenka is only 15 but already 1.80m. She is ranked at No 3 on the ITF junior rankings, lives in Spain to improve her game and has a WTA senior singles ranking of 452 as well.
Erakovic started the match holding her serve and then finally breaking her opponent's in the seventh game to take the set 6-3.
The Kiwi raced out to a 5-2 lead in the second set, but then lost concentration briefly for Chan to come back to 5-4.
Much to her relief Erakovic won the match in the next game, showing plenty of determination to make the last eight.
Against her steady opponent Erakovic made more unforced errors - 35 compared to Chan's 22.
However, in winning shots Erakovic hit 22 to Chan's 16 and also attacked the net more.
Tennis: Erakovic marches into the final eight
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