Boys' Semi-Final Preview Thursday, July 1, 2004 It will be difficult to bet against Gael Monfils, the top seed from France, adding the Junior Wimbledon title to the trophies he has won this year at Melbourne and Paris. The French 17 year-old is on a quest, namely to be the first junior since Stefan Edberg to do the Grand Slam, the Swede having achieved that back in 1983. However, Monfils, a strapping lad with a big serve, is not comfortable on grass as his results this week show, for he has been unable to dominate his opponents in his usual manner, an aspect which no doubt his next opponent will hope to capitalise on. He’s had to battle through some tight spots and some crucial tie-breaks, to post his four wins of the week but to his credit, he has stuck to his job admirably and showed the sort of determination one would expect from a prospective champion. The player hoping to upset him is his compatriot Jeremy Chardy, aged 16 and a qualifier, who launched his excellent run into the semis by dispatching the tenth seed Sun-Yong Kim from Korea, and two rounds later adding the scalp of the eighth seed, Germany’s Sebastien Rieschnick. Chardy is also the player who ended the prospect of Britain having two semi-finalists when he ended Jamie Baker’s run in the quarters today. The two will know each others games though they have yet to meet on the circuit. But despite his excellent, albeit surprising, run into the semis – a feat which will have boosted his confidence no end – one has to go with Monfils for a place in the final. There, following Tim Henman’s loss in the main draw, Britain’s Miles Kasiri will be hoping to be still in contention. By reaching the semi-finals, the Margate 18-year-old is the first Briton to match Jamie Delgado’s run of 1994. Unseeded, the recent winner of the Queen’s Invitational Junior event who failed at the first hurdle in the Roehampton warm-up event, has produced some gutsy performances, the most notable being his removal of the third seed, Josselin Ouanna of France. It was a very close match and again, it was the stubbornness of the Brit which helped him prevail over three sets. He will need more of that British bulldogedness when he faces the American Scoville Jenkins, 17, the eleventh seed, the only semi-finalist not to have dropped a set so far this week. Neither has met in competitive circumstances before and Kasisri is very much the underdog. “I feel very good,” Kasiri, whose family comes from Iran, said after his win. “Reaching the semis at Wimbledon is the highpoint of my career so far. I didn’t play too well but I’m in the semis and now hope to go further." “I love to play on grass,” the oldest of the last four said. His semi-final will no doubt be followed with great interest by his family, who were also courtside today, and a partisan crowd looking for a player to restore some home pride. Should he make the final, he will be the first Brit since Buster Mottram achieved that in 1972. He then lost to Bjorn Borg. For the record, the last Brit to win the juniors, was Stanley Matthews in 1962. -- 雨過腥聞血，風旋雪裹身。 --

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