Welsh tennis aces reflect on successful Australian Open week
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Welsh teenage tennis aces Mimi Xu and Viktor Frydrych left Melbourne with memories that will last a lifetime following their great runs in Australian Open Junior Championships.
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Mimi, 16, who started playing in Swansea, was seeded 12 for the girls’ singles first Grand Slam of the year, where she reached the quarter finals. A successful week also saw her and fellow Brit Hannah Klugman, the second seeds, get to the semi-finals of the girls’ doubles.
Commenting on her time in Australia, Mimi, who climbed to 14 in the ITF World Junior rankings, said: “The Junior Australian Open has been a great experience. The build-up and preparation, playing against the best junior players in the world, and reaching the latter stages of both the singles and doubles competitions has been amazing – and I have learnt so much.
“I will remember this week in Melbourne for a long time to come.”
In the boys’ competitions, Viktor Frydrych, who began playing tennis as a child in Colwyn Bay, made it all the way through to the final of the doubles with partner Petr Brunclik of the Czech Republic. The duo, who were seeded five, lost out to Americans Maxwell Exsted and Cooper Woestendick, 3-6, 5-7 in the final, with Viktor commenting: “It was an unbelievable evening – we had a close match but couldn’t get it in the end.”
Reflecting on his week Down Under he said: “Thank you to Petr for playing with me. It’s only the second time we’ve played together, and we have one title and one final, and this week has been an unbelievable ride together.”
Tennis Wales Head of Performance Chris Lewis said: “What a fantastic week for Mimi and Viktor at the Junior Australian Open. To have two Welsh players competing at the back end of junior Grand Slam is amazing.
“Both players have broken new ground this week surpassing their previous best at junior Grand Slams. It just shows how much Mimi and Viktor are progressing. Da iawn both. Cymru is rightly proud of you.”
