Junior Girls' Singles Final
by Mark Winters
Sunday, September 12, 1999

Playing with poise beyond her 15 years, Lina Krasnoroutskaia of Obininsk, Russia, the No. 6 seed, defeated 17-year-old and No. 2 seed Nadejda Petrova of Moscow, Russia 6-3, 6-2 to win the U.S. Open Junior Girls Championship Sunday afternoon.
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The victory, the first for a Russian since Natalia Zvereva's in 1987, more than compensated for the loss Krasnoroutskaia suffered along with teammate Galina Fokina of Russia in yesterday's Junior Girls Doubles final to Daniela Bedanova of the Czech Republic and Iroda Tulyaganova of Uzbekistan.

Finally, by reaching the final, Krasnoroutskaia became No. 1 in the International
Tennis Federation rankings.

"It means I'm the best here, but it's only here," she said when asked about the win.
"I don't know what that really means, but here I'm the best. I thought that I will win."

Olga Morozova, a U.S. Open Women's Doubles finalist with Virginia Wade in 1976, knows tennis from a playing and coaching perspective She now lives in London, where she works for the British Lawn Tennis Association.

"Both girls moved and played well," said Morozova. "It was Lina's best match in two weeks. She saw the situations as they developed during the match and took full advantage of them."

After playing steady, solid tennis in the first set, Krasnoroutskaia broke serve twice to go up 3-0 in the second. Petrova got one break back (3-1) then was down 0-40 on her serve but held (3-2). Asked if she was concerned at this point, the champion said, "in a match, there are two or three game when you go down then up. I was not worried. I was not nervous today."

With their baseball caps and ballet dancer lean looks, Krasnoroutskaia and Petrova are similar in appearance. Both are formidable off the ground. Krasnoroutskaia exploded her two-hand backhand with equal devastation cross court and down the line. Petrova responded with a forehand that played her both out of and into trouble.

"I don't know what happened, it's really strange," said Petrova, who lives in Krackow, Poland. "I really wanted to win the tournament. I had three easy matches then I put pressure on myself. When the ball was coming something happened to me. It was like I was switching to another program."

Krasnoroutskaia, who is coached by her mother Marina and has been managed by Advantage International for the past two years, was a finalist at the Wimbledon Junior Singles Championships and the winner of both the Italian Open Junior Championships and the LTA International Junior Championships. In addition to her junior success, she has played four WTA events and has a No. 250 ranking.

"I like to watch (Martina) Hingis," she said. "Yesterday was an unbelievable match with Serena (Williams). I also like (Mary) Pierce. My best is (Andre) Agassi. I like everything about him. I've got the birthday the same day as him."

For Petrova, the U.S. Open was only her second junior event this year. A semifinalist at the Australian Open Girls Junior Championships, she put together a 17-11 record in qualifying and WTA events and earned a No. 128 ranking leading up to the U.S. Open. During the Open (the Women's qualifying and the junior event), Petrova worked with Tatiana Naumko-Niejelow who was Andrei Chesnokov's coach. She lives in Poland, where she receives support from Unico, because, as Morozova stated, "girls can't survive without sponsors,"

An avid artist, "I draw anything that comes to my mind." She enjoys New York and is a Yankee fan.

"I like to watch (baseball)," Petrova admitted. "I play the game in the forest (in Russia) with my father. We go out and the ball is flying between the trees. Then we have to find it."

With the victory, Krasnoroutskaia, who was nicknamed "Sky" at the Open ("the people here gave me one name because my surname is so big"), is faced with the question of playing junior competition next year. Her management company will provided direction, but her father will make the decision

"It's not my question. My father takes the question. I'm just playing," she says.

And why does the 15-year-old, who reads fantasy and romance novels to relax, think she is ready for the pro game?

"I didn't believe in my mind," said Krasnoroutskaia. "Now I say, 'I can, I will'. It was last year I played (Kim) Clijsters and (Jelenic) Dokic. Now they are on Tour. I can be in the Tour too and I will be."