In case you haven't noticed, both of them are Brits with Australian roots.
Who was the last Brit (female, that is, it would be Smethurst for the boys) to win a Grade 1 title, by the way? Has not happened for at least six or seven years, I'm sure.
Konta seems to be having the kind of results that Naomi Cavaday was having at the same age in juniors. Lets see what she does in the junior grandslams coming up.
Laura is looking like a great player in the making.
I think she should play all 3 this year. She hasn't played one yet and she still has another year in juniors . She does need to play more ITF's but as her last tournament shows shes alreayd good enough to win 10k's which shows she should be top 500 pretty soon.
Best plan would be after wimbledon to play the home 10ks to get a ranking, then US open juniors then mix 10ks/25ks and then Orange Bowl then for 2009 just ITF events. I think top 500 by the end of this year is realistic.
Congrats, Jo. I like Robson more and would have preferred had she won it, but her time will come next year.
Konta now goes up to 13 in the rankings and Robson becomes the first 1994 girl to get to the top 100 with a ranking of 83. With two big clay tournaments to go still, there's a very good chance that Jo will be inside the top 10 by Roehampton and if she's good on grass, she could easily be top 5 after Wimbledon given that she doesn't defend aything till July.
**Grade 1 30th International Junior Tournament "Citta' Di Santa Croce" 2008 will offer a Main Draw Wild Card to the womens $25.000 Match Ball Monteroni d'Arbia to the girls winner.
30th International Junior Tournament "Citta' Di Santa Croce" 2008, 12-18 May 2008
$25.000 Match Ball Monteroni d'Arbia (Siena), Italy, 4-10 August 2008
Which means as a reward for winning this, Ms. Konta gets a wild card in a 25K in Italy on her favourite surface.