Teen queens showing signs of promise at Australian Open

Five teenagers ended last year inside the women’s world top 50, led by No 12 Sloane Stephens, and the sight of 16-year-old Belinda Bencic pushing world No 4 Li Na hard suggested big things for her future.

Switzerland‘s Belinda Bencic, 16, returns to No 4 Li Na of China at the Australian Open on Wednesday. Franck Robichon / EPA

MELBOURNE // When Martina Hingis was busy winning grand slam titles in the late 1990s, it seemed like teenage stars were 10 a penny in the women’s game.

Fast-forward to 2014 and it is eight years since a teenager won a women’s grand slam title, when Maria Sharapova took out the 2006 US Open at 19.

Since then, only three teenagers – Sharapova at the Australian Open in 2007, Ana Ivanovic at the French Open the same year and Caroline Wozniacki at the US Open in 2009 – have even made it to a grand slam final.

More promising teenagers have bitten the dust in the first two rounds of the Australian Open but there are signs that youth may be coming of age.

Five teenagers ended last year inside the women’s world top 50, led by No 12 Sloane Stephens, and the sight of 16-year-old ­Belinda Bencic pushing world No 4 Li Na hard on Wednesday suggested big things for her future.

Having won through qualifying to get into the tournament draw, she looked overwhelmed as she lost the first set but took Li to a tiebreaker in the second before going down 6-0, 7-6 and impressing China’s top player in the process.

“She played exactly like Martina Hingis, I feel,” said Li, a compliment Bencic is yet to tire of hearing. “She gave me a very tough time at the end of the second set.”

A junior champion in Paris and Wimbledon last year, Switzerland’s Bencic already has 11 sponsors, including Rolex, and is coached by Martina Hingis’s mother, Melanie Molitor.

Like all juniors, Bencic is restricted in the number of WTA events she can play, a rule designed to avoid the burnout that affected the sport in the 1980s and 1990s.

A 16 year old is usually restricted to 12 events on the WTA Tour, but by reaching two junior grand slam finals (she won them both) and finishing in the top five of the junior rankings, she can add three events, making a total of 15.

“It’s not frustrating now,” she said. “It’s OK, because I get three extra tournaments.

“I think I showed also in qualifying I can beat players and also some people in the main draw. It’s great I had this experience at the age of 16.”

Eugenie Bouchard, who turns 20 next month, saw off Virginie Razzano of France 6-2, 7-6 to reach the third round, clinching victory on her seventh match point to equal her best grand slam tournament performance.

The Canadian, a former Wimbledon junior champion, is developing a large following wherever she goes and was given a toy koala by one of her fans after the match.

Seeded for the first time at a grand slam, Bouchard said that breaking through at grand slam event level is far from easy.

“It’s still really tough,” she said. “There are some of us who are kind of breaking through a little bit but we still have a lot of tough moments.

“I think the older, experienced players are still dominating but as time goes on, I think I’ll do better.

“I’ve gained experience in the past year and hopefully I can start doing better right away.”

Miami-based Puerto Rican Monica Puig and America’s Madison Keys were both beaten by experienced opponents but another American, Alison Riske, a little older at 23, believes the new crop of Americans have the ability to push each other on to the top.

“The atmosphere in the locker room with the Americans is awesome,” she said after crushing Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium 6-1, 6-1.

“We’re all doing well and pushing each other on. To be able to do this together is really exciting. It’s a win, win.”

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