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Valeria Patiuk

9K views 35 replies 5 participants last post by  neospecialist 
#1 ·
With her appearance today in the "dead rubber" doubles vs Bulgaria, she broke Shahar's record as the youngest ever to play for the national team (Shahar played a similar doubles match a week before her 15th birthday, Patiuk is 14y 9m). She even played respectably from the little I've seen, and didn't seem at awe from the presence of a former top-5 player at the other side of the net.

As said in the Fed Cup Zonal thread, this is the first time I got to see her, and she's powerfully built and could easily pass as a 17-18 year old. Someone (Tzoref?) said her game style is similar to Julia's.

Earlier posts about her from the "Israeli hopefuls" thread (all from Oct-Dec 2010):
Now we get to see if the 14 yr old Valeria Patiuk is a possible hope for the future. Current tournament is a $10,000 ITF in Akko,Israel.


Quarterfinal

Julia GLUSHKO (ISR) (1) Vs Valeria PATIUK (ISR)
Zuzana LINHOVA (CZE) (3) Vs Deniz KHAZANIUK (ISR)
Diana ISAEVA (RUS) Vs Gally DE WAEL (BEL) (4)
Julia KIMMELMANN (GER) (6) Vs Janina TOLJAN (AUT) (2)
Note: Glushko won 6-2 6-3 en route to the title.

She led Shlomo by a set in her only previous tournament, a 10K in Raanana in May, also in the QF.
Khazaniuk was also billed greatly as a future hope not long ago...
Valeria Patiuk made it to the under 14 Orange Bowl Finals


Final
Babs Haas d. Valeria Patiuk 62 75
 
#3 ·
Valeria is playing in Antalya, Turkey this week.
She qualified to the main draw after beating 2 seeds in the qualies.

Today, in the 1st round of the main draw she beat the 7th seed and will get at least a point in this tournament which will get her into the WTA rankings for the first time:
(Q)Valeria Patiuk (ISR) d. (7)Martina Kubicikova (CZE) 75 62

Next she will play Carol Zhao (CAN)
 
#5 ·
She lost 4-6 1-6, but that was a nice international debut.
I thought she might be quite restricted by age eligibility rules over the upcoming months, but not really - she's allowed to play 5 more ITFs until her 15th birthday in May, so that won't really be a problem.
 
#11 ·
Patiuk into the Girls main draw after a 6-2 6-4 win in Q2 :)
Will play an unseeded opponent in R1, and if she wins, the #2 seed Khromacheva (RUS) will be next.

Another positive note is that two of our Juniors, Bar Botzer and Or Ram-Harel, have managed to do the same in the Boys Q draw.
Frankly I haven't even heard of the latter, and he beat the qualifying top seed!
 
#13 ·
Valeria won her R1 match 6-4 6-3.

My prediction regarding the opponent was misguided, as junior rankings don't reflect pro-tour results, so it's not really a surprise the Russian was taken out by American Grace Min. The latter beat handily Arina Rodionova and Olaru at a local ITF not long ago, as well as a handful of other top 500 players, so Patiuk will be clearly the underdog in that one.

Curiously, all three Israeli juniors were scheduled in succession on court 15 today. One of the boys (Ram-Harel) won, the other lost from a set up.
 
#14 ·
Article about Valeria and other Israeli juniors in the Jerusalem Post:


Israeli juniors gain valuable experience in New York
By HOWARD BLAS
09/07/2011 18:16

Currently ranked 708 in the world for singles and 848 for doubles, Valeria Patiuk is the youngest player on Israel’s Fed Cup team.


NEW YORK – It is hard to resist the comparisons between Valeria Patiuk and her idol, Shahar Pe’er.

Both are hard-hitting tennis players who grew up on the courts of the Israel Tennis Centers, and both reached their first professional final at the age of 15 – Pe’er in 2002, and Patiuk earlier this year in Ra’anana, at an Israel Tennis Federation tournament.

“Shahar is my role model. She is a fighter, she plays with her heart and soul, and she does a good job representing Israel,” noted Patiuk, at a pre-US Open match interview, in front of Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, Queens, New York.

The 15-year-old Patiuk, known as Lera, earned a spot in the juniors tournament after winning two matches in this week’s qualifying tournament.

The number 16 seed defeated Katrine Steffensen of the United States 6-3, 4- 6, 7-5, and Natalia Maynettoof the United States 6-2, 6-4.

After earning her spot in the main draw, Patiuk scored a 6-4, 6-3 win over Ukraine’s Ganna Poznikhirenko on Monday before facing Grace Min of the US late Tuesday night.

Patiuk, born in the Ukraine, moved to Israel at age one, and has been playing tennis since age six. She trains daily in Ramat Hasharon as part of the Elite Program of the Israel Tennis Centers.

Currently ranked 708 in the world for singles and 848 for doubles, she’s the youngest player on Israel’s Fed Cup team, where she plays with Pe’er.

“Lera is a unique young lady,” said Asaf Yamin, Patiuk’s coach for the past year. “She is dedicated, likes to practice, and she is open.

I hope she can keep her character on the court. She is serious, and intense, and enjoys what she does.

“Everybody compares Lera to Shahar on a daily basis,” he added. “Shahar is a good role model, but Lera has to focus on Lera and keep progressing. I hope she’ll have a career similar to Shahar’s.”

Yamin is delighted that three Israelis have qualified for the main juniors draw: Patiuk, Or Ram-Harel and Bar Botzer.

“It has been more than ten years since three Israelis have made it in to the main juniors draw,” noted Yamin.

All three will also play in the junior doubles tournament.

A fourth Israeli, Daniel Skripnik lost to Brazilian Karue Sell 7-6, 6-1 in his first-round qualifying match.

Danny Gelley, CEO of Israel Tennis Centers, is similarly pleased.

“We are very proud and happy with the progress of our top juniors this year,” Gelley said. “The long and winding road to the top is paved by thousands of grueling hours in the sun, on the court and in the gym. I take my hat off to the players and their dedicated coaches for this milestone success and look forward to many more good things which I am sure are going to happen.”

All three Israelis played their first round singles matches Monday, on court 15.

In the first match of the day, Ram-Harel, a 16-year-old right-handed player from Haifa, defeated Dennis Novak of Austria 7-6, 3-6, 6-3.

The trainer was called to attend to Ram-Harel in both the first and second sets.

“My body was hurting,” Ram-Harel said. “I had cramps in my legs, and my head felt like it was spinning.”

The three hour, ten minute match took place under very hot, humid midday conditions, and Ram- Harel – playing in his first Grand Slam event – appreciated the support and chants of the pro-Israeli crowd.

He played Joao Pedro Sorgi of Brazil (the 14th seed) in the second round on Tuesday.

Coach Yamin describes Ram-Harel as a “big fighter with good court presence. He plays every point with his heart.”

Yamin is impressed that he is already in the main draw at age 16, still with two years of junior eligibility left.

Yamin, who is traveling with and supervising all four players while in New York, coached the 17-year-old Bar Botzer when he was 13.

“[Botzer] is very unique and very mature,” Yamin said. “He is always improving and has great potential.”

Botzer squandered a firstset win in his first round match against Kaichi Uchida of Japan, and Uchida went on to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

“Today I lost because my biggest weapon, my serve, didn’t work,” Botzer said.

At the conclusion of the Botzer match, Lera Patiuk took the court against Poznikhirenko.

Patiuk experienced abdominal pain while up 5- 4 in the first set, but went on to win 6-4, 6-3.

“I served very well today. My serve was the key for the match,” reported Patiuk. “I have had pain in my stomach muscles for the past two weeks. It is getting better day by day, but I felt stomach pain while serving.”

The hard-hitting, grunting Patiuk gave herself encouragement through shouts of “Come on!” and “Kadima!” “This is my first time playing in the US Open and my first Grand Slam,” she says.

“I think my two qualifying matches gave me confidence and I am beginning to believe in
 
#15 ·
Her last quote of the article was cut, it's “I think my two qualifying matches gave me confidence and I am beginning to believe in myself again.”
After earning her spot in the main draw, Patiuk scored a 6-4, 6-3 win over Ukraine’s Ganna Poznikhirenko on Monday before facing Grace Min of the US late Tuesday night.
Or so they thought - the match has been delayed for two days now because of heavy rain.
A fourth Israeli, Daniel Skripnik lost to Brazilian Karue Sell 7-6, 6-1 in his first-round qualifying match.
What a name :haha:
 
#24 ·
Valeria finally back into action, trying to defend her Raanana 10K title from last year.

She actually returned from her injury last month and posted some nice results in Juniors, winning a local Grade 4 tournament and making a final and a SF in two Grade 2 ones in Spain.
 
#27 ·
Her recent junior results haven't been good, but she just won her US Open R1 match from a set down, 4-6 6-3 6-1 over Pera (CRO), who has about the same tour ranking as hers.

However, she's in a packed top half of the draw, and is likely to meet American Krista Hardebeck (seeded 15 here, ranked #324 on tour) who recently gave Glushko a decent match at the 50K Julia went on to win.
In the unlikely case Lera pulls the upset, the title favorite Genie Bouchard will be next in R3, and as we all remember she just beat the Israeli #1 :oh:
So not to expect a deep run here.

When will she be back to pro ITFs? :confused:
 
#28 ·
After Hardebeck was beaten convincingly by Von Deichmann of Liechtenstein, the latter did the same to Patiuk in R2, 6-2 6-1.
But unlike last year, Lera's beater won't be the champion: she then lost 2&2 to American hopeful Victoria Duval, who upset title favorite Bouchard in R2.

The Israeli representative at the (male) junior tournament, Or Ram-Harel (pictured above with Patiuk at the Israeli Juniors) also lost R2.
 
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