Klugman and Stojsavljevic to meet in LTA Junior National Girls' final

Surrey's Hannah Klugman is relishing the opportunity to go one step further in the 16U LTA Junior National Tennis Championships after reaching the Final for a second successive year.

On a rain-affected day at the prestigious tournament being played at the LTA's National Tennis Centre in Roehampton, Klugman's beat Northamptonshire's Tegan Bush 6-0 6-0.

Klugman, 14, is ranked just outside the top 100 of the ITF Junior rankings and is benefitting from LTA support by training at the National Tennis Centre, as well as working with Ben Haran and his team at Reeds Academy.

"After making the final last year, I'd really love to win it this time," said Klugman, who lost to Mimi Xu in last year's 16U Final.

"There is pressure there, but you have to accept it and use it the right way to push me to play better.

"Winning this week will not change my career dramatically and you have to accept that and take some of the pressure off.

"Obviously, I would love to win the Junior Nationals and I feel like the last year has been a real year of progress for me.

"I have won a J200 ITF event, got my ranking up and I'm looking forward to playing the Junior Grand Slams this year and developing my game more."

Klugman will take on Middlesex's Mika Stojsavljevic in the 16U Final on Friday, after the 14-year-old came through a thrilling match against Kent's Lois Newbury 4-6 6-2 6-2.

"In the first set I wasn't putting my game on the court and that that changed in the second and third sets," said Stojsavljevic, who trains at the LTA's National Academy in Loughborough.

"There is pressure on all of us this week as it is such a prestigious tournament, but this is also a development phase of our careers and we need to look at learn from our experience here and take it on to what comes next in our careers."

Stojsavljevic went on to praise the set-up at the LTA National Academy in Loughborough, where she benefits from a high-intensity daily training environments with world class science and medicine support, working in partnership with a local school, to help them successfully develop into emerging tour professionals.

"I have improved so much since I got the chance to train at the LTA National Academy," she added. "I will be there for a few years now, so it gives me a great chance to take my game to the next level."

The winners of the LTA Junior National Championships will be awarded wild cards into the draw for the Wimbledon Junior Championships and major junior events being staged in the UK later this year.

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