Australia's top-ranked junior Luke Saville has scraped through to the semi-finals of the Australian Open boys' championship.
Saville, who turns 18 next week, defeated number seven seed Kyle Edmund of England 7-5, 7-5.
The reigning junior Wimbledon champion meets Czech Adam Pavlasek for a spot in the final.
"It's good to back up what I did last year," Saville said.
"It wasn't the most clean match. It was a little bit breezy and I think we were both suffering from a few nerves.
"Sometimes it's nicer to win a bit scrappy and you can draw confidence from that.
"I could have made it a lot easier today. I served quite poorly throughout the match and definitely didn't play my best tennis."
Saville said he was aware he was a bigger target following his Wimbledon win.
"At Wimbledon, I was around 20 in the world and I'm now number one in the world," he said.
"Obviously, everyone's shooting for me now and trying to take me down but, from a young age, I've been top in Australia for my age group so I've experienced that feeling of being top dog.
"But I guess there are a few more expectations and pressure but I love the challenge and usually I thrive on that pretty well."
AAP
Tags: australian-open, tennis, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia First posted January 26, 2012 13:37:45
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