C'mon, Croats, let's give Franko some love. He's from Sibenik and is 20 years old (born on September 20, 1987). Like Antonio Veic (see that thread, which I started recently), he had a fairly unremarkable junior career but has been moving steadily up the pro rankings:
End of 2003: Unranked
End of 2004: 1463
End of 2005: 913
End of 2006: 585
End of 2007: 449
Current: 364 (career-high ranking)
As you can see, he just reached a new career-high ranking (on April 28, 2008). He has very few ranking points to defend before November 2008, so he should continue to move and could break into the top 300 with just one or two very good results.
Franko has reached the QFs of this week's challenger in Italy. In the first round he beat Motomura 62 57 75. In the second he beat the #7 seed, Kravchuk, 75 26 40 ret. With that result he'll move up to a career-high ranking of 335-340.
Word is Franko beat Tkalec today, 63 36 61, to advance to the semis. This is a big result for Franko: 24 ranking points (the second best in his career), which will move him up to a new career-high ranking of around 315 (from 361 today).
In the semis he'll play another Slovenian, Zemlja, the #8 seed. Best of luck to Franko, and congratulations so far.
Franko is in the qualy draw of the US Open (the only male Croat in qualies). Better yet, he has a winnable first match. He plays a wildcard, American Michael McClune. McClune is 18 years old and is ranked 341 (which is also his career-high rank).
Unlucky with draw again. He could play against other Q or Robert and he drew Istomin.
Really not fair considering he won has matches in qualies 63 60, 61 60 and 61 62.
GL Franko!
He played again after a few weeks off and scored a good win against in form Kravchuk
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