Tennis champs of tomorrow are competing this week in Costa Rica in the Coffee Bowl, which in its 44 years has become one of the top junior tennis tournaments in the world.

This year will see about 128 boys and girls from 45 countries, battling it out through Saturday at the Costa Rican Country Club in Escazú, a suburb southwest of San José. Players fit in the 18-and-under and 14-and-under age brackets.

The Coffee Bowl, included in the International Tennis Federation Junior Circuit, was first held in 1968 and has through the years hosted such talents as a young Björn Borg, Sweden's former world tennis champion.

Top players include 17-year-old Salvadoran Marcelo Arévalo, second seed to Russian Alexei Grigorov, who turns 18 next month and who holds the 33rd spot among juniors worldwide.

Eastern Europe also leads in young women players, with Russia's Elena Chernyakova, Slovenia's Polona Hercog and Romania's Ana Bogdan.