It was another busy mid-summer week for the Tennis Europe Junior Tour, with the 12 & Under Nations Challenge by HEAD and the 16/18 & Under European Summer Cups reaching their conclusion, plus another 16 regular Tour events. The vast majority were Category 3 tournaments, though there were also a few high level events, summarised below...
Category 1 - 14 & Under
Young Champions Cup - Hasselt, Belgium
In what was a very tough draw, packed with intercontinental ITF Touring Teams from around the world, the boys’ top seed Jack Pinnington-Jones from the United Kingdom was taken out in the third round by the unseeded American Dali Blanch. Blanch was then in turn taken out by eventual winner from Venezuela, Francisco Lamas Villarroel. In the final, the Venezuelan defeated Pinnington-Jones’ compatriot and doubles partner Joel Pierleoni in a straightforward 6-2 6-4 victory, to post his first singles tournament win on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour, just one week after reaching his first final, in Düren.
In the girls’ draw, the number one seed from the Czech Republic, Zdena Safarova, proceeded through to the semi-finals without much worry. There, she was defeated by red hot third seed, Priska Madelyn Nugroho from Indonesia. She then went on to win her second singles final of the year against Daria Tomashevskaya from Canada 6-2 6-2, and continued to make news in the doubles, where she extended her incredible winning streak.
The day prior to her singles victory, Nugruho had once again teamed with Alexandra Eala of the Philippines, with the pair duly claiming their fifth consecutive title with a 6-3 6-4 win over Arina Gamretkaia (MDA) & Milena Gevorgyan (ARM). The 21-match streak has included four Category 1 tournaments and leaves the pair as hot favourites to win the Tour’s Doubles Team of the Year Award.
In the boys’ doubles, there was more joy for Lamas Villarroel, as he teamed with Alvaro Guillen Meza to claim victory. They defeated Dali Blanch & Hamza El Amine (MAR) 6-3 6-3.
Category 2 - 16 & Under
OTV 2017 Europe Junior Tour - Zell am See, Austria
With four of the six eventual winners being home players, the tournament saw strong performances from its top players, with the number one seeds making their way through to the finals in each event. In the boys’ draw, victory went to Lukas Neumayer, while Weronika Baszak was crowned girls’ champion.
Top seeded Pole, Piotr Pawlak had a bye in the first round and overcame a tough local player, Paul Schmoelzer, in the second, clawing back from a 0-6 drubbing in the first set to claim a 7-5 win in the third. After that, it was smooth sailing as he defeated player after player in straight sets on his way to the final against the number two seeded Austrian Lukas Neumayer. The local player was too strong on the day, and he took the title from the top seed in a 6-3 7-6(4) victory to claim his second title of the season.
In the girls’ singles, Baszak from Poland defeated Sophie Luescher, the number two seed from Switzerland. The Pole was in blistering form, not giving away any sets on her way to the final. Even then, she stormed out of the blocks taking the first set 6-2. Although Luescher put up some resistance in the second set, it went the way of the Pole 7-5. The win was her fourth singles victory of the season, and improved her already impressive win/loss record for 2017 to 26/4.
In the boys’ doubles finals the home favrouties, Michael Frank & Lukas Neumayer outdid their top seeded rivals Mattia Bernardi (ITA) & Marat Sharipov 6-3 6-3. In the girls’ doubles, number 4 seeds Ghada Dirninger (AUT) & Lauscher (SUI), the singles finalist, defeated the Austrian top seeds and Daniela Boehm and Daniela Glanzer 7-6(4) 6-4.
Category 2 – 14/16 & Under
Bavarian Junior Open – Eching/Munich, Germany
The week’s biggest event in terms of draw size was a perennial favourite stop on the Tour, the Bavarian Junior Open in Eching, which hosted a combined 14 and 16 & Under tournament.
Home players had the run of the singles tournaments, sweeping three of the four events. All-German finals featured in both boys’ events, with Max Hans Rehberg beating Fedor Richter for the 14 & under title, and Frederic Krusemark beating Tim Hofmann for the 16 & Under crown. Anja Wildgruber beat Czech Agata Cerna for the girls’ 16 & Under title, while Croatia’s Lucija Ciric Bagaric continued her recent good form, stepping up from last week’s doubles title in Ulm to claim the girls’ 14 & Under singles event over Switzerland’s Alina Granwehr.
Rehberg & Richter later teamed in the doubles but fell in the final to George Russell (GBR) & Cooper White (AUS). The girls’ 14 & Under doubles went to Ukrainian pair Kateryna Lazarenko & Sabina Zeynalova, while home players got their hands on both 16 & Under titles; Matteo Feggi & Marius Leicht took the boys’ crown and Luzia Obermeier teamed with Alejandra Ferrer Rodriguez of Spain to claim the girls’ title.
For full results from all the week’s Category 3 events, please click here, or to view the latest photo galleries, click here.