Tennis Europe Junior Tour

Worldwide appeal of Tennis Europe Junior Tour on show in Düren

Worldwide appeal of Tennis Europe Junior Tour on show in Düren

41st Internationale Deutsche Tennismeisterschaften - Düren, Germany  (14 & Under)

Last week's Tennis Europe Junior Tour action was highlighted by a 14 & Under Category 1 event filled to the brim with overseas talent. Not for the first time this summer, the strong COSAT contingent from South America made its presence felt, this time in Düren, Germany.

Intercontinental players cleaned up, sweeping all four titles as well as securing various podium finishes. The South Americans were the most dominant, with Argentinians Lautaro Midon and Solana Sierra taking the boys’ and girls’ titles, while the boys’ doubles title went to the Chilean-Colombian combination of Piero Antonio Fernandez & Nicolas Niño. The girls’ doubles title, however, was taken by the Japanese pairing of Kyoka Kubo & Mio Mushika.

Sierra’s European sojourn is going from strength to strength. A recent finalist in Oosterbeek, the Argentine now adds a winner’s trophy to her Summer collection. She defeated Les Petits As and Windmill Cup winner, Philippine Alexandra Eala in the semi-final and then managed an impressive comeback for a 1-6 6-2 6-2 win in the final over Katerina Dimitrova of Bulgaria. Eala had earlier defeated Xin Tong Wang, triumphant over top seed Fatma Idrizovic (SRB) in the second round. Another reflection of the international allure of the event was the quarter final finish of Moroccan seventh seed Yasmine Kabbaj, who went down to the eventual finalist.

Recent Copenhagen and Bucharest winner, boys’ top seed Filip Pieczonka (POL), had a great run to the semis before being ousted by the eventual champion, Lautaro Midon. The Argentine defeated French second seed Arthur Fils in the final 6-2 3-6 6-1, after the French boy had come through a 7-5 third set thriller against Udit Gogoi of India in the semi-finals. The vast array of international representatives was again on display, with six players from outside Europe in the round of 16, some of whom caused upsets against some of the Tennis Europe Junior Tour’s more notable players; Midon took out twelfth seed Kalin Ivanovski (MKD), Martin Vergara (PAR) defeated fourth seed Alexander Blockx (BEL) and Niño saw off eighth seed Jakub Nikud (CZE).

Boys’ doubles top seeds Dinko Dinev (BUL) & Pieczonka were handed a quarterfinal upset defeat by Hamza El Amine of Morocco & Connor Van Schalkwyk of Namibia 10-6 in the championship tie break. The African pair lost in the semi-finals to the eventual runners-up from Paraguay, Vergara & Adolfo Vallejo. They fell 6-4 6-3 at the last hurdle to Fernandez and Niño of Chile and Colombia respectively.

Alexandra Eala was unable to continue her phenomenal doubles run on European soil (33 wins, 2 losses) in the girls’ event, as she and Wang of China fell in the semis to the eventual champions. The trophy went to two Japanese players in a battle over a European combination as Kubo & Mushika defeated sixth seeds Adriana Berankova (CZE) & Anna Zyryanova (RUS) 4-6 6-4 10-4. | Photo Gallery

Category 2 Events

With the school holidays in full swing, it was a particularly busy week on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour, with several Category 2 events.

UTC Haid Junior Open - Haid, Austria (16 & Under)

Top seed and twenty-sixth ranked Petar Teodorovic of Serbia claimed the singles and doubles title. This is now his fourth singles title of the year, adding to his wins at the Arges Cup, Sport Palace Cup and Tirana Open. He defeated Peter Kalocsai (HUN) 6-3 6-0 in the final and teamed up with Poland’s Jakub Federowicz to win the doubles trophy, the Pole’s second doubles title of the season and the Serbian’s third.

Home favourite, fifth seed Anna Gross, defeated eighth seeded Ukrainian Anastasiya Skorupska 6-3 6-3 in the girls’ singles final, while honours in the doubles went to the Hungarian pairing of Reka Borsos & Reka Kata Matko.

Müller Junior Cup - Ulm Germany (14/16 & Under)

After the top two seeds, Marko Topo (SRB) and Edvards Teodors Liepens (LAT), were upset early in the 16 & Under boys’ singles, the semi-finals featured four German players. It was eighth seeded Nico Kleber who went home with the trophy, his first of 2018, when he defeated Matteo Feggi 6-1 6-2 in the final. There was some consolation for Liepens, as he teamed up with compatriot Daniils Snaiders to win the doubles.

There was more great news for Latvian tennis, as fifth seed Elza Tomase secured her second title of the year with a tough 2-6 7-6(6) 7-5 win over Nikol Palecek of Serbia, Palecek went one better in the doubles, winning it with Russian Marta Belokrylova.

In the 14 & Under events, Filip Apltauer (CZE) defeated Dragos Nicolae Cazacu (ROU) 6-2 6-1 in the boys singles final, after having previously secured the doubles title with German Bon Lou Karstens.

Sixth seeded Melisa Ercan of Turkey won her fourth title of the year, defeating Switzerland’s Celine Naef 6-1 6-4 in the final, while the doubles trophy was won by Eva Shaw & Ranah Akua Stoiber of Great Britain.

Elia Cup 2018 - Elia, Bulgaria (14 & Under)

Silvio Mencaglia (ITA) came from a set down to beat Nikola Zekic (SRB) 3-6 6-1 6-3 and claim his first win of the year after twice having finished as runner-up. Having taken out top seed Mihai Coman (ROU) in the semi-finals, Zekic would have been disappointed as he too was aiming for his first title, after also posting two runner-up spots so far in 2018. The boys’ doubles title went to Bulgarians Martin Despodov & Yanaki Milev.

Yet another player with two finals berths under her belt this year, Greece’s Athina Pitta lifted her first winner’s trophy of 2018 with a 6-3 2-6 6-3 victory over top seeded Russian Ksenia Zaytseva. More silverware came for Bulgaria as Maria Taneva teamed up with Slovakian Salma Drugdova to win the girls’ doubles.

Olimpijskii Cup - Wroclaw, Poland (14 & Under)

Top seed and tournament favourite Kristyna Tomajkova (CZE) was in her third singles final of the year and scored her second win with a 6-3 6-1 defeat of second-seeded compatriot Anna Panchartek. Playing with Poland’s Daria Gorska, Tomajkova also notched her second doubles win from four finals in 2018.

Ukraine’s Dmitriy Parintsev, a winner of two doubles events this year, picked up his first singles trophy with a walkover win over top seed Oldrich Vejsicky (CZE). Czech players Ondrej Kratochvil & Adam Kresina were victorious in the boys’ doubles.

For full results in all events and categories here and elsewhere from this past week, please click here, or to view the week's photo galleries, click here.  

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