Joyce Geng (CAN) and Taiki Takizawa (AUS) captured the singles titles at the 14&U Category 1 event in Bolton, Lexus Junior International Bolton, after a great week of tennis.
6th seeded Geng, whose father was a professional player, had come through two tough 3 set quarter-final & semi-final matches on route to the final, having beaten Brit Liv Zingg 6-3 4-6 6-3 in the last 8, following this up with a 6-7(6) 6-4 6-4 semi-final defeat of 11th seeded Spaniard Paola Pinera Celorio.
Geng’s final round opponent was Nauhany Vitoria Leme Da Silva (BRA), who had remarkably come through 2 rounds of qualifying and 5 matches in main draw, without the loss of a set to make the final. In a high-quality match, it was the left-hander from Vancouver, who prevailed with a 6-4 6-3 victory, to become the 4th Canadian to win the girls singles title joining tennis greats such as Coco Gauff & Justine Henin on the roll of honour. The Brazilian was rewarded for her impressive run to the final with a main draw wild card into this weeks Super Category Tennis Europe event in Tarbes.
The Boys' Singles final saw another qualifier make it through to the championship match. Big-serving Taika Takizawa (AUS) a wild card into qualifying reached the final without the loss of a set, whilst his final opponent Quentin Dodin (FRA), had come through an epic 5-7 7-6(6) 6-3 3rd round defeat of fellow compatriot Charles Rossillol, followed by a highly impressive 6-4 6-1 defeat of top seed Plamen Kolev (BUL) in the quarter-final.
It was the French player who struck first to edge a very close 1st set 7-5, but the tall left-hander from the Gold Coast, Queensland, stuck to his task in an absorbing encounter to prevail 5-7 6-3 6-3 in just under 1¾ hours. Takizawa became the 2nd Australian to win the title since the inaugural event in 1995, following in the footsteps of Andrew Thomas who won the boy’s singles title back in 2004, joining an impressive roll of honour which includes Andy Murray and Francis Tiafoe as past champions.
The boy’s doubles final saw the Anglo-Irish pairing of Patrick Breen (IRL) & Eric Lorimer (GBR) beat Dodin and partner Thomas Grevoul 6-4 6-2, with the girls doubles title going to top seeds Yui Komada & Ran Wakana (JPN) beating fellow Japanese player Sakino Miyazawa and Nauhany Vitoria Leme Da Silva 6-1 6-2.
Tournament Director, Richard Joyner commented ‘This was the 28th edition of the event, and it really is a chance to see the stars of the future in action today, with many of our previous participants going on to reach the highest echelons of the world game. Once again, the standard of player was top class, with the 4 singles finalists from 4 different continents. There was a tremendous atmosphere around the singles finals with Salford University media students capturing the action, ball crew from Cheshire & Lancashire county squads, and a school’s day which involved watching the action, doing a Q&A with the winners, and then having a coaching clinic (with some of the school kid’s experiencing tennis for the 1st time)’.