Following last week’s Winter Cups by HEAD; many of Europe’s top junior players were in back in action at regular Tennis Europe Junior Tour events this week. The week’s main event was Kungens Kanna & Drottningens Pris in Stockholm (SWE), which celebrated its 110th edition this year, making it one of the oldest events in the tennis world.
Many of the greats of the game have taken part in the tournament throughout the years, and this edition was no exception, with the event attracting strong draws and tough competition, evidenced by the boys’ final which turned out to be a battle between Europe’s top two players. #1 seed Timofey Skatov continued his impressive start to the year by securing his second Category 1 title of the season with a 6-4 6-2 win over #2 Jack Draper of Great Britain.
In addition to the Stockholm event, the Russian has already won in Khimki and reached the final of Les Petits As in Tarbes in 2015. He also played a crucial role on Russia’s victorious Winter Cups by HEAD team, where he lost just one match – to his chief rival for the top spot, Draper.
If Draper was disappointed, there was consolation for the Brit in the doubles event, where he teamed up with Alexander Zgirovsky of Belarus to claim his first Cat.1 title with a 6-4 6-2 win over French pair Allan Deschamps and Loris Pourroy.
In the girls’ final, Russia’s Taisya Pachkaleva withstood a second set fight back from Finland’s Oona Orpana to claim her maiden Cat.1 crown 6-2 5-7 6-4. The win means that both Stockholm singles titles are in Russian hands for a third consecutive year.
Fresh from her spot on Poland’s victorious Winter Cups by HEAD team last week, Maja Chwalinska partnered Anna Laguza of Ukraine to the girls’ doubles title. The pair beat another Ukrainian – Margaryta Bilokin – and Kseniya Yersh of Belarus to take the title. Gallery.
Home players completely dominated the Cat.2 14 & Under International Championships of Romania in Bucharest, where Tudor Ionut Burduf and Carmen Roxana Manu emerged as champions. Burduf won the boys’ title when top seed Filip Jianu was forced to retire trailing 1-5, while Manu ended the run of unseeded Raluca Floca Oprea 6-4 6-3. Home teams also prevailed in the doubles, where the girls’ singles finalists teamed up to win and top seeds Cezar Cretu & Mihai Marinescu claimed the boys’ title.
At the week’s other Cat.2 event, the Togliatti Cup in Russia, Ukraine’s Oleksiy Shestakov ensured that not all of the trophies would go to home players when he beat Andrei Inyakin in straight sets to claim his first 14 & Under title.
Top seed Polina Krupchenko reversed a loss to Vladka Koval at the Dimitrov Cup last November to claim the girls’ title in a match between two of the Tour’s top 10 players. Krupchenko eventually won 6-3 2-6 6-4, though Koval also left the event as a winner, having teamed up with Evgeniya Burdina to win the doubles. The boy’s double crown also went to a Russian pair, Egor Manko & Ustarkhan Shikhabudinov.
The Focus Tennis Academy 2015 in Rotterdam is a combined 14 and 16 & Under tournament, and saw an international field in action, with Italian players coming through to dominate the 16 & Under event. The boys’ singles final saw Mattia Frinzi end last week’s Zoetermeer champion Francesco Forti’s winning run at 10 matches; impressive feats from both given that Frinzi was playing in the main draw of a Tennis Europe Junior Tour event for just the third time.
There was further success for Italy in the girls’ event, where having reached her first 16 & Under final just seven days previously Lisa Piccinetti brushed past Ester Rogova (UKR) 6-4 6-1 to claim the title. Marta Oliveira of Portugal and Ana Stefanovic of France took a girls’ doubles title for a second successive week, while Wisse Jonker and Yannick Verwater flew the home flag, claiming the boys’ doubles.
There was more success for the host nation in the 14 & Under tournament, where unseeded Lian Tran beat Darja Semenistaja of Latvia to lift the girls’ trophy. Top seed Gauthier Onclin of Belgium battled past Switzerland’s Gian Luca Tanner in three sets to join Tran in claiming a first title.
Karol van der Linden and Luuk van Eeuwen made it three titles for the Netherlands in the boys doubles, adding to their title last week in Zoetermeer, while the girls’ title went to Spain’s Marta Custic & Italian partner Federica Sacco.
There was also one 12 & Under event this week, the Azores Open in Ponta Delgada, which was dominated by three players. Isabelle Bassi beat French compatriot Noa Dujardin to win the girls’ title and the pair teamed up to win the doubles, while in the boys’ competition home player Eduardo Morais beat fellow-Portuguese Miguel Lopes for the singles title and also won the doubles, teaming up with Miguel Gomes.
The Tennis Europe Junior Tour continues this week highlighted by the Category 1 14 & Under Tim Essonne in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, France, and 16 & Under events in Milovice (CZE) and Nastola (FIN). Keep up with all the latest results here.