Italy's boys and Ukraine's girls are celebrating impressive victories at the 2016 Tennis Europe Winter Cups by HEAD. The Italian boys won their event in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, while the girls had beaten the Czech locals in Rakovnik on their way to claiming the title.
Having come through 2-1 in their earlier matches against Russia and France, the Italians were thoroughly convincing in the final as they defeated the Czech Republic 3-0. ‘The Lorenzos’ sealed the deal for Italy putting the team 2-0 ahead before the doubles. Lorenzo Musetti dispatched Jaroslav Smedek 6-0 6-1 in 58 minutes, while Lorenzo Rottoli recovered from a first set tie-break loss to come back and take the next two sets 6-2 6-3 against European #4 Dalibor Svrcina.
Musetti and Smedek then returned to the court to team up with Fausto Tabacco and Kristian Kubik respectively. After just over an hour, the Italians had made a clean sweep of the final with 6-1 7-5 victory.
As the number one seeds and without having lost a single match along the way, the Ukrainian girls went into the final brimming with confidence. However, the team had to withstand some tough resistance from Slovakia, with the two nations level at 1-1 after two very hotly contested three-set singles matches. Daria Snigur gave Ukraine an early 1-0 lead with a 6-4 2-6 6-2 win over Nina Stankovska. A shock then came as Romana Cisovska toppled recent 'Les Petits As' champion Marta Kostyuk 6-2 2-6 7-5, setting up a live doubles rubber to decide the winner. The Slovakian players teamed up to face Kostyuk and Dasha Lopatetskaya, but Kostyuk – the Tennis Europe Junior Tour’s current #1 player - would not go down twice in one day. The Ukrainians held firm for a relatively tight 7-5 6-3 victory.
Both squads can be extremely proud of their victories. The win was just Italy’s second title in this category, while Ukraine’s girls had never previously won the 14 & Under title. Having also claimed the 12 & Under event last year, the signs are good that the new crop of girls from this nation will continue to fulfil their promise.
Draws and Results
Boys: Draw | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Photos
Girls: Draw | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Photos