Russian teams have once again dominated at the Tennis Europe Winter Cups by HEAD, repeating their 2003 feat of sweeping both the boys’ and girls’ 16 & Under titles in the same year.
For a seventh successive year, Ronchin in France was the venue for the boy’s final rounds, where the Russian boys team seemed to get better and better with each tie. Having lost the opening rubber of their match against Bulgaria and been forced to recover for a 2-1 win, the team did not look back for the rest of the weekend. They next overcame Belgium in the semi- finals for the loss of just one set, but were pushed hard by their Dutch opponents in the final.
The first rubber could easily have gone the way of the Netherlands as Russia’s Egor Noskin lost the first set to Amadatus Admiraal but then managed to snatch the second set in a tie-break. It all came down to one break of serve in the end, and that was all that Noskin needed to claim the final set 6-4. In the second singles match, Timofey Skatov made light work of Lodewijk Weststrate to secure the title with a straightforward 6-2 6-2 win.
With Dutch pride at stake and the Russians playing for the rout, the doubles rubber was anything but dead. Noskin returned to the court to team with Alexey Zakharov for Russia while Weststrate paired with Julian Prins for the Netherlands. It came down to the wire, and eventually the hotly contested match went the way of the Russians as they came through with a 6-2 4-6 10-7 win.
In the Czech town of Veska, the Russian girls can tell a similar story. After easily taking care of the Ukraine in the first round, the Russians had a 1-0 deficit against Switzerland in the semi-finals. They eventually turned things around with two straight set wins to advance to the final against the local girls.
Russia was determined to start off well this time around, as hot favourite and long-time Tennis Europe Junior Tour 14 & under #1 Anastasia Potapova won her match 6-3 7-6 against Karolina Berankova. The local crowd were given some hope when Lucie Kankova pulled off a nerve-wracking upset win over Olesya Pervushina 7-6 2-6 7-6 in the other singles match. After some well-earned rest, the same four players returned to the court for the deciding doubles rubber. However, the match turned out to be anticlimax for the home fans, as Czech hopes were dashed with a 6-3 6-0 Russian thrashing.
Thus, from being four-time runners up from 2011-2014, Russia’s girls have now won the event two years in a row. This mirrors their previous period of dominance from 1997-2007, when they appeared in 9 out of 11 finals, winning seven. The boys’ success has been somewhat more intermittent, but impressive nonetheless. In the new millennium, they can add the 2016 title to those won in 2003 and 2013, as well at their 2006 Runners-up trophy.
Draws and Results
Boys: Draw | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Photos
Girls: Draw | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Photos