It has been another big week on the 14 and Under tournament calendar. Events were held in every corner of the continent, from Portugal across to Turkey and up to Belarus and Finland and then back west to Iceland. Many of the most dominant players of the year so far took the week off, giving some new names a chance to shine.
The highlight of the week was the Category 1 XXIII Taça Internacional Maia Jovem 2016 tournament, which took place in the Maia neighbourhood on the outskirts of Porto, Portugal. In an event where 40 out of the 64 boys were from Mediterranean countries and 23 from the host nation, organisers were no doubt happy to see 5 local players make it through to the second round. Unfortunately, they were not to proceed any further, as many of the top seeds stamped their authority on the event. German top seed and 21st-ranked Moritz Stoeger was favoured to meet second seed and 22nd ranked Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune of Denmark in the Final. This was not to be as Rune was surprised in the first round by Spanish qualifier Mario Gonzalez Fernandez, who managed to extend his run to the quarter finals. Stoeger fared better, lasting until the semifinals, where he was outdone 6-2 6-0 by Italian 3rd seed Lorenzo Rottoli who advanced to the final where he would meet his compatriot and doubles partner, 4th seed Lorenzo Musetti. In the final, Rottoli conceded more games than in any of his other matches in the tournament, winning 6-0 6-4. An emphatic victory, fitting for an emphatic tournament where he had routed every single opponent along the way. Rottoli capped off a fantastic week by teaming up with his partner to also claim victory in the doubles, again overcoming Stoeger, and his partner Max Wiskandt in the final 6-2 4-6 10-6.
Of the 18 Portuguese girls in the draw, only two were able to make it to the second round, where both went out to seeded players. The girl’s draw went according to script, with no major surprises as Qinwen Zheng (CHN) and Carol Plakk (EST), the number and two seeds respectively, faced off in the final. Zheng had straight set victories throughout the tournament, and that trend continued in the final with her 6-3 6-2 victory over Plakk. This is now her second tournament win in as many weeks on the tour, and her sixth tour title. There was no consolation for Plakk in the doubles. As the number one seeds she and her partner, Spaniard Marta Custic, lost in the quarter finals. The winners were the second seeded Slovenians Zeva Falkner & Pia Lovric. It was a relief and a great reward at the same time for the pair, as they won their third champions tiebreak of the tournament. Eventually, they edged over the line ahead of Italians Matilde Mariani & Federica Sacco, taking the match 0-6 6-3 10-8.
Following the Mediterranean coastline all the way from Portugal, one would eventually reach Antalya, Turkey, which was the site of the GD Tennis Cup. The first of two Category two events this past week, both singles draws were filled to the brim with players, qualifiers, lucky losers and wildcards from Turkey. In the boys’ draw, the best result from one of the locals came from unseeded Kaan Cepel, who took out fourth seeded compatriot Orhan Gur Umur in the quarter finals. Cepel then lost in the semi-final to eventual champion, Danish top seed Elmer Moller, who easily defeated unseeded Samuel Vincent Ruggeri in the final 6-0 6-3. The girls’ draw brought plenty of joy to the home crowd, with local Selin Lidya Sepken winning the final against German fourth seed Alia Lex. In the boys’ doubles, Umur teamed with compatriot Arda Azkara as third seeds. They took out the top seeds in the semi-finals, but went down in the final to Andreat Djakouris from Cyprus and Mikhail Kniazeu of Belarus, the second seeds, 6-1 6-1. The local crowd faced another disappointment in the girls’ doubles, as top seeds Sepken teamed and fellow Turk Beyda Baykal fell short in the final. In a tight contest, they were defeated by Romanian Ana Paraschiva and Bulgarian Aleksandra Zlatarova 6-1 1-6 10-5.
Heading north now, over the Black sea, all the way to Minsk in Belarus, the Minsk Star Category 2 tournament saw winners from Russia across the board as well as surprises in all events. In the boys’ draw, sixth-ranked top-seed Russian Alibek Kachmazov lost the final to his fourth-seeded compatriot Nikita Kashirin 7-6(5) 7-6(3). The upsets continued as the top seeded girl, seventh-ranked Kamilla Bartone from Latvia, lost in the quarter finals. The trophy eventually went to Maria Timofeeva, who defeated local Victoriya Kanapatskaya 6-1 6-2. The boys’ doubles went to Petr Bar Biryukov & Aleksandr Myagkov, while Alisa Budanova & Eva Garkusha won the girls’ doubles.
A hop over the Baltic states, a skip across the Baltic sea and a quick jump north of Helsinki is where we land for the first of the two Category 3 events. The town of Nastola, Finland, played host to the Pajulahti Tournament, where yet again none of the top seeds were able to claim victory in any event. The girls’ doubles finalists were also the four singles semi-finalists. Russians Julia Avdeeva and Noel Saidenova defeated compatriots Maria Bondarenko and Anna Mikhailova 6-1 7-5; Saidenova also defeated her partner in the singles final 6-4 in the third set. Finn Oliver Saarinen took out the top seed in the quarterfinals, but lost in the next round to eventual champion, Briton Peter Alam. In the doubles, there was a happy finish for the Finnish, as Saarinen finished off French pair Julien Dando and Maxime Dubouch in straight sets with compatriot Oskar Antinheimo.
Flying over the rest of Scandinavia, into the Atlantic Ocean we reach Iceland, where the WOW Air Open took place in Kopavogur, part of the Reykjavik Capital Region. An exotic location, with an exotic player list, participants hailed from as far afield as Brazil and Australia. In the singles, the top seeds fared well, with Mikolaj Lorens from Poland and Amelie-Christin Janssen from Germany winning the boys’ and girls’ events. The boys’ doubles went to French pair Lois Bonneau and Sebastien Brissaud, while in the girls’ doubles another French player, Lola Marandel, teamed up with Russian Ekaterina Gladoshchuk to win the trophy in the doubles.
There have been many tournaments, lots of winners and plenty of surprises. This week sees more events in more exotic locations, including the Greek Islands, Croatia and Israel amongst others. Keep up with all the latest draws and results here.