The 14 and Under circuit landed in Rakovnik, Czech Republic for the Category 1 Bohemia Cafex Cup this past week. It was a tournament full of surprises, with seeded players and well-known players tumbling out and new players making their mark. Full 64-player draws, without byes, set the scene for scores of matches, and hence the many upsets that were to take place.
The Boys’ event lost its top two seeds in the second round, both of whom fell to players ranked outside the U14 top 30. Top 5 ranked and number 1 seeded Alibek Kachmazov lost in three sets to 150th ranked French boy Noan Vandenhoute, while fellow top fiver and second seed Dawid Taczala (POL) was beaten in straight sets by Slovakia’s 37th-ranked Jakub Katuch. In the following round, Kachmazov was then knocked out by British qualifier Ali Hassan, who in turn was ousted by unseeded Romanian Radu Mihae Papoe. The Bucharest native took out the number 5 seed Viktor Jovic in the semi-finals, who had come through a comparatively calm quadrant of the draw where all seeds had made the quarters. Papoe was to meet his compatriot, number 4 seed Nicholas David Ionel, in the final. Except for one three-set match, Ionel had advanced to the final rather easily, having dispatched of Katuch in the semi-finals. The first set against his compatriot was a toughly fought 7-6(5), but with a 6-1 scoreline, Ionel walked away with the second set, and the title.
The girls’ draw offered fewer surprises in general, but a somewhat bigger one overall. Number 1 seed Denisa Hindova was served a 6-2 6-1 quarter final defeat in front of her home crowd. She was taken out by Estonian 10th seed Sofiya Chekhlystova who then lost to Slovenian 11th seed Ziva Falkner. The bottom half of the draw was full of upsets at the hands of unseeded British players, Holly Fischer and Emma Raducanu. Fischer defeated the tournaments #5 and #3 seeds, while Raducanu saw off the #8 seed in the quarter finals after earlier having shocked the second seeded Latvian Kamilla Bartone in the second round in straight sets. The all-British semi went the way of Fischer rather handily, and she was able to carry this momentum through to the final taking Falkner 6-3 6-1 for the biggest title of her junior career so far.
Victory in the girls’ doubles went to Russian third seeds Oksana Selekhmeteva and Alina Charaeva, who were comfortable 6-2 6-2 winners over the Slovenians Ziva Falkner & Pia Lovric, while the boy’s title went to the Polish team of Mikolaj Lorens & Dawid Taczala. The second seeds beat German pair Moritz Stoeger & Max Wiskandt 6-4 6-3 in the final. Gallery.
There was also a slew of category 2 and 3 events last week. Pavia, Italy hosed its “Torneo U14” Category 2 event. The results offered few shocks, although there were a couple of surprises for the home players. The boys’ semi-finals were made up of four Italians, much to the joy of the locals. The eventual winner was 7th seed Biagio Gramaticopolo, who had taken out the top seed Mattia Bernardi in the semis and beat unseeded Samuel Vincent Ruggeri in the final, both matches being tough three set encounters. Unseeded Italian Lisa Pigato made it to the girls’ final, but lost to number one seed Estonian Carol Plakk in another tough three set match. More joy came for the locals as Bernardo teamed with Riccardo Trione to take out the boys’ doubles title, while the icing on the Italian cake saw unseeded local pair Matilde Mariani & Federica Trevisan upset the top seed in the girls’ doubles final. So it was almost a clean sweep for the locals, with winners in 3 out of 4 events, and a finalist in the other. Gallery.
Meanwhile, the Svelingrad Cup was held in Bulgaria, where the event was dominated by the seeds, with Russian top seeds Marat Sharipov & Elizaveta Dementyeva winning the boys’ and girls’ events respectively. The Boys’ doubles was won by Tsotne Dzimistarishvili (GEO) and Mark Lajal (EST), while there was some local pride as third seeded Bulgarians Velizra Fileva & Dariya Radulova won the girls’ doubles.
Heading across to the Adriatic coast of Montengero, the Cungo & Co Open was held in Ulcinj, not far from the border with Albania. The boys’ singles was won by local 4th seed Budimir Tomanovic, while the boys’ doubles went to another local, Danilo Raicevic, who teamed with Croatian Lovra Erceg. The girls’ events were dominated by Chinese players with the singles trophy going to wildcard entrant Yujiao Che and the doubles to Na Dong and her partner Zongyu Li.
Over the Black sea to the South-Eastern Caucasus, we land in the Azaerbaijan capital Baku, for the Tournament Devoted to the Memory of Haydar Aliyev. The combined 14/16 & Under event was completely dominated by Russia and its players, with all but two semi-final slots in all events being filled by Russians.
Vladimir Cherkovets (14 & Under) and Ostap Kovalenko (16 & Under) were the boys’ champions, while Polina Kudermetova (14 & Under) and Georgian Mariam Dalakishvili (16 & Under) claimed victory in the girls’ singles. Cherkovets teamed with Georgian Lasha Giorgi Kikvidze to take the boys 14 & Under doubles, while the 16 & Under title went to Ostap Kovalenko & Vladimir Senchuk. Anastasiya Kostromitina & Polina Kudermetova won the 14 & Under Girls’ Doubles while Alina Lebedeva teamed with Sofia Plotnikova to win the 16 & Under event.
Staying now with the 16 and Unders, there were also events played in Pinsk, Belarus and Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina . The field in Pinsk Open was dominated by home players, who in turn were able to convert local hopes into victories. Viktoriya Kanapatskaya won the singles and well as the doubles with Aleksandra Efremova. The Boys’ doubles went to Zhan Skindzer & Kirill Yarmoshuk, while Russian Roman Neganov justified his top seeding by taking home the boys’ singles title.
The Zenica Open also yielded good results for local players. Milica Bojic won both the singles as well as the doubles with the help of Croatian Lana Sipek. Nemanja Malesevic, however, fell at the final hurdle to Croatian second seed Mile Matic, who managed a doubles win too, alongside Mihail Kuseki of Montenegro.
The next Category 1 for the 14 and Unders is a just hop across the border in Slovakia, but there is also a slew of events across eastern Europe. Meanwhile, this week the 16 and Under circuit is highlighted by the Category 1 event in Torelló, north of Barcelona.