Tennis Europe Junior Tour

Spain & Ukraine claim 14&U Winter Cups crowns

Spain & Ukraine claim 14&U Winter Cups crowns

Spain and Ukraine have been crowned as 2017 14 & Under Tennis Europe Winter Cups by HEAD champions. In Kazan, Russia, the boys’ final went to Spanish team with a 2-1 win over Switzerland. Over in the Czech town of Rakovnik, Ukraine won their second ever girls’ title, successfully defending their 2016 trophy with a 2-1 victory over Russia.

 

This is Spain’s third win from their fifth final in this competition. Their last victory came in 2002 when current world number sixteen, Roberto Bautista, helped lead Spain to victory. For the Swiss, it was a good run, having made their first final since 1993 when they lifted the trophy. They are now 1-3 in finals since the event started.

 

With 2-1 victories over Denmark and then hosts Russia, Spain qualified for their first final in fifteen years. Their opponents, Switzerland, defeated defending champions Italy 2-1 and then the Czech Republic by the same scoreline to make their way to their first final in a decade and a half.

 

Daniel Rincon set up the Spaniards with a 1-0 lead, taking out his slightly higher ranked Swiss opponent, Yarin Aebi, in a routine 6-3 6-2 win in 77 minutes. In the second singles, Carlos Alcaraz Garcia needed only four more minutes to seal victory for Spain over Jerome Kym with a straightforward 6-3 6-3 win. Kym then teamed with Jan Sebesta to avoid a Spanish whitewash. The pair defeated Alcaraz Garcia and Marc Othman Ktiri 6-4 6-2 in the dead doubles rubber.

 

The Russian girls took out last year’s finalists the Czech Republic 2-1 in the quarterfinals, then backed this up with a 3-0 rout of Great Britain in the semi-finals. The Ukrainians dismissed France in similar fashion, and then secured a tough 2-1 win over Italy in the deciding doubles match to book their place in the final.

 

This next generation of Ukrainian girls seems like a force to be reckoned with. Winning the title two years in a row and with a slew of youngsters on the junior tour, their future looks promising. Dasha Lopatetskaya got the ball rolling, thrashing Maria Bondarenko 6-0 6-2. Lyubov Kostenko then fell to Maria Timofeeva 6-2 6-3, making the doubles rubber crucial. In a match that went down to the wire, the two Ukrainians pipped Timofeeva and Oksana Selekhmeteva over the line, claiming the match and the title 7-6(5) 2-6 10-2.

 

The losing semi-finalists played out their consolation playoffs to determine third and fourth place. In the boys, victory went to Russia 3-0 over the Czech Republic, while the Italian girls secured the bronze medals by beating Great Britain 2-1.


The 14 & Under Tennis Europe Winter Cups by HEAD have been played since 1981 and have seen participation from many of the world’s top players, with Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal all among the former winners of the competition. A total of 168 national teams took part across its three age categories in this edition. For full results, please click here.

Draws and Results

Boys' Finals: Kazan (RUS) - Nominations | Draws | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Photos

Girls' Finals - Rakovnik (CZE) - Nominations | Draw | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Photos

Final standings

  14 & Under Boys 14 & Under Girls
     
1 Spain Ukraine
2 Switzerland Russia
3 Russia Italy
4 Czech Republic Great Britain
5 Italy Czech Republic
6 France France
7 Denmark Hungary
8 Turkey Turkey

 

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