Tennis Europe Junior Tour

Vives Marcos, Selekhmeteva, Pinnington-Jones & Toth claim Italian titles

Vives Marcos, Selekhmeteva, Pinnington-Jones & Toth claim Italian titles

16 & Under - 5º MEMORIAL LILLO PUCCI - Foligno, Italy

Located in the heart of Perugia, the town of Foligno hosted last week’s premier 16 & Under event as the Tennis Europe Junior Tour’s best players – including a strong South American squad representing COSAT – battled for the prestigious Category 1 title. There was an all-Spanish boys’ final as top seeds Jaime Caldes and Pedro Vives Marcos (pictured) faced off, while in the girls’ draw the Russian top seed Oksana Selekhmeteva lifted her second trophy in as many weeks in this category to further cement her place at the top of the rankings.

The boys’ #1 seed, Caldes, made his way through to the final unfazed without the loss of a set while the second seed had a slightly tougher route to meet his compatriot. Having won his first match in a tough three-setter against Andrea Terenziani, he then came from a set down in the semifinals against Greek Aristotelis Thanos for a well-earned place in the final. In the end, it was Vives Marcos who upset his friend to take the match, 7-6(2) 6-3.

Moving to the girls draw, European 14 & Under #1 Selekhmeteva progressed unhampered throughout the tournament with relatively easy wins in every round without conceding a set. She was put to the test in the final by unseeded Argentine Jazmin Ortensi, losing the first set 2-6. Selekhmeteva showed her mental strength by clinching a marathon second set 7-5, and eventually ran away with the third set 6-1.

Upsets abounded in the doubles, where the boys’ singles finalists combined as the top seeds, but were taken out in the quarterfinals by the eventual champions Sergios Kyzas (CYP) & Nemanja Malesevic (BIH). The number five seeds defeated the unseeded Peruvian pairing of Sebastian Rodriguez & Mateo Vereau Melendez 7-6(5) 6-4 in the final. The girls’ top seeds, Anna Gross & Carol Plakk, were also taken out by the eventual winners in the quarterfinals. Italians Matilde Mariani & Giulia Tedesco beat second seeds Ana Ristevska (MKD) & Zeynep Sena Sarioglan (TUR) 6-3 6-0 in the final.

14 & Under - XXIX TROFEO ‘CARLO STAGNO D’ALCONTRES’ - Messina, Italy

Jack Pinnington-Jones continued his impressive season with another fantastic tournament, easing past his first two opponents for the loss of just one game in each match. He was put to the test in the quarterfinals against the number 13 seed, coming back from a set down. After passing that test, he went on to beat two Italian players to set up a final against compatriot Joel Pierleoni. As the ninth seed, Pierleoni had come through a tough draw, notably posting a come-from-behind win in the semi-finals against another compatriot, Derek Chen.

So the all-British final was set, with just a break in each set making the difference. Adding to his slew of semi-final appearances this year, Pinnington-Jones lifted his third singles trophy of the season with a 6-4 7-5 win.

In the girls' draw, top seed Aliona Falei of Belarus was upset by the Dutch player Clarine Lerby in the semi-finals. Lerby had earlier taken out the fourth seed and had earned a spot in the final where she was to meet the #2, Amarissa Toth. After advancing relatively easily through to the finals with the loss of just four games in three matches, Toth was made to fight and recovered from a set down to post her victory in the semi-final over Italian fourth seed Eleonora Alvisi. The final turned out to be rather one-sided, as Toth defeated Lerby 6-3 6-1 for her first win of the year, after being the runner-up at the Hungarian Open.

Pinnington-Jones played with Derrick Chen to win the doubles title, 6-4 6-4 over the second seeded Russians Mikhail Gorokhov & Aristarkh Safonov to score his fourth and Chen’s second doubles trophy of the season. In an all-Italian girls’ doubles final, the spoils went to Matilde Paoletti & Asia Serafini with a 6-2 6-2 win over Alvisi & Carlotta Mencaglia

CATEGORY 2 EVENTS

14 & Under MEMORIJAL GORAN TANOVIC 2017 - Tuzla, Bosnia & Herzegovina

In the boys events, Ukrainian German Samofalov was the top seed and winner in both the singles and doubles, where he was partnered by Croatian Roko Baskovic. The win marked his 20th consecutive singles victory on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour, a run that has garnered four tournament titles in recent weeks. The girls’ top seeded Turk Semra Aksu was defeated in the singles final by Lucija Ciric Bagaric of Croatia, but then teamed up with her compatriot Mina Toglukdemir to take home the the girls’ doubles trophy. Aksu is now on her own impressive win streak, having won her last five doubles tournaments.

14 & Under CHERNITSKAYA MEMORIAL - Kharkiv, Ukraine

In a tournament dominated by Ukrainians, all the finalists and semi-finalists in all events were local players except for the winners of the boys doubles who were from Belarus. Artem Podorozhnyi won the boys singles as the number two seed, while the top-seed Lyubov Kostenko took home the girls’ singles trophy. She then teamed up with Iryna Lysykh to win the doubles, while Belarusians Mikhail Dubrouski & Yahor Slizevich won the boys’ doubles.

16 & Under MAMAIA IDU JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP - Mamaia, Romania

In another tournament dominated by a local players, there was a complete Romanian sweep in all categories. The number one seed Carmen Roxana Manu took out the girls’ singles title, as the number two seed Nini Gabriel Dica won the boys’ singles event. He then repeated his victory in the doubles, teaming with Matei Adrian Georgescu. The girls’ doubles was won by Mara Anastasia Iliescu & Briana Straut.

More Results

For full results from the above events, plus the Category 3 and 12 & Under tournaments held during the past week, please click here.

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