Regular Tennis Europe Junior Tour events have been thin on the ground during February, as the attention of many players turns to the Winter Cups team events, but the Tour swung back into action last week with five tournaments held across the three age categories.
12 & Under
The Open Super 12 in Auray, France, has traditionally been one of the tougher events on the 12 & Under calendar, and this year was no exception with an international field that attracted players from as far afield as Australia, Canada and Madagascar. Indeed, it was a Canadian player that ended up taking the boys’ title, as Felix Auger Aliassime made a splash at the event for a second consecutive year.
Having reached the semifinals in 2011 on his Tennis Europe Junior Tour debut, Auger Aliassime recorded two more wins this time, surviving some tough battles on his way to the final where he beat Alen Avidzba of Russia 6-4 6-1.
Paula Arias Manjon enjoyed a perfect debut on the Tour, winning the event to become the first Spanish girls’ champion in the 25-year history of the tournament. She ended the tournament in fine style, conceding just six games in her last three months, including just two to her final opponent, Lucie Kankova (CZE).
There was consolation for Kankova in the doubles event though, where she teamed up with Serbia’s Jovana Vukovic to take the title over Russians Natalia Boltinskaya & Tatiana Makarova. The boys’ doubles went to the German-Russian team of Rudolf Molleker & Alexey Zakharov who came from a set down to beat Swiss pair Mischa Lanz & Damien Wenger in a match tie break.
14 & Under
Home players caused a series of surprises at the Tumba 2012 Category 3 event in Stockholm. Wild card Karl Friberg beat top seeded Australian Alexei Popyrin in the first round, while Swedish compatriot Gilbert Jaeger accounted for #3 Aaro Pollanen (FIN) at the same stage. Both players followed up on their wins and later met in the semi finals, with Jaeger posting a 6-0 6-0 victory to reach his first Tour final against fifth seeded Brit Robert Leck. Leck won Tour three doubles titles last season and took the next step by conceding just three games for his singles win. Pollanen and Popyrin made up for their early singles losses by reaching the doubles final. In the end, Pollanen, who was playing in his third consecutive doubles final took a first title alongside Denmark’s Casper Ruud, with a 6-2 6-3 win over Popyrin & Leck.
Both girls’ finals were all-Russian encounters between the top two seeds. Anna Blinkova survived a tight second set to beat Sofya Zhuk 6-4 7-6(6) for the singles crown. The two also met in the doubles final, where the result was reversed. Zhuk teamed with Polina Golubovskaya to beat Blinkova & Anjelika Vlasenkova 6-4 1-6 (10-7).
Many of the players will stay on for a second week in Swedish capital this week for the first ever Category 1 event, the Kungens Kanna & Drottningens Pris.
Riccardo Balzerani had a busy week at the Category 3 Intime HEAD Junior Open in Zoetermeer (NED). Having survived the qualifying competition, the Italian made waves in the main draw, upsetting top seed Alexey Aleshchev (RUS) in the quarter finals before going on to secure the title with a 7-5 6-3 win over Polish fourth seed Piotr Matuszewski in the final.
Third seeded Brit Georgina Axon added to the title she won in Wrexham at the end of last year by taking the girls’ trophy thanks to a 6-1 6-1 win over home hope Kimberley van Rijn.
Both doubles finals were all Dutch affairs, with Tom Floris Moonen & Bart Stevens taking the boys’ title and Floor Hart & Anastaiya Mulder-Syrovatskaia winning the girls’.
16 & Under
The biggest 16 & Under event of the week was the Category 2 Tournoi 15/16 du Chambon-sur-Lignon in France, where home players dominated the boys' events to such an extent that only one non-French player (Spanish qualifier Miguel Semmler) made it to the quarter finals. Unseeded Benjamin Bonzi scored a surprise win in the singles event, recovering from a set down to beat fourth seed Ronan Joncour (FRA) 6-7(6) 6-4 6-3. Joncour reprised his partnership with Copa del Sol team-mate Mandresy Rakotomalala to win the doubles event.
Moldova’s Aliona Bolsova stopped a French double by outlasting qualifier Lucie Wargnier in the girls final 3-6 6-3 6-3. The win capped a perfect week in which she also teamed with Paula Bodosa to win a third Tennis Europe Junior Tour doubles together. Gallery
Jacopo Stefanini of Italy made a splash at the Category 3 Scuola Tennis Taverne Junior Cup in Switzerland, winning both the singles and doubles events. The singles victory came in an all-Italian final where he beat top seed Simone Roncalli, a day after teaming with another Italian, Mirko Cutuli, to beat Davide Albertoni (ITA) & Bernabe Zapata Miralles (ESP) for the doubles crown.
Home players were much more prolific in the girls’ events. Seventh seed Anais Gabriel won her first Tour event with a 6-1 6-1 win over qualifier Federica Mordegan (ITA), while an all-Swiss doubles final saw Susan Bandecchi & Natacha Petrovic emerge victorious.
This week on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour sees a brand new Category 1 tournament in Sweden, as well as Category 3 events in the Netherlands and Russia, plus a 16 & Under event in Estonia. You can keep up to date with the latest results here. The Kungens Kanna & Drottningens Pris in Stockholm offers a live score service: Live Scores Stockholm