Julia Payola of Spain and Korea’s Chan-Yeong Oh have been crowned as champions of the 50th Torneo Avvenire, the Category 1 Tennis Europe Junior Tour event held at the Tennis Club Ambrosiano in Milan, Italy.
Seeded 10th, Payola breezed through the competition without losing a set, including impressive wins over #16 Magdalena Pantuckova (CZE) and #12 Olga Danilovic (SRB) in the quarter and semi-finals. In the final, she faced Ludmilla Samsonova, an Italian-based Russian who consequently had plenty of support from the crowd. The Spaniard was in no mood for concessions though, racing to a 6-2 6-3 win.
Payola’s victory came in her first appearance on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour since winning the Sanchez-Casal Cup in Barcelona almost two years ago, and she becomes the fifth Spanish girl to triumph at the event. “Winning here is fantastic,” she said after the match. “I also won the Under 14 tournament in Rome, and I feel great playing in Italy.”
In the boys’ final, top seed Chan-Yeong Oh fought back from the loss of the first set to overcome reigning Tennis Europe Junior Masters champion Mate Valkusz of Hungary 3-6 6-3 6-0. The luck of the draw saw Oh have to defeat Italian players in four of his five matches, but made up for it by teaming with home player Enrico Dalla Valle (his singles semi-final victim) to win the doubles title on Saturday.
Oh etched his name into the record books in some style, become the first Asian player ever to win the boys’ championship at Avvenire, as well as the first player in seven years to win both singles and doubles. “I am very pleased with this success,” he said, “I won in a beautiful setting and in a beautiful city.”
The week also saw some strong performances from the visiting ITF Touring Teams from Europe and South America, who were able to test their level against many of the world’s top players in the age group. The COSAT Team did particularly well in the boys’ doubles, where Andres Ciurletti & Juan Otegui (ARG) reached the final, falling 0-6 4-6 to Dalla Valle and Oh. Inci Ogut (TUR) and Eliza Omirou (CYP) starred for the Tennis Europe team, beating home pair Martina Pratesi & Lucrezia Stefanini to claim the girls’ doubles title.
Since the first edition in 1965, the Avvenire event has come to be regarded as one of the world’s toughest 16 & Under tournaments. Former champions include Grand Slam champions and world #1s including Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg, Juan Martín del Potro, Jennifer Capriati, Conchita Martinez and Martina Hingis. Tournament director Giorgio di Pietro commented, “It was a great week, the very best way to celebrate the milestone of our 50th event.” Check the next issue of Tennis Europe News for a full interview with Mr. Di Pietro.
The rest of the week’s Tennis Europe Junior Tour results can be found here.
Photo Gallery from 50th Avvenire.