Teams from Denmark (boys) and Ukraine (girls) have recorded historic double wins, adding the Nations Challenge by HEAD to the Winter Cups by HEAD titles earned in February to sweep the team events in the 12 & Under age category.
In Ajaccio (FRA), Ukraine beat Russia 3/0 to claim the girls’ title for the first time in the history of the competition. The opening match of the final tie saw Lyubov Kostenko withstand a spirited fightback from Ksenia Aleshina to give Ukraine and early lead. Kostenko claimed the first set on a tie-break before the Russian levelled at one-set apiece after a ten-game second set. Kostenko upped her game from there though, reeling off six straight games to claim the third set to love.
The second singles was a battle between two of the most successful players on the 12 & Under Tour so far this season, as Maria Bondarenko of Russia took on the player to have won more matches than anyone else in age group; Daria Lopatetskaya. Sadly for the Russians, the match was no nearly as competitive as the first encounter, as Lopatetskaya wasted no time in extending her 2015 win/loss record to an astounding 39/3 with a 6-2 6-0 win.
The dead doubles match was played, with Ukraine completing a 3/0 win as Kostenko and Kateryna Rublevska beat Bondarenko and Vladislava Petrovskaia 7-5 7-6(5).
Russia had been unbeaten until the final, beating Czech Republic, Belgium and Germany at the round-robin stage. Ukraine bounced back from a 2/1 defeat in their opening round-robin match against Great Britain to oust Turkey, Italy and Russia in successive days.
At the boy’s final rounds in Antalya, Turkey, the Danish team managed to emulate the achievement of Ukraine’s girls by beating Spain to claim the title for the first time.
The opening rubber of the final went to Denmark in comfortable fashion as Elmer Moeller lost just four games to Alejandro Turriziani Alvarez.
As in Ajaccio, the second singles match saw two of the tour’s in-form players face each other. Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune has been one of the consistent boys on the circuit in 2015 so far, losing just two of his 23 matches prior to the Nations Challenge finals and winning several of the leading 12 & Under tournaments. Meanwhile, Carlos Alcaraz Garfia of Spain had won his only tournament played, the Vilas Cup in Mallorca in May.
The Dane started strongly, breaking twice in the first set to establish a 6-2 lead, but Alcaraz Garfia struck back to take the second set 6-4 before levelling the tie with a 6-2 third set that ended Rune’s current win streak at 18 matches.
Both Moller and Rune returned for the deciding doubles, while Alcaraz Garfia was joined by Daniel Rincon. The Danes are regular partners who have won several tournaments together on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour, but were pushed hard by the Spanish pair, who recovered from the loss of a 14-point opening set tie break to level the match with a 3-6 second set. It was Moller & Rune who would combine better in the third set though, conceding just two games to secure a second team title of the season for their country.
Draws and Results
Boys - Antalya (TUR) - Nominations | Group A | Group B | Play-Offs | Matches | Photos
Girls - Ajaccio (FRA) - Nominations | Group A | Group B | Play-Offs | Matches | Photos