Tennis Europe Junior Tour

Few upsets on opening day of the Junior Masters

Few upsets on opening day of the Junior Masters

The first day of action at the season-ending Tennis Europe Junior Masters in Reggio Calabria saw most of the top seeds advance to the semi-finals.

Home hope Giulio Zeppieri caused the only upset of the boys 14 & Under event, recovering from the loss of the first set to beat third seeded Alexander Zgirovskiy of Belarus. His next opponent will be European Junior Championship silver medallist Filip Jianu of Romania, who produced a flashy mix of power and drop shots to beat Britain’s Jack Draper 6-3 6-2.

The other semi-final will see Timofey Skatov of Russia – a winner of three Category 1 titles in 2015 – face European 14 & Under Champion Duje Ajdukovic of Croatia. The pair scored straightforward wins on Friday, beating Peter Makk (HUN) and Nicolas Alvarez Varona (ESP) respectively.

The girls’ 14 & under event provided the most unpredictable results of the day. Oana Corneanu of Romania opened the competition with a major upset, ousting top seeded Russian Taisya Pachkaleva in a long three set match. Corneanu will next play Helene Pellicano, who came from behind to beat another Russian, Kamilla Rakhimova. The Maltese #1 was pleased at how she had managed to raise her game in the latter stages of their Court 3 encounter. Of Saturday’s semi-final she said, “We have played twice this year and I always started well but went on to lose the match, so I will try to change things up.”

Vitalia Stamat (pictured) of Moldova completed a trio of Russian losses by ending the title hopes of #2 seed Ekaterina Makarova. Stamat is aiming for her fifth singles title of the year, and extended her Tennis Europe Junior Tour win streak to seven matches. She’ll next face Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, a 6-4 6-2 winner over Romania’s Carmen Manu.

There will be a blockbuster semi-final in the boys’ 16 & under event, as top seed Leonid Sheyngezikht of Bulgaria faces #3 Marko Miladinovic, after the pair beat Vincentiu Niculescu (ROU) and Fabian Marozsan (HUN) respectively. Miladinovic is in the rare position of playing at the Masters for a second consecutive year, and said he felt confident at the venue; “I love playing in Italy, and always play well here. I played him [Sheyngezikht] in the final of consolation at the European Championships this year and won, so I think I can do it again.”

Second seed Francesco Forti ensured home interest in the other semi-final, breezing past Poland’s Tomasz Dudek 6-4 6-3 in the final match to be completed under darkening skies. He will face Germany’s Robert Strombachs, a 6-4 7-6 winner over Aliasandr Liaonenka (BLR).

Spain’s Marina Bassols Ribera extended her 2015 Tennis Europe Junior Tour record to 24 wins and 2 losses by scoring the day’s quickest victory; a 6-0 6-3 win over Viktoriya Petrenko of Ukraine. She will play Daria Frayman in Saturday’s semi-final after the Russian beat another Ukrainian, Maria Lyven, conceding just two more games.

Ukraine’s third representative had better luck though, as Viktoriia Dema beat Anastasia Tikhonova to set up a match with top seed Daria Lukyanova. The Russian came back strongly after losing a first set tie-break to Serbia’s Nevena Sokovic, conceding just three games in the remaining two sets.

With some rain expected on Saturday, the semi-final matches will open the day’s program when play gets underway at 9:30am. You can consult the full schedule here or see the tournament gallery here.

Day 1 Results

Boys 14 & Under

(1) Timofey Skatov (RUS) d. Peter Makk (HUN) 6-1 6-3
(3) Duje Ajdukovic (CRO) d. Nicolas Alvarez Varona (ESP) 6-4 6-4
Giulio Zeppieri (ITA) vs. (4) Alexander Zgirovskiy (BLR) 2-6 6-3 6-3
(2) Filip Jianu (ROU) d. Jack Draper (GBR) 6-3 6-2

Girls 14 & Under

Oana Corneanu (ROU) d. (1) Taisya Pachkaleva (RUS) 7-5 1-6 6-4
(3) Helene Pellicano (MLT) d. Kamilla Rakhimova (RUS) 4-6 6-1 6-4
(4) Marta Kostyuk (UKR) d. Carmen Manu (ROU) 6-4 6-2
Vitalia Stamat (MDA) d. (2) Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 6-2 2-6 6-4

Boys 16 & Under

(1) Leonid Sheyngezikht (BUL) d. Vincentiu Niculescu (ROU) 6-2 6-2
(3) Marko Miladinovic (SRB) d. Fabian Marozsan (HUN) 6-1 7-5
(4) Robert Strombachs (GER) d. Aliaksandr Liaonenka (BLR) 6-4 7-6(4)
(2) Francesco Forti (ITA) d. Tomasz Dudek (POL) 6-4 6-3

Girls 16 & Under

(1) Daria Lukyanova (RUS) vs. Nevena Sokovic (SRB) 6-7(5) 6-3 6-0
(3) Viktoriia Dema (UKR) d. Anastasia Tikhonova (RUS) 6-3 6-1
Daria Frayman (RUS) d. (4) Maria Lyven (UKR) 6-0 7-5
(2) Marina Bassols Ribera (ESP) d. Viktoriya Petrenko (UKR) 6-0 6-3

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