The international mix of players on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour was reflected on the champions’ podium as the Torneo Foligno in central Italy came to an end. Brazil’s Pedro Boscardin Dias and the Czech Republic’s Linda Fruhvirtova held aloft the winners’ trophies after having played two very contrasting finals. In Sicily, Luca Van Assche (FRA) and Georgia Pedone (ITA) were crowned champions in the XXX Trofeo Carlo Stagno D’Alcontres in the picturesque seaside town of Messina.
Category 1
Torneo U16 - Foligno, Italy
Jam-packed with players from across the globe, this leading 16 & Under tournament had an international flavour to it. The boys’ top seed Ondrej Horak (CZE) was taken out in the third round by the #15, Joao Victor Couto Lorenzo from Brazil, who then saw off the Torelló champion, Spaniard Daniel Rincon before losing in the semi-finals to the Italian wild card recipient Luciano Darderi. Lorenzo’s countryman, Pedro Boscardin Dias, was making waves in the other half of the draw, upsetting the fifth, third and second seeds consecutively to reach his first 16 & Under final, having been named as Overseas Player of the Year in 2017 with some fantastic 14 & Under results. A local favourite is always a tough matchup, and the Brazilian did it the hard way, fighting from a set down and battling through a tight second set tiebreak to finally claim the title 3-6 7-6(6) 6-4.
Fruhvirtova has been going from strength to strength in 2018, having won two 14&U events and recently winning the 16&U tournament in Torelló. After the top seeded Spanish player was forced to withdraw, the top half of the draw was blown wide open. For her part however, the Czech progressed easily through to the final without dropping a set and winning two consecutive double bagel matches early on. Having dropped only 12 games throughout the entire tournament she played the final against Pola Wygonowska (POL), who had taken out last week’s Biella champion Jennifer Ruggeri in the quarterfinal and was herself playing in her first final. It was to be another walk in the park for Fruhvirtova though, as she confirmed her dominance in the event with a thumping 6-2 6-1 victory.
In the doubles, there was to be some consolation for Rincon as he took the title with compatriot Alejandro Turriziani Alvarez thanks to a 6-2 6-4 win over unseeded Italians Andrea Sandrone & Alessandro Spadola. This was the first doubles win for the pair, as it was for the girls’ doubles champions. In another great result for Brazil, Nalanda Teixeira Da Silva & Guillermina Grant of Uruguay defeated the third seeded Turkish-Polish combination of Beyda Baykal & Wygonowska 6-3 6-3 in the final, thus leaving the Pole with two runner-up trophies in Foligno.
XXX Trofeo Carlo Stagno D’Alcontres- Messina, Italy (14 & Under)
It has been a strong start to the year for Luca Van Assche. After finishing as runner up in Maia and winner at the Kremlin Cup, he now lands his second title of the year in Messina. His semi-final opponent, Matija Samardzic (MNE) had earlier defeated top seeded Russian Artur Kukasian, and after his straight sets win over the Montenegrin, Van Assche faced second seeded Croatian Mili Poljicak in the final. The French boy’s 6-1 6-4 win denied the Croat a maiden title of 2018, despite consistent results in which he has reached at least the quarters or semis at all of his tournaments. Poljicak did however lift a trophy in Messina, as he exacted revenge on Van Assche & Pedro Rodenas, to take the doubles title with Serbian Luka Jovanovic in a 6-2 7-6(5) win over the Franco-Iberian pair.
After wins in Brindisi and Pavia, Georgia Pedone lifts her third trophy of the year in Sicily, close to her hometown. The Palermo native and sixth seed overcame a couple of tough three-set matches early on but steadied to win the semi and final in easy fashion. Her opponent in the final was fifth seeded French player Maelle Leclercq, who was vying for her first win of the year. On what was literally home soil, she was no match for the Sicilian, who took the final and title 6-4 6-0. In the doubles, Belgian pair Amelia Van Impe & Amelia Waligora defeated the British pairing of Sofia Johnson & Hannah Smith 6-1 6-1 in the final. It was Van Impe’s second doubles title of the year and Waligora’s first, as they had previously played in the Maribor final with different partners.
Category 2
Mamaia IDU Juniors Championships - Mamaia, Romania (16 & Under)
Top seed Mikhail Gorokhov of Russia posted his second win of the year, and first in this age bracket, with a 7-6 6-3 win over Bulgarian eighth seed Vladimir Popov, who was playing in his first final of 2018. Local Alexandra Petric, also seeded number 1, beat off seventh seeded compatriot Mara Gae in a comeback win 3-6 6-3 7-6(5) to claim the title, and finish one step better than her runner-up position in 2017. She also won the doubles with Alexandra Iordache, while Stefan Nicula & Gheorghe Schinteie made it a clean sweep for the locals in the doubles by winning the boys’ event.
Chernitskyaya Memorial - Kharkiv, Ukraine (14 & Under)
Local dominance was the name of the game in Kharkiv. Kremlin Cup Junior quarterfinalist and BTA Cup winner Illya Maksymchuk won the boys’ singles over Russian Artem Cherepin 6-3 6-1. He then teamed with compatriot Dimitriy Parintsev to claim the doubles title. After finishing as runner up in the Children’s Day Cup in Chisinau, Katreyna Lazarenko went one step further, coming through for her first tournament win of the year in the final against Yelyzaveta Kotliar 6-4 6-1. Another Ukrainian, Anastasiya Lopata, won the girls’ doubles title with her Moldovan partner Vlada Haetcaia.
Memorial Goran Tanovic 2018 - Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina (14 & Under)
In the singles events, Bosnian players came up one match short, much to the dismay of the locals. Radomir Tomic, playing in his first final of the year, fell to second seed He Ziheng of China 6-3 6-4 in the final, while girls’ second seed Suana Tucakovic succumbed 6-4 6-4 to seventh seed Sara Svetac from neighbouring Croatia, to give the victor a first title of 2018. Slovenian second seeds Tristan Flander & Lun Obrul were the boys’ doubles winners, and top seeds Valery Gynina (RUS) & Malwina Rowinska (POL) won the girls’ doubles.
For full results in all events and categories here and elsewhere from this past week, please click here, or to view the week's photo galleries, click here.