Tennis Europe Junior Tour

Artnak, Jimenez, Nesterov & Idrizovic claim Cat.1 titles

Artnak, Jimenez, Nesterov & Idrizovic claim Cat.1 titles

As the summer draws to a close, many of the Tour's top players are chasing all-important ranking points to qualify for the season-ending Tennis Europe Junior Masters. Last week offered two Category 1 tournaments and several players made the most of the opportunity to close in on a spot in Reggio Calabria. 

14 & Under Antonio Hernandez Cup - Barcelona, Spain

Bor Artnak of Slovenia and Andorran Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva were this year’s champions at the famous Category 1 event held at the Sanchez Casal Academy on the outskirts of Barcelona. The Slovenian has now claimed his third singles title of the year, while the Andorran secures her fourth. The wins represent a big step up for both, however, and are the first Category 1 event wins for either player, with all their previous victories coming at Category 3 events.

Artnak progressed to the final with a series of wins over fellow seeds, including the fifteenth, fifth and then top seed Olaf Pieczkowski (POL) in the semi-finals. His opponent in the final was third seed Peter Privara of Slovakia, which he won 7-5 6-4.  Jimenez, the third seed, saw off the second seed Kristina Volgapkina (RUS) in their semi-final, before coming back from the brink of defeat to outlast top seeded Ukrainian Sabina Zeynalova 3-6 7-5 6-4 in the final. The win lifts Artnak from 33 to 20 in the Race and puts him within striking distance of a qualifying spot, as a mere 160 points separate number 6 from number 20. Jimenez shoots up 24 spots to number 26 on the 14 & Under ranking, although she is still somewhat adrift in the Race to Masters, landing at number 58, although her win moved her up a whopping 100 spots.

Boys’ doubles seventh seeds Markus Molder & Oliver Ojakaar of Estonia defeated Poles Pieczkowski & Borys Zgola 6-1 6-3 in the final. The girls’ doubles trophy went to Valery Gnina & Victoria Matasova (RUS) in a 4-6 6-4 10-8 win over Volgapkina & Zeynalova.

As is now tradition at the event, the winners all received artwork personalised with Japanese calligraphy by Miho Sasamori.

16 & Under Open RCT Barcelona 1899 - Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Petr Nesterov (BUL) and Fatma Idrizovic (SRB) made their presence felt in Sarajevo, by taking the title at this long-running event, which this year held Category 1 status for the first time. Local player Drazen Petrovic was the boys’ singles runner-up, while the girls’ finalist was Maria Sara Popa of Romania.

Continuing his great season, Croatian Mili Polijicak played in his first 16 & Under singles event and made excellent inroads with a run all the way to the semi-finals, where he had to give his Bosnian rival a walkover win. The top seed, Nesterov survived a three-set second round scare against German qualifier Din Karahodza, before seeing off fifth seed Adam Jurajda (CZE) in the quarters and eighth seed Danilo Raicevic (MNE) in the semis, both in straight sets. Another blip in the first set in the final was all Nesterov needed to spark the fire, as he then raced to take the next two sets and match over Petrovic 2-6 6-1 6-0 to claim his third title of 2018. The win moves him up from 8th to 1st in the Race to Masters.

Likewise, Idrizovic moves up a massive 45 spots to number 12 in the Race with her win in Sarajevo. In the semi-finals, she defeated Anna Panchartek (CZE) and in the final she scored an impressive 6-1 6-1 win over Popa, both of whom are ranked above her in the Race. This will no doubt give her a lot of confidence and motivation as the last few tournaments approach before the Masters takes place.

In the doubles, the Serbian pair of Petar Teodorovic & Marko Topo defeated Jurajda & Mathias Musil (CZE) 6-7(7) 6-4 10-7 to win the boys’ title. Panchartek & Kira Pavlova of Russia were the girls’ doubles champions, having defeated Silvia Maria Costache (ROU) & Natalija Senic (SRB) 6-4 7-6(5) in the final.

Category 2 events

16 & Under 40th International BMW Junior Open - Regensburg, Germany

Frederic Schlossmann (GER) took out top seed Edvards Liepins (LAT) 6-2 6-2 in the semi-finals before downing third seed Matthew Donald (CZE) 3-6 6-3 6-2 to lift the trophy on home soil. Katerina Dimitrova (BUL) won her first 16 & Under Category 2 title by defeating her doubles partner Laura Hietaranta (FIN) 1-6 6-2 6-0 in the final. Dimitrova has been busy recently; this is her second 16 & Under singles title, her previous win being at the category 3 event in Stara Zagora in her home nation and comes off the back of her Category 1 14 & Under win at the Jugend Cup last week.

Donald teamed with Frank Jonker (NED) to win the boys’ doubles title, while Dimitrova & Hietaranta won the girls’ doubles title, capping off a great week for the pair.

14 & Under ETC Cup - Budapest, Hungary

Having won at the Category 3 event in Sliven earlier this year, Mihai Alexandru Coman (ROU) has now picked up his first Category 2 title with a 6-2 2-6 6-3 win in the final over Jiang Yunhan of China. Kristyna Tomajkova (CZE) beat Slovakia’s Emma Tothova 6-1 6-0 in the decider to clinch her third title of the year, one being a 16 & Under Category 3 title in Slovakia.

Czech players Jakub Mensik & Simon Myslivec were the winners of the boys’ doubles event, while Tomajkova & Tothova played together to win the girls’ doubles trophy.

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.  

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