There was plenty of Tennis Europe Junior Tour action last week, with events in venues spanning the breadth of the continent from Portugal to Armenia. The highlights of the week were two Category One events, played in Spain and Bosnia & Herzegovina, both of which produced champions looking to secure places at the season-ending Junior Masters.
Category 1
14&U | SANCHEZ CASAL YOUTH CUP | Barcelona, ESP
The prestigious Sanchez-Casal Tennis Academy played host to its leading 14 & Under tournament last week. A sterling performance by unseeded Spaniard Miguel Avendano propelled him to the title, while Sara Bejlek (CZE) was equally impressive. The top seeded girl was in great from, winning all her matches in straight sets and never dropping more than five games in any of her encounters.
Beljek saw off sixth seed Raquel Caballero (ESP) in the final with a 6-4 6-1 win to secure her fourth title of the year. Caballero had earlier beaten Amina Zeghlouli, a wildcard entrant from Morocco, who had upset the second seed Anna Sedysheva (RUS) in round three. The icing on the cake was her additional victory in the doubles, and the results should see her edge close to the Top Ten of the Race to Masters rankings this week.
Top seed Bon Lou Karstens (GER) was upset in the third round by the eventual runner-up Pavel Lagutin (RUS). The Russian fell in the final, going down 6-1 6-1 to Avendano. Having debuted on the Spanish Summer Cups team recently, the local champion continued to show promise in Barcelona, beating four seeds, including #2 Grigory Shebekin (RUS) in the semi-finals to wrap up his first title of the year.
The ITF/Tennis Europe touring team doubles combination of Atakan Karahan (TUR) & Viktor Markov (BUL) picked up yet another trophy, their fifth and third doubles trophies for the year respectively. The girls’ doubles winners were Sarah Bejlek (CZE) & Dominika Pirohova (SVK).
16&U | OPEN RCT BARCELONA 1899 - SARAJEVO 2019 | Sarajevo, BIH
Peter Benjamin Privara won his fourth title from five finals with a run of comprehensive straight sets wins en route to the trophy-winning match. The second seed’s opponent in the final was Croatian Noa Vakudin, who upset top seed Peter Buldorini (ITA) in the semi-final. Like Beljek in Barcelona, the Slovak champ had not surrendered more than five games in any match all tournament. The win will move him into contention for one of the final spots at the Junior Masters when the rankings are updated.
Third seed Nikola Bartunkova (CZE) upset top seed Kateryna Lazarenko (UKR) in a thrilling third set tiebreak to set up a final with the second seed Sara Svetac of Croatia. After winning another tiebreak, this time in the first set, and then being up 3-0 in the second, Bartunkova was handed the match when Svetac was forced to retire during the final. Bartunkova adds this title to the 14 & Under Category 1 crowns she won in Piestany and Rakovnik in the spring.
Boys’ doubles winners: Filip Apltauer (CZE) & Stepan Baum (CZE)
Girls’ doubles winners: Nikola Bartunkova (CZE) & Amelie Smejkalova (CZE)
Category 2
16&U | INT. BMW JUNIOR CUP | Regensburg, GER
In the boys’ final, Yannik Kelm (GER) defeated Jan Jadlovsky to add to his recent doubles title at the Jugend Cup. Alisa Baranovska (UKR), another ITF/Tennis Europe touring team player, is going from strength to strength, playing her seventh final of the year and racking up title number five this year.
Boys’ doubles winners: Alen Bill (CRO) & Maxim Zhukov (RUS)
Girls’ doubles winners: Nikola Daubnerova (SVK) & Malwina Rowinska (POL)
14&U | HUNGARIAN OPEN | Budapest, HUN
Marc Majdandzic of Germany beat Jan Hrazdil (CZE) in his third final for his second title in 2019. In her first singles final of the year, Olivia Bergler (POL) defeated Emma Tothova (SVK) for the trophy.
Boys’ doubles winners: Jan Hrazdil (CZE) & Vojtech Vales (CZE)
Girls’ doubles winners: Emma Tothova (SVK) & Lucie Urbanova (CZE)
For full results from here as well as other events from Week 32, click here. For the latest photo galleries, click here.