Tennis Europe Junior Tour

McDonald and Barros claim Open Stade Français titles

McDonald and Barros claim Open Stade Français titles

OPEN STADE FRANÇAIS | 14 & Under Category 1 (Paris, France)

In a field packed with big Junior Tour names as well as plenty of top players from overseas, Niels McDonald (GER) and Victoria Luiza Barros (BRA) won this year’s edition of the coveted Open Stade Français. They beat Zangar Nurlanuly (KAZ) and local sensation Massiva Boukirat in their respective finals. After much fanfare, a flurry of social media blasts and plenty of off-court activities, the 32nd edition of the tournament took place last week. The players had plenty of incentive to do well, with the final matches taking place on the courts of Roland Garros.

A Tennis Europe Junior School class was held on the Sunday evening, and was the perfect buffer between the end of qualies and the start of the main draw the following day. Given the international flavour of this tournament, the School welcomed first-timers from as far afield as Thailand, South Korea, India, Colombia, Brazil and Australia among other countries. Players were shown clips about Agents & Sponsorship as well as Nutrition & Hydration and were active participants in the ensuing quiz.

Straight off the blocks there were surprises. The first big name to fall was the #4 seed Sophie Bekker from the United Kingdom, losing to eventual semifinalist Sofia Kryvoruchko (UKR). Perhaps the most unexpected upset of the tournament saw top seed Sofie Hettlerova (CZE) sent home by local Manon Favier, who then fell in the semis to the eventual champion. This was followed by other upset, that of second seed Ksenia Efremova, who fell to Boukirat, who then continued her amazing run in the semis to oust third seeded Lea Belanska (SVK).

The favourites for the boys’ title proved more resistant, with seven of the eight seeds progressing to the quarterfinals. Czech #5 seed Jakub Smejcky was the exception, having fallen to Daniel Tazabekov (KAZ) in the previous round. The Kazakh kept up the good play taking out a somewhat injured second seed Lenny Petit (FRA) before falling to McDonald in the semis. Meanwhile top seeded Nurlanuly was in fantastic form, blasting through the top part of the draw and reaching the final without having dropped a set.

After a tight first set in the final it was McDonald who secured the break over Nurlanuly in the second set. That was all that it came down to in the end, with the German claiming his second title of the year 7-6(2) 6-4. The girls’ final was a battle royale as Barros needed an hour to claim the first set. Undeterred, Boukirat fought back and seized the second, before both players put on an amazing display of tennis to take the final set to a tiebreaker. In a tight finish, it was the Brazilian who would prevail, dashing local hopes with a 6-4 1-6 7-6(8) win in the final over the French girl.

More trophies were handed out to four other players, with honours in the boys’ doubles going to Jamie MacKenzie (NZL) & Christopher Thies (GER), while Katriin Reinvald (EST) & Inka Wawrzkiewicz (POL) won the girls’ doubles title.

Elsewhere this week:

  • The inaugural 14&U Invitational tournament took place at Wimbledon, featuring many top Junior Tour players, including Race to Monte-Carlo contenders Ivan Ivanov (BUL), Matei Todoran (ROU), Veronika Sekerkova (CZE) and eventual champion Alexia Ioana Tatu (ROU). To read more, go here.
  • Mikayel Avanesyan (ARM) picked up his fourth Junior Tour title of the season, at home in Yerevan.
  • A week on from winning his first doubles title, Fabio Felsner (GER) swept singles and doubles titles at Cat.3 Meppel
  • Just one game was lost in two singles finals at Cat.3 Sassuolo. Mattia Cappellari beat Niccolo Satta 6-0 6-1 in the boys’ final while Ilary Pistola scored a rare double bagel over Iana Teodora Rus in the girls’ final.
  • It was a Romanian whitewash at the Pleven Open (16&U, Cat.2,  Bulgaria), winning all singles and doubles events. Tudor Tibelea won his first title of the year. 
  • Entering the event with 1 win and 5 losses this season, Francesca Saroli upset three seeds on her way to victory at the Cat.3 16&U Biella tournament.
  • Another maiden win, this time at the Bludenz European Junior Open (14&U, Cat.2, Austria) for Jan Sykora (CZE) he won the singles and doubles as did Katarina Miller.

For full results from these events and elsewhere, go to: https://www.tenniseurope.org/page/35674/Tennis-Europe-Junior-Tour-Winners

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