The 53rd edition of the Bohdan Tomaszewski Cup in Warsaw, Poland welcomed players from 21 different countries. While many of them had their eyes on the prestigious trophies, Junior Masters contenders Timofei Derepasko and Ksenia Efremova were the ones to take them home, boosting their hopes for a place at the season-ending event in Monte-Carlo.
Since the beginning of this year, Timofei Derepasko has played 6 finals, 4 singles and 2 doubles, and won them all. Even more impressive is that all the finals were played at Category 1 events. His week in Warsaw began with a 6-1 7-5 win over Nicholas David Pocanschi (CAN). He continued the tournament against Polish Jan Urbanski and left the court with a 6-1 6-4 second round victory. The challenging part came in the quarter-final when Derepasko faced seed 6 Arturs Zagars (LAT). After an easy first set for Derepasko, Zagars showed his ambition for the semifinal and took the match to a decider. Even so, Derepasko didn’t panic, and went on to claim victory 6-2 5-7 6-2. A comfortable semi-final win against seed 7 Daniel Balascak (SVK) advanced him to the final, where he faced in-form Kerem Yilmaz (TUR), fresh from his Category 1 tournament win in Sarajevo last week. Yilmaz is part of the ITF/Tennis Europe 16&U Touring Team and he surely wanted to continue his tour with one more title. The Turk won the first set, but Derepasko got his game together and lifted the trophy after a 2-6 6-3 7-5 match.
Similar to Derepasko, Ksenia Efremova has played and won many Tennis Europe finals in 2022. In fact, her week was much easier than that of the boys’ champion, as she did not allow her opponents a single set the entire tournament. She signalled her intention to win the title with a 6-1 6-3 upset of top seed Laima Vladson (LTU) in the quarter final. The semifinal wasn’t much different, against Romanian Diana-Ioana Simionescu, and saw Efremova move on to the finals after a 6-4 6-1 win. Efremova most recently played the final in Hasselt (BEL), at the 14 & Under Young Champions Cup, but didn’t manage to claim victory. This time, however, the Mouratoglou Academy player made sure everything was under control and beat Beatrise Zeltina (LAT) 6-0 6-4.
Boys’ doubles final:
William Rejchtman Vinciguerra (SWE) & Kerem Yilmaz (TUR) def. Maxwell Castle (GBR) & Stepan Sklenicka (CZE) 6-7(5) 6-3 10-4
Girls’ doubles final:
Laima Vladson (LTU) & Beatrise Zeltina (LAT) def. Nadia Affelt & Inska Wawrzkiewicz (POL) 2-6 6-2 11-9
16&U Touring Team Update
- Laima Vladson (LTU) and Beatrise Zeltina (LAT) made a great doubles team and won the title
- Beatrise Zeltina also reached the singles final
- Diana Simionescu (ROU) played the semifinal against winner Efremova
- Kerem Yilmaz played the singles final and won doubles with partner William Rejchtman Vinciguerra
- Arturs Zagars reached the quarter-final and lost to the tournament winner
Elsewhere on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour last week:
- Krystof Vymazal (CZE) won his first Tennis Europe singles title at the Hai Cup in Arad (ROU), also winning doubles together with partner Lucian Stefan Andrei (ROU)
- Andreea Olariu (ROU) claimed her second singles trophy in Arad
- Jan Hemetzberger (AUT) won both singles and doubles at the Belight Cup in Budapest (HUN)
- Lea Sabadi (AUT) secured her first singles title in Budapest
- Valentin Gonzalez Galino (ESP) followed up last week’s Barcelona title with another win, this time in Alicante
- Nephew of former world #1 Yevgeny Kafelinkov, Evgenii Kafelnikov won his first Junior Tour singles and doubles titles at the 12 & Under Artur Shilajyan event in Yerevan (ARM)