Stefania Boian (ROU) and Luka Ceramilac (SRB) broke the ice and won their first Tennis Europe Category 1 tournaments in Bucharest last weekend. The eleventh edition of the Dr. Oetker Junior Trophy ran smoothly, providing players with intense competition and some entertaining off-court activities. These included a Tennis Europe Junior School, a fun-filled ‘Kids Day’ with Romanian professional player Irina Fetecau and sweet refreshments at all times. | 📸 Photo Gallery
It seems like Boian enjoys playing on home soil. She teamed up with Antonia Stoyanov (NED) and won the doubles title against Sara Balan (ROU) & Andreya Glushkova (BUL) 6-1 6-3. In the singles draw, she dominated the week by winning in straight sets. In the final, she faced compatriot Andreea Olariu, against whom she had played multiple matches in the past few weeks. Being very familiar with her opponent’s game, Boian tried and succeeded to break Olariu’s rhythm and take her out of her comfort zone. Following a 6-3 6-2 victory, Boian happily hugged the trophy and shared with us her moment of joy.
“I’m really happy I finally won a Category 1 tournament. It’s always a challenge playing against Andreea, I lost count of the matches we’ve had together. My plan now is to keep competing at different tournaments and hopefully be among the 8 players at the Monte-Carlo Masters.”
Since the beginning of the year, Luka Ceramilac has been travelling around Europe competing in multiple Tennis Europe tournaments. In February, he finished as a runner-up in a Category 2 event in Bucharest, and this time he returned to claim the winner’s trophy. Ceramilac aced the semifinal against top seed Artem Semenov by winning 6-3 6-0. However, the final match against local favorite Matei Chelemen proved to be more challenging. While Ceramilac maintained control during the first set, the second had multiple turns of events. With the whole crowd rooting for him, the Romanian was close to taking the match to the third set, leading at 3-1 and 6-5. Nonetheless, Ceramilac kept his focus, restored the balance when needed and ultimately claimed victory with a score of 6-4 7-6 (4).
“My opponent was very good, it was a complicated battle. There were some moments when maybe I could have played smarter, but in the end of course I’m happy with the result. Winning a Category 1 title was one of my main goals for this year and I hope to win one at home too.”
Even though he wanted the bigger trophy, Chelemen had a big smile on his face at the end and shared with us some thoughts about his experience at the Dr. Oetker Junior Trophy: “It’s been an amazing week, but unfortunately earlier today I was still a bit tired after yesterday’s match. I played an intense three-set semifinal (6-7 6-4 7-6).. I felt that fatigue during the final, but I’m still happy that I had those moments when I was leading. I’ll continue training, I’m looking forward to the Super Category event in Germany and fingers crossed I can play at the Masters in Monte-Carlo as well. My favourite player is Alcaraz, I know he also played Tennis Europe events, so I’d love to follow in his footsteps.”
Boys’ Doubles Final:
Andreas Hansen (DEN) & Artem Semenov def. Ziya Aydin & Mehmet Ercin (TUR) 7-5 6-4
Elsewhere on the TEJT last week:
- Hollie Smart (GBR) won back-to-back singles titles in Maribor, Slovenia. In doing so, she won an incredible 39 games in a row and claimed the singles title without losing a game. She also won the doubles title with compatriot Edie Griffiths, her opponent in the singles final.
- Top seed Gabriel Niedermayr (AUT) and Emma Sophie Glaser (GER) won the 14&U singles titles in Mödling, Austria. At the same venue, Austrian Thilo Behrmann secured both 16&U singles and doubles titles.
- Micol Salvadori (ITA) scored wins over four seeded players and won the tournament in Pavia, Italy, marking her first Tennis Europe trophy since 2021.
- Keisija Berzina (LAT), champion at the 12&U Festival in 2022, wins her third 14&U singles title at the Estonian Junior Open
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