Race Watch
With just over 5 months to go until the Tennis Europe Junior Masters, let’s take a look at how things currently stand at the halfway point in the Race:
★ Grace Watson (GBR) and Andrea Papakyriacou (CYP) ascended to the top spot in the G14 and G16 races respectively. The Brit’s rise was thanks to a runner-up berth in Rakovnik (Cat1) while the Cypriot was a winner one home soil in Limassol (Cat3)
↑ Moritz Freitag (AUT), the boys’ champ in Rakovnik moved up 4 spots to #4 while German Luys Calin’s run to the semis at the same event was enough to bump him up 4 spots to equal eighth.
↑ Other players moving up were Matilda Chedryk (UKR, #7, G14), Ayanna Maria Mitu (ROU, #5, G16) and Rafael Antonios Gakopoulos (GRE, #8, B14)
Elsewhere on the TEJT
Larissa, Greece (16&U/Cat3)
Georgi Georgiev (BUL) and Lydia Panagiotidou (GRE) have won their first and second title of the year respectively at the Exalco Cup. The tournament has been particularly active on social media, offering a plethora of quality photos and videos, for instance:
Bucharest, Romania (12&U/Cat1)
Kajetan Kosinski (POL) and Milica Capin (SRB) got an important win under their belts at the Daimon Cup in hopes of securing a spot at the end-of-year 12&U Festival in Mallorca.
Rakovnik, Czechia (14&U/Cat2)
At the Wilson Cup Boyan Ilchev (GBR) won his maiden tournament of the season, while Beata Maresova (CZE) picked up her third winner’s trophy.
Former TEJT Stars Making Moves
On Friday, the 2022 16&U European Junior Championships runner-up Martin Landaluce (ESP) defeated 16&U Junior Master champ from the same year Nicolai Budkov-Kjaer (NOR) at the ATP challenger event. The Spaniard fell in the semis yesterday to Guy Den Ouden of the Netherlands.
Former TEJT player Vilius Gaubas upset Dennis Shapovalov (CAN) in the Rome ATP 1000 in the R64. Today, he faced off against second seed Alexander Zverev who has his own impressive history on the TEJT. It was not to be for Gaubas today, and Zverev will now play four-time TEJT finalist Arthur Fils in the R16. Gaubas reached an impressive 22 TEJT finals in singles and doubles. Some of his biggest TEJT results include singles wins at the Ukrainian Junior Open and Portimao, runner-up trophies in Barcelona and Tallinn as well as back-to-back doubles wins at the Development Championships.
Looking Forward: TEJT Preview
Speaking of the Eternal City, the ATP/WTA 100 events move into the second week starting tomorrow. Importantly, qualifying at the TEJT 16&U Super Category Internazionali d’Italia has wrapped up today. Main draws can be found here and matches begin tomorrow at the famed Foro Italico alongside the professional events in Rome. Also, live scoring is available from Rome on the TEJT App, free to download here.
In addition to this major event in Rome, the 14/Cat1 Dr Oetker tournament will take place in Bucharest along with 16 other tournaments in a big week on tour. Check out the full tour schedule here.