With the European summer drawing to a close and the return to school looming, current weeks represent a last chance for many Tennis Europe Junior Tour players to compete for a while. This is clear to see in the calendar, with ten events taking place across the three age categories last week.
The week’s biggest event was the Sánchez-Casal Youth Cup, a joint 14 and 16 & Under event played on the clay courts of Barcelona’s prestigious Sánchez-Casal Academy. After great successes in recent years, the tournament became a category 1 event this year, and attracted a suitably strong draw from all over the world, but it was to be the home players that grabbed many of the tournament headlines.
Eduard Guell Bartrina recorded the best win of his Tennis Europe Junior Tour career so far, coming through his six matches without the loss of a set, including a semi-final win over top seed Kenneth Raisma (EST), and the final victory over European Junior Championships runner-up Casper Ruud (NOR). Guell Bartrina also teamed up with Spanish compatriot Carlos Divar to win the doubles over Raisma and Kristjan Tamm (EST).
The girls’ events also saw a double winner as Julia Payola fought through to win her second Category 1 title of the season with a 6-1 6-1 win over fellow-Spaniard Noelia Bouzo Zanotti. She had earlier teamed with Marta Cañas Alvarez to outlast Alba & Laia Conejero Gutierrez to win the doubles title on a match tie-break, 5-7 6-2 (10-8).
The wins will likely place both Guell Bartrina and Payola in contention for spots at the Tennis Europe Junior Masters next month when the new rankings are released on Tuesday.
There was more success for Spain in the 16 & Under boys’ events, with Juame Antoni Munar Clar beating qualifier Pedro Martinez Portero 6-4 7-5 for the singles title, while Hector Garcia Oliveda & Robert Herrera beat Munar Clar & Alvaro Lopez San Martin for the doubles crown.
Second seed Iryna Shymanovic of Belarus continued her great season by claiming the girls' title, her third tournament win of the season. To do so, she fought back impressively from a set down to beat doubles partner Aliona Bolsova of Moldova 5-7 6-1 6-3. The pair has established a great rivalry this season, having now met on court for memorable matches on four occasions, with the head-to-head record standing at 3-1 to Shymanovich. Together they also won their third doubles title of the season thanks to a 7-5 6-0 win over second seeds Anna Kalinskaya (RUS) & Gyulnara Nazarova (UKR).
Over in Germany, the town of Regensburg hosted the 34th edition of the BMW Junior Cup, a joint 12 & Under and 16 & Under event.
There were double winners in the 12 & Under tournament, with Tomas Jirousek (CZE) and Neli Sunjic (CRO) sweeping the boys’ and girls’ titles respectively. Jirousek, a member of the Czech Nations Challenge team last month, continued his good run of form, collecting his second singles title in as many weeks. He beat Poland’s Bertek Andrzejcak for the loss of just three games, and also teamed with Russia’s Alexander Shevchenko to take the doubles title.
Sunjic’s girls’ title also came in impressive style, as she ended the 15-match win streak of Dalila Said (EGY) in the semi-finals before going to beat Zhibek Kulambayeva (KAZ) 6-2 6-1 in the final to secure her second singles title of the season. She had earlier teamed up with Anja Gal (SLO) to take the doubles crown.
The boys’ 16 & Under events were dominated by German players. In the singles final, top seed Samuel Sippel emerged triumphant over Kevin Kralj for his second tournament win of the season (and first at 16 & Under level). Meanwhile Patrick Schulz & Uli Vollath beat Constantin & Maximilian Frantzen in an all-German doubles final.
Alissia Gleixner ensured further success for the host nation, scoring a 6-4 6-3 win over Ulyana Grib (BLR) to take the girls’ title. Grib earned some consolation with a doubles win though, teaming up with Kimberly Valgemae (EST) to beat Viktoria Seifert (GER) & Arina Umanskaya (RUS).
For a second consecutive week, a joint 14 and 16 & Under event was held in Yerevan, Armenia. The Category 3 A. Shilajyan Memorial saw Russian players claim three of the four available singles titles. Roman Blokhin beat compatriot Sergey Pogosyan for the boys’ 14 & Under title, an improvement on last week’s runner-up spot. The girls’ title went to Tatiana Makarova (RUS). Like Blokhin, she had also lost in the final of the previous weeks’ Yerevan event but came back strongly, beating top seed Valeriya Deminova (RUS) in the third round and second seed Aza Petrova (UKR) in a three-set final.
Elizaveta Buss was the third Russian titlist, claiming the girls’ 16 & Under crown with a hard-fought 6-0 6-7(5) 6-4 win over Mariami Mitaishvili (GEO). Buss also won the doubles title the previous week in Yerevan, but this was to be her first 16 & Under singles title. Top seed Aleksandre Bakshi of Georgia won the boys’ 16 & Under event for his second consecutive title after a 6-4 6-4 victory over second-seeded home favourite Arshak Ghazaryan.
There was some success for home players in the doubles, with Milena Avetisyan & Linda Ohanyan claiming the girls’ 14s and Suren Baghdasaryan & Arshak Ghazaryan taking the boys 16s. Belarus also featured prominently in the doubles honours, with Valeria Mishina & Anna Skabelka claiming the girls 16 & Under title, while Daniil Gannota teamed with Russia’s Andrey Landgraf to take the the boys 14 & Under.
16 & Under
Russia’s Anna Ureke was the star of the 16 & Under Category 3 Steinfort Open in Luxembourg, racking up the girls’ singles and doubles titles. Seeded #1 in both events, Ureke had dominated the singles draw but didn’t even have to play the final, as her opponent and compatriot Melissa Ifidzhen was unable to take to court due to injury. Ureke thereby claimed her fifth title of the season, a day after taking the doubles crown with fellow Russian Anastasia Golubeva.
The boys’ singles final was an all-German marathon, with Benjamin Schweizer eventually overcoming Boris Klingebiel 6-7(2) 6-4 7-5. Slovakian pair Andrej Glvac & Marcel Musil took the doubles crown.
14 & Under
The Category 2 14 & Under Pécs Junior Tennis Cup in Hungary saw further success for European Doubles Champion Akos Kotorman (HUN), who won his second title of the season. Seeded #1, he survived a second set fight back from #2 seed Kacper Zuk of Poland to eventually win 6-1 3-6 6-3.
The girls’ crown went to Romania’s Miriam Bulgaru, who also recorded her second title of 2012 so far when Kristina Miletic (SRB) was forced to retire whilst trailing 6-0 4-2. Bulgaru also reached the doubles final alongside Friderika Meszaros (HUN), but was unable to stop top seeded Serbians Tamara Kupkova & Dominika Sujova from winning their third title of the season together. Fourth seeded Austrians Matthias Haim & Gabriel Huber claimed the boys’ title.
12 & Under
Two of the dominant 12 & Under players of recent weeks continued their progress at the Trofeul Municipiului Tg. Jiu in Bascov, Romania. Home favourite Stefan Palosi breezed through the boys’ draw without the loss of a set, winning his fourth title of the season with a 6-0 6-2 win over compatriot Gabriel Liahovici. Meanwhile Jovana Vukovic of Serbia stretched her current win streak to 12 matches with a 6-1 6-3 victory over Ramona Eva Chivu (ROU) in the girls’ final. Vukovic also went home with the double trophy, alongside Selma Cadar (ROU), while Thoedor Foia & Laurentiu Mandocescu (ROU) took the boys’ title.
Home players excelled at the 12 & Under Reduta Cup in Sofia, Bulgaria, accounting for three of the four available titles. Adrian Andreev took the boys’ singles with a 6-3 6-0 win over qualifier Mihail Kuseski (MKD). Ivailo Keremedchiev ensured a Bulgarian boys’ sweep, teaming with Slavco Temelkovski (MKD) to claim the doubles crown. The girl’s doubles featured an all-Bulgarian final, with Michaela Gadzheva & Gergana Topalova taking the honours. The girls’ singles was the only event not to feature a Bulgarian finalist, and saw wild card Nikolina Dzunov of Serbia beat Darija Krzovska (MKD) to win her second consecutive title.
The Tennis Europe Junior Tour continues this week with another nine events on offer in eight European countries across three age groups. Keep up with the latest draws and results here.