Last week saw six events staged across three age categories on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour, including some of the longest-running and most prestigious French tournaments, where home players excelled.
14 & Under
The toughest event of the week was the Category 1 TIM ESSONNE championships in Ste. Genevieve des Bois, France, where many of the world’s best 14 & under players were in action. Corentin Moutet of France made the most of his home advantage to claim his second big title of the year so far. Seeded #4, he overcame Patrik Rikl (CZE) – conqueror of European #1 Artem Dubrivnyy - in the semifinals before going on to score a 7-5 6-4 win over Alexei Popyrin of Australia in the championship match.
In the doubles Dubrivnyy teamed up with the player he beat in last week’s Stockholm final, Kacper Zuk (POL) to take the title with a 6-1 6-1 win over French pair Florent Bax & Louis Dussin.
The girls’ final saw Marketa Vondrousova continue her great recent run. Having won three of her last five events, including the Tennis Europe Winter Cups by HEAD, the Czech was high on confidence and came through the draw with ease, scoring impressive straight sets wins over fellow seeds Ulyana Grib (BLR).Evgeniya Levashova (RUS), Marta Paygina (RUS) and, in the final, Ekaterina Kazionova (RUS). It was her second win of the week over Kazionova and Levashova, having teamed with Anna Slovakova to win a doubles final against the Russian pair.
At the Aaron Krickstein Tournament, a Category 2 event in Israel, Tatiana Makarova of Russia continued her fine recent run by claiming her third 14 & Under title. Seeded #1, she came through the draw with few problems, and beat local wild card Yuval Keren in the final.
The boys’ final was another Russia-Israel duel, and produced the same result as top seed Mikhail Sokolovskiy beat second seed Omer Hefez. Sokolovskiy head earlier teamed with another Israeli, Yshai Oliel, to take the doubles title, his second of the season. Ekaterina Vishnevskaya & Anjelika Vlasenkova won an all-Russian girls’ final, beating Makarova & Maria Sovetova 10-8 in a match tie break.
16 & Under
Two Category 2 16 & Under events took place last week, both of which attracted strong draws. The first to finish was the Tournoi International de Chambon-sur-Lignon in France, where players from the host country dominated the boys’ tournament to such an extent that all singles and doubles semifinalists were French. The eventual singles champion, Lucas Bouquet, served notice of his intentions from the very first match, where he upset top seed Maurizio Speziali (ITA) 6-2 6-2. He later blasted past fifth seed Berk Iliescu (TUR) 6-0 6-0 on the way to the final where he faced qualifier Maxime Petel. Both players were competing in their first Tennis Europe Junior Tour final, but it was Bouquet who was the stronger, winning 7-5 6-4 to complete a notable title sweep. The previous day he had teamed with Constant de la Bassetiere to claim the doubles crown with a 6-4 6-3 win over Eliot Benchetrit & Mathieu Rajaonah.
Unseeded Swiss player Daniela Vukovic also had a great week, upsetting fifth seed Nina Mrjanovic (SRB), top seed Valerie Riegraf (GER) and eighth seed Kristina Delyan (RUS) without the loss of a set to reach the final. Her final opponent was another unseeded player, home hope Cindy Castille. Playing her first Tour final, Castille started well, winning the first set 6-4, but Vukovic dominated the final two sets, running out a 6-2 6-1 victory to claim a first Tour title, just a fortnight after reaching her first ever semifinal.
There were Swiss hands on the girls’ doubles trophy too, as Jessica Bruehwiler teamed with Medina Sahinagic (BIH) to beat Spanish sisters Alba & Laia Conejero Gutierrez 6-4 6-2. Gallery.
Milovice – Mlada Boleslav in Czech Republic was the location of the 12th Realsport Open, where the boys’ tournament turned out to be the best of his junior career so far for Hungary’s David Szintai. Having teamed up with compatriot Richard Farkas to take the doubles crown on Saturday, he faced another Hungarian in the singles final; top seed Mate Valkusz. Despite his higher ranking, Valkusz is more than a year younger than Szintai, and the third seed asserted his authority early in the match, scoring a 6-2 7-6 win to claim the title in what was his first Tennis Europe Junior Tour appearance of the season.
Local players had more success in the girls’ events, claiming the doubles title thanks to Tereza Polanska & Lucie Prochanzkova. Top seed Karolina Novotna and #4 Magdalena Pantuckova both reached the singles semifinals, but fell in straight sets to Anastasia Zarytska (UKR) and Vera Lapko (BLR) respectively. The subsequent final saw Zarytska claim her first 16 & Under title.
The Category 3 Pajulahti Cup was held in Nastola, Finland, where Russia’s Daria Kruzhkova successfully defended her girls’ singles title, adding the doubles for good measure. Seeded #1 in both events, Kruzhkova lost just thirteen games in five matches on her way to the singles title, the toughest being a 6-2 6-4 win over wild-card compatriot Natalia Belova in the final. She had to work harder to claim her second doubles title though, coming from a set down with Ekaterina Kunina to squeak past Belova & Polina Bakhmutkina 4-6 6-3 12-10 in an all-Russian final.
Sergey Schetinin ensured a Russian sweep of the singles titles with a 6-3 6-2 win over Mattias Siimar of Estonia in a battle of the top two seeds in the boys’ final. Siimar had earlier teamed up with brother Kristofer to claim the doubles crown over fellow-Estonians Oskar Lusti & Kristjan Tamm.
12 & Under
Just one 12 & Under event was held, but the Open Super 12 in Auray has come to be recognized as one of the toughest events in the world for the age group. The year was no exception, with players coming from all over the world to take part in the tournament, which could be followed live via online streaming from the two main courts.
Mihailo Popovic of Serbia is the new boys’ champion. For a second day running he came from a set down to post victory. Having outlasted Britain's Jacob Fearnley in the semifinals 4-6 6-3 6-1 to avenge a loss in the Tennis Europe Winter Cups by HEAD finals, he repeated the feat against Daniel Fainblum of Canada in the final, winning 3-6 6-3 6-0.
Fearnley managed to reach the doubles final alongside fellow Brit Jack Draper, but the pair were beaten by Adrian Andreev (BUL) & Alexander Zgirovsky (RUS).
The girls’ events were dominated by two Russian players that have been making waves this season; Anastasia Potapova & Ekaterina Makarova. The pair first teamed up to win in Kimkhi in January and also played together on Russia’s winning Winter Cups team. They successfully renewed their partnership in Auray, winning the doubles over Czechs Petra Machova & Vanesa Nikolovova, before going on to face each other in the singles final.
The final was a tough battle, with Makarova taking an early lead, but it was Potapova who took the title – extending her Tennis Europe Junior Tour singles win streak to 23 matches, with a 4-6 6-3 6-2 victory. With such good records in recent events, the pair looks likely to battle many more times in the near future.
The Tennis Europe Junior Tour rolls on this week with another six events. Keep up with the latest draws and results here.