Corentin Moutet and Evgeniya Levashova continued their excellent form of 2013 by winning the European 14 & Under Championships titles in Pilzen.
French #1 Moutet arrived in the Czech Republic in confident mood, fresh from victory at the BNP Paribas Cup in Paris and continued to sweep aside all opponents. The fourth seed reached the final without losing a set, notably ending a three match losing streak to European #1 Artem Dubrivnyy (RUS) in the semi-finals.
His final opponent was Les Petits As champion Samuele Ramazzotti of Italy, who had scored an impressive 6-0 6-0 victory over Serbian second seed Miomir Kecmanovic in his semi-final. The final itself was over quickly; Moutet wasted no time in extending his Tennis Europe Junior Tour win streak to 13 matches, dropping just three games to join the likes of Yannick Noah, Sebastien Grosjean and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on the list of French European Junior Champions.
The win is Moutet’s fourth tournament victory of the season, with the other three all being Category 1 events (Bolton, Ste. Genevieve des Bois, Paris) and will see him become the new European #1 when the rankings are updated on Tuesday.
A day earlier, the two players had also faced off in the doubles final, where the result was reversed. Ramazzotti teamed up with Andrea Trapani to survive a perilously close match, beating Moutet and partner Matteo Martineau 3-6 7-5 [10-7] to claim the gold medal for Italy.
The girls’ singles final was a battle between the two top seeds but also turned out to be a one-sided contest. European #1 Evgeniya Levashova was in unforgiving mood against home hope Marketa Vondrousova, conceding just two games in each set to secure her first European Championship title.
Levashova was in dominant form throughout the week, winning all six of her matches without coming close to losing a set. The Russian has now won five singles titles this season, including Category 1 events in Paris and Stockholm, and was unbeaten in team event play at the Winter and Summer Cups.
Vondrousova leaves Pilzen with two medals though, having won the doubles title on Saturday alongside Magdalena Pantuckova (interestingly, they ended the run of Levashova and partner Tatiana Nikolaeva in the semifinals).
The final was an all-Czech affair and marked the first time in the 37-year history of the European Junior Championships that two teams from the same nation had contested the doubles final. The greater experience of Vondrousova & Pantuckova showed in the final as they beat Lucie Kankova & Monika Kilnarova for the loss of just four games.
The winners and runners-up from the European Junior Championships automatically qualify to compete at the Tennis Europe Junior Masters in Reggio Calabria (ITA) in October.
Draws and Results
Boys Singles | Boys Doubles | Girls Singles | Girls Doubles | Photos