It has been another busy week on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour. There were nine different events taking place across the continent, stretching from Britain to Belarus. As it is was the week before the European Junior Championships, many of the top players were preparing – either at home or in tournament play, with some of the top 14 & Under players in action at the week’s top event, the Windmill Cup...
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WINDMILL CUP 2017 - Velp, Netherlands (14&U)
The Dutch town of Velp played host to the 2017 Windmill Cup. A huge line-up of international players assembled to take part in this long-established and prestigious tournament.
Four local players were able to make it to the second round, but no further. With ITF teams from around the world on site, a strong field made for a very interesting draw. Top boys’ seed, Luca Nardi of Italy, progressed to the semi-finals unhampered without losing a set. There, he ran into an inspired third seed in the form of Brazilian Pedro Boscardin Dias. Though he had also won all of his previous matches in straight sets, the victories did not come as easily for him as he was forced to win a set with seven games on several occasions. The semi-final was his toughest match yet, as Dias lost the first set 6-1, but regrouped and steadied himself to take the next two sets 6-4 6-4. In the final, he would meet a fellow COSAT travelling team member, Alvaro Guillen Meza of Ecuador. He had defeated Leo Borg (SWE) in the quarterfinals, followed by a straight sets win over Japanese fifth seed Shintaro Mochizuki in the semi-finals. The final was every bit as tough as exciting, as would be expected from two players who had grown up on clay. The first two sets went down to tiebreaks and were split between the boys. It was Dias who was able to pull away and get the upper hand in the decider with two breaks of serve to claim the match and the title 6-7(2) 7-6(1) 6-2. This is a great win for him, and comes on the back of his runner-up performance at the Open des Jeunes BNP Paribas Cup last week.
A Dutch player was able to make more of an impact in the girls’ draw. Unseeded Bente Spee made it all the way to the semi-final, where she went down to the eventual champion Priska Madelyn Nugroho of Indonesia. Nugruho defeated Annerly Poulos of Australia in the final. Poulos posted a huge upset win over the top seeded and number 14 ranked Italian, Eleonora Alvisi in her semifinal. In the final, however, Nugruho was too strong. In the end a break of serve in each set was all the Indonesian needed for a 6-4 6-3 win to earn her first ever Tennis Europe Junior Tour title.
More spoils for Dias came in the doubles, where he teamed up with Francisco Lamas Villaroel of Venezuela (pictured). As the number three seeds, they progressed to the title without losing a set, including their final win over fourth seeds Luca Nardi and Giorgio Tabacco (ITA) 7-5 6-2. The girls’ singles champion also won double honours in Velp. Nugroho played with Alexandra Eala of the Philippines, and in the final they defeated Hania Abouelsaad of Egypt and Sara Akid of Morocco 7-5 6-1. Photo gallery from Velp.
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DYNAMI:T CUP - Lida, Belarus (16&U)
In a tournament dominated by home players and Russians, there were not too many surprises as many of the top seeds claimed wins. The biggest surprise was when top seed Aliaksandr Sasnouski (BLR) pulled out of his quarterfinal match at one set all against his compatriot Mikhail Kniazeu. The unseeded local went on to the final where he in turn handed the final to second seeded Russian Evgeny Philippov in a walkover. The girls’ top seed, Russian Alina Shcherbinina made her way to the final with a string of straight set wins. Coincidentally, she was also handed a walkover victory in the final from Belarusian sixth seed Polina Khotoko.
In the boys’ doubles, victory went to the top seeds Matvei Aleksandrov (RUS) & Aliaksandr Sasnouski (BLR), while the girls’ top seeds, Evialina Laskevich (BLR) & Maria Tolmacheva (RUS) also lifted the trophy.
SPARKASSE BAMBINI CUP - Kufstein, Austria (14 & Under)
To close out the week, the combined 14 & Under and 12 & Under (Cat 3) tournament took place in Austria. Focusing on the 14 and Under events, fifth seed Mika Lipp (GER) toppled top seed Konstantin Zhzhenov (RUS) in the quarterfinal, and then progressed to the final where he defeated second seed Jacobi Bain of the Bahamas. This is his first win of the year, after finishing runner-up twice. The top seeded girl, Canadian Dasha Plekhanova, was also ousted in the quarterfinal. Russian third seed Erika Andreeva took advantage, to defeat Germany’s Nikol Rivkin in a 7-6(7) 6-2 final for her second tournament win of the year.
The winners of the boys’ doubles event were Noah Lambauer (AUT) & Eliah Poritzky (USA), while the girls’ doubles trophy went to Alexia Jacobs & Scarlett Nicholson of Canada.
There will be plenty more to come next week, including news from the tour’s flagship event, the European Junior Championships. For full results from all of this week’s events, click here.