It was a case of Portuguese and Polish domination at the 14 & Under Category 1 Dr Oetker Junior Trophy in Bucharest, Romania, as Filip Pieczonka (POL) and Matilde Jorge (POR) took home the silverware. The second-seeded Pole outdid the top seed in the boys’ final, while fourth seed Jorge posted another slight upset, overcoming the #3 seed in the girls final. Both players backed up their wins with doubles victories.
The boys’ event saw top seed and European #1 Constantinos Koshis of Cyprus advance to the semi-finals relatively unhindered, though fifth seeded Bulgarian Dinko Dinev extended him to three tough sets in the quarter finals. Pieczonka had also come through some easy early victories, to then face a tough unseeded local player, Andrei Voican, who also took him to a deciding set in their semi-final. After overcoming this hurdle, the two pre-tournament favourites faced off in an entertaining final, which had a disappointing end, with Pieczonka rewarded with the trophy when his opponent retired in the final set. The win marks Pieczonka’s third title from four finals so far in 2018.
Meanwhile in the girls’ singles, the number one seed Alexandra Petric from Romania was taken out in the quarterfinals by the Bulgarian fifth seed Denislava Glushkova. Jorge then made light work of the Bulgarian, to set up a final against Aleksandra Simeva (MKD). The Macedonian had defeated local Mara Gae in a tough semi, and held her own against Jorge in the final. In the end, it was the Portuguese girl’s day, as she sealed victory with a 6-4 1-6 6-2 win in the final.
Jorge played with her compatriot, Mafalda Guedes, to defeat top seeded Romanians Mara Sara Popa & Ioana Zvonaru in a 7-6(4) 6-4 final. As mentioned, Pieczonka also claimed the singles and doubles title. He played with fellow Pole Olaf Pieczkowski to deny the locals yet again - the pair defeated the Romanian team of Mihai Alexandru Coman & David Manu 6-3 6-3 in their final. | Gallery
Category 2
Estonia Junior Open, Tallinn, Estonia
There were also two 14&U Category 2 events this week. First, The Estonian Junior Open took place in Tallinn. There was a smorgasbord of finalists from various countries. The top seeded German, Marc Majdandzic, won the boys’ singles final, defeating the number two seed from Lithuania Vilius Gaubas 6-3 6-4. The girls’ singles and doubles winner was Agnes Mitteregger from Sweden, who defeated Valerija Maija Kargina from Latvia 6-0 6-2 in the singles final. Teaming with compatriot, Ida Johansson, she also won the doubles title. Singles finalist Gaubus, teamed up with Tiago Pereira from Portugal to win the boys’ doubles.
Torneo U14 Correggio, Italy
Finally, The Torneo U14 di Correggio was held in Correggio, Italy. French number eight seed Rudy Ceccon defeated Italian second seed Peter Buldorini 3-6 7-6(6) 7-6 (5) in an enthralling boys’ singles final. In the girls’ singles final there was more disappointment for Italy as unseeded Giulia Martinelli went down 6-1 6-2 to top seed Ksenia Zaytseva from Russia. There was complete Italian domination in the doubles though, with all players in the boys’ and girls’ finals hailing from the peninsula. In the end, victory in the boys’ doubles went to Enrico Baldisseri & Jacopo Bilardo, while third seeds Letizia Migani & Veronica Sirci won the girls’ title.
This week sees Category 1 events taking place in Italy (Biella, 16 & Under) and Bulgaria (Albena, 14 & Under), as well as tournaments spread across the continent from Iceland to Georgia. For full results in all events and categories here and elsewhere from this past week, please click here, or to view the week's photo galleries, click here.