The Tennis Europe Junior Tour kick-started back to life this week following a break for the festive season, with five events held across the Tour’s three age groups.
The week’s biggest event was the O1 Properties Christmas Cup, a 14 & Under tournament held at the Alexander Ostrovsky Academy in Khimki, Russia. As you would expect from a Category 1 tournament, the event featured a strong field and was led by the Academy’s star-pupil, the current Tennis Europe Junior Tour #1 and European Champion Anastasia Potapova.
International teams also travelled from as far as the USA and Canada to test their skills against Europe’s best, with some success. Natasha Subash of the USA scored a string of upsets over seeded Russians, beating #9 Ksenia Domnina, #3 Taisya Pachkaleva and #7 Kamila Rakhimova as well as #5 seed Zeynep Ozturk (TUR) to set up a final with home favourite Potapova. The Junior Masters champion was in no mood for compromise though, and conceded just three games to successfully defend her title.
The two players also came face-to-face in the girls’ doubles final, which had a similar result as Potapova teamed with Maria Novikova to beat Subash and Kacie Harvey 6-4 6-1.
The top two seeds faced off in the boys’ final, with European #2 Timofey Skatov (RUS) taking on #5 Alexander Zgirovsky. Skatov had been in dominant form throughout the week, dropping just eleven games to reach the final and though his Belarusian opponent provided his toughest test of the tournament, it was not enough to prevent him scoring a straightforward 6-3 6-4 victory and claim his first Category 1 title.
Skatov also emerged triumphant in the doubles, teaming with Rail Ibragimov to beat Aleksandr Lobanov & Danil Spasibo 6-3 6-2 in an all-Russian match.
Russian Tennis Federation President Shamil Tarpishev was on hand to watch the finals and present the trophies, while former professional stars Anastasia Myskina and Igor Kunitsyn took part in a mixed doubles exhibition during the tournament. You can find a gallery from the event here, thanks to juniortennis.ru.
The Category 3 Toyota Cup in Saiualiai, Lithuania, saw an all-German final as seventh seed Milan Welte brushed past eighth seed Fred Schommer 6-1 6-1. It was a good week for Welte, who also won the doubles title alongside Chris Rodesch (NED). Welte was playing in just his fourth Tennis Europe Junior Tour doubles event, having won just one match in his previous three tournaments.
Unseeded Ukrainian Yaroslava Gadiatska ended the hopes of top-seeded home player Iveta Daujotaite with a 6-3 6-3 win in the girls’ final. Daujotaite did manage to claim the doubles crown though, teaming with Paula Joukanen (FIN) to claim a nailbiting 4-6 6-2 12-10 win over the Latvian Semensitaja sisters Darja & Marija.
Two qualifiers fought their way through to contest the boys’ final at the Category 3 Boznici Turnir in Beograd. Mario Aleksic of Montenegro was the eventual winner, posting a 6-4 6-1 win over Mauro De Maio (ITA) to claim his first Tennis Europe Junior Tour title and guarantee himself a place firmly inside the Top 100 next week.
The girls’ title went to top seed Betina Tokac of Turkey, who dropped just two games in a quick win over unseeded home hope Jovana Babic to score a second 14 & Under tournament win. The doubles title went to Italians Lorenzo Rottoli & Fausto Tabacco (boys) and Zina Falkner & Pia Lovric (girls).
16 & Under
The sole 16 & Under event of the week was the Category 2 Tennisline Cup in Milovice, Czech Republic, where the boys’ top seed was Tomas Jirousek, last seen on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour winning the silver medal at the European 14 & Under Championships last July. His time off obviously hasn’t affected his skills, as he wasted no time in claiming his first 16 & under title with a 6-1 6-1 win over Robert Strombachs in the final. The win gave Jirousek a small measure of revenge for defeat in the doubles final, where Strombachs had teamed with Andrea Trapani (ITA) for a three-set win over Jirousek and his Czech compatriot Antonin Stepanek.
Girls’ champion Rosanna Maffei had taken an even longer break from the Tennis Europe Junior Tour, with her last appearance being a victory at the Mestre tournament last June. She had to battle hard to extend her win streak to 10 matches, holding on for a 7-6(3) 2-6 7-5 win over Anna Siskova (CZE) in the toughest of the week’s final matches. Three of the four girls’ doubles finalists were Polish, with Polish-Hungarian pair Martyna Kubka & Livia Lukacs beating Maja Chwalinska & Stefania Rogozinska Dzik to claim the title.
Full results from this week on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour, including the 12 & Under Pirogovsky Winter Cup tournament in Russia, can be found on the calendar page. Next week sees Category 2 14 & Under events in Narva (EST) and Milovice (CZE).