Last week was relatively quiet on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour, with just three events taking place. The week’s sole 14 & Under event was the Category 1 TIM ESSONNE tournament in Sainte Genevieve des Bois in France, a prestigious tournament with a long history and which features many of the world’s top players amongst its former champions.
Taisya Pachkaleva of Russia is one of the most in-form players on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour right now, and she continues to go from strength to strength. Having won her first Category 1 title in Stockholm last week, she wasted no time in adding a second, extending her win streak to ten matches in the process. Pachkaleva had to work hard all week though, toughing out four consecutive three-set wins to earn the title, and beating compatriot Darya Frayman 6-2 4-6 6-1 in the final. As if that wasn’t enough, Pachkaleva also teamed up with Anastasia Tikhonova (RUS) to win the doubles title over French pair Manon Leonard & Maneva Rakotomalala to secure her fifth doubles title over the last year.
Adrian Andreev has been making steady progress up the rankings and has been a consistent performer at the Tour’s biggest events, reaching the quarterfinals of the Kremlin Cup, semi-finals in Bolton and winning the consolation event at Les Petits As. The Bulgarian third seed now holds his first Category 1 title after blasting past France’s Alexandre Doan Van 6-1 6-1 to complete five straight sets wins on route to the championship.
Fresh from a runner-up spot at the Winter Cups by HEAD, Raphael Bonnet Flores teamed up with fellow Frenchman Allan Deschamps to win the boys’ doubles title over Wojciech Marek & Dawid Taczala of Poland.
16 & Under
Two 16 & Under events were also held last week. The Category 2 14th Realsport Open in Milovice, Czech Republic saw Poland’s Maja Chwalinska continue her stellar run of recent weeks. Since playing on the victorious 14 & Under Winter Cups by HEAD team, she has gone to win the doubles title at Category 1 Stockholm (also reaching the singles semi-finals), and now has a first 16 & Under title after recording a 7-5 6-1 win over Eleonora Molinaro of the Netherlands.
Boys champion Robert Strombachs (GER) was playing in just his second Tennis Europe Junior Tour event of the season, and went one better than in his previous appearance by beating home hope Tomas Machac 6-4 6-1 to claim a second Tour title and edge closer to the Top Ten.
There was home victory in the boys’ doubles event, as Marek Dubsky & Antonin Stepanek won an all-Czech final against Matej Panik & Michael Vrbensky. The girls’ title went to Italian pair Giulia La Rocca & Giorgia Pigato, who foiled Maja Chwalinska’s hopes of all title sweep when they beat her and partner Karolina Jaskiewicz.
Robin Erik Parts of Estonia clearly likes the venue of the Category 3 Pajulahti Cup in Nastola, Finland. Having won the 14 & Under tournament there last year, he emerged as champion of the 16 & Under event, winning three set battles to upset top seed Daniel Rodrigues (POR) and fourth seed Karol Paluch of Poland in his final two matches.
The girls’ final saw disappointment for home hope Mariella Minetti, who was forced to retire after playing just one game of her final with top seeded Ekaterina Shalimova of Russia, who duly picked up her first 16 & Under singles title.
Home players accounted for both doubles titles, with Patrick Stenfors & Ilari Vesanen winning the boys’ event and Karolina Hakala & Mariella Minetti claiming the girls’.
Next week the Tour features events in Umag (CRO, 12 & Under), Bratislava (SVK, 14 & Under), Antalya (TUR, 14 & Under) and Oulu (FIN, 14/16 & Under). Keep up with all the latest results here.