Tennis Europe Junior Tour

Carle and Piros win Avvenire titles

Carle and Piros win Avvenire titles

One of the busiest tennis weeks of the year so far saw a total of 16 Tennis Europe Junior Tour events held across the continent. Arguably the most prestigious event of the week was the Category 1 Torneo dell’Avvenire in Milan. Celebrating its 51st edition this year, the event is one of the oldest junior tournaments on the European calendar and has seen many of the legends of the game pass through its gates on their way to the pinnacle of the sport. Once again the tournament saw some of the world’s best players in action, with squads coming from as far as New Zealand and South America to attempt to etch their names into the event’s record books.

It would turn out to be an all-European final in the boys’ event though, as 11th seed Zsombor Piros of Hungary took on Switzerland’s Jakub Paul. Both players were in form, with Piros having established a 10-1 win/loss record on Tour this season, and Paul having won two of his last three events. But Piros was in control throughout the final, beating his opponent in straight sets for the second time in their junior careers so far to claim his biggest title so far.

The girls’ final saw home hope Giuia Peoni get off to a great start against top seed Maria Lourdes Carle of Argentina, taking the opening set on a tie break. The pair are already developing quite a rivalry, with Carle having had to survive a final set break against Peoni on her way to victory at Foligno just last week. Once again, the Argentinean was able to fight back, taking the final two sets 6-4 7-5 and claiming her fifth Category 1 Tennis Europe Junior Tour title overall; impressive stuff which should see her leap into the Tour’s Top 10 next week.

The boys’ doubles saw greater success for home players. Andrea Bessire & Alessandro Ingarao had both made an impact by beating seeds in the singles event but went all the way in doubles with a three-set win over Sebastian Baez (ARG)/Miguel Pereira (CHI). Lisa Piccinetti & Federica Rossi reached the final of the girls’ doubles, but fell in two close sets to Veronika Erjavec (SLO) & Daria Solovyeva (RUS).

There was also a 14 & Under Category 1 event in Italy this week, the Torneo Messina, where Helene Pellicano continued her amazing start to the year. A couple of months ago, she became the first Maltese player ever to win a Category 1 title, and followed that up with two further tournament wins. Now she can add a second such title to her growing list, having come from a set down to beat Ksena Domnina of Russia 3-6 6-2 6-2. It wasn’t all bad news for Domnina though, as she had earlier won the doubles with Anastasia Tikhonova.

The boys’ event saw Christian Lerby of the Netherlands claim his first Tennis Europe Junior Tour titles in style, teaming with compatriot Lodewijk Weststrate to win the doubles on Saturday and returning on Sunday to add the singles crown with a 6-2 6-2 win over Italy’s Giulio Zeppieri.

14 & Under

The Category 3 Copenhagen 14 & Under event was a great success for local players, who swept the titles. Sebastian Grundtvig won the boys’ singles and doubles (teaming with Ukraine’s Erik Vanshelboim, last week’s Stabekk winner), while girls’ titles went to Clara Tauson (singles) and Camilla Jensen & Amanda Rommetveit Rohde (doubles).

At the Category 3 JUG Open in Skopje (MKD), two players in particular continued their excellent seasons. Croatia’s Mile Matic extended his win/loss record for 2015 to 26-4 by winning his third singles title of the season. He conceded just one game in the final to Turkey’s Bora Sengul, who had earlier teamed up with Peter Fajta (HUN) to win the doubles. In the girls’ event, home player Darija Krzovska claimed her second title of the season with a 6-3 6-2 win over Russia’s Maria Shusharina. Krzkovska also added the doubles title alongside Jovana Babic of Serbia.

At the Category 2 Chernitskoy Memorial in Rivne, Ukraine, home players dominated the event. In particularly strong form was Illya Beloborodko, who claimed his fourth consecutive Tennis Europe Junior Tour title with a three-set win over top seed Oleksiy Shestakov. Girls’ winner Dasha Lopatetskaya has already racked up three 12 & Under titles this season so far, but took a big step up to claim her first 14 & Under trophy at the expense of Anna Martemyanova. She later added the doubles with Polina Gubina for good measure, while the boys’ doubles went to Ivan Britikov & Myhaylo Muravyov.

The Category 2 Vilamoura International in Portugal saw Hugo Maia win his first Tennis Europe singles title with a three-set win over Portuguese compatriot Manuel Goncalves. The girls’ title went to China’s Qinwen Zheng, who dropped just four games to Anna Arkadianou of Greece. The losing finalist had already teamed with Galatea Mesochoritis to claim their second doubles title of the season together, with a win over Britain’s Amarni Banks & Lilian Mould.

16 & Under

The Category 2 Mamaia IDU Championship in Romania was dominated by home players. The boys’ event was won by Edris Fetsileam, who won his third 16 & Under title (but first of the season), with a win over top seed Ioan Vidan. The girls’ event also saw the top seed fall in the final, as Ramona Chivu beat Selma Cadar. The singles winners both also reached the doubles finals, but they had contrasting luck there. Fetisleam teamed up with Stefan Palosi but fell to Sergiu Medesan and his Ukrainian partner Dmytro Yeremenko, while Chivu paired with Gabriela Davidescu for a win over Oana Corneanu and Carmen Manu.

German boys dominated the 10. Euroregion Cup in Hradek nad Nisou (CZE), taking up all four semifinal spots before Tim Heger beat Noel Hartzheim for the title. The girls’ crown went to Poland’s Izabela Kunat, who ended the hopes of home player Vanesa Nikolovova with a 6-3 1-6 7-5 win. The Czech had better luck in the doubles, where she teamed with compatriot Sarka Richterova for the win. The boy’s doubles also went to a home team, with Michal Lusovsky & Martin Simecek taking the honours.

All of the finals were decided in straight sets at the Category 3 Toyota Cup in Siauliai, Lithuania, resulting in double victories for champions Artsiom Ausiyevich (BLR) and Kamilla Bartone (LAT). The Latvian beat Aleksandra Efremova for the loss of just two games in the girls’ singles final before the pair teamed up to add the doubles crown. Over on Court 1, Ausiyevich repeated the trick, conceding three games to Adam Kwiatkowski (POL) and then heading back to court to partner Estonia’s Henri Nael to the doubles title.

At the Capital Inn Reykjavik Open in Iceland, a host of players won their first Tennis Europe Junior Tour titles. Ireland’s Shauna Heffernan beat Italy’s Viola Cioffi to claim the girls’ title. The pair also teamed up in the doubles final, but fell to Germans Celina Kortuem & Chiara Waigand. The boys’  singles title went to Denmark’s Andre Meinertz, who ended the hopes of home player Anton Magnusson 6-2 6-4. Magnusson did manage to claim one title though, teaming with Jan Jermar (CZE) to win the boys’ doubles.

Combined Events

Finnish and Russian players scooped all eight available titles at the Wilson Junior Tournament, a Category 3 14 and 16 & Under event in Nastola, Finland. Otto Virtanen added to his Tallinn title won a fortnight ago by sweeping the boys’ 14 & Under titles, defeating Egor Novikov for the singles win and teaming with Alexander Mandma (EST) for the doubles. Compatriot Ilari Vesanen pulled off the same achievement in the 16 & Under event, recovering from a set down to outlast last week’s Vsevolozshk champion Matvey Minin 2-6 7-5 7-5 and teaming with Roni Hietaranta for the doubles.

Both girls singles finals were all-Russian affairs, with Avelina Sayfetdinova beating Anna Mikhailova for the 14 & Under title and Victoria Mikhaylova beating Ekaterina Shalimova for the 16s. Shalimova had earlier won the girls doubles alongside Paula Joukanen (FIN), while Finnish pair Hedda Hakala & Liisa Vehvilainen won the 14 & Under doubles.

This week also saw a 12 & Under event in Cacak (SRB), won by Stefan Popovic (SRB) and Anna Shcherbinina (RUS). Results from the 16&U Batta Cup in Hungary and the Leila Meskhi Tennis Academy Cup in Tbilisi are still pending and will be added shortly. Check out all of the latest results and schedules from this week’s events here.  

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