Tomorrow’s semi-final line-up at the European Junior Championships is complete, with players from seven different nations looking to advance to the gold medal matches of the 14 & Under event in Pilsen.
Poland is the exception, with one player still in both the boys’ and girls’ competitions. Fifth seed Wojciech Marek scored a minor upset over #3 Jack Draper of Great Britain on Friday, while Iga Swiatek continued her impressive run, conceding just five games to France’s Mylene Halemai.
Marek next plays eighth seed Duje Ajdukovic after the Croatian came from a set down to oust second seed Adrian Andreev (BUL). The other boys’ semi-final sees Nicolas Alvarez Varona of Spain take on fourth seed Filip Jianu of Romania. The pair had contrasting matches on Friday with the Spaniard breezing past Anton Matusevich of Great Britain in straight sets and Jianu having to recover from the brink of defeat to outlast Mihailo Popovic (SRB) 2-6 7-5 6-3.
The girls’ semi-finals see top seed Taisya Pachkaleva of Russia take on the last remaining home player, Ivana Sebestova, while Swiatek next faces in-form 16th seed Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy.
At the 16 & Under event in Moscow, top seed Patrik Rikl stayed on course for the final with a routine win over Constantin Bittoun Kouzmine of France. He next faces Marvin Moeller of Gremany, who was forced to come from a set down in his match with Jonas Eriksson Ziverts (SWE). The other semi-final seeds Russian eighth seed Artem Dubrivnyy face France’s Matteo Martineau after both players advanced in straight sets, with wins over Mykyta Mashtakov (UKR) and Dimitry Voronin (RUS) respectively.
The home crowd is guaranteed one Russian finalist in the girls’ tournament, where second seed Elena Rybakina will take on Anastasia Gasanova on Saturday. The 16 & Under event has historically been the least successful of the European Junior Championships for Russia’s girls, with just two former champions, but both of those have come in recent years (Daria Kasatkina in 2013 and Polina Vinogradova 2009) with the event hosted in Moscow.
The second semi-final will put seventh seed Nefisa Berberovic of Bosnia & Herzegovina against Anna Slovakova of the Czech Republic. Both players struggled against unseeded opposition on Friday, with Berberovic outlasting Shaline-Doreen Pipa (GER) 7-5 4-6 6-3 and Slovakova recovering to beat Eliza Omirou (CYP) 4-6 7-5 6-0.
Results - 14 & Under
Boys Singles | Boys Doubles | Girls Singles | Girls Doubles | Order of Play | Photos
Results - 16 & Under
Boys Singles | Boys Doubles | Girls Singles | Girls Doubles | Order of Play | Photos