Anna Slovakova and Patrik Rikl secured two gold medals for the Czech Republic on the final day of the European 16 & Under Championships in Moscow. Both players beat Russian opponents to claim the biggest titles of their junior careers so far.
Making her first appearance on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour this season, Slovakova capped a memorable week by withstanding a second set fightback from Elena Rybakina. The unseeded Czech started in the strongest possible fashion, winning the first six games, before the second seed found her rhythm. Rybakina broke twice in the second set to level the match but her opponent proved to be the less nervy in the final set, eventually serving out for a 6-0 2-6 6-3 win.
Patrik Rikl’s path to the title was somewhat more expected, given that he was the event’s top seed, but he had some tough battles along the way, losing sets to Duarte Vale of Portugal in the third round and Marvin Moeller of Germany in the semi-finals.
He had surprisingly little trouble in the final against eighth seed Artem Dubrivnyy, who managed to win just five games in a 6-4 6-1 loss that mirrored the result of the pair’s only previous meeting two years ago. The win marks Rikl’s second European Junior Championships medal overall, having been runner-up in the doubles event in Moscow last year. He becomes the first Czech boy to win the title since David Skoch in 1992, while Slovakova is the first Czech girl to claim gold since Petra Cetkovska in 2001.
Both Russian singles finalists were appearing on the podium for the second time this weekend. Rybakina’s singles silver will complement the doubles she won on Saturday alongside Olesya Pervushina with a 7-6(0) 6-3 victory over Germany’s Shaline-Doreen Pipa & Carmen Shultheiss. The boys’ doubles gold went to Poland’s Konrad Fryze & Kacper Zuk, who beat Dubrivnyy and partner Mikail Sokolovskiy 6-3 4-6 [10-6].
All four singles finalists automatically qualify to compete at the Tennis Europe Junior Masters in Reggio Calabria, Italy, from 9-11 October.
Results - 16 & Under
Boys Singles | Boys Doubles | Girls Singles | Girls Doubles | Photos