Top seed and number one ranked Holger Rune is the new European 14 & Under Champion after a straight-set dismissal of second seed Hamad Medjedovic of Serbia. Unseeded Ukrainian Dasha Lopatatskaya upset the Russian number one seed Oksana Selekhmeteva to become the girls’ champion. She was instrumental in the recent Winter and Summer Cups success for the Ukrainian team, and has now won her biggest individual title.
There were no major surprises in the 14 & Under boys event, as the top two seeds met in the final. The number one seed, Rune, progressed easily without dropping a set on his way to the final. This was especially impressive as he overcame two in-form seeded players in the quarterfinals and semi-finals, Jack Pinnington-Jones (GBR) and Aristarkh Safonov (RUS) respectively. Rune’s opponent in the final had a slightly more arduous trek on route to the final, being pushed to three sets in the fourth round by the Danish player Elmer Moller and scraping through a tough 7-5 third set battle with unseeded Swede Michael Minasyan in round three. Regrouping well, he defeated number three seed Luca Nardi (ITA) in straight sets to book his place in the final. Sadly the final was a short-lived experience for the Serb, as Rune came out firing and never let up throughout, posting a 6-2 6-1 victory.
In the girls’ draw the top seeded Russian also made her way to the final after getting off to an easy start in the tournament. She was pushed and had to resort to a third set tiebreak to overcome Italian eleventh seed Lisa Pigato in the quarterfinal. The unseeded Lopatetskaya was burning up the draw, losing just five games on route to the final, and posting not one but two double-bagel victories before the semi-final. There, she met stronger resistance from Belarusian fourth seed Jana Kolodynska, but came through in straight sets nevertheless after a close first set. In the final however, Lopatetskaya was in blistering form, completely shutting out the European #1 for a 6-3 6-2 victroy in their first ever meeting.
There were two fairly one-sided doubles finals. Briton Jack Pinnington-Jones is having a great year, having captured three singles and five doubles titles. Teaming again with his compatriot Joel Pierleoni, they easily defeated Daniel Rincon & Carlos Alcaraz Garfia of Spain 6-1 6-3, becoming the first British pair to claim the title in 22 years.
There was some consolation for Selekhmeteva in the doubles. As top seed, she played with fellow Russian Maria Timofeeva of Russia, to dash the hope of locals Daria Vidmanova & Katerina Mandelikova 6-2 6-2. This marks the first time since 2012 that one of the doubles titles at the 14 & under event has not been won by a Czech team.