Martin Landaluce from Spain and Brenda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic have each claimed their second Super Category titles of 2020 at the Kungens Kanna & Drottningens Pris in Stockholm, Sweden. Consolidating his recent win in Khimki, the second seeded Spaniard beat the top seed in the final while Brenda backed up her victory at Les Petits As with a second big win in as many months. Fruhvirtova successfully defended the title that she won last year at just twelve years of age while Landaluce became the first Spaniard ever to win this event in the tournament’s 119 year history. | Photo Gallery
Boys
Martin started of his campaign very strongly with a run of three straight sets wins and was especially impressive against Finnish 15th seed Otso Martikainen. In the quarterfinals he was forced to come from a set down to score a win over the eighth seed Daniil Sarksian of Russia. After that he was back on track, as another straight sets win in the semis over Brit Viktor Frydrych booked him a place in the final against his friend and foe from Turkey, Atakan Karahan. The top seed himself had come through a couple of tough matches early on, surviving three tie break sets early on, and even being pushed to three sets in the third round against unseeded Cypriot Andreas Timini. In the semis, Karahan then avenged his loss to Oleksandr Ponomar (UKR) at the same stage in Tarbes to earn his spot in the final where he was eventually downed by the number two seed. Landaluce was too strong for Karahan in a momentum-switching final in which the Turk had two match points at 5-2 40-15 up in the third. Thanks to some unforced errors and some gritty play, the Spaniard eventually emerged triumphant 6-1 4-6 7-5.
The two singles finalists had joined forces to win the doubles tournament the day before, securing the trophies with a comprehensive 6-2 6-1 victory over Italian wildcards Federico Cina & Andrea de Marchi. So, just as he was able to do in Russia, the Spaniard walked away from a Super Category tournament with both singles and doubles titles in hand.
Girls
Top-seeded Estonian Brit Martin came into the tournament on a great run of form, having won the Toyota Cup in Lithuania and finishing as runner-up in Khimki. She breezed through her early matches only to run into a very inspired Fruhvirtova in the semis. Prior to that stage, Fruhvirtova had lost no more than two games in any match. She duly maintained that trend with a semi-final demolition of the top seed, allowing her just one game. In the final, she played Russian third seed, Daria Shadchneva who had advanced with notable wins over twelfth seeded compatriot Alina Korneeva as well as in-form Briton Hannah Read in the semi-finals. In the final, Shadchneva put up a mighty fight in the first set and did not give up on the second either. Even though she won more games in this match than all five of the Czech’s other opponents combined, she was still unable to stop the Fruhvirtova juggernaut. The Czech won her second trophy in Stockholm with a 7-6(3) 6-3 win, and is now unbeaten in two Super Category events. With big sister Linda winning in 2018, the Drottningens Pris has now remained in the Fruhvirtova family for three consecutive years.
In the doubles final, Korneeva teamed with Mirra Andreeva (RUS) to defeat Read & Hephzibah Oluwadare (GBR) in the final. Also in good form of late, the Brits had taken out the top seeds on the way to the final, but in the end the Russians were too strong, taking the match and the title 6-2 6-2
It was another exceptional year for the organizers of the tournament. With a spectacular opening ceremony streamed live on our Instagram as well as a special edition of the Tennis Europe Junior School taking place last weekend, the tournament was an amazing event with players enjoying the time off court as well. There was a serving competition as well as many games and activities for players in the players’ lounge and elsewhere around the tournament venue. Next year promises to be equally special, as the tournament celebrates its 120th edition.
Category 2
14&U Golden Jerusalem Trophy, Jerusalem (ISR)
Last week’s sole Category 2 event saw Gur Trakhtenberg (ISR) build on his win in Tel Aviv to claim a second title of the year, defeating compatriot Halel Ashoosh in the final. The girls’ singles champion was top-seeded Mariia Masiianskaia. She defeated Elizaveta Sabirova in an all-Russian final. In both doubles events, the singles finalists teamed up to win the doubles title.
For all Tennis Europe Junior Tour results from last week, click here.