Eric Lorimer of Great Britain and Xinran Sun of China have won this year’s TIM Essonne boys’ and girls’ singles titles, a historically important stop on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour, held at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois in France. They join the likes of Rafa Nadal, Marketa Vondrousova, Andrey Rublev and Martina Hingis in having held aloft the coveted 14 & Under trophy.
This week’s main event kicked off with a flurry of social media activity and live streaming last weekend. As the tournament’s 39th edition got under way, the top seeds breezed through the opening rounds of the main draw until the quarters of the girls' competition, when the top two seeds, Tea Kovacevic (BIH) and Andrea Olariu (ROU) were ousted by Alisa Trentyeva and Nora Oliva Adamson (EST) respectively.
Top boys’ seed Alexander Kunitsyn fared slightly better, falling in the semis to eventual champion Lorimer in a thrilling three-setter. A bigger upset occurred when second seed Evgenii Kafelnikov lost in round three to fourteenth seed Evan Galea of Malta. The top two seeds later earned some consolation though, pairing to reach the podium of the doubles event.
In the end, Lorimer was too strong for Alex Tuomolin, taking the final with a 6-4 7-5 victory. It was Lorimer’s first Junior Tour singles title and second title of the year, adding to his doubles victory in Bolton in January. There was another Brit in the girls’ final, Daniella Britton, but today she came up against a fierce competitor from China. Not having dropped a set all tournament, Sun was flawless in the final and waltzed away with the title 6-1 6-1.
It was the second trophy of the tournament for Sun, who also won the doubles title. The singles win was her ninth Junior Tour title overall, across three age categories. These wins come six years after the last Chinese player won the girls’ singles title here: 2024 Australian Open finalist Qinwen Zheng. Expect Lorimer to jump from #6 in the Race to Monte Carlo update on Tuesday, while Britton will also make a significant leap.
Boys’ Doubles Final: Alexey Ilin & Tsikhan Koran def. Evgenii Kafelnikov & Alexander Kunitsyn 6-2 6-4
Girls’ Doubles Final: Tea Kovacevic (BIH) & Xinran Sun (CHN) def. Laura Chlumska (CZE) & Viktoria Novakova (SVK) 6-2 6-2
Elsewhere on the Junior Tour this week:
Soul Cup - 14&U Cat.2 | Istanbul (TUR)
- Rodion Traigel (KAZ) won his first 14&U tile with a 6-0 6-1 win over Zuka Kacheishvili (GEO)
- Pakistani player Haniya Aman Minhas beat Ekaterina Dotsenko 6-0 6-4 in the girls’ final to pick up her second win on the TEJT
- Traigel teamed up with compatriot Ansar Niyet Kaliyev to win the boys’ doubles, while Mariia Masliakova & Polina Orlova were the girls’ doubles champions.
International Championships of Romania U14 - 14&U Cat.2 | Bucharest (ROU)
- Daniil Valter scored a 6-2 7-5 win over Italy’s Marco Brignoli in the final of the boys’ event to clinch his maiden 14&U title.
- The girls’ champ was Sofia Bielinska (UKR) who beat local Ayanna Maria Mitu 6-2 6-4 in the final to claim an impressive third title in the age group this year alone
- It was an all-Romanian affair in the boys’ and girls’ doubles podia, with honours going to Albert Ionut Pipie & Andrei Radu (boys) and Ana Chindris & Teodora Georgiana Petre (girls).
TEJT 2 U14 “Baseline Open U14 2023” - 14&U Cat.2 | Banska Bystrica (SVK)
- The top 4 boys’ seeds all made it to the semis in Slovakia. It all went according to the script for top seed Sebastian Tejerina (POL) who outplayed Michal Rakous (CZE) 6-1 6-0 in the final.
- For the girls it was quite the opposite, with 4 unseeded through to the business end of the tournament. The final went the way of Laura Masarykova (SVK) who beat Emese Serkedi (HUN) 6-4 6-0.
- Rakous was successful in the dobles final, teaming with compatriot David Drlik to win the boys’ title while the girls’ title went to Hungarians Laura Liza Fizel & Panni Rekedt-Nagy.
For full results and draws from these and all the week’s other events, click here.
This week sees another of the Junior Tour’s most traditional tournaments swing into action: the Kungens Kanna & Drottningen Pris 14 & Under tournament in Stockholm, Sweden. You can follow all the live scores and live streaming on the TEJT app. Led by Tennis Europe CEO Thomas Hammerl, a Junior School session was held earlier this evening in the Swedish capital before the start of main draw matches tomorrow. He introduced the School’s latest topic, Coaching, and also discussed social media. The ITIA Education Team was also present and spoke about Anti-Doping & Anti-Corruption.
