Oberpullendorf in the Burgenland Region of Austria is this week hosting the MEHRLEBEN - U18 European Junior Championships powered by Finanzfuchsgruppe for the first time.
128 players from 35 Tennis Europe member nations will be in action from 16-22 September, battling for one of the most pretigious crowns in junior tennis. A 300 series event on the ITF World Tennis Tour (Juniors), valuable ranking points are also on offer. 13 singles and 14 doubles world #1s feature among the previous winners of the Championships. Stefanos Tsitsipas and Barbora Krejcikova are amongst those to have won the 18 & Under title in the past ten years.
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Draws, Results & Information
🔗 Boys Singles | Girls Singles | Boys Doubles | Girls Doubles
🔗 Order of Play | Fact Sheet | 📷 Photos
Live Scores + Streaming
📺 Multi-Court streaming - choose your match | Live Scores
Latest News - Day 1
16.09.2024 - 17:45 - FIRST ROUND COMPLETE!
Just three first round matches were due to be played across the boys’ singles and doubles draws, and organisers managed to ensure that all were completed despite the adverse weather conditions. The matches were played on the indoor courts of the Sporthotel Kurz, enabling all players to begin in the round of 64 on Tuesday.
Sander Juuhl Sivertsen (NOR) beat Aleksandar Trifunovski (MKD) 6-2 6-2 in the first match. His reward will be a showdown with second seed Henry Bernet (SUI) tomorrow. In the top half of the draw, Szymon Malecki of Poland beat Aleksandre Shvangiradze (GEO) 6-2 6-4 and also advances to face a tough opponent: top seed Luca Preda, the Romanian world #7 awaits.
The lone doubles match saw Britain’s Maximilian Carrier & Louis Hull beat Pol Campama Tomas & Daniel Carrillo Benitez (AND) 6-2 6-0, to set up a second round against – you guessed it - the top seeds.
Check out tomorrow's full order of play at the link above. Play is scheduled to commence at 09:30, and the weather forecast is looking good.
16.09.2024 - 16:15 - INDOOR COURTS TO THE RESCUE
Play is finally under way - on the indoor courts of the Sporthotel Kurz. Sadly there's no streaming indoors, but you can follow live scores here.
16.09.2024 - 13:20 - OPENING CEREMONY HIGHLIGHTS
Over to Instagram for a look at yesterday's opening ceremony...
16.09.2024 - 12:30 - SOME MATCHES CANCELLED
It's not good news from Oberpullendorf: at least half of today's matches have been cancelled. Matches in the bottom half of the girls' singles draw, and the boys' doubles second round matches will not take place. A further update will follow at 14:00
16.09.2024 - 10:30 - START OF PLAY DELAYED
It seems as if the bad weather that hampered the 14 & Under tournament in Most last week has moved along to Burgenland, where the forecast for the coming days is somewhat patchy.
Play was due to begin at 10:30 this morning, but the ground staff are currently working on preparing the courts after some heavy rain. We'll have a next update around 12:00, when we hope play can begin.
Meanwhile, check out the first images in the tournament's photo gallery, featuring shots from yesterday's Tennis Europe Junior School class (below) and the opening ceremony.
The Junior School was hosted by Tennis Europe's Head of Junior Tennis Stephanie Kamberi, who was joined by special guest Lukas Jastraunig, former top 500 ATP singles player, and currently Tennis Austria's girls' 18 & Under team coach. Among the topics discussed were 'Diversity and Inclusion' and 'Coaching'.
Preview
15.09.2024 - 18:00 - TOURNAMENT PREVIEW
The countdown is over and the first edition of the MEHRLEBEN - U18 European Junior Championships powered by Finanzfuchsgruppe in Oberpullendorf is about to begin. The impressive player line-up is full of recent Tennis Europe Junior Tour stars, plus many players that are already making their mark at ITF and professional level.
The girls’ draw is particularly loaded with high performers. Amongst the top seeds are the current European 16 & Under Champion and Junior Masters champion, Jeline Vandromme (BEL), and the 2022 14 & Under singles and doubles champion Alena Kovackova (CZE), who already boasts a WTA ranking of #808. Mia Pohankova (SVK) was silver medallist to Kovackova in 2022 and to Vandromme in 2023 and will be desperate for a gold medal to add to her two silvers.
The top seed is Teodora Kostovic (SRB), who has won three J300 titles already this season and reached the quarterfinals of the US Open just last month. Julia Stusek (GER) is a former TE Junior Tour #1 and is no stranger to winning prestigious titles, having won Les Petits As in Tarbes in 2022. Home hopes will be high for Austria’s Tamara Kostic, who has the highest WTA ranking of any of the players in the field, having recently broken into the Top 500.
The boys’ top seed is Luca Preda, the US Open Juniors quarterfinalist. The Romanian is enjoying a fine run of form recently, including a J500 title in Cairo. Amongst his main challengers will be Henry Bernet, the Swiss second seed and reigning 16&U doubles champion. William Rejchtmann Vinciguerra (SWE), another high performer on the TE Junior Tour is in Bernet’s half of the draw, along with Linus Lagerbohm (FIN), who surprised with a silver medal showing at the 16 & Under event in Parma last year. Lagerbohm’s first opponent has a familiar name: Emanuel Ivanisevic is indeed the son of Croatian legend Goran, and is playing his first European Championship.
A pair of Spaniards – Izan Almazan Valiente and Antres Santamarta Roig are seeded fourth and fifth and will have high hopes of following in the footsteps of former Spanish champions in this age group, including legends Carlos Moya and Albert Costa. Santamaria Roig was a doubles silver medallist last year at the 16&U event in Parma.
Reigning Junior Masters champion Kolos Kincses will also he aiming to make his mark. The Hungarian is unseeded and is placed in a tricky part of the draw, with the dangerous Nikola Jovic (SRB) a likely third round opponent.
See above to check out the draws in full. Play begins on Monday at 10:30am. Many of the top seeds will make their tournament debuts on Tuesday.