Last week on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour saw the staging of what many believe to be the world’s toughest indoor event for players aged 14 & Under, the Category 1 ‘Les Petits As’ in Tarbes, France.
As usual, many of the leading players of the age group travelled from around the world, with Americans dominating the boys’ draw for a second successive week.
In a quarter final match between two players who had won events the previous week, fifth seeded Bucharest champion Bogdan Borza of Romania came from behind to outlast the tournament favourite, Bolton winner Stefan Kozlov 1-6 6-3 7-6(5). He went on to beat another American in the semi finals, Francis Tiafoe, before facing last week’s Bolton finalist Henrik Wiersholm in the final. The second seed almost suffered the same fate as his compatriot Kozlov, allowing Borza back into the match when the Romanian clinched the second set, but Wiersholm (pictured) dug deep to secure a 6-2 5-7 6-3 win, becoming the first American male winner since 2005. Borza, who had been suffering from a fever on the day of the final, would have taken over the European #1 slot with a win, but is now just 10 points behind the current leader, Andrey Rublev.
The boys’ doubles went to unseeded Croatian pair Domagoj Biljesko and Karlo Lozic, while Russian team Anastasiya Komardina and Anastasiya Rychagova teamed up to win the girls doubles title. The pair is unbeaten in three tournaments already this season.
The girls final also went to three sets as Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko recovered from the loss of a 1-6 first set to beat Anastasiya Komardina of Russia 6-3 6-3. Ostapenko, who also reached the final in Bolton last week, is the in-form player on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour so far this year, and strengthens her position as the European #2 as a result of her win. Komardina, a runner up in Seregiev Posad earlier in January, climbs two places to fourth.
There was one other 14 & Under event held last week, the Category 2 Cosmos Court Cup in Mogiliov (BLR). Top seed Roman Safiullin of Russia swept to the boys’ title for the loss of just 13 games in four matches, including a 6-0 6-4 final win over Aleksei Khomich (BLR) and also teamed with compatriot Nazar Khrustalev to win the doubles. Darya Kasatkina (RUS) won the girls’ singles, fighting back to earn a 3-6 6-1 6-1 win over third seed Anastasiya Nefedova (RUS) for her third Tennis Europe Junior Tour title, adding to those won in Farum and Correggio in 2010. In a nailbitingly close doubles final, home players Vera Sakalouskaya and Iryna Shymanovich came from behind to beat Kasatkina and Anna Yakovleva 2-6 7-5 (10-8).
Over the next few weeks, team tennis takes centre stage on the Tour, as the Tennis Europe Winter Cups by HEAD get underway. Qualifying rounds will be held over the next two weekends, with the finals set to take place from 18-20 February.