Roberto Carballes of Spain has won both singles and doubles events at the European 18 & Under Championships, becoming the first player in ten years to sweep both titles in Klosters.
Seeded #1, Carballes dropped just one set during the tournament, against semi opponent Vladyslav Manafov (UKR), but came back strongly after a welcome rain delay to set up a meeting with Bulgaria’s Dimitar Kuzmanov in the final. Having beating #4 seed Patrick Ofner (AUT) in his second match, Kuzmanov emerged from an upset-strewn bottom half of the draw without having to face another seed, but forced Carballes to produce his best play to win a tough two set match 7-5 7-6(2).
Carballes has hit a rich vein of form at the Junior Grand Slams this season, reaching the semi finals of the Australian Open and winning the doubles at Roland Garros, whilst also establishing a 14-match win streak on the ITF Men’s Circuit that saw him win titles in Madrid and Vic before finishing as runner-up in Lleida, and has broken into the world’s top 450 as a result. He becomes the seventh Spanish player to win the 18 & Under singles title, following in the footsteps of players such as Carlos Moya and Albert Costa.
The previous day, Carballes had teamed up with compatriot Ricardo Ojeda to beat Slovenia’s Matej Leljak & Nik Razborsek 6-4 6-1 in a doubles final featuring two unseeded teams.
Nastja Kolar went one better for Slovenia in the girls’ singles, where she brushed past the eighth-seeded Ukrainian Sofiya Kovalets 6-2 6-1. Kolar built on the recent form that saw her win a $25,000 ITF Women’s Circuit event in Maribor last month before qualifying for the WTA Tour event in Bad Gastein, winning all but one of her matches in straight sets.
In the doubles, Kolar teamed up with Tjasa Srimpf to reach the semi finals where they were beaten by fourth seeds Ilona Kremen & Aliaksandra Sasnovich. The pair went on to become the first Belarussian players to win the 18 & Under title. Their victory was hard work, being forced to a match tie break in all but one of their six matches, including the final against Denisa Allertova & Jesika Maleckova of the Czech Republic.
Both girls’ and boys’ events featured a number of upsets in early rounds. The #2 seeds in each competition, Natalija Kostic (SRB) and Filip Horansky (SVK) were beaten in their opening matches, by Eva Paalma (EST) and Mikael Torpegaard (DEN) respectively. Only two of the top eight seeded boys (Carballes and Julien Cagnina (BEL)) and one of the top eight girls (Kovalets) reached the quarterfinals.
Many of the players involved in the tournament will now turn their attention to the 18&U European Summer Cups, which begin this week at eight European venues.
Results and Photos
Boys Singles | Girls Singles | Boys Doubles | Girls Doubles | Photos