Juki's Junior Week in Review, Feb. 29-March 6, 2016

Tomas Martin Etcheverry claims second Grade 1 title of year
The South American junior swing moved to Lambare, Paraguay for the Grade 1 Asuncion Bowl, which saw a strong boys field that included eight top-50 juniors. The draw’s top seed was Japanese player Yosuke Watanuki, who moved up to #13 in the junior rankings following last week’s G2 Argentina Cup title. Watanuki survived two tough opening three-set matches but fell in the quarterfinals to American JJ Wolf, the 7th seed. Wolf, a native of Cincinnati, backed up his victory over the #1 seed with a win over 6th seed Gabriel Descamps 6-3 1-6 6-2 to reach the final. This was a strong victory as the tall 16-year old Descamps is major prospect for Brazilian tennis, moving up the rankings quickly over the last six months. Despite losing in the final, Wolff should now be well inside the entry cut-off of future junior grand slams following his run, which could take pressure off his shoulders in the final two events of the South American tour.

Tomas Martina Etcheverry (L) & JJ Wolf (R). Source: El Dia

The player who defeated JJ Wolff was Tomas Martin Etcheverry (@tometcheverry), a 16-year old Argentinian who captured his second G1 title of the year following the Colombian Copa Barranquilla in January. The player from Buenos Aires, who got a chance to hit with Rafael Nadal last month, easily won in the final 6-3 6-1. Etcheverry’s best win in the tournament came against second seeded American Nathan Ponwith in the quarterfinal, surviving the contest 6-7(3) 6-2 6-2. One of the youngest juniors in the Top 50 of the boys' rankings, Etcheverry will surely be one to keep an eye on this year heading into the European season. The doubles champions were the team of Felipe Melgeni Rodrigues Alves of Brazil and Matias Soto of Chile. The Brazilian is the nephew of former French Open semifinalist Fernando Meligeni.

The Asuncion Bowl’s girls draw was limited to only 32 players, which is the first time in several years a G1 tournament has had such a small draw size. Lacking the competitive depth of the boys' field, the American girls who made the trip to Paraguay had enormous success, with three into the semifinals. Reaching the final from the top half was 14-year-old Caty McNally, playing her first tournament of the year. McNally, also from Cincinatti, enjoyed a great U14 career and should be competing for major junior titles soon with her strong forehand. Coming from the bottom half of the draw and into the final was 16-year-old Morgan Coppoc of Oklahoma, who has committed to play college tennis for Georgia. Coppoc has had an under-the-radar rise up the rankings, consistently posting solid results playing tournaments in Central and South America. Coppoc’s age gave her the edge in the final, outlasting McNally 6-4 0-6 7-5; she will move inside the Top 50 of the junior rankings with the title.

Yibing Wu and Baijing Lin claim titles in Thailand

Yibing Wu at the Australian Open.
Photo: Robert Prezioso/Getty Images

The second G1 tournament of the week took place in Nonthaburi, Thailand and was won by two 16-year-olds showing great promise. Top seed in the boys' draw was Yibing Wu of China, who has emerged over the last year as his country’s premier junior boy talent. Prior to this week Wu had only won titles in China, but did have a strong result at Eddie Herr where he reached the QF. Wu went through the draw in Thailand relatively uncontested, dropping one set in the semifinal but wasn’t pushed in any other set he played in the tournament. In the final Wu defeated 17 year-old Uzbek Khumoun Sultanov 6-3 6-2, which should see his junior ranking move inside the Top 20.

The girl’s final featured an interesting match-up between two players who faced off recently at the Australian Open, Baijing Lin of Australia and Lucie Kankova of the Czech Republic. At the Australian Open the two faced each other in the second round, with the Australian wild card coming through 6-4 7-6(4) to advance. Lin, who was born in China and uses the English name Jeanette, went on reach the quarterfinal of her home grand slam where she lost to Sara Tomic in three sets. Facing Kankova in Thailand, the powerful ball striker once again won with a similar scoreline of 6-3 7-5. A major story of the tournament was the run to the semifinals by 13 year-old Himari Sato, a Japanese talent who has excelled in her age group including reaching the semis of Les Petits As in January. The youngster took advantage of a nice draw to win four matches and play Kankova, missing three set points to fall in straight sets. Sato’s run comes a week after Marta Kostyuk’s impressive week in Lithuania, indicating the best 2002 players are already capable of competing with the top juniors.

Two strong tournaments coming up this week

As the South American clay tour moves to Sao Paolo, Brazil for the G1 Banana Bowl, European juniors will clash in the strong indoor G1 Perin Memorial in Croatia. The boys' draw in Brazil is very strong with highly ranked American, German, and Japanese players now in South America preparing for next week’s Grade A event in Porto Alegre. The girls' draw is weaker and the door is open for another great event for the strong American contingent to make deep runs and score upsets. Both 64-player draws in Croatia are strong, with players across Europe looking to score a title as the European clay court season begins.

Juki's Junior Week in Review, Feb. 22-28, 2016

Behold: the second installment of On the Rise (a tennis blog) junior tennis correspondent Graham Jung's "Juki's Junior Week in Review." Check out last week's post here. Be sure to follow Graham on Twitter at @juki_tennis!

Despite no top-ten juniors contesting ITF Junior Circuit events this week, it was far from uneventful with in-form players continuing to make headlines. Highlights of the week included Australian Open Junior finalist Jurabek Karimov winning in Russia, ensuring a top-ten junior ranking, while the player Karimov beat in the QF Down Under, Yosuke Watanuki, won in Argentina. Playing in the biggest final of her career on the day of her 18th birthday, Argentine Melany Solange Krywoj captured the girls title in Argentina in a fairytale week. Lastly, 13 year-old Tarbes Champion Marta Kostyuk proved she can transition onto the junior circuit with ease as she reached the final of the ITF event in Lithuania, where the major boys favorite fell in the final. 

Jurabek Karimov continues to make waves in 2016 

Photo L to R: Valeriya Zeleva, Elena Rybakina, Lev Kazakov, Jurabek Karimov

Despite being a major powerhouse in tennis, Russia only hosts a small number of ITF Junior tournaments each year with the Yeltsin Cup being the country’s only G1 event. It is only the second edition of the Yeltsin Cup, held at the impressive Kazan Tennis Academy which hosted the 2013 Universiade Games. Top seed in the boys draw was Uzbek Jurabek Karimov, the recent Australian Open runner-up, who won over the Australian Open crowd with his post-match speech. Entering the tournament ranked #12, a deep run in Kazan would ensure Karimov a top-ten debut in the junior rankings. Karimov was pushed to the absolute limits in his QF against Brit Ryan James Storrie, but survived a third set tiebreak to win 6-2 4-6 7-6(5). The second set of that match would be the only set Karimov would drop as he took home the title with a 6-4 6-3 win over third seed Lev Kazakov.

Perhaps not a name familiar to many before the Australian Open, Karimov’s start to the year has pushed him up to #8 in the world. The Uzbek possesses an aggressive game and will have many watching with interest to see how he progresses through 2016. Winning the doubles title was the Russian team of Philip Klimov/Pavel Kotov, defeating the French team of Dan Added/Maxence Broville in a tight 4-6 7-5 [12-10] match.

A view of the Kazan girls final in a ction

Unlike the boys draw, the girls field seemed more like a national championship with only 7 foreign players in the 48 player draw, none of whom reached the QFs. Top seed in the draw was 15-year-old Olesya Pervushina, currently ranked #13 in juniors, who made the somewhat odd decision to start the year playing weaker South American tournaments instead of the Australian Open where she would have been among the favorites. The tall, powerful Russian has already won a Pro Circuit Satellite title and seemed to be the clear favorite coming into the event. But she struggled in her QF match and fell in her next match to fourth seed Elena Rybakina in two sets. Having defeated the top seed, Rybakina went on to win the title with another straight-set victory in the final over Valeriya Zeleva. The title is the biggest in the 16 year-old’s career and moves her up to #30 in the rankings. Runner-up Zeleva capped off her good week winning the doubles title along side Belarussian Nika Shytkouskaya and moves up to #28 in the rankings.

An extensive gallery of photos from Sunday’s final can be seen on the business-gazeta.ru website: http://www.business-gazeta.ru/article/303327

Yosuke Watanuki sweeps Argentina Cup titles

Held in the city of Cordoba, the Grade 2 Argentina Cup featured diverse fields as players have started to arrive in South America from around the world in preparation for the upcoming Copa Gerdau. Adapting to the red clay quickly, a team of four top Japanese athletes made their mark on the tournament winning 3 of the 4 titles and only just coming up short of a clean sweep. Top seed Yosuke Watanuki, who lost to Karimov in the QF of Australian Open Juniors last month, captured both the singles and doubles at the Cordoba Lawn Tennis Club but faced some tough opposition along the way. Watanuki dropped sets in both his QF and SF matches to Argentine Camilo Ugo Carabelli and American Ezekial Clark, respectively, but went on to win the final easily 6-1 6-2 over Italian Corrado Summaria. The 17-year-old Watanuki teamed up with his younger country mate Toru Horie to win the doubles.

COSAT. Mujeres 18 años
El match point con el que @MelKrywojtennis ganó su título en el Córdoba Lawn Tennis Club pic.twitter.com/Z7Z0zix6A3

— Tenis Sports-19 años (@Tenisports) February 27, 2016

Match point to seal Krywoj’s dream week

The one title not won by a Japanese player was in girls singles, where Argentine Melany Solange Krywoj came home with the trophy on the day of her 18th birthday. Krywoj, who will enter the top-100 for the first time thanks to the win, needed three sets to overcome 15-year-old Ayumi Miyamoto of Japan 6-2 6-7(0) 6-1. Both Krywoj and Miymoto would face off in the doubles final as well, but the team of Miyamoto/Hontama won easily 6-0 6-3. Miyamoto’s double title is notable as she now improves her career doubles record to 84-15, having captured 15 titles in her short career (only just turning 15 in December). Miyamoto’s success has not come only in small tournaments: she reached the doubles SF of last month’s Australian Open as well as winning the doubles title at the Grade A Osaka Mayor’s Cup.


Marta Kostyuk reaches final in Lithuania

The third significant ITF junior circuit title of the week was the Grade 2 Siaulial Open held in Lithuania. The boys draw was headlined by Estonian Kenneth Raisma, back in action after reaching the QF of Australian Open. Unlike Karimov and Watanuki, the Estonian was unable claim the boys title as top seed, falling in the final to Czech Republic’s Filip Duda in two tiebreaks. Ranked over 100 spots lower than Raisma, the 8th seeded Czech upset all three of the players in his path to capture the biggest title of his junior career. The 17 year-old Duda also came away with doubles trophy, partnering with country mate Michael Vrbansky, and will improve from #121 in the world to #74.

The girls draw saw upsets and top seeds fall as Great Britain’s Jodie Anna Burrage defeated 13-year-old wildcard Marta Kostyuk in the final 6-3 6-3. The 16 year-old Burrage dropped a set in her opening match but it was clear sailing afterward capturing the biggest title of her career and the second G2 title in two weeks for British girls. The run to the final for Kostyuk, which included an easy victory over #2 seed Markova, shows the Ukrainian Les Petits As Champion can already compete at the highest levels of the junior tour against older competitors. While Kostyuk has dominated against players her own age, her game style lacks huge offensive weapons, casting doubts over her ability to transition and face bigger, stronger girls. Her balanced style of play, which includes excellent retrieving skills, is proving already successful however and with this run she moves from #825 in the rankings all the way up to #381. The girls doubles title was won by Latvian Deniza Marcinkevica, little sister of pro tennis player Diana Marcinkevica, and her Belarussian partner Kaytarina Paulenka.

Juki's Junior Week in Review, Feb. 15-21, 2016

I invited Graham Jung (aka @juki_tennis) to contribute to On the Rise (a tennis blog). Juki is a great follow on Twitter, with a particular interest in junior and ITF Pro Circuit events, and Asian and lower-ranked American players. Please enjoy his first deep dive for OtR (atb) into the week that was in junior tennis!

Emily Appleton & Guiherme Wojciechowski Osorio

Photo Credit: Federacion de Tenis de Chile

The highest grade ITF Junior Circuit held this week was the G2 Copa FTCh in Santiago, Chile. The Chilean stop is week 6 of 10 of the South American clay court junior tour which will close next month with the GA Copa Gerdau in Porto Alegra, Brazil. Without any top juniors in attendance both the boys & girls draws were open and saw top seeds fall in early rounds while players ranked outside the Top 250 prevailed to claim the titles. In the boys draw the victor was 17 year-old Brazilian Guilherme Wojciechowski Osorio, ranked #272, grabbing the biggest title of his junior career. As an unseeded player in the 48-player draw Osorio needed to win six matches, defeating three seeds along his way to the trophy. Osorio's toughest match came against the youngest player he faced, as 14 year-old standout Thiago Agustin Tirante of Argentina pushed Osorio to a third set tiebreak in the third round. Tirante, the Junior Orange Bowl U14 Champion, is already proving to be a tough competitor against his older opponents at the ITF level. In the final Osorio, who trains in Portugal at the Felner Tennis Academy, defeated unseeded 16 year-old Federico Iannaccone of Italy 6-3 7-5. Iannaccone has shown good promise so far in 2016 having won a Serbian ITF junior title in January.

Brit Emily Appleton won the girls’ title, making the trek to Chile after competing in two indoor ITF Pro Circuit events in Great Britain in weeks prior. The 16 year-old Appleton (@ejappleton14) reached the second round of both $10K Glasgow and $10K Sunderland, and showed her good form could cope with the change to vastly different playing conditions. Appleton only dropped one set on route to her title this week, in her quarterfinal match against top seed Dominique Schaefer of Peru. Schaefer, who represented the United States until last year, has been one of the ITF Junior Circuit standouts of 2016 seeing her ranking climb to top-50 in the world. Appleton faced a surprise finalist as 14 year-old Viktoria Morvayova of Slovakia came through a number of tough opponents including second seed Raquel Pedraza of USA to post the biggest result of her young career. Appleton faced a tough test from the young Slovak but prevailed 7-6(5) 7-5. It was a tough tournament for the Americans, but success was found in doubles as the All-American team of Ezekiel Clark/Gui Gomes won the boys while Raquel Pedraza teamed up with Argentine Melany Solange Krywoj to win the girls.

To wrap up the tournament, which also featured U14 and U16 tournaments being contested, the Chilean Federation put together a small youtube package as seen below. Detailed results across all age categories can be found at http://cosat.org/Juniors2016/Torneos/GiraCOSAT/06-Chile/chile.php





Tennis Europe Winter Cups Final Rounds

This weekend also saw the Final Rounds played for the Tennis Europe Winter Cups, a Davis Cup/Fed Cup style competition amongst the European nations. The 8 nations qualifying for the finals face off in a knockout format over three days, with each tie featuring two singles matches followed by a doubles match. The Winter Cups provide a great opportunity for young talented players to gain the experience of representing their nation and being part of a team format while providing matches against other top European players of their age group.

Russian Winning G16 team of Olesya Pervushina, Anastasia
Potapova and Varvara Gracheva. Photo Credit: Tennis Europe

The U16 category this year was dominated by Russia, with their boys & girls’ teams both taking away the Winter Cup trophy. The Russia boys team of Alexey Zakharov, Egor Noskin and Timofey Skatov defeated the Netherlands in today’s final 3-0 which was held in Ronchin, France. The Russian team didn’t have it all their own way this week as the semifinal against Bulgaria was decided in doubles which Zakharov/Noskin were able to come through 6-1 7-6(4). Playing first singles for the Russian team, Skatov didn’t drop a set all week leading his team to victory. Only turning 15 last month, Skatov has yet to make his mark on the ITF junior tour but has impressed with performances at the U14 level including a Runner-Up finish at Les Petits As last year.

The Russian U16 girls team surprisingly faced a more difficult route to the title, despite the presence of top junior and potential future stars Anastasia Potapova and Olesya Pervushina. Both the semifinal tie against Switzerland and today’s final against Czech Republic were decided in doubles as each dropped a singles match. It was Potapova who struggled in the semifinal, only winning two games against Simona Waltert, but Pervushina dropped her match today against the tough Lucia Kankova in a third set tiebreak 6-7(4) 6-2 6-7(3). The duo teamed up in doubles in both ties to secure another Winter Cup trophy for Russia.

The U14 titles were won by Italy & Ukraine, in the boys & girls respectively. The Italian team consisted of Lorenzo Musetti, Lorenzo Rottoli and Fausto Tabacco, defeating Czech Republic 3-0 in the final. Rottoli and Musetti recently won the doubles title together at Les Petits As, and continued their good form here. The B14 included livestreaming, with the match archived and viewable at http://livestream.com/accounts/7166631/events/4836560. Marta Kostyuk led the Ukrainian team to the girls' title, but the dominant force in U14 tennis dropped her match today against Slovakia’s Romana Ciskova. It required a team effort from Ukraine as Daria Snigur won her singles match and Kostyuk teamed with 12 year-old Daria Lopatetskaya in doubles to bring home the trophy to Ukraine.

Open Super U12 Auray

One of the few notable U12 tournaments was held this week in Auray, France for the tournament's 25th edition. Past winners of the tournament include a number of top tennis stars including Rafael Nadal (’98), Andy Murray (’99), Kim Clijsters (’95), Dinara Safina (’98), Alize Cornet (’02), with recent champions including promising stars Felix Auger-Aliassime, Francoise Abanda and Anastasia Potapova. Although some very impressive names have won the tournament in the past it is important not to read too much into U12 results, as many past champions haven't made the transition to the professional level. The 2016 champions were Cesar Bouchelaghem of France and Kristina Volgapkina of Russia, both winning their finals in straight sets. Like Tarbes, Auray provided livestreaming for the tournament via youtube, and the finals plus many more matches can be seen on their account: https://www.youtube.com/user/OpenSuper12Auray/videos