Great Britain qualify for Junior Davis Cup as young Brits shine in European and World competitions
• 4 MINUTE READ
Great Britain’s junior teams were recently in action in the European Summer Cups and World Junior Tennis Finals – with the 16U Boys team qualifying for the Junior Davis Cup Finals and the 14U Girls side reaching the quarter-finals at the World Finals. Meanwhile four Brits reached the final eight at the European Championships events earlier this summer.
Junior Davis Cup Finals await 16U Boys team
The 16U Boys team – made up of Henry Searle, Viktor Frydrych and Oliver Bonding – bounced back from a 2-1 defeat to Spain in the opening round of the European Summer Cups in France, to win the fifth-place play-off draw.
Inspired by a brilliant week for Searle – who is supported by the LTA National Academy in Loughborough – winning all three of his singles matches throughout the event – the Brits edged past Norway 2-1, with a dominant 6-3, 6-1 doubles victory in the decisive rubber.
They progressed to play the Netherlands for a shot at the fifth-place spot and proved too strong for the Dutch side. The Brits won 2-0, with both Searle and Frydrych coming away with straight set victories.
The result means that the Brits qualify for the Junior Davis Cup Finals in Antalya from 1-6 November this year.
McDonald, Xu, Klugman and Stojsavljevic reach quarter-finals
Four of Britain’s brightest young talents reached the quarter-finals at this year’s European Championships across the 18U, 16U and 14U competitions – Ella McDonald, Mimi Xu, Mika Stojsavljevic and Hannah Klugman.
After an opening round bye, McDonald picked up straight sets wins all the way to the quarter-finals – including a 6-1, 6-4 victory over ninth seed Kristyna Tomajkova. In the final eight however, the Loughborough National Academy player faced a tough match up against fourth seed and eventual runner-up Celine Naef – losing out 6-2, 6-4.
18U and 16U Junior Nationals champion Xu impressed at the 16U event in Czech Republic, knocking out second seed Rose Marie Nijkamp 7-6(3), 6-3 in the fourth round before bowing out to 12th seed and home star Lucie Urbanova. Britain’s Isabelle Lacy was also in action – going out in the fourth round to France’s Sara Iliev 7-5, 7-6(6).
In the 14U competition, Klugman – who is supported by the LTA Men’s & Women’s Programme – only dropped 12 games on her way to the quarter-finals, where she faced top seed and eventual champion Alena Kovackova. The Czech star proved too strong in the end, coming through 6-4, 6-3.
13th seed Stojsavljevic battled her way through several difficult match-ups to reach the quarter-finals before losing to ninth seed Mia Pohankova 3-6, 6-0, 7-5.
Brits make quarter-final appearance at World Finals
Having qualified for the World Junior Tennis Finals earlier this year, the Britain’s 14U Girls team finished sixth after going out in the quarter-finals of the main draw.
Starring Arabella Loftus, Klugman and Stojsavljevic – the team narrowly lost out to Slovakia 2-1 in the quarter-finals of the main draw, with their opponents clinching both singles rubbers.
Still high on confidence after victories over Latvia and Serbia in the opening round robin group-stages, the girls knocked out fifth seeds Japan in the fifth to eighth place play-offs, thanks to wins from Klugman and Stojsavljevic.
However, the Brits lost a close battle in their final match to Korea Republic 2-1 – with the Korean’s taking the deciding doubles match 6-4, 6-3.
12U & 14U Girls teams pick up fifth and sixth place finishes in France
Returning to the European Summer Cups – the British 12U Girls side also finished in fifth place, while the 14U team came sixth.
Young Brits Annabel Wong, Sevil Parviz and Megan Knight showed brilliant strength to recover from two losses in their opening round robin matches of the 12U competition against Slovakia and Austria to finish the tournament with a brace of wins.
The team blasted past Italy 3-0 in their final group-stage match without losing a set and only dropping 15 games, to set up a fifth-place play-off clash with Croatia.
Parviz – a National Age Group Programme scholar – put in a stunning display to defeat Marta Dzanic 6-2, 6-0 to level the scores at 1-1 and then teamed up with Knight to deny the Croatians in a deciding match tie-break 6-4, 3-6, 10-7.
Meanwhile the 14U team – headed up by Stojsavljevic, Loftus and Isabelle Britton – came sixth in their event. The Brits lost to Germany 2-1 in the quarter-finals, having been defeated in the doubles 6-4, 6-4.
They moved into the fifth to eight place play-offs, where they hammered the French team 3-0 and winning all six sets, before losing out to Serbia 2-1.
