Crossley and Demin leap into Junior Top 10 after J500 Criciuma triumph
Mayu Crossley and Yaroslav Demin leapt into the world's top 10 on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors after conquering all before them to win the girls’ and boys’ singles titles, respectively, at J500 Criciuma.
Crossley, a 16-year-old up-and-coming junior from Japan, climbed to a career-high No. 7 in the ITF junior rankings after adding a second title at a J500 tournament to her collection, having also triumphed at December’s season-ending Orange Bowl in Florida.
Demin's victory, meanwhile, was his most significant yet and builds on his triumph at J1 Guadalajara last year.
“It’s unreal. It’s incredible to win this tournament,” said Demin, who defeated home favourite Joao Fonseca 6-2 6-2 in the final. “For me it means everything. I enjoy to be here in Brazil, that’s why I’m here for a second year. I hope more [titles] will come.”
The boys’ final was a battle of former junior Davis Cup champions, with Demin leading his nation to victory in 2021, and Fonseca helping Brazil to a historic triumph in 2022, when they became just the second team from South America to taste junior Davis Cup glory.
The 17-year-old had a taste of a true Davis Cup atmosphere when he attempted to serve out championship point in Criciuma – a "tough moment" he described as “insane, [with a] full crowd shouting” but one he soon overcame, as Fonseca netted to hand Demin the spoils.
Demin hopes to use his triumph in Brazil as inspiration as he enters the next phase of his tennis development.
“I will do my best to continue to work,” he said. “I will play Roland Garros, maybe tournaments before and then I will start to play pro.”
Crossley, meanwhile, overcame Italian Alessandra Teodosescu 6-2 7-6(4) to record the fifth ITF junior singles title of her career.
“It’s big for me because it’s a [J500] ITF – there’s only a few tournaments [of this level] a year,” she said. “It was my first time to come here [to Brazil] and play on the red clay. I didn’t train on red clay a lot so it’s challenging for me, but it was a great tournament for me.”
Though she may need some convincing of her own talents on the surface, four of Crossley’s five ITF junior titles have now come on clay, so might her thoughts turn to the idea of achieving success at Roland Garros?
“I’m doing very good results on clay so I guess it’s my favourite surface,” admitted Crossley, who fell in the first round on her Junior Grand Slam debut at January's Australian Open.
“I would like to challenge more at the Grand Slams.”