It was a big weekend for 19-year-olds Adrian Andreev and Nicolas Alvarez Varona, with the two former Top 10 junior stars each collecting their first professional singles titles on the ITF World Tennis Tour on Sunday.

Former junior world No. 7 Alvarez Varona edged an epic first-set tie-break before overcoming Russian Ivan Gakhov 7-6(13) 6-4 to win his maiden title on home soil at M15 Benicarlo, while former junior world No. 2 Andreev capped his strong run of form in Crete with victory at M15 Heraklion – a week after finishing runner-up at the same venue.

The Bulgarian defeated fellow 19-year-old and former junior world No. 10 Jiri Lehecka 6-3 6-4 in the title match.

Both players will be hoping to use their first professional titles as the launchpad for a successful transition to the top of the men's game, having enjoyed notable results at junior level. Alvarez Varona reached the quarter-finals of the boys' singles at the Australian Open in 2019, while Andreev was a semi-finalist at the 2018 Buenos Aires Youth Olympics and also won titles at the prestigious Eddie Herr and Trofeo Bonfiglio junior tournaments.

Elsewhere, Zizou Bergs won his first title of 2020 on the ITF World Tennis Tour after defeating Russian Bodgan Bobrov to win M15 Bratislava.

Bergs rose to prominence in October when he stunned Albert Ramos-Vinolas and took Karen Khachanov to three sets as a wild card at the ATP event in Antwerp, but failed to surpass the third round in his next two tournaments at ITF level.

That changed last week in Slovakia, when he cruised to his fourth career ITF singles title without dropping a set – culminating in a 6-4 6-2 triumph over Bobrov in the title match.

Turkey’s Ergi Kirkin won his first title of the year – and third overall – at M15 Monastir after defeating Estonia’s Kenneth Raisma in the final, while experienced Serb Miljan Zekic added to his haul of titles at M15 Cairo – winning his 23rd career title following a 6-1 7-6(3) victory over Dutchman Niels Visker 6-1 7-6(3).