France and USA reach ITF World Junior Tennis final
Lightning struck twice within a matter of hours at the TK Plus Centre as boys’ top seeds Czech Republic followed Switzerland, their opposite numbers in the girls’ draw, in being slain as France and USA reached the final.
No. 5 seeds France were the ones to stun Czech Republic on their home turf, winning both singles rubbers as Gabriel Debru and Antoine Ghibaudo prevailed before Jakub Mensik and Lukas Velik responded for the hosts in doubles.
USA, seeded second here, booked their place in the finale by overcoming Croatia. Like in three of the four semi-final tussles across the boys’ and girls’ draws, the clash went down to the wire and was determined by the doubles.
Nishesh Basavareddy and Kyle Kang held their nerve to beat Patrik Jurina and Dino Prizmic 6-2 6-3 after the two nations had exchanged singles rubbers, with Basavareddy and Prizmic triumphant.
For France, a first ITF World Junior Tennis boys’ title since 2005 beckons. Captain Boris Vallejo told itftennis.com: “This is the reason the boys are here – they are looking for wins.
“For the team, the density of competition here is greater than other tournaments so it is a huge honour to reach the final. The boys like playing as a team and are playing at their best level.
“This is such a difficult competition to win because we have to play for six days in a row and keep pushing for six days. However, it is a very important competition and, for the boys at this stage of their development, it is similar to Davis Cup.
“Since we arrived here, we haven’t lost a match in singles and we are building up confidence as a result. We have learnt that in tough situations we have to keep going and keep believing.”
USA now have the chance to become the first nation to retain the boys’ title since the USA team of the 2003, which saw Donald Young and Leo Rosenberg join forces to defeat Japan’s Kei Nishikori and Fumiaki Kita in the decisive doubles rubber.
Not since 2008 have the boys’ and girls’ teams from the same nation been crowned champions. That honour also went to USA, so with their girls’ team also reaching the final, another historic double may be in the offing.
Speaking about his team’s victory over Croatia, USA captain Jon Glover told itftennis.com: “That was probably one of the best matches I have ever been a part of here. Every single match was tooth and nail and up and down. I’m very proud with the way they fought and came through.
“The boys have been doing the right thing, following our processes and working on good habits. They have been developing themselves on and off court for a number of weeks now, so it would be nice to have the reward of winning to show, after everything we’ve been doing, there is a prize at the end of it.”
Elsewhere, Bulgaria will play Japan tomorrow to determine who will finish the competition in fifth place. Bulgaria thrashed Argentina 3-0 in today’s play-off clash, while Japan defeated Brazil 2-1.
In the 9-16 play-offs, there were wins for Romania, Germany, Thailand and Australia over Canada, Peru, China and Egypt respectively.