Mees Rottgering and Federico Cina broke new ground on the ITF World Tennis Tour as both men reached their first singles final at a professional event.

Left-hander Rottgering, 16, reached the final at M15 Sharm El Sheikh before falling to Philip Henning 6-3 6-3, becoming the youngest Dutch man ever to reach a singles final on the ITF World Tennis Tour.

He beat the record held by former world No. 11 Sjeng Shalken, who won the Portugal 3 Masters aged 17 in October 1993.

Cina, also 16, did not drop a set en route to the final at M15 Monastir before losing 3-6 6-3 6-0 to 18-year-old Matej Dodig.

Cina entered Monastir ranked at No. 1855 in the world and with just two professional match wins to his name in five previous events. Every opponent he overcame was ranked inside the world’s Top 1000, including No. 551 Jakub Paul and No. 553 Adrien Gobat.

The Italian now sits 844 places higher at No. 1081 in the live ATP rankings.   

Sharm El Sheikh was Rottgering’s ninth professional event.

The Dutchman rose 157 places form No. 1055 to No. 898 in the live rankings off his run to the final.

Both men are top-ranked talents on the ITF junior tour, with Cina ranked No. 7 having peaked at No. 4, and Rottgering ranked No. 15 having peaked at No. 10.  

The two have also recorded strong junior Grand Slam results, Cina reaching the semi-finals of the boys’ singles at the 2023 US Open and Rottgering reaching the same stage at the Australian Open last month.

Cina also led the Italian team that finished as runners-up to Czechia at the 2023 Junior Davis Cup Finals in November.

Meanwhile, Dodig’s title was his fourth on the ITF World Tennis Tour, becoming the third Croatian man to win four World Tennis Tour singles titles before turning 19, after Borna Coric and Dino Prizmic.

Dodig has reached at least the semi-finals in his last three events, reaching back-to-back finals in Monastir, finishing runner-up before winning the title on Sunday.

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The Croatian climbs 64 places to No. 419 in the live ATP rankings this week – a new career-high.

Elsewhere, Australia’s Omar Jasika won at home at M25 Traralgon, as did Portugal’s Jaime Faria at M25 Vila Real de Santo Antonio and Spain’s Alejo Sanchez Quilez.

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