The title-winning picture has become clearer for the 16 remaining teams in the main draws of the 2019 ITF World Junior Tennis Finals after the concluding round of group matches resolved all outstanding qualification issues.

In the boys’ division, the draw for the quarter-finals has pitched top seeds Czech Republic against Argentina, while a close battle is in prospect when No. 2 seeds USA take on third seeds Japan. The other ties see Bulgaria face France and Croatia play Brazil.

In the girls’ section, Switzerland will have to overcome Serbia to reach the semi-finals and Czech Republic have the hurdle of the Philippines to negotiate. Mirroring the boys’ draw, USA will come up against Japan, while Canada face Ukraine.

It proved a tension-fuelled day in a handful of groups as results ebbed and flowed, with qualification for the knockout phase appearing tantalisingly close for certain nations at points during the day before being cruelly snatched away.

Group C was where the drama was at in the girls’ draw. Back-to-back singles wins for previously winless Serbia against Italy opened the door for Greece, who at the time were locked at 1-1 against Canada with the doubles decisive. Greece fell short, however, which meant Serbia squeezed through.

“The quarter-finals is a big result for my team and we will see what happens,” Serbia captain Nemanja Ivic told itftennis.com. “They had just one option today and had to play every point with passion and give 100 per cent. I’m very happy.

“After we lost our first tie I hoped we would win the next two and make the quarter-finals but, unfortunately, we lost to Canada and it wasn’t looking good. But, here we are in the quarter-finals – this is tennis.”

Tijana Sretenovic set the tone for Serbia with a 7-5 6-4 singles victory over Federica Urgesi, which was built upon by Lola Radivojevic who dispatched Anna Paradisi 7-5 1-6 6-4. Sretenovic and Radivojevic then united to defeat Giada Rossi and Urgesi 6-4 6-3.

It had looked increasingly promising for Greece after Michaela Laki, who won the 14 and under European Junior Championships in Most last month, dispatched Victoria Mboko in the second singles to level their tie with Canada. Laki and Athina Pitta, however, succumbed 7-6(3) 6-2 to Mboko and Kayla Cross in the doubles.

Having navigated the group stage with a clean sweep of three victories from as many ties, Canada captain Stephane Conquet told iftennis.com: “I am so very happy with my team. We’ve had some close matches over the past two days, matches we could have lost, but the girls have fought very well and I am proud of them.

“My girls are full of confidence and I feel they are approaching their best form. We will take things day by day but we are very motivated.”

Aside from Group C, it was largely a matter of squabbling over final placings. In a battle of the unbeaten teams in Group A, Switzerland defeated Ukraine to secure top spot, while USA breezed past the Philippines 3-0 to do likewise in Group B. Czech Republic finished at the summit of Group D following a 3-0 thrashing of Japan.

In the boys’ draw, Czech Republic had already sealed their place in the knockout phase after winning both of their opening matches but the other teams in Group A – Australia, Brazil and Romania – all ran the qualification gauntlet.

In the end, despite losing 2-1 to Romania, Brazil made it to the quarter-finals ahead of their rivals by virtue of a greater percentage of sets won. By the conclusion of the Brazil-Romania showdown, Australia had already bowed out of contention after losing 3-0 to Czech Republic.

In the immediate aftermath of their loss to Romania, Brazil captain Santos Dumont Guomaraes Junior told itftennis.com: “We are a little low right now as we lost games that we should have won, but we played well in certain games and I believe we are growing into the competition.

“We’ll keep our heads up, keep going and look forward. This team has great spirit and they are very hard working – we don’t have any problems in that respect. We’re a really strong team unit.”

Australia, meanwhile, have failed to find their groove after getting off to a winning start against Romania on Monday and finished bottom of their group. Captain Damien Ward has laid down the gauntlet to his players for the remainder of the tournament; they play Peru tomorrow in the play-offs.

“It has been a really tough start to the competition,” he told itftennis.com. “Whenever it comes to doubles we feel confident, but over the last few days, against Brazil and Czech Republic, their singles players have been too strong.

“It’s disappointing but for our boys it’s such an important experience and a real eye-opener to play against the best players in the world. We don’t have that many clay courts in Australia, so to play European and South Americans on clay is tough.

“Even though we haven’t reached the quarter-finals, when the boys go home they will have learned so much about themselves and about tennis. The reality is they’re playing some stiff competition and my boys need to dig deeper than they have so far.”

Elsewhere, France finished top of Group B after defeating Japan 2-1, while Croatia and USA did likewise in Groups C and D following wins against Argentina and Bulgaria respectively.

Main Draw

Boys

Czech Republic (1) v Argentina (4)

Bulgaria (6) v France (5)

Croatia (8) v Brazil

Japan (3) v USA (2)

Girls

Switzerland (1) v Serbia

Japan (6) v USA (8)

Canada (3) v Ukraine

Philippines (4) v Czech Republic (2)

Play-off draw

Boys

Romania v China

Thailand v Canada

Peru v Australia (7)

Egypt v Germany

Girls

Brazil (7) v Italy

Egypt v China

Greece (5) v South Africa

Venezuela v Korea