Twin Prostejov finals for Russia: boys face Italy, girls get Bulgaria

Russia remain on course to lift both the girls’ and boys’ trophies at the ITF World Junior Tennis Finals after they prevailed against Czech Republic in their semi-finals in Prostejov. The boys’ team will face top seeds Italy while the girls will take on No. 2 seeds Bulgaria in two all-European finals on Saturday.

Both Russian teams were pushed to the wire by the host nation, emerging victorious in the match tiebreak of the doubles rubber to secure their spot in the finals. For the girls, it’s a second appearance in the final in the last three editions of the competition, while the boys are back in the title-decider for the first time since 2013.

The Russian boys found themselves with work to do after Egor Pleshivtsev was defeated by Jan Kumstat in the opening match - their straight-sets duel lasting one hour 44 minutes – and Timofei Derepasko lost the first set against Maxim Mrva.

However, 14-year-old Derepasko battled back to triumph and then combined with Pleshivtsev to defeat Kumstat and Mrva, the European U14 doubles champions, 6-4 4-6 [10-5].

It was also a rollercoaster affair for the Russian girls, who hadn’t lost a match all week until Tereza Valentova proved too strong for Alina Korneeva, backing up her defeat of the 14-year-old in the final of the European U14 Championships last month with a 6-1 6-1 victory in the second singles match in Prostejov.

In the ensuing doubles rubber, Korneeva partnered Mirra Andreeva to a 4-6 7-5 [10-3] victory and ended Czech hopes of defending their 2019 title. Andreeva’s older sister Erika was part of the Russian team who last won the title here in 2018.

“I’m very happy to win,” said an emotional Korneeva. “I think I was sleeping during my singles match and it was one of the worst matches I’ve ever played. I was crying after I lost, and then we lost the first set of the doubles as we didn’t play very well. In the second set and the tiebreak we started playing more aggressive and we won.”

Italy also needed the doubles rubber to find a way past Germany. Andrea De Marchi got the Italians off to a flying start after he defeated Max Schoenhaus 6-4 6-1 in 63 minutes and Federico Cina put the top seeds just a set from the final after clinching the opener of his match against Justin Engel 6-1. However, Engel battled back to claim victory and force a crucial doubles which saw the duo of Cina and De Marchi join forces to overcome Lieven Mietusch and Schoenhaus in straight sets.

“I’m very happy because I think this result is amazing,” said Italian captain Tomas Tenconi. “The German team played unbelievable, they have very difficult players and are very quick but my boys were spectacular. The doubles was amazing, the change in the first set because we were down, they played really great.”

Bulgaria made history by advancing to the final of the international Under-14 team competition for the first time. Singles victories for Rositsa Dencheva and Yoana Konstantinova gave them an unassailable lead over Slovakia to book their spot in the final against Russia, a re-match of the European Summer Cups final last month.

“Big bravo to our girls who are going to the final tomorrow, big congratulations and good job,” said Bulgarian captain Velian Bakalov. “Today was really difficult against the Slovakian team but we succeeded to win in the two singles so I’m really happy and I’m really pleased with the game of the girls.

“It was really important to win that match as we will play for the first time in the history of Bulgarian tennis in the finals of the World Championships, it is something great for Bulgarian tennis. We already played two times against Russia and lost so I hope tomorrow to win, it’s time for revenge.”

The boys’ and girls’ finals, and all remaining positional play-off matches, get under way at the TK Prostejov Club at 10:00am on Saturday.