OFFENBACH, June 20, 2019 (by Dietmar Kaspar)
The venue of the Hessian Tennis Federation in Offenbach, situated in the east of Frankfurt/Main, hosted last week’s 27th edition of the International Nürnberger Versicherungs-ITF Junior Tournament. The prestigious tournament is the traditional start of the German clay-court swing on the ITF Junior Tour.
In the past, big names drew attention by their appearance at this tournament, for example German young gun Rudolf Molleker captured back-to-back titles in 2016 and 2017.
Three unseeded Italian players in the semis
This year’s top seed Harold Mayot dominated the boy’s singles competition without losing a set the entire week. In the semi-finals, the 17-year-old Frenchman battled past left-handed Italian Matteo Gigante.
The bottom half of the draw culminated in an all-Italian semi-final. Francesco Maestrelli, who defeated Australian No. 2 seed Tristan Schoolkate in the stage of the last eight in three sets, advanced versus Luca Nardi in straight sets.
Saving a set point by the score of 4-5 in the first set, Mayot secured a 7-5, 6-4 win to celebrate his third singles trophy on the ITF Junior Circuit.
Winner Harold Mayot with coach @thierrytulasne of the WTT junior tournament Offenbach/Frankfurt @HaroldMayot1 Gratulation 🎈 pic.twitter.com/2cnfeNFrou
— dirk hordorff (@dirkhordorff) 16. Juni 2019
A happily Mayot, who is coached by former ATP No. 10 Thierry Tulasne, stated after the ceremony: „It was a tough match. Francesco played really well, so I had to show my best tennis to get the victory“. Mayot will move to his career high No. 19 in ITF Junior rankings.
Top seeded duo with loss in the quarters
The girl’s singles competition concluded with the victory of Darja Vidmanova from the Czech Republic. En route to the final, the 16-year-old No. 10 seed stopped last German hope Julia Middendorf in the semi-finals in two clear sets.
No. 7 seeded Ana Geller advanced in the stage of the final four against Australian No. 4 seed Annerly Poulos in two sets.
The top two seeds fell in the stage of the final eight. The tournament’s No. 1 Selena Janicijevic from France was beaten by runner-up Geller, Latvian No. 2 seed Darja Semenistaja was defeated by local hero Middendorf.
In the title match, Vidmanova claimed a 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 victory to lift her third singles trophy on the ITF Junior Circuit.
Runner up Francesco Maestrelli from Italy at the WTT junior Kat.1 tournament in Offenbach pic.twitter.com/PZu0QsZS7Z
— dirk hordorff (@dirkhordorff) 16. Juni 2019
Vidmanova told the 300 spectators during her on-court interview: „I improved from match to match. I had some tough matches, but I prevailed in the deciding moments“. She will raise to No. 59 in ITF Junior rankings next week.
Doubles titles to Italy and France
Luca Nardi und Lorenzo Rottoli prevailed in an all-Italian affair in the boy’s doubles final. They defeated Francesco Maestrelli and Samuel Vincent Ruggeri by the score of 6-3, 3-6, 15-13.
The top seeded French tandem Selena Janicijevic and Carole Monnet claimed the girl’s doubles trophy with a 6-4, 6-2 win against No. 2 seeded duo Alexandra Eala from the Philippines and Annerly Poulos from Australia.
Tournament director pleased
The new tournament director Jörg Barthel from the Hessian Tennis Federation, who was supported by the vice-president of the German Tennis Federation (DTB) Dirk Hordorff, praised players and all members of the organization team: „We have seen one week full of high-class tennis. The level of the matches was high and there were no problems with the tennis juniors coming from different parts of the world. It was only a little bit critical on Wednesday due to the rain delay for five hours. But we moved the first round of the doubles to Thursday to finish the tournament in time“.
The German clay court swing on the ITF Junior Circuit will move on to the LTTC Rot-Weiss Berlin for the Allianz Kundler German Juniors supported by Optimal Systems.
