CADOLZBURG, February 26, 2019 (by Dietmar Kaspar)
The 29th edition of the Dunlop Bavarian Junior Championships was held for the 9th time at Tenniscenter Schwadermühle in Cadolzburg. The ITF Junior tournament with classification Grade 4 was organized by the experienced team with tournament director Christoph Poehlmann from BTV and Norbert Peick from NP sports.
Due to the very discussed new ITF-rules for young players to reach their goal of getting a tennis-professional, there will be a big focus on ITF Junior events in getting a good starting position to enter tournaments on the ITF Pro Circuit.
The girls singles-tournament was marked by the stunning run of 15 year old Laura Isabel Putz, starting for the Bavarian Tennis Association BTV. Entering the maindraw by wildcard she started the tournament with two clear victories against Marie Weckerle (LUX) and 16th seeded Linda Klimovicova (CZE). The first bang was the 2-set-defeat of top- seeded German compatriot Joelle Lilly Sophie Steur (14 years old), who recently won two Grade 4 ITF-Junior-tournaments in Nairobi/Kenya. After the following 2-set wins against Emily Meyer (AUT) and Marisa Schmidt (GER), Laura Isabel made the final against 4th seeded Angelina Wirges from Germany.
Wirges, who won her first ITF Junior-Event in Szczecin/Poland (Grade 4) this month, startet the tournament with clear victories over Lidiia Rasskovskala (RUS), Carolina Kuhl (GER) and Chelsea Fontenel (SUI). With another 2-set-win against Milica Bojic (BIH) she reached the German dream final against Laura Isabel Putz.
Both players without dropping a set up to the last round could completely satisfy the expectations in an exciting final. With Laura winning the first set 6:3, Angelina could fight back to get the second set 6:2. In a tough 3rd set Laura Isabel kept the upper hand with 7:5.
Putz, who is coached by her Dad and is playing for TC Aschheim in the German regional league (3rd division), got her first ITF title with her only 4th appearance on ITF Junior Tour.
Up to this tournament she only played her local ITF-Junior tournaments in Aschheim (2017 and 2018) and Cadolzburg (2018). After this win she will try to develop her career with more starts at ITF-Junior events.
Hoogmartens take boys’ singles title
The boys singles-tournament was headed by top-seeded Max Wiskandt from Germany (ITF-Junior-Ranking 150). The 17 year old squad-member of the Gladbacher HTC in the German 1. Bundesliga who is coached by Jan Velthuis started the tournament with a clear victory over qualifier Noel Larwig (GER). In the next round he had a very tough battle against his German compatriot Lars Johann. After loosing set one 3:6 he came back with winning the next two sets 7:5, 7:5 . In the quarterfinal he had another successful 3-set-battle against 7th-seeded Kristof Minarik (SVK).
His German semifinal-opponent Lewie Lane made some impressive wins against 4th-seeded Kristian Kubik (CZE) and 9th-seeded Jan Kupcic (SLO).
Wiskandt sealed the victory against Lewie Lane in two hard sets with 6:4, 7:5 to make the final and seek for his second ITF Junior title. In 2018 he won his first ITF Junior tournament in Budapest/Hungary (Grade 4) starting as a qualifier.
Final opponent of Wiskandt was unseeded Alexander Hoogmartens from Belgium. The 16-year-old who is playing double-handed on both sides had a clear victory in the first round over qualifier Tim Hofmann (GER). In the next rounds he had impressive wins against the following seeded players: 5th Rudolf Niklas Christiansen (GER), 10th Maurus Malgiarita (SUI) and 15th Jiri Novak (CZE).
In the semifinal Hoogmartens met his Belgium compatriot Pierre Yves Bailly, who defeated 2nd seeded Lorenzo Rottoli (ITA) and 8th seeded Sebastian Nothhaft (HKG). The Belgium semifinal ended in a clear victory for Hoogmartens in 2 sets. So Hoogmartens took revenche for his loss in the final against Bailly four weeks ago at the ITF Junior tournament in Waver/Belgium.
Organizers with Alexander Hoogmartens and Max Wiskandt (photo: BTV)
The final started with a tough battle in the first set. Max Wiskandt saved the first set in the tiebreak by 7:3. But Alexander Hoogmartens came back and got the next two sets very clear 6:1, 6:1 and made his first ITF Junior title come true in his 3rd final appearance.
Wiskandt, who is training at the DTB Tennisbase in Hannover, will move on in playing more ITF-Junior tournaments in 2019. He is following his goal to reach the Top 100 in juniors ranking with apprearences at the Junior Grand Slam tournaments.
In 2020 there have to be made the right decicions on the way to the Pro Circuit.
In the boys doubles tournament the title went to a German double. Singles semifinalist Lewie Lane partnering Benito Sanchez-Martinez, champion of the ITF-Junior tournament in Aschheim (Grade 5) last summer got the final win in straight sets.
The girls doubles tournament ended with the win from Madelief Hageman (NED)/Hanne Vandewinkel (BEL) against Klara Novakova (CZE)/Nina Stankovska (SVK)in a final match-tiebreak.
The Dunlop Bavarian Junior Championships has been the second ITF-Junior-Tournament in Germany 2019. In total there will be 8 ITF-Junior-events in Germany this year, highlighted by the two Grade 1-Events in Offenbach and Berlin.
The tournament of Cadolzburg will move to the Tennisbase Oberhaching in 2020.
