Last year we won the Tennis Europe Winter Cup under 14s for only the third time, and this year's team doesn't appear to have quite the same strength. Nevertheless they should qualify for the finals in Italy a fortnights time. The team of Shakeel Manji, Peter Ashley and Joshua Sapwell are seeded 2 in their qualifying event (two teams qualify from 4 venues), but the full draw has not yet been posted.
Two of last years victorious under 14 squad, Kyle Edmund and Luke Bambridge have been nominated for the under 16s (along with Jonathan Cornish), whose qualifying pool takes place next weekend.
The under 14s have started well, with a convincing win over Switzerland. They now need to defeat the hosts Sweden, who had a dramatic 9-7 in the third doubles win to beat Germany, in order to clinch a place in the finals
QF
GBR 3 Switzerland 0
(3) Joshua Sapwell won 6-3 6-2 (1) Shakeel Manji won 6-3 6-2 Manji/Ashley won 6-7(5) 6-4 6-2
(3) Joshua Sapwell won 6-0 6-2 (1) Shakeel Manji won 6-2 7-6 (3) Ashley/Sapwell won 7-6(3) 6-1
We play top seeds France today to determine which team will be seeded in the finals. France have the Bolton Teen Tennis finalist and the Les Petits As winner. so are one of the favourites for the whole event.
The under 16s are in action this weekend in Bergen, attempting to qualify for next weekend's finals. The seedings employed for this tournament are based on Tennis Europe events. GBR are seeded 1, because of Luke and Kyle's strong performances in under 14 events. However there are stronger looking teams here with 1994 boys who are ranked well inside the top 500, and being top seed hasn't helped our cause, as we had a bye to tomorrow's semi-finals, and thus miss out on match practice (Luke and Kyle have played little so far this year). In the semis we face Sweden, whose top player Morgan Johansson, is ranked 258.
I'm pleased to say that my fears were not realised, thanks in no small part to the Swedish number 1 not playing today. So the under 16s qualify for the finals in style:
SF
GBR 3 SWE 0
(2) Kyle Edmund d. (3) Filip Bergevi 7-6(5) 6-2 (1) Luke Bambridge d. (2) Felix Kudinoff 6-4 6-0 Bambridge / Cornish d. Bergevi/Kudinoff 6-1 6-4
We play Denmark for the right to be seeded in the finals
With qualification secure Luke (and the Danish number 1 ) were rested from singles action. The upshot is we are unseeded next weekend, as in the under 14s
Qualifying Final
GBR 1 Denmark 2
(3) Jonathan Cornish lost 2-6 6-1 0-6 (2) Kyle Edmund won 6-2 6-1 Bambridge / Cornish lost 6-3 1-6 4-6
The under 14s drew the top seeded Slovaks, and couldn't manage an upset, despite another good win for Joshua Sapwell. We now play-off for 5th-8th place
Under 14 QF
GBR 1 Slovak Republic 2
(3) Joshua Sapwell beat (2) Martin Blasko 6-0 4-6 6-4 (1) Shakeel Manji lost to (1) Oliver Nagy 6-4 2-6 6-3 Ashley/Manji lost to Nagy/Blasko 6-2 6-1
The under 16s are the second youngest team in the finals and were competitive but went down to the Czech Republic, so also play-off for 5th - 8th place
Under 16 QF
GBR 0 Czech Republic 3
(2) Kyle Edmund lost to (3) Adam Pavlasek 7-6 4-6 6-3 (1) Luke Bambridge lost to (1) Marek Jaloviec 6-4 7-5 Bambridge / Cornish lost to Janoviec / Safranek 6-4 6-3