The first of the three team events, organised by age category, started this week. Great Britain, represented by Josh Sapwell, Alexander Sendegeya and Peter Ashley in the under 14s beat Portugal and Spain (both 3-0) before losing 2-1 to Poland, so will be unseeded for the finals this weekend in Spain. They will be playing for the Copa del Sol, won once in 1995, and the top 5 nations will also qualify for the World Junior Team Cup in August.
The under 16s and under 18s play later in the summer
On the first day the team stunned second seeds Italy to reach the semis and hence also qualify for the World Junior finals. A star performance from Josh, taking out the European number 1
GBR 2 Italy 1
Peter Ashley lost to Filippo Baldi 3-6 1-6 Joshua Sapwell beat Gianluigi Quinzi 2-6 6-4 6-4 Sapwell / Sendegeya beat Chessari / Baldi 6-2 6-3
The French, including Les Petits As champion Quentin Halys, were too strong
SF
GBR 0 France 3 Alexander Sendegeya lost to Johan Sebastien Tatlot 3-6 3-6 Joshua Sapwell lost to Quentin Halys 0-6 6-7(2) Sendegeya/Ashley lost to Halys/Daubigney 4-6 6-7(5)
We therefore have a 3rd-4th place playoff against Russia
We won the 3rd-4th place playoff 2-1 (Peter won, Alexander lost, Josh & Alexander winning doubles). France won the trophy for the third year running with another 3-0 win (over Poland)
Captained by big Arvind Parmar, we have Jack Carpenter, Ashley Hewitt & Richard Gabb representing GB.
It's Portugal in Round 1, which you'd think should be easier enough - their players have junior rankings (at time of team nomination) of 194, 547 & 1176.
But, then it's the much tougher Slovakians (ITF rankings : 25, 34 & 162) in R2, which they need to win to go Venice on at the weekend for the finals.
Akhenaten wrote:It's Portugal in Round 1, which you'd think should be easier enough - their players have junior rankings (at time of team nomination) of 194, 547 & 1176.
But, then it's the much tougher Slovakians (ITF rankings : 25, 34 & 162) in R2, which they need to win to go Venice on at the weekend for the finals.
It was easy
GBR 3 Portugal 0
Ashley Hewitt d. Joao Dominguez 7-5 6-4 Jack Carpenter d. Francisco Dias 7-6(2) 6-0 Gabb/Hewitt d. Dominguez/Monteiro 6-3 6-1
In the under 16s Luke Bambridge, Kyle Edmund and Evan Hoyt had a first round bye, and appear fortunate that Greece rather than the stronger Czechs were the other seed in their half. Greece squeaked past Romania, and will play GBR with the winners guaranteed a final place next week
this u16 team can play next year aswell can't they? i imagine hoyt will only be used in a dead doubles rubber or injury. also broady giving it a miss then?
u16 team won 3-0, i know they have now qualified for the finals of this cup in france, but have they now qualifed for junior davis cup, or must they win a match in france?
this u16 team can play next year aswell can't they? i imagine hoyt will only be used in a dead doubles rubber or injury. also broady giving it a miss then?
Yes - they are probably the only team playing 3 1995s this year, and should be very hard to beat next year. Liam is unlikely to play in junior team events, given the family relationship with the LTA
u16 team won 3-0, i know they have now qualified for the finals of this cup in france, but have they now qualifed for junior davis cup, or must they win a match in france?
They have qualified for the finals (next Monday to Wednesday) and their final match here determines whether or not they are seeded. Five of the 8 qualifiers will make the Junior Davis Cup - the four first round winners next week, plus the team who wins the knock-out between the other four.
GBR 3 Greece 0
Kyle Edmund d. Michail Psarros 6-0 6-3 Luke Bambridge d. Markos Kalovelonis 7-6(5) 6-4 Bambridge/Hoyt d. Psarros/Giotopoulos 6-4 3-6 6-2
Kyle Edmund d. Vaclav Safranek 6-4 6-4 Luke Bambridge d. Marek Jaloviec 6-1 7-6(5) Edmund/Hoyt d. Safranek/Jaloviec 6-1 6-2
The upshot is that we are one of the 4 seeded teams in the finals, which means that we will not have to play France (the stand-out European side with last week's finalists Bourgue + Barrere) in round 1 of the finals. Victory in round one next week would take us to the Junior Davis Cup.
Play serbia tommorow who also won 2-1, good form against them coming in with edmund beating jankovic in straights the other week. And bambridge/edmund hammering their doubles team 1 and 2 aswell