The under 14 world finals begin on Monday with both our boys and girls having qualified. The format involves 4 round robin groups of 4, with the winners playing off for positions 1-4, second placed teams 5-8 etc. The boys (Jay Clarke, Sam Ferguson and Daniel Bennett) are grouped with top seeds USA, but open against Chinese Taipei
A strong start from the girls but the boys lost both singles to Chinese Taipei and are in a difficult position. Next up for them are top seeds USA. Even though the USA do not have Stefan Kozlov (remarkably ranked inside 100 already - few under 14s play more than a handful of ITFs given the gap in physical development compared with 18 year olds) they do have Michael Mmoh, who is the third highest ranked 1998 (just outside 250), and the USA hammered Switzerland today for the loss of just 11 games - GBR played Switzerland in the European Summer Cup, and just edged the 3rd-4th place play-off
Boys RR 1
(8) GBR 1 Chinese Taipei 2
Sam lost 2-6 3-6 Jay lost 2-6 6-7(4) Daniel/Jay won 6-1 6-4
Despite an epiic win by Jay, saving a matchpoint before prevailing 10-8 in the third the Americans proved too strong overall, so the boys end up playing Switzerland for 3rd/4th in the group
Boys RR2
(1) USA 2 (8) GBR 1
Daniel lost 0-6 1-6 (to Mmoh) Jay won 3-6 6-4 10-8 (against Francis Tiafoe) Jay/Sam lost 2-6 2-6
The girls were utterly ruthless against Peru, the hapless South Americans registering their first game in the doubles - and still received bakery products there. As a result the winner of the next match with Canada will progress to the semis. Judging by the group results the Canadians have a strong number 1, but don't possess the same depth of talent as us.
Girls RR2
(2) GBR 3 Peru 0
Jazzi won 6-0 6-0 Gabi won 6-0 6-0 Maia/Gabi won 6-1 6-1
The Canadian number 1 did manage to take the first singles set off GBR, but that was the only blemish on another strong display, propelling the girls into the semis. Up next is a repeat of the European Summer Cup final against Germany, so let's hope for the same result
Girls RR3
(2) GBR 3 (7) Canada 0
Jazzi won 6-0 6-2 Gabi won 4-6 6-1 6-1 Maia/Jazzi won 6-3 7-6(3)
In the European Summer Cup final Jazzi demolished Katharina Gerlach 1 & 2 to set us on the way to the title. However the German was instrumental in her country reaching the final, and went on individually to reach the semifinal of the European Championships. Today Katharina exacted revenge, to end Jazzi's long unbeaten run, but the girls responded well to their first problem and didn't drop a set in the other 2 matches, so reach the final against the Slovak Republic
We have never won this competition, but twice reached the final. Team captain Helen Reesby will have memories of the first occasion, in 1996, when she was part of the squad which lost 3-0 to the Slovak Republic, so this provides the opportunity for a sort of revenge. The other appearance in the finals was in 2008 when Laura Robson beat Grace Min, but the team lost 2-1 to USA. The current Slovak team like ours has good depth, with 3 players ranked inside the Tennis Europe top 10. They upset top seeds USA with their number 1 Victoria Kuzmova having an impressive victory over the world's top ranked 1998 (ITF) Tornado (Alicia) Black, who has already reached a Grade A semi. So a tough match in prospect on Saturday (the boys lost their play-off to Australia 2-1)
Semifinal
(2) GBR 2 (4) Germany 1
Jazzi Plews lost to Katharina Gerlach 5-7 1-6 Gabi Taylor beat Anna Gabric 6-4 6-3 Plews/Lumsden beat Gerlach/Rueffer 6-3 6-2
They couldn't quite pull off a maiden title, but put up strong resistance against the nation who should have been the opponents in the European Summer Cup final, had their top player not injured herself. Jazzi fought for 3 hours to no avail, and Gabi pulled off an excellent victory in the top singles, justifying her elevation this week ahead of Maia, but the European Championship doubles champions prevailed in the decider. Overall the two nations won the same number of games (36 each). The boys finished 11th by thumping Chile, whilst the boys title went to top seeds USA
Girls Final
Slovak Republic 2 (2) GBR 1
Tereza Mihalikova d. Jazzi Plews 7-6(2) 4-6 7-5 Gabi Taylor d. Victoria Kuzmova 6-1 6-4 Kuzmova/Mihalikova d. Plews/Lumsden 6-2 7-5
