The Winter Cup season started this weekend with the under 12s, who have put in 2 sterling performances to reach the finals in Sheffield in 2 weeks time. After crunching Bulgaria 3-0 they overcame strong resistance from Romania today, the host nation for their qualifying group. Emma Raducanu and Indianna Spink both prevailed 6-3 in the third before Emma and Lillian Mould wrapped things up in the doubles. They play Ukraine tomorrow for a seeding spot in the finals.
The under 12 team saw off Ukraine 2-1 to secure a seeding spot: Emma winning 6-4 7-5, Indianna losing 6-3 6-3 before Emma and Lillian secured the win with a doubles success 6-4 6-4. That means they will avoid other group winners Russia, Italy and Czech Republic in round 1 of the finals
The under 14s start their qualifying group in Istanbul tomorrow against Portugal. Ali Collins, Francesca Jones and Eliz Maloney are their nominated players. The under 16s are in the Netherlands, but the team of Anastasia Mikheeva, Katie Swan and Jodie Anna Burrage has two very strong nations in their group (Hungary and Russia)
The under 16s started strongly against Denmark, but face a very tough second match tomorrow. Katie won 6-2 6-0, Anastasia 6-3 7-5 and Jodie & Katie won the doubles 6-2 6-1. The key match pits them against Hungary, whose top player Fanny Stollar is ranked inside the ITF top 50, with their second player Dalma Galfi the one who Katy Dunne described as a future Wimbledon champion after losing to her in a Hungarian ITF event 18 months ago.
The under 14s result is not yet up on the TE website
A strong performance from the under 14s winning 3-0 : Francesca winning 6-0 6-4, Ali 6-1 6-4 and Eliz/Ali taking the doubles 7-5 6-3 They play Georgia today for a place in the finals
In today's match Katie was beaten 6-3 6-1 by Galfi
The under 14s lost 2-1 to Ukraine (Francesca winning 7-6(1) 6-3, Ali losing 6-3 6-3 to the current TE No. 1 and the two losing the doubles 7-5 6-4 ) so won't be seeded in the finals. The first of the finals featuring the under 12s is next weekend.
Unsurprisingly the under 14s were never in the match against the strong Russians - frustrating for them to draw Ukraine in qualifying and Russia in the finals, who are clearly the 2 strongest nations currently at this level (Ukraine have the TE1 and TE5). They play for 5th - 8th over the weekend.
U14 QF
Francesca lost 1-6 1-6
Ali lost 1-6 2-6
Ali/Eliz lost 5-7 3-6
The girls finished strongly, beating Slovenia 3-0 and Romania 2-1 to claim fifth, and suggesting they would have been in with a reasonable shot at bronze had they avoided Russia (who duly won the title) first up
