The Winter Cups season has started this weekend with qualifying for the under 12s final. Both our teams have made it through. The girls cruised past Slovenia and Switzerland for the loss of 7 & 5 games respectively. Hephzibah Oluwadare and Mingge Xu played singles, backed up by Lily Harper. The boys had a tougher time, but edged past France 2-1 (6-4 7-5 in the deciding doubles) Benjamin Gusic Wan and Samy Khediri played singles, with Oliver Bonding included in the doubles.
Tomorrow both teams play Bulgaria for seeding rights in the finals (the boys' final is in the Czech Republic and the girls' in Sunderland)
Both teams won their final matches, but the girls were tested for the first time - Mingge winning 7-6(11) 6-2, Hephzibah losing 6-7(8) 7-5 6-3 before the two combined to take the doubles 6-3 6-2.The boys won 3-0 with straightforward singles matches: Samy 6-2 6-1 and Benjamin 6-2 6-0
The under 12 finals are in 2 weeks time, with the under14/under 16 qualifying next weekend. We have nominated strong squads for the under 14s, and will need them, as they both have tough groups.
Great start from the U16 Boys in Winter Cup Qualifying in Bulgaria. They beat a strong Spanish team 3-0. Singles wins for Harry Lazell and Matthew Rutter. Doubles win for Rutter & Will Nolan. They play the hosts and No2 seeds Bulgaria who are being backed by a noisy home crowd in the semi-final tomorrow morning.
Welcome to the board Whoareva and thanks for the added context to the under16s. It is crunch time for all our under 14/under 16 teams today, as qualification for the finals is on the line. The under 14 boys are one of the strongest teams in Europe but unluckily they were drawn in the toughest qualifying pool, and end up having to play top seeds Czech Republic, whose number 1 Vojtech Petr just won Les Petits As, for qualification today. The team (Luca Pow, Fabio Nestola and Hugo Coquelin) had a battle yesterday with Finland, winning 3-0, but both singles matches were long 3 setters.
The under 14 girls (Ranah Akua Stoiber, Eva Shaw and Millie Skelton ) upset 4th qualifying seeds Croatia 2-1 (wins for Eva and doubles) so face second qualifying seeds Poland for qualification. Although a tough prospect they at least have avoided the perennially strong top seeded Russians
The under 16 girls team of Jasmine Conway, Sofia Johnson and Andrea Pineda opened with a 3-0 win over Lithuania (wins for Jasmine and Andrea, with jasmine & Sofia teaming up for the doubles) but they need to overcome second qualifying seeds Belarus today to qualify, and are already 1-0 down
Great start from the U16 Boys in Winter Cup Qualifying in Bulgaria. They beat a strong Spanish team 3-0. Singles wins for Harry Lazell and Matthew Rutter. Doubles win for Rutter & Will Nolan. They play the hosts and No2 seeds Bulgaria who are being backed by a noisy home crowd in the semi-final tomorrow morning.
As DavidC says, great to hear from you and welcome
All 4 teams were up against it but there is at least one success to report. The under 14 girls have qualified by upsetting second seeds Poland 2-1 (Millie won 6-4 6-2, Eva lost 1-6 6-3 2-6 and Ranah/Eva combined to take the doubles 6-4 6-3). They play Russia (yet to drop a set) for seeding rights.
Both under 16 teams lost though - the boys trail 2-0 (Matthew going down 3-6 5-7 and Harry 6-1 4-6 4-6) while the girls struggled and didn't win a set against Belarus.
U16 Boys lost 2-1. Harry Lazell lost 6-1, 4-6, 4-6 against the Bulgarian No1 (ITF Rank 801) and Matthew Rutter list 3-6, 5-7 Against the Bulgarian No2 (ITF Rank 265). Both singles close matches against the the No2 seeds and strongest team on paper, given the use of TE ranking. Rutter and Will Nolan won the Dubs 6-2, 6-2. They play Turkey in 3rd & 4th play off tomorrow.
Great news from the under 14 boys who have overcome a strong Czech team to qualify. Fabio beat the Czech number 2 7-5 7-5 then Luca took a set off the Les Petits As champion but lost in 3. Fabio and Luca then combined to seal qualification with a 6-4 6-3 success. They play Belgium, who include the current TE top ranked player, for seeding rights.
U16 Boys beat Turkey 3-0. Will Nolan (in for Rutter as chance of qualification was over) won in 3 sets. Harry Lazell won. Rutter & Nolan won dubs 6-3, 6-3.
In the Final Bulgarias top player Penev got injured in the first set and retired, handing advantage to Serbia.
The under 14 girls pulled off a surprise victory against Russia, though they changed one of their singles players having secured qualification. Millie beat the Russian number 3 in 3 sets and Eva/Ranah edged out the Russian duo in a match tiebreak. They will therefore be seeded.
The under 14 boys will not be seeded as they lost 2-1 to Belgium. Fabio won his match easily, but Luca lost comfortably to the TE1, and Hugo/Fabio couldn't claim the decisive doubles. The under 16 girls finished third in their group after a 3-0 win over Croatia