The under 14s are the first of the 4 age groups to see action, necessitated by the fact that the tournament serves as a qualifier firstly for the European finals and then for the World Juniors in August. The British team comprises Liv Zingg, Milica Sakamoto Milojevic and Grace Watson and they take on Malta tomorrow for a place in the finals - that is because two nations in their qualifying pool withdrew (usually you have to win 2 matches to reach the finals, and a third to be seeded). They may be fortunate in the draw, which put France, including Daniel Baranes (victor against Megan Knight in the U12 Orange Bowl final in 2023 whilst representing Israel) in the bottom half along with second seeds Belgium
A comfortable win for the under 14 girls, who now wait until Friday to find out their opponents in the seeding match (France or Belgium). Grace and Liv each won 6-3 6-2 and combined to win the doubles 7-6(0) 6-2. Live streaming should be available here on Friday
She changed nationality last month, in time to be awarded a wildcard for the French Open Juniors (losing 7-5 in the third), thus being the first 2011 born to play a junior Slam. There is a recent interview with her explaining her French connections here
Daniel Baranes lost to the Belgian number 1 Hannelore Daniels today, helping Belgium to beat France. They therefore qualify with Great Britain, and play for seeding tomorrow (streaming link above)
Belgium rested their top player from singles, which helped the GBR team to win 2-1 (Grace won 6-0 6-0 and Liv 6-3 6-4 before Milica/Grace lost the dead doubles - the Belgian number 1 returning for that). The upshot is that they will be seeded 1 for the finals in Italy starting Monday, and avoid the strong Czechia team, who won their group.
She changed nationality last month, in time to be awarded a wildcard for the French Open Juniors (losing 7-5 in the third), thus being the first 2011 born to play a junior Slam. There is a recent interview with her explaining her French connections here
The under 14 finals start tomorrow and, as expected, we are seeded 1 (based on individual rankings which are not surface specific) and take on Romania. The nominated British team is the same as in qualifying. A win tomorrow would see the team qualify for the World Juniors in August as well as the European semis. We have only once reached the European U14 final in 44 years, when Maia Lumsden, Gabi Taylor and Jazzi Plews won in 2012