(by Steve Hopkins, photo WTT)

Ostrava, Czech Republic is host to this year’s European Youth Championships.  In the U19 Junior category, there are seven events: Junior Boys (Singles, Doubles, and Teams), Junior Girls (Singles, Doubles, and Teams), and Junior Mixed Doubles.  The Singles events were played first.  In Junior Boys’ Singles David Szantosi of Hungary was the surprise winner rising from fifth seed to win the tournament.  Szantosi topped Dragos Bujor of Romania 4-1 in one Semifinal while Marcel Blaszczyk of Poland topped Tiago Abiodun of Portugal 4-2 in the other.  Szantosi won the Final 4-2.

In Junior Girls Singles, Ana Hursey of Wales won the event over Veronika Matiunina of Ukraine.  This U19 win is a repeat of her performance winning the U21 European Championships earlier in the year.  Hursey didn’t just win, she dominated the event with 4-1, 4-0 and 4-0 wins to reach the Semifinals.  In the Semis, she had a tough match against Mia Griesel of Germany, but held on to win 4-3.  And once she reached the Final, it was a 4-1 victory over Matiunina.

Lots of action on tap this week with Doubles events early in the week and Teams events into next weekend.

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