Charo Esquiva finalist in Spain’s most important U18 international tournament
The finals of the ITF J300 Memorial Eduardo Ferrero will be played this Sunday. For the third consecutive year, the most important international U18 tournament in Spain will have a finalist from our country. On this occasion and after several years of drought, it will be in the women’s draw.
The Valencian Charo Esquiva has managed to win in a tough match against the first seed of
the tournament. The Swedish Nellie Taraba took a tight first set. Even so, the Spaniard was
not intimidated and kept the level to force the third set and decide in the third set a very
close match 57 64 75.
Less fortunate was the other Spanish player in contention. Neus Torner could not beat the
Latvian Beatrise Zeltina who had more rest, after some hard days in which the players had to
double due to the rain of the first days of the tournament.
The men’s final will be played tomorrow by the Moroccan Karim Benanni and the Bulgarian
Alexander Vasilev. The Moroccan has reached the final without dropping a single set and
also reaching the doubles final. On the other hand, Vasilev (Grigor Dimitrov’s relative) has
had more complicated matches, but today he has clearly defeated his rival and knows that in
case of winning the tournament he would be at the doorstep of the U18 World Top10.
The men’s final will be played at 9:45 a.m. and will be followed by the women’s final. The
four contenders will seek to win the title of this prestigious tournament. The longest-running
and highest-ranking international tournament in Spain is celebrating its 25th edition this
year. The event is open to the public and a great atmosphere is expected, especially with a
finalist from the region.