ITF J300 Villena semifinalist decided
The most important international junior tournament in Spain reaches its last rounds after an eventful tournament due to rain.
Charo Esquiva and Neus Torner could star in a 100% Spanish final. The ITF J300 Villena - Memorial Eduardo Ferrero is the most important international U18 tournament in Spain. It is one of the last tournaments to score points to enter Roland Garros and several of the Top10 of the ATP and WTA ranking have won it. This is the case of Carlos Alcaraz and Paula Badosa.
The tournament reaches its final stage after several long days of rain in which the players have had to accumulate rounds and the players have had to compete sometimes on fast court instead of clay. This undoubtedly lessens the Junior Armada’s advantage in this tournament against players less accustomed to playing on clay. However, this has not prevented the good performance of several Spanish players, especially in the women’s draw. The Valencian Charo Esquiva and the Catalan Neus Torner have been able to adapt perfectly to the bad weather and have qualified for the semifinals without dropping a single set so far in the tournament. The Spaniards are each on one side of the draw and this Saturday they will respectively face the Swedish and first seeded Nellie Taraba and Beatrise Zeltina from Latvia. Should they both win, the tournament would have its first 100% Spanish final since 2018. A great sign of the good future of women’s tennis.
The men’s draw has not been so benevolent with the Spaniards, and in contrary with the last few years, we will not have a Spanish representation in the final. The top seeds have dominated the tournament when it had to be played on hard surface. In today’s quarterfinal, already on clay, the only survivor has been Alexander Vasilev. A relative of Grigor Dimitrov, the Bulgarian is looking to win the tournament that can guarantee him a place in the junior Top 10 of the world ahead of Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Moroccan Karim Bennani showed a great level to beat the top seeded American Max Exsted by 42 41.
Ukrainian Nikita Bilozerstev had to fight harder to beat the second seed De Marchi from Italy 10/5 in the deciding super tiebreak. Due to the storm, there are still several rounds of doubles to be played after the semifinals. On Sunday, the finals are scheduled for 9:45 a.m., one after the other. The tournament is open to the public, and as usual, spectators are expected at the Juan Carlos Ferrero Tennis Academy throughout the weekend.
Debido al temporal, aún quedan por disputarse varias rondas de dobles que se jugarán a continuación de las semifinales. El domingo las finales están previstas para las 9.45, una detrás de otra. El torneo es abierto al público, y como viene siendo habitual se espera gran cantidad de público en la Academia de Tenis de Juan Carlos Ferrero durante todo el fin de semana.