The Category 2 SG Junior Cup, part of the Tennis Europe Junior Tour calendar, concluded on 18 September at the Chișinău Arena courts. The final day featured the boys’ and girls’ U16 singles finals. Moldovan players won one doubles title, reached two doubles finals and advanced to a singles semifinal.
Top seed Nicholai H Petersen of Denmark won the boys’ singles title. In the final, he defeated second seed Georgiy Goretskyy of Ukraine 6:3, 7:6(5). Petersen went through the entire tournament without dropping a set.
On his way to the title match, Goretskyy won his semifinal against Lithuania’s Kajus Seliukas. After losing the opening set 1:6, the Ukrainian turned the match around and took the next two sets 6:4, 6:2.
In the girls’ event, the title went to second seed Sofiia Tryboi of Ukraine. In the final, she defeated her compatriot Varvara Kozyr 6:4, 6:1. Kozyr had earlier knocked out top seed Maria Koukoutsi of Greece before overcoming Moldova’s Milena Zanoci in the semifinal.
Zanoci, the tournament’s fourth seed, reached the singles semifinals. In the quarterfinals, she won a three-set match against Romania’s Laura Iordachescu 6:7(5), 6:1, 6:4. In the contest for a place in the final, Milena lost to Kozyr 1:6, 2:6.
In the boys’ singles draw, the best results by Moldovan players were the quarterfinal appearances of Mark Vainberg and Nichita Condratiuc. Third seed Vainberg lost to Seliukas 2:6, 2:6. Condratiuc also reached the last eight, where he was beaten by Goretskyy 2:6, 3:6.
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- Nicholai H. Petersen
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- Georgiy Goretskyy
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- Sofiia Tryboi
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- Varvara Kozyr
Moldova’s greatest successes came in the doubles events, whose finals were played on 17 September.
In the girls’ doubles, Moldova’s Sofia Caniusin and Valeriia Silaeva won the title. In the semifinals, they defeated top seeds Sofiia Tryboi and Milena Zanoci 6:3, 6:2.
In the title match, Caniusin and Silaeva faced the second-seeded team of Moldova’s Anastasia Maria Ciuhrii and Greece’s Maria Koukoutsi. Caniusin and Silaeva won the final 7:6(4), 6:0.
As a result, three Moldovan players competed in the girls’ doubles final: Sofia Caniusin, Valeriia Silaeva and Anastasia Maria Ciuhrii. Two other Moldovan players, Milena Zanoci and Madalina Ulianovschi, reached the semifinals with their respective partners.
The boys’ doubles title was won by Romania’s David Andrei Bacliu and Lithuania’s Kajus Seliukas, the event’s top seeds. In the final, they defeated the Moldovan team of Cristian Cretu and Mark Vainberg 6:3, 6:2.
Second seeds Cretu and Vainberg contested a close semifinal against Nichita Condratiuc and Georgiy Goretskyy. After the teams split the opening two sets, the match was decided by a championship tie-break, with Cretu and Vainberg winning 6:3, 3:6, [10:8].
Another Moldovan team, Vladimir Artiomenco and David Popusoi, reached the quarterfinals.
The SG Junior Cup was held from 12 to 18 September on the outdoor courts at Chișinău Arena. The programme included boys’ and girls’ U16 singles and doubles events. The tournament referee was Oleg Ivasco. At the awards ceremony, the winners and finalists received trophies, certificates and prizes from Multisport.
The tournament concluded a series of three consecutive Tennis Europe events held in Chisinau in August and September. The U12 players took to the courts first, followed by the U14 competition, with the U16 SG Junior Cup bringing the series to a close.
The Moldova Tennis Federation congratulates the tournament winners and commends the strong performance of our junior players!
