European No. 1 of the U14s, Kovackova wins the Masters… of the U16s

The Tennis Europe Masters crowned on Friday the Norwegian Nicolai Budkov Kjaer (boys U16), Czech Alena Kovackova (girls U16), Germany Diego Dedura-Palomero (boys U14) and the Russian Ksenia Efremova (girls U14), on the courts of the Monte-Carlo Country Club.

A true summit of European tennis for the under-16s and under-14s, the event took place for the second consecutive year on the prestigious grounds of the Monte-Carlo Masters 1000.

The curiosity of the 2022 edition came from the victory of Alena Kovackova in girls under-16 while she is the best in her category in the… under 14, where she only lost one game. Born in 2008, Kovackova, third in the U14 2021 edition for girls, dominated Diana Ioana-Simonescu in the final (6-4, 6-1).

Among the U16 boys, the Norwegian Nicolai Budkov Kjaern, number 1 in the Race, won by dominating William Vinciguerra in the final (6-4, 6-2).

Kovackova and Kjaer are 17th and 7th respectively in the merged Tennis Europe rankings, which takes into account results on all circuits; this connotes that they are not necessarily the best Europeans in their category in absolute terms.

The situation reflects the specificity of the U16 category at the  international level. Most great international hopes strive to compete in the U18 junior category after finishing their classes at the U14.

Among the girls, this merged ranking is dominated by the Czech Brenda Fruhvirtova, 15 years old (born in 2007), already ranked 155th in the WTA and winner of several ITF tournaments. Among the boys, it is by the Spaniard Martin Landaluce, 16 years old, winner of the US Open juniors and who made his debut on the ATP circuit in Gijon two weeks ago.

The level is much denser in the U14s, where the German Diego Dedura-Palomero, fifth in the Race and eighth in the merged classification, created a surprise by dismissing the first three seeds, the Bulgarian Ivan Ivanov in the first round ( No.1), his compatriot Niels McDonald in the semi-final (No.3) and the Ukrainian Nikola Bilozertsev (No.2) in the final (6-0, 6-2).

Among the girls, in the absence of Kovackova, Ksenia Efremova dominated the women’s draw and won her tenth title of the season, U14 and Juniors combined.

No Frenchman took part in these competitions.