Canada’s Billie Jean King Cup Juniors sent shockwaves around IGA Stadium in Montreal on Thursday by upsetting the defending-champion United States in their round-robin tie at the North and Central American and Caribbean qualifying for the ITF World Junior Tennis team events. The hosts defeated their neighbours 2-1 to move atop the group.
On paper, the American U16s were overwhelming favourites with two Top 20 juniors on their squad, No. 3 Kristina Penickova and No. 16 Annika Penickova. Canada did not have a player on their roster inside the Top 300, with Charlize Celebrini the top Canadian at No. 312 and Laurence Demers back at No. 384. But as is so often the case in international team events, rankings went out the window on Thursday as the two Canadian underdogs were able to pull off the upset.
Demers got Canada off to a strong start in the opening singles match. Having not played on Wednesday, the 16-year-old came out swinging and kept her foot on the gas from start to finish. She beat Annika Penickova 6-4, 6-4 to score the opening point for Canada.
Laurence Demers. Photo : David Kirouac
Celebrini picked up where her teammate left off, taking the first set against Kristina Penickova, who reached the final of the Junior Australian Open earlier this year and just won a J300 in San Diego at the end of March. But the Canadian, unsurprisingly given her opponent's pedigree, found herself drawn into a battle. She had to dig deep late in the deciding set as she let a 5-3 lead slip away, failing to convert a match point when she served for it, but managed to break at 5-5 and closed out the match at the second time of asking 6-4, 2-6, 7-5.
The Penickova sisters won the Australian Open doubles this year and were not going to let a sweep happen though. They took the doubles over Demers and Elicia Lin 6-3, 6-4.
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With the win, Canada stands on the brink of qualifying for the Finals as they go into the last day of round-robin play first in their group, the only undefeated team left. They will clinch their spot with a win over Mexico on Friday, although they could advance with a loss depending on other results.
It was a great day overall for the U16s as the Davis Cup Juniors team picked up their first win of the week over Mexico. The boys had lost their opening tie on Wednesday against the United States but bounced back brilliantly on Thursday.
Antoine Généreux. Photo : David Kirouac
Antoine Généreux got things going with a straight set win 6-3, 6-2, to open the tie. Joshua Adamson had a slower start in his match but cruised after dropping the opening set. The Ottawa-native came away with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 win to seal the tie for Canada. Adamson and Caden Colburne then completed the 3-0 victory with a 6-4, 6-3 doubles win.
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Both U14 teams also found themselves up against the Americans on Thursday but were unable to replicate the U16 girls upset win.
In the U14 boys, Ilya Sherifali fell 6-3, 6-1 in the opening match before Alden Yu was bested 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-0 as the Americans locked up the tie. The Canadians did salvage a point, with Sherifali and Deniz Karabulut fighting back to take the doubles 2-6, 6-4, 10-8.
Alden Yu. Photo : David Kirouac
The U14 girls team suffered a pair of straight-set singles losses, 6-3, 6-1 for Tessa Puente and 6-4, 6-3 for Amy Shen, before Puente and Isabelle Ruyu Yan were beaten in the doubles 6-3, 7-6(3) for the sweep.
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Play wraps up tomorrow in Montreal. All four Canadian teams still have a chance to qualify for their respective finals.
U14 girls vs Mexico
U14 boys vs Dominican Republic
U16 girls vs Mexico
U16 boys vs Guatemala
Feature Photo : David Kirouac
