Day one of the North and Central America and Carribean qualifying for the ITF World Junior Tennis team events is in the books and for the host nation, it was the youngest athletes who stole the show on day one.
Both the U14 boys and girls squads swept their opening ties to kick off their bids to reach August’s Finals in Czechia. The U16 Billie Jean King Cup Juniors team also got off to a winning start, edging out Puerto Rico. It was not a perfect day though as the U16 Davis Cup Juniors team fell to the United States.
The U14 girls were the first to seal victory by taking the first two singles matches of their tie against the Dominican Republic. Amy Shen and Isabella Ruyu Yan both delivered straight-set victories, 6-0, 6-1 for Shen and 6-4, 6-0 for Yan, to give Canada an unassailable 2-0 lead.
Isabella Ruyu Yan. Photo : David Kirouac
They ultimately completed the sweep, with Tessa Puente and Shen winning the doubles in straight sets 6-3, 6-1. The Canadians lost just nine total games in the three matches.
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Their male counterparts followed suit soon after, with Ilya Sherifali and Alden Yu each winning in straight sets, Sherifali 6-2, 6-4 and Yu 6-1, 6-1, to clinch a victory over Mexico. A doubles win for Deniz Karabulut and Yu 6-2, 6-1 wrapped up the 3-0 win. The boys were nearly as dominant as the girls, losing only 11 total games.
That is a total of just 20 games lost by the Canadian U14s on day one.
Ilya Sherifali. Photo : David Kirouac
Canada’s Billie Jean King Cup Juniors team found themselves in the biggest fight of the day against Puerto Rico, the lone Canadian tie where the doubles was a live rubber. After a slow start, falling behind an early break in the first set, Charlize Celebrini and Elicia Lin roared back to claim a 7-5, 6-0 win and claim the tie 2-1 for the hosts.
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Lin had suffered a heartbreaking loss in the opening match, breaking her Puerto Rican opponent when she served for the match in the third set only to ultimately fall 6-1, 4-6, 7-5. Celebrini then kept her squad alive with an impressive 6-2, 6-2 win in the second singles to send it to the doubles.
Charlize Celebrini. Photo : David Kirouac
The Davis Cup Juniors team had a tough day, falling to the United States 3-0. Antoine Généreux was beaten in the opening singles match 6-3, 6-4 and Joshua Adamson was unable to keep the Canadians alive in the second singles, going down 6-4, 6-1. Caden Colburne and Généreux were then beaten 6-3, 6-4 in the doubles.
Each team will play their second tie on Thursday.
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Feature Photo : David Kirouac
