As I have anticipated in my last article, I want to spend some lines on young prospects who I believe can distinguish themselves in 2019 junior tour, and maybe achieve leading positions in 2020.
I’ve already wrote about Talia Gibson and Anastasia Berezov, two very interesting girls who I saw playing in the junior Australian Open. Whilst Gibson hasn’t played anymore since then, so that I have no news to report on her, Berezov seems to have confirmed that my attention was justified, as she has won, in the beginning of February, a Grade 3 held in Auckland. Anastasia’s win cannot be seen as an upset, as she was the fifth seed in the tournament; in any case, a win is a win. Following this good results, Anastasia has stepped in the top 170 players on the junior tour.
Let’s now switch to Daria Lopatetska, a girl who does not really fit in my article, as she is a well established player on the junior tour: though, It was a while wanted to highlight her recent huge results and this is a good occasion to do so. The Ukrainian girl, born in 2003 and who I have seen playing in Milan in last May (even if with one eye only), currently ranks in the 26th spot of the ITF junior ranking. During the second half of 2018 Daria has won 2 junior tournaments and reached 2 finals in a row (they were Grades 3 and one Grade 2); she then ended her season with the semi-final of the U.S. Open (that she lost in three sets against Xiyu Wang). Though, Daria has reached the most outstanding results on the pro tour: in 2018 she has won two 15k and reached the semifinal in a 60k; in 2019 she has attracted main attention of the media by winning two 25k in a row and by almost entering the top 300 in the WTA ranking. Indeed, Daria seems the only girl capable of challenging – and maybe even beating – current number 1, Clara Tauson.
Also Russian Diana Shnaider is not a an unknown name on the Junior Tour. The girl was born in 2004 and she has already achieved noticeable results. Diana debuted on the junior tour in April 2018, by winning a grade 4, dropping only one set in the whole tournament; she then reached a final in a Grade 2 and a further one in a Grade 4. Immediately after, Daria has obtained her first win, in a Grade 3 in Kazakhstan, followed by a semifinal and a further win in two Grades 2. In last October, Diana played her first Grade A, the Osaka Mayor’s Cup and she reached the third round. Eventually, the young Russian has demonstrated that, after all, she is a human, as she has just lost in the second round of the Yeltsin Cup (a Grade 1 held in Russia). I have never seen Diana playing; though, she has been competing on the Junior Tour for only 9 months, winning about half of the tournaments in which she played and performing extremely well in all the others, except for one: her results up to now have been really outstanding.
Last, Linda Fruhvirtova, from Czech Republic. The first time I have heard about this young girl, born in 2005, was last year when, in the first tournament on the junior ITF she has played, she has defeated in a grade 2 a top 100, aging four years more than her. Shortly after, Linda has reached the quarter finals and the semi finals in some other Grades 2, and a final in a Grade 3. Linda has debuted this year in a Grade 1 in her home country, in which she was defeated in the third round. Up to now, Linda has not won any tournament; nevertheless, even if she is only 13, she has skipped the lower level tournaments, competing mainly in Grades 1 and 2; in the only Grade 3 she played, she arrived at only one step to the win. Notwithstanding the hard schedule for such a young girl, Linda currently ranks in the top 200 and she is indeed a player I expect to achieve good results in this season.
