This week no big things happened and I expect nothing material will happen until the American campaign (i.e. Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl) will start. Though, there are a couple of interesting events which I want to mention: the first one concerns the Grade 3 that took place in Palermo, which gives me the opportunity to spend a few words on some girls who have been pointed out in an article I wrote some time ago.
The attendance of this event was quite good, for a grade 3: Polish Rogozinska (114 Junior ITF) was the first seed and, overall, 4 top 200 and 9 top 300 have competed.
One of the players who competed in Palermo was Matilde Paoletti (a.k.a. “Grissino”), born in 2003: this was her third attempt on the ITF Junior Tour and she managed to reach the quarter finals, having noticeably beaten, in the first round by 7-6 7-5, Anastasia Tikhnova, a Russian girl born in 2001 and ranking in 185th spot. Matilde then dismissed a Hungarian girl ranking in 600th position and lost in the following round by 2-6 2-6 against British Anna Loughln, who reached the semi-finals of the tournament. In Salsomaggiore’s Grade 2, where I’ve first seen her, Paoletti showed very interesting tennis, but she lost against an opponent who was not as competitive, ranking above the 1000th position on the Junior Tour. It seems, thus, that Matilde has stepped up and that she became strong enough to play at least lower graded tournaments on the ITF Junior. It is to be mentioned that Matilde owns a very, very tiny frame, so it might take longer for her to reach her peak, compared to other players.
But the Palermo’s event was dominated by Lisa Pigato (a.k.a. the “Sphynx”), also born in 2003: she has won the tournament having beaten, in the process, opponents all ranking in the top 300 and, notably, players as Adrienn Nagy (162 on ITF Juniors) and Giulia Peoni (124 on ITF Juniors and recent winner of two grades 2 in a row). This in Palermo is the third tournament of the Sphynx on the Junior Tour: in her previous attempts, she reached the semi-finals in a grade 5 in Albania and won a further grade 5 in Makedonia. This further win in Palermo was a result I really didn’t expect from her: I wonder if I have undervalued the capabilities of this girl. For anyone interested, more details and information on the Palermo event will be provided in a further article (this time written in Italian), to be published in short time on this website.
Let’s completely change topic, now, moving to the Pro-Tour (this is why the title words “random tournaments”) and, in particular to the 15k played in Hammamet; the reason why I want to focus on this tournament (which I guess was not the most exciting event ever played) is that it gives me the opportunity to spend a few words on Varvara Gracheva, a Russian girl born in 2000 who, starting from the qualifications, managed to reach the finals, which she lost in 3 sets against Ines Ibbou (an 18 year old Algerian player ranked over 1000th position); in the process Gracheva has beaten Greek Danilidlou (currently ranking above 1000th position but showing a best ranking of 14, achieved in 2003). This final is the best result that Varvara achieved on the pro tour, having never managed to reach a semi-final in the pro-events she has played before. Up to now, Varvara’s season on the Junior Tour has not reached the expectations: she currently ranks in 50th spot and her best result was this year a semi-final reached in a grade 2 played in France. Gracheva, though, is a strong player who reached the 21st spot in the ranking at the end of 2016, by winning three grades 2 and, most noticeably, by reaching the finals in the Orange Bowl, which she lost against the strong Argentinian Carle. Let’s hope that this good result gives the girl the enthusiasm to reach again the last years’ peak, or even to improve it.
Lacking particularly interesting events to follow in the next future, I want to start again to write some portraits on Junior players: the next one will focus on another tiny built girl, who looks like a child but owns a ton of talent: in doubles she often partners with BerghemIga Swiatek; she has been nicknamed by Marion Bartoli “the lefty Hingis” and she will play soon enough a couple on 25k events in Italy (S. Margherita di Pula). She is Maja Chwalinska.
