ITF

30 ITFWORLD WINTER 2017 JUNIOR TEAM EVENTS junior tennis does indeed matter quite a lot. If the 2017 champions go on to achieve greatness in future, their successes at these events will have been important stepping stones in their young careers. "I'm super-happy right now," said Caty McNally, who was part of the American Junior Fed Cup team which ended a run of two straight defeats in the final of the competition for players aged 16-and- under, beating Japan to claim the title. "We lost the past few years in the final so to actually get over the hump and win this year, it feels so amazing." The week was not without its challenges for the American girls who, with both Roland Garros junior champion Whitney Osuigwe and US Open junior champion Amanda Anisimova in their ranks, were heavy favourites ahead of the event. Anisimova struggled with illness in the second half of the week, and the team needed victories in decisive doubles rubbers in their final group stage clash with Italy and in the semifinals against Canada. With Anisimova out of action for the final, it was left to McNally to defeat Naho Sato 63 62 to put the Americans ahead, before Osuigwe came through a hard- fought battle with Yuki Naito, eventually winning 75 63 on her sixth match point to seal the win for her nation. As for Kostyuk, she and the Ukrainian team managed a third-place finish — defeating Canada on the final Sunday, after narrowly missing out on a place in the final following a decisive doubles loss to Japan in the semifinals. For many, the main challenge of the week in Budapest was the unseasonably poor weather, with rain washing out play on much of the first and third days of action at the Hungarian National Tennis Center. ITF referee Clare Wood and her team of organisers battled hard to keep the tournament on schedule — but, ultimately, the quarterfinal round had to be sacrificed in order to ensure the event finished on time. One team who were not distracted by the weather were Czech Republic's Junior Davis Cup team, who lived up to their billing as top seeds for the event and swept to victory without losing a rubber all week. The team of Dalibor Svrcina, Jonas Forejtek and Andrew Paulson, captained by Josef Cihak, proved too good for all challengers, defeating Croatia in the semifinals and USA in the final to claim the Junior Davis Cup title for their nation for the first time since 1997. 30 ITFWORLD WINTER 2017 Marta Kostyuk was unbeaten in Junior Fed Cup singles Czech No. 1 Dalibor Svrcina dropped just two sets all week Juan Cerundolo's Argentina finished in third place in Junior Davis Cup USA's Whitney Osuigwe continued her superb season

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