In-Albon And Piros Triumph At 21& Under Invitational Hamburg
Zsombor Piros of Hungary and Ylena In-Albon of Switzerland are the champions of the Tennis Europe 21 & Under Invitational tournament.
The event was held to coincide with the ATP 500 Hamburg European Open in Germany and was a unique cooperation between Tennis Europe, the Hamburg organisers and the German Tennis Federation, designed to give promising young men and women experience of big matches, star treatment, and the chance to win financial grants to help with their career development and travel expenses.
In-Albon managed to avenge a five-set defeat at the round robin stage to Ilona Ghioroaie of Romania to take the title. Having taken a first set tie break, she eased to a 4-3(1) 4-0 4-2 win to end the tournament with four wins and one loss.
“It was a really cool week,” In-Albon said. “It’s been a very special way to finish the tournament. I feel great joy.”
Piros wins men’s event
Piros swept to victory in a one-sided boys’ final, conceding just two games to Poland’s Daniel Michalski. Michalski had looked impressive in semi-final against junior world No. 2, wild card Holger Rune of Denmark, but couldn’t reproduce that form as he went down to the Hungarian for the second time in four days. Having met in the round-robin phase, Piros was well-prepared and dominated for a 4-2 4-0 4-0 victory.
“It’s a great feeling,” said the Hungarian Davis Cup player after the match, “It was very special to play and practice alongside the top players here in Hamburg. I also like the Fast 4 format, which is great for the young players. I think it’s the future of tennis. “
Both men and women played best-of-five set matches with a shorter format; sets were played as First to Four games with a tie-break at 3-All, and ‘No-Ad’ scoring (receiver decides). Additionally, the ‘No Let’ rule was in place, and players were able to communicate with their coaches during the match. A total pool of €50,000 was distributed between the sixteen players that took part in the round robin competition.
