Bachofer does the treble at Young Seniors Individual Championships
As the 2021 Young Seniors Individuals World Championships reached its conclusion in Umag, Croatia, it was German Steffi Bachofer who emerged as the outstanding player of the tournament.
Bachofer completed the rare feat of winning all three events she had entered: the Women’s 35 Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles. The second seed cruised to victory in the singles competition, upsetting top seed Silvia Chuda of Slovakia in the final, 6-0 6-2.
The German then teamed up with compatriot Manon Kruse – who narrowly missed out on completing the treble herself – to lift the doubles crown. Bachofer rounded off the perfect tournament by winning the Mixed Doubles event alongside Marc Leimbach, comfortably defeating unseeded Ukrainian pair Valeriia Zatulko and Andriy Liakhovych 6-4 6-3 to take the title.
In the Women’s 40 singles, Kruse lost a hard-fought battle to fellow German Sylva Hahn in an epic three-hour match. Hahn prevailed 4-6 6-2 6-4 to deny Kruse the chance of a double gold medal, who also lost the final of the Mixed Doubles 40 event to Vlada Kirilovska and Andriy Baidikov in a thrilling final match of the tournament – 6-1 4-6 10-5.
Elsewhere on the women’s side, World Championship debutant Almudena Sanz-Llaneza Fernandez triumphed in the Women’s 30 singles. The Spaniard, who is ranked 815 in the WTA rankings, won her maiden World Championship courtesy of an unfortunate retirement from opponent Eileen Aranas-Roth. The German bounced back to take the Mixed Doubles 35 title, though, defeating Argentine pair Stanislav Ichkov and Jesica Soledad Orselli in the final.
The Women’s 45 singles saw Slovenian Barbara Mulej dominate German third seed Susi Fortun Lohrmann 6-0 6-2 to clinch the gold medal. Mulej missed out on a double gold by the narrowest of margins, losing a nail-biting final to Italians Emanuela Falleti and Valentina Padula 2-6 7-5 14-12.
On the men’s side, Czech second seed Jan Marek impressively stormed to victory in the 30 singles, before Frenchman Vincent Stouff repeated his victory over Fred Gil in the teams final to claim the 35 singles title. Stouff, who saved match points in his semi-final match, made light work of the Portuguese former ATP number 62, 6-2 6-3.
In a gruelling contest, it was Argentine Pablo Cerutti who triumphed in the 40 singles, taking down Mexican Eduardo Magadan-Castro 7-6 7-5 in a tight encounter.
Meanwhile, Spaniard Roberto Menendez Ferre continued his domination of the World Championships by winning his third individual singles title. Menendez Ferre defeated German Christian Schaeffkes 6-4 6-3, to complete a team and individual gold medal double without dropping a set.
The Portuguese pairing of Gil and Jose-Ricardo Nunes took home the 35 Doubles title, while German Jens Janssen and Brit Richard Stempnowski conquered the 30s event. In the 40s Doubles, Andriy Baidikov completed a double gold to go with his mixed crown, defeating Dutch pair Jonkman and Felius 6-2 6-1 in the final.
The final men’s doubles of the week saw all-Danish pairing Kasper Warming and Ulrik Laudrup Boelling take on the German-Dutch pair of Christian Schaeffkes and Bart Beks. It was the Danes who came out on top, wrapping up a clinical victory 6-3 7-6 to cap a fine week of tennis in Croatia.
The ITF Seniors Tour now turns its attention to the Super-Senior World Championships in Mallorca, which begins on October 10th.