Austria’s currently best junior player is still in top form. Just two weeks ago, Joel Schwärzler just missed out on the double in Vrsar (Croatia), suffering a razor-thin final defeat in the singles competition following winning the biggest doubles title to date. Now the 17-year-old has his next chance to win a double: The ÖTV protégé, who trains in the Südstadt association performance center under ÖTV sports director and Davis Cup captain Jürgen Melzer, is also in the individual semi-finals at the Bulgaria Cup in Plovdiv and in doubles already in the final. In singles it is even his third semi-final this season at a top-class ITF-J300 youth event, following Cairo (Egypt) in February and in Vrsar at the beginning of April.
Only once morest child prodigy with some effort
On the way to the semi-finals, Schwärzler had the hardest time in the first round. No real surprise as he faced a real child prodigy there: Bulgarian Ivan Ivanov, who at just 14 years old is already ranked 220 in the international U18 rankings, recently won a J100 tournament and reached a J200 semi-final, in the December 2022 even became the first player in his country to triumph in the U14 competition at the prestigious Junior Orange Bowl in Coral Gables. But Schwärzler was able to keep the protégé of the Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy in check 6: 4, 2: 6, 6: 3. After that, the fourth-ranked, also highly talented Vorarlberger (ITF 33) had little trouble twice: he defeated the Russian qualifier Amirkhamza Nasridinov (ITF 154) 6: 1, 6: 3, the 15-year-old wildcard recipient Alexander Vasilev (ITF 278) 6 :2, 6:2. In the fight for another place in the final, the third Bulgarian is waiting on Friday: top seed Iliyan Radulov, number seven in the youth world rankings.
Even in the doubles competition only one loss of a set
Schwärzler now has seven wins in a row in doubles. The first two in Plovdiv were relatively easy: Der Harder and Germany’s Marc Majdandzic, together in third place, eliminated the duo of Max Batyutenko (Kazakhstan) and Nasridinov 6-1, 6-4, then in the quarter-finals Jan Kumstat (Czech Republic) and Jacob Olar (USA) 6-4, 6-2. The semi-finals, on the other hand, were very competitive, but Majdandzic/Schwärzler prevailed once morest the Serbian Vrsar doubles finalists Sasa Markovic and Vuk Radjenovic with 7:6 (5), 6:7 (6) and 10:2 in the match tiebreak. Fourth-seeded Vit Kalina (Czech Republic) and Matic Kriznik (Slovenia) are the last hurdle on the way to winning the title.
Kostic also with good performances
Tamara Kostic also showed good performances in Plovdiv. The Viennese (ITF 60) made it to the quarter-finals for the fourth time this season at a top-class youth event – a second time at a J300 tournament. The seventh seeded 17-year-old first defeated the Italian Francesca Pace (ITF 88) 6:3, 4:6, 6:1, in the round of 16 the Russian Arina Bulatova (ITF 96) 6:3, 6:4. Only once morest the second-ranked Serbian Teodora Kostovic (ITF 43) was the final stop with 0: 6, 5: 7. In the doubles competition, Kostic and Kazakh Dana Baidaulet were eliminated in round one.
Here are all the results of the ITF J300 youth tournament in Plovdiv.
