The opening rounds of the doubles events at the European Youth Championships in Malmö saw top seeds progressing smoothly in both the Under 19 Boys’ and Girls’ categories although not all higher-ranked pairs avoided early exits.
In the Junior Boys’ doubles Romania’s top seeds Iulian CHIRITA and Andrei ISTRATE needed four games to overcome Nazarii SOLODKYI (Ukraine) and Adil AHMADZADA (Azerbaijan). Romania’s Darius MOVILEANU and Dragos BUJOR also prevailed against Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Dario PEJIC and Aron KANLIĆ. Poland’s Mateusz ZALEWSKI and Croatia’s Borna PETEK defeated Ivan KAHN and Brent RONDE of the Netherlands. The German-Spanish clash ended with Germany’s Andre BERTELSMEIER and Wim VERDONSCHOT beating Francesc CARRERA and Francesc KHIDASHELI.
An upset occurred when Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Benjamin ZIJADIC and Serbia’s Andras OROS seeded 61st defeated Hungary’s 10th seeds David SZANTOSI and Botond ZOLTAN VARGA in four games.
In the Junior Girls’ doubles Germany’s Mia GRIESEL and Romania’s Bianca MEI ROSU the top seeds easily defeated Scotland’s Shannon BROWN and Ireland’s Anjali SINGH. No. 2 seeds Zuzanna WIELGOS and Anna BRZYSKA overcame Serbia’s Jana HAVELA and Teodora GOJKOV 3-1. French pair Clea DE STOPPELEIRE and Agathe AVEZOU seeded third progressed in straight games against Slovenia’s Lana SLATINSEK and Ema CRNKOVIČ.
Poland’s Natalia BOGDANOWICZ and France’s Elise PUJOL beat Denmark’s Emma My-Linh ECKEROTH and Sofie Khanh-Linh ECKEROTH in four games. Ukraine’s Veronika VASYLENKO and Alina OVRIAKH created an upset by defeating Bulgaria’s Tsvetelina GEORGIEVA and Sidelya MUTLU in a full five-game match. Moldova’s Camelia MERENCO and Alexandra CHIRIACOVA also won a five-game duel against Spain’s Eugenia SASTRE and Italy’s Miriam CARNOVALE.
