The leading contenders largely lived up to expectations as the Under 15 Boys and Girls Singles events reached the Round of 32 at the European Youth Championships in Gondomar. All of the top ten seeds progressed in the boys’ event, while the girls’ competition produced one notable seeded casualty and several hard-fought seven-game contests.
Top seed Görkem OCAL of Türkiye opened his campaign with a straight-games win over Israel’s Maor NICHANEVICH. Second seed Alexander MALOV of Spain also advanced after defeating the Netherlands’ Jarnelo ERICH in six games, while third seed Ondrej MORAVEK of Czechia beat Ukraine’s David DROBOV.
Fourth seed Ladimir MAYOROV of Spain faced the stiffest test among the leading contenders. After losing the opening game to Israel’s Nir ENGLER, MAYOROV recovered impressively to win the next four games and book his place in the Round of 32.
Fifth seed Hubert KWIECIŃSKI of Poland, sixth seed Tien Nghia PHONG of Germany, seventh seed David CAPANDA of Serbia, eighth seed Lukas WANG of Germany, ninth seed Emil ELLERMANN of Sweden and tenth seed Roger QUESADA of Spain all progressed without major difficulty, each conceding no more than a single game.
Several lower-seeded players also impressed. Romania’s David TORO came through a six-game battle against Austria’s Benjamin BIAN, while Czechia’s Oliver OLEJNIK also needed six games to overcome Germany’s Jonathan KRAFT. Evgenii DOSOV (AIN) prevailed in six games against Czechia’s Vojtech LASTOVKA, and France’s Noah TESSIER advanced with a four-game victory over Poland’s Olaf GLANERT.
Among the biggest upsets of the knockout round, Slovakia’s Filip NAGY rallied from two games down to defeat Ireland’s Peadar SHERIDAN in seven games, while France’s Quentin SANDONA edged Serbia’s Branko DRAGOLJEVIC in another dramatic seven-game encounter.
Belgium’s Bryan ZHANG also produced a fine comeback, recovering from two games down to eliminate Bulgaria’s Stefan BONCHEV. Azerbaijan’s Onur GULUZADE and Austria’s Chen Sung Bing recorded notable victories over Illion ZWART of the Netherlands and Romania’s Mihai IORDAN, respectively.
Türkiye’s Emre BUCAK defeated Jakub TURECKI of Poland in six games, while Finland’s Jimi KOIVUMAKI edged Sweden’s Erik KOGERFELT in another six-game encounter. Portugal’s Rodrigo ANDRADE delighted the home crowd with a four-game victory over Romania’s Tudor SAFTOIU, and Ukraine’s Volodymyr NEVIZHYN advanced comfortably against Luxembourg’s Spyros SARIGIANNIDIS.
In the Under 15 Girls Singles, most of the leading contenders booked their places in the Round of 32, although several were pushed to the limit.
Fourth seed Sophia PICHLER of Austria recovered from twice falling behind to beat Türkiye’s Belinay DAVUS in six games. Sixth seed Aleksandra NAWROCKA of Poland and eighth seed Enya HU of Switzerland also had to battle through six-game contests.
Ninth seed Zsófia FEGYVER of Hungary recovered from 3–2 down to defeat England’s Soraya RAHMANI-WALENTYNSKA in seven games. Another marathon followed as Lithuania’s Emilia PSCOLOVSKA came from behind to eliminate Romania’s Kariss SERBAN in seven games.
Top seed Siri BENJEGARD of Sweden produced a commanding straight-games victory over Croatia’s Lucija NOVAK, while second seed Amelie Guzi JIA of Germany recovered after losing the second game to defeat Serbia’s Karina AGYANSZKI in five.
Third seed Adela BRHELOVA of Czechia was tested by England’s Alyssa NGUYEN but came through in six games. Seventh seed Barbora GUASSARDO of Slovakia also progressed, defeating Germany’s Chenhao CHEN in five games.
However, tenth seed Laura MARSICKOVA of Czechia was eliminated by France’s Chloé HUANG in straight games.
France’s Eva LAM and Daria KHARLOVA (AIN) advanced without dropping a game, while Türkiye’s Ela Su YONTER recovered from losing the opening game to defeat Portugal’s Núria MADEIRA in five.
Romania’s Nadalia IONASCU swept past Spain’s Mireia PARAU in straight games, while Portugal’s Matilde SOUSA thrilled the home supporters with a hard-fought seven-game victory over Italy’s Claudia BERTOLINI. Another Portuguese player, Maria RUIVO, also survived a seven-game contest, edging Croatia’s Karla IVCIC 12–10 in the decider.
There was further success for the host nation through Irina SILVA, who recovered after losing the opening game to defeat Ukraine’s Yuliia SLIESARENKO in five.
