(by Steve Hopkins, photo USATT)
The WTT Youth Contender Series event was held in Helsingborg, Sweden. TeamUSA sent eight of our top juniors: Isabella Xu, Hannah Song, Tashiya Piyadasa, Lucy Chen, Sally Moyland, Darryl Tsao, Sid Naresh, and Nandan Naresh.
Sally Moyland fell in the Semifinals of the U19 Girls Singles to eventual winner, France’s Charlotte Lutz. Lichen Chen mirrored that result by reaching the other Semifinal (before falling to Japan’s Yuna Ojio). In U19 Boys, all three Americans (Sid Naresh, Nandan Naresh, and Darryl Tsao) each fell in the Round of 32. Nandan lost to Puerto Rico’s Angel Naranjo – Angel lasted one round further, falling to finalist Giacomo Allegranza of Italy. The U19 Boys event title went to Baldwin Ho Wah Chan of Singapore, who defeated Allegranza 3-1.
USA’s Sally Moyland made a deep run in the U17 Girls Singles event, falling to the event’s eventual winner, Mao Takamori of Japan, 3-2 in the Quarterfinals. USA’s Lichen Chen also qualified, winning her first match but falling in the Round of 16 to Japan’s Yuna Ojio. Nandan Naresh and Daryl Tsao each qualified for the draw in Boy’s U17 Singles. Nandan fell to Japan’s Tomoki Omoda 3-2 in the Round of 32 while Tsao went one round further before falling to Nathan Lam of France. Puerto Rico’s Yadier Lopez was also 1-1 in the event, falling to Samuel Palusek of the Slovak Republic in the Round of 32.
USA’s Tashiya Piyadasa reached the Round of 16 in Girls Singles and reached the Semifinals of U13 Girls Singles (Japan’s Yuan Ito won the event on Friday). TeamUSA didn’t have an entrant in U15 or U13 Boys Singles. Japan’s Tamito Watanabe won the U15 event and Thailand’s Nimit Soiphuang won the U13 event.
Tashiya Piyadasa joined Ronde Brent of the Netherlands in U15 Mixed Doubles. They won their opening match but fell to the tournament’s second seeds (Hsieh and Hodina). US players pushed two teams into the Quarterfinals in U19 Mixed Doubles. Lichen Chen paired with Ignas Sisanovas of Lithuania – making a deep run before falling to the Romanian pair of Singeorzan and Movileanu. The all-US pair of Darryl Tsao and Sally Moyland fell in their Quarterfinal match against Romania’s Istrate and France’s Arlia.
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