DENMARK’S Clara Tauson is proving a handful for the top players on the WTA Tour, as the young gun 18-year-old reached a quarter final at Luxembourg in the WTA Tour 250 event. She was one of the shining lights from our focus on the WTA Next-Gen talents as we cast our eyes over the 250 events in Luxembourg at Portoroz, as well as the WTA 80 Challenger event in Valencia.

WTA TOUR:

Luxembourg 250 | Hard

With some top-end talent on show, a quartet of Next-Gen eligible players have begun their quest for a title in Luxembourg at the WTA 250 event. Denmark’s Tauson, the last person to defeat US Open winner Emma Raducanu in the lead-up 125K event in Chicago, is competing in a quarter final tomorrow against Marie Bouzkova. The Danish 18-year-old has already claimed back-to-back wins in the tournament, holding off fourth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in a third set tiebreaker to win, 6-4 3-6 7-6 and book her spot in the third round. In her three-set win over Alexandrova, Tauson withstood seven aces – and only one of her own and saved four of six break points while creating 12 opportunities for herself – making two – to book her spot in the last eight. She won 45.9 per cent of her second return points which proved crucial in the win, also winning a higher percentage of her overall service points (66.7 per cent), though won just two more points.

The other three Next-Gen eligible talents who competed in Luxembourg were a trio of Russians, though none made it past the first round. Anastasia Zakharova lost in qualifying, while Anastasia Potapova and Varvara Gracheva both went down in straight set losses. Had they both won, they would have set up a second round match against one another, but instead eighth seed Alize Cornet, and the sole home nation representative Mandy Minella won in the respective contests.

Portoroz 250 | Hard

In Slovenia there were a lot more Next-Gen eligible players courtesy of a high Slovenian presence at Portoroz. Five local representatives are all Next-Gen talents, lead by top future star Kaja Juvan. The 20-year-old 103rd ranked player in the world toppled the number one seed, Croatia’s Petra Martic in the first round 6-3 6-4, and was leading 7-6 0-1 against Serbian Aleksandra Krunic in the Round of 16. Krunic was the one who knocked off local Next-Gen hope Ziva Falkner in the opening round, as not one other player reached the second round of the 250 tournament.

The top-ranked Next-Gen was sixth seed Dayana Yastremska who had to retire midway through the second set against Italian Jasmine Paolini, when she was down 7-6 4-1. She joined Slovenians Pia Lovric and Nika Radisic in heading home early from the event, after the young pair lost to third seed Alison Riske, and Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic respectively, with those two experienced players now facing off in a quarter final. Katarina Zavatska was the other Ukrainian in the draw, losing to Brit Katie Boulder 7-5 6-3 in the opening round of action. Belarusian Yuliya Hatouka went down in straight sets in the second round of qualifying, with Tina Cvetkovic losing to Krunic in the opening round there too.

CHALLENGER TOUR:

Valencia 80 | Clay:

On the Challenger Tour, Russian 18-year-old Oksana Selekhmeteva has already leapt up 39 spots into 283rd in the world by booking her spot in the clay court WTA 80 event. Defeating Belarusian lucky loser Iryna Shyanovich in straight sets 6-1 6-4, Selekhmeteva continued her run from qualifying to also defeat Brit Francesca Jones in a come-from-behind victory with Jones retiring in the final game and the Russian 6-7 6-3 5-0 up. She remains the highest Next-Gen player in the tournament with Jones the previous highest, and the second highest being Diane Parry who bowed out in straight sets to eighth seed Spaniard Aliona Bolsova Zadoinov, 6-4 6-4.

The other Next-Gen player to be successful in the first round was Spanish wildcard Ane Mintegi Del Olmo, with the new world 449th ranked 17-year-old moving up 20 spots in the world thanks to her win over Romania’s Ilona Georgiana Ghioroaie 6-3 6-4, before losing to fourth seed Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova in three sets in the Round of 16. The other Spanish wildcard in Leyre Romero Gormaz ranked all the way down in 564th battled hard against the highly touted fifth seed Romanian Irina Maria Bara, before losing 2-6 7-6 6-2 having chances to take the match out in straight sets.

From the remaining Next-Gen hopes, 16-year-old young gun Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva lost to Spain’s Rebeka Masarova, while Romanian Andrea Prisacariu bowed out at the hands of Venezuelan Andrea Gamiz, both in the first round of the main draw. They still made it further than the last remaining trio, with Latvia’s Kamilla Bartone losing to Gamiz in qualifying, while Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro and Russian Elina Avanesyan also went down in tough losses through that second round of qualifying.

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