Summer heat and quarterfinals in ITF Sarajevo

Eva played some very exhausting matches in the extreme summer heat in central BiH at the J30 junior ITF open in Sarajevo. This time Safet Zajko Sport Park was the venue of the strong “balkan” junior tennis tournament.

After winning two matches in a row by 2:0 Eva was exhausted and was not able to stand towards the strong 1st services of Croatian player Lara (0:2). This ended her tournament at quarterfinals.

In doubles, Emilia (NOR) got injured in Doboj, but the new partner Petra was just matching for Eva. Playing tennis and having fun placed them quickly after 2 wins into the semifinals of the J30 Sarajevo ITF.

ITF Summer season started with Semifinal and Finals

ITF Summer season started with promising results; J30 Liberec, Czech Republic turned out to be a very strong tournament, but semifinals in doubles at the end.

Semifinalists Eva and Nikola K at J30 Liberec

Followed by J30 Doboj in Bosnia and Hercegovina, splendid semifinalist in singles and finalist in doubles.

Eva and Emilia (NOR) finalists in doubles.
Eva semifinalist (3rd place) in singles J30 Doboj

3rd place at the National Tennis Championship 2024

In late June Maribor was hosting the open National Championship in Tennis for 2024. Apart for the best Slovenia WTA players most of the girls anticipated in the flagship championship of the Slovenian Tennis Association.

Eva played good tennis and finished the Championship in semifinals, got some small pocket money for the 3rd place.

Eva semifinalist of the National Championship in Tennis 2024

Outdoor season too early? J300 Vrsar

Eva played the 1st outdoor tournament J300 in Vrsar, Croatia.  Despite of bad weather the best players gathered to play Rank 1 ITF Junior tournament. Eva started the qualification as the 10th seed in the Q2, overcoming the Hungarian player 4:6, 6:1, 10:5. Late afternoon match was played in the illuminated outdoor clay court against the Bulgarian 3rd seed player. A perfect match was very tight and exhausting for both players. This time the Bulgarian player was more concentrated, winning the 1st set in tiebreak and even the 2nd set with 7:5 despite had a straight lead by 5:2.

Eva is playing the qualification finals at the 1st rank WTT J300 tournament in Vrsar.

ITF Junior Tour 2024

After the New Year break Eva has started with the ITF Junior Tour 2024 in Belgrade. Difficult start on the indoor clay court with significantly reduced space for tennis resulted in the lost match in R32 of the MD. Moving back to the hardcourt of Maribor, Eva managed to overcome the 1st round and had a good strike against the 3rd seed Manca from GBR. Luck wasn’t on the same side. Next week a J30 in Murska Sobota turned to be a better place to play. Eva overcame the first and the second opponent from ITA, meeting her tennis mate Beti in quarterfinals.

Eva playing the QFinal match in Murska Sobota ITF J30.

Collecting some ITF points led Eva to the much stronger J100 tournament in Wolfsberg. She started the tournament in qualis; finishing the 1st match 6:1, 6:2 against the Austrian player. the Q2 against the German girl could have finished without loosing a single game. However, 6:0 was just too much and she lost the second set in tiebreak despite of having a three games lead in the set. Finally Eva made it to the qualification finals against the Czech player Anna. Both played very good and strong tennis, but Eva run out of breath leaving the game with 3:6, 3:6.

Eva is playing at the strong WTT J100 tournament in Wolfsberg.
Eva is playing the final qualification match at the strong WTT J100 tournament in Wolfsberg.

3rd place at the National Indoor Championship 2023

In late December Medvode and Kranj were hosting the indoor National Championship in Tennis for 2023. Apart for the best Slovenia WTA players most of the girls anticipated in the flagship championship of the Slovenian Tennis Association.

Eva played good tennis and finished the Championship in semifinals, got some small change for the 3rd place.

J60 Domžale

Eva played the last ITF this summer in Domžale. In the 1st round she passed Croatian player Joha-Bilić by 6:2, 6:2 a day later Eva showed a technically good tennis against the 9. seeded German player Helen Sommer, winning the game in a two straight sets (6:1, 6:3).  The 3rd round she was expected to overpass the Brit Gibson, but something obviously was not ok that day (5:7, 5:7).

Eva got covid-19 and skipped another two planned ITFs, also the next J30 in Domžale.

ITF J60 Kranj and Maribor

At ITF J60 Kranj Eva beat Iva Jankovic SRB (6:2, 6:7, 6:3); She lost the TB after some interference from the audience but the won the 3rd set problem-less. The next day she played 3rd seed Manca Serena (GB) in a high level match with a lot of twists and turns (5:7, 7:5, 7:6). She dropped the second set ball for 6:4 and then won the third set after 4 hours despite being 2:5 behind. Despite the very late hour, the evening doubles match was played, where she and Russia’s Shitikova also won the match. There was no more energy left for the next day’s matches, as she could hardly stand on her feet (op. the referee did not want to postpone the match to a later hour). Exhausted to the end, she could not help the Russian and they also lost the QF in the doubles.

She had a very tough draw at ITF J60 Maribor: she beat the best Italian U14 player in the 1st round, Alice Iozzi (6:1, 1:6, 6:4), a Piatti Centre player, then Natalie Mala of Czechia in in a very good match 6:4, 6:2, and then lost the 3rd round to Maia Ilinca Burcescu of Romania (one of the best U14 players in Tennis Europe). Despite her top game, she ran out of luck, as she didn’t take advantage of the set lead and the result was reversed in the key moments (3:6, 4:6). Her opponent showed incredible fight, saving the theoretically unstoppable drop shots, which paid off in the end. In doubles, the pair with Madzarka Czako won the first match, but then after an extraordinary drama (also unsportsmanlike) they lost to the representatives of ZTK with 10:12 in MTB.