It was back to the grind on the ITF Junior Tour last month for the Canadians after August was dominated by the national championships.
Canada’s best youngsters had a chance to shine on home soil with a pair of ITF events in Quebec and the girls in particular took advantage.
Here is your monthly junior update by Har-Tru.
J200 Montreal
Of the two ITF junior events in Canada over the last month, the tournament in Montreal saw greater success for the host nation.
The highlight was the all-Canadian girls final between Nadia Lagaev and Emma Dong. Lagaev, the top-ranked Canadian junior, defeated Dong in straight sets 6-1, 6-4 to win her fifth career ITF junior singles title. It was her second title of the season, both at the J200 level which is her career-best.
Lagaev, the second seed in Montreal, did not drop a set on her way to the title and only lost more than five games in a match once, that being her first-round match. Dong, seeded fifth, had upset the top seed Claire An of the United States in straight sets in the quarter-finals.
The victory in singles was revenge for Lagaev against Dong, who had won their clash a day earlier in the doubles final. Dong and An, the top seeds, defeated the all-Canadian second-seeded pair of Lagaev and Raphaelle Leroux 6-4, 6-2 for the title, Dong’s fourth ITF doubles title of the year and eighth overall.
On the boys side, the hosts claimed the doubles title courtesy of a win by Miko Lapalme and Felix Roussel over Americans Simon Caldwell and Zachary Cohen 6-2, 5-7, 10-2. Lapalme and Roussel had upset the top-seeded pair 10-8 in the match tiebreak in the first round.
Canada nearly got a hand on every winners trophy in Montreal but came up just short as Nicolas Arseneault was beaten by American Lachlan Gaskell in the boys singles final.
J100 Quebec City
The host nation had a tougher run later in September up the road in Quebec City. The closest Canada came to a title at the ITF J100 event was in the girls doubles where Clemence Mercier and Neda Rahimkhani reached the final, having upset the top seeds in the quarter-finals, but lost in straight sets to the American team of Carrie-Anne Hoo and Kaya Moe.
In singles, Mercier and Brooke Feth reached the girls quarter-finals. The boys came a little closer with Volodymyr Gurenko and Xavier Massotte both reaching the singles semis but both lost to American opponents.
Three all-Canadian teams reached the quarter-finals of the boys doubles but all three were defeated in the last eight.
Here is the full list of champions at the Canadian ITF Junior events over the last month (all Canadian unless otherwise noted):
| Boys Singles | Girls Singles | Boys Doubles | Girls Doubles | |
| J200 Montreal | Lachlan Gaskell (USA) | Nadia Lagaev | Miko Lapalme/ Felix Roussel |
Claire An (USA)/ Emma Dong |
| J100 Quebec City | Jack Secord (USA) | Kaya Moe (USA) | Sasha Colleu (FRA)/ Joseph Oyebog Jr (USA) |
Carrie-Anne Hoo (USA)/ Kaya Moe (USA) |
ITF Results
With many of Canada’s juniors playing in Montreal and Quebec City, it was a less busy stretch for Canucks at ITF events abroad.
One highlight came at the beginning of October when Judah McEachern-Brown doubled up at the J30 event in Managua, Nicaragua, winning both the singles and doubles titles. The wins were the first in each discipline for the 16-year-old on the ITF Junior Tour.
Here is a list of Canadians who reached finals at events outside of Canada over the last month (Titles in bold)
- Judah McEachern-Brown: J30 Managua boys singles champion, J30 Managua boys doubles champion
- Ashvini Tara Gopalan: J60 Tegucigalpa girls doubles runner-up
- Antoine Clavel: J30 Punta Cana boys doubles runner-up (w/ Yevdayev)
- Maxim Yevdayev: J30 Punta Cana boys doubles runner-up (w/ Clavel)
- Hubert Poirier: J30 Managua boys doubles runner-up
Rankings Update
Following her victory in Montreal, Nadia Lagaev made a big leap in the ITF junior rankings. She hit a career-high of No. 52 after the win and currently sits at No. 55, making her the only Canadian, male or female, inside the Top 70 of the junior rankings.
Emma Dong sits 36 spots back of her fellow Canadian at No. 91.
Nicolas Arseneault is the top Canadian boy at No.78, having also reached a career-high ranking of No. 75 in September after his finals run in Montreal. He is the only Canadian boy in the Top 100.
Check out the full ITF junior rankings here.
