It was third time lucky for Joe White as he finally made his major breakthrough on the tennis circuit by claiming his first ITF singles title in Cyprus.
The 17-year-old Welshman has made great strides this summer and had previously reached the finals of the Messika Open, in Israel in April and the Preveza Cup in Greece in July.
He was beaten by Irsraeli Alex Gaponenko in Bat Yam (6-3, 6-2) and went down to Fausto Tabacco in Preveza (4-6, 6-3, 5-7).
This time he came into the event in Limassol on the back of two semi-final appearances in another event in Cyprus the previous week in Larnaca. There he was beaten by home hero Stefanos Savva 6-3, 6-4 in the singles.
But in Limassol, White powered his way through to the final by beating Cypriot Thomas Ioannou (6-4, 6-2), Israel’s Yoni Becher (6-3, 6-1), Swede Leo Borg (6-4, 6-3 and then the Slovak Jakub Katuch (6-1, 1-6, 6-4) in the semi-final.
That set-up a final against Norway’s Leyton Rivera, which the Welshman won in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.
White’s commitments on the ITF Under 18 circuit meant the teenager had to miss the Home Nations International in Belfast.
HOME NATIONS DAY 2️⃣ RESULTS | Fantastic day two for Team Wales in Belfast with U18s beating Ireland 5-1, U14s beating England 4-2 and U12s beating Ireland 5-1. Great team spirit and some excellent performances #RedRoar pic.twitter.com/rml2ewyYUP
— Tennis Wales (@tenniswales) September 8, 2018
Wales sent three mixed teams to the championships at Under 12, Under 14 and Under 18 levels and triumphed in the older age group. They also finished as the runners-up in the other age brackets.
Under 12
Wales pushed England all the way before losing by four games to two, but by only 8 sets to 7.
Conor Flynn beat Max Walker and Gracie Hurley and Mimi Xu doubled up to beat Mafalda Almela-Lozano and Jody Neveling to earn the Welsh squad two notable victories.
It was more straightforward against the Irish, with the Welsh side winning 5-1.
Viktor Frydrych, Mimi Xu and Conor Flynn all won their singles matches and then they went on to clinch doubles success as well.
Wales ended with a flourish as they beat Scotland 4-2. Flynn won all three singles matches, while Xu won five of her six matches, losing only one singles match over three sets to England’s Almela-Lozano.
Results
Wales 2, England 4
Wales 5, Ireland 1
Wales 4, Scotland 2
Final Standings: 1 England; 2 Wales; 3 Ireland; 4 Scotland
Under 14
After getting off to a harrowing start with a 6-0 whitewash against host nation Ireland, Wales recovered to beat England 4-2.
Hugo Cochlan beat Thomas Alam 6-2, 6-0 to kick things off and then Jethro Dela Vega won 6-2, 6-2 against Kyle Hughes-McCabe. The two boys then teamed-up to win their doubles match 6-3, 6-2.
HOME NATIONS DAY 3️⃣ UPDATE | Wales’ U14 team steal the show today with a 5-1 win over Scotland. Wales looking good to take the overall title with the last few matches on court! #RedRoar pic.twitter.com/TZf1LN1x5r
— Tennis Wales (@tenniswales) September 9, 2018
Aditi Chezhian won her singles against Alexandra McDonald 6-2, 6-1, but lost her doubles with Elina Pickerd-Barua. There was a 5-1 win over Scotland on the final day.
Results
Wales 0, Ireland 6
Wales 4, England 2
Wales 5, Scotland 1
Final Standings: 1 Ireland; 2 Wales; 3 England; 4 Scotland
Under 18
Wales won the title with a crushing third-day win over old adversaries England. The only blemish in their 5-1 victory was a three sets defeat for Elinor Beazley.
She went down 1-6, 6-3, 8-10 against Grace Eland, but picked up points with a doubles triumph along with Morgan Cross.
James Story beat Alex Hyman 6-1, 6-1 to complete a clean-sweep of all his matches.
Wales won all six matches against Scotland in their opening match and then beat host nation Ireland 5-1.
Story, Finn Murgett, Morgan Cross and Elinor Beazley didn’t lose a set against the Scots and only lost two against Ireland.
Beazley lost her singles match to Julianna Carton 6-1, 7-6, but then recovered to win the doubles match 6-2, 6-1 in tandem with Cross.
Results
Wales 6, Scotland 0
Wales 5, Ireland 1
Wales 5, England 1
Final Standings: 1 Wales; 2 England; 3 Scotland; 4 Ireland