In the first Junior semifinal the youngest player of the tournament celebrated victory. He overcame Dmitriy Burtsev — 3/6, 6/4, 10-8.
The 16-year-old Egor Pleshivtsev is ranked second among Russian junior players, just behind Wimbledon finalist Yaroslav Demin. They faced each other a couple of years ago at the youth tournament, and both recalled this encounter before today's match. Back then, the victory went to Burtsev.
He started today's match on a high note as well. Dmitry quickly took the lead 4-1 and effortlessly closed the first set in his favor. In the second set, Pleshivtsev took the lead with a break, but Burtsev didn't allow him to mirror the first set, making it 2-3. The seesaw battle continued - after a series of games won on the return, Egor managed to secure the set in his favor.
In the championship tie-break, Burtsev took a 3-0 lead, but the next eight (!) points went to Pleshivtsev. Dmitry, on the brink of defeat, rallied again, narrowing the gap to a minimal 7-8 and celebrating the success enthusiastically. However, in the next point, he made another mistake, giving his opponent a double match point. He himself contributed to the realization of Egor’s second attempt by hitting the ball into the net.
In the final, Pleshivtsev’s opponent will be the winner of the match between Yaroslav Demin and Daniel Khazime. «I haven’t yet to reach the level to compete with Yarik in the same tournaments», said the 16-year-old tennis player before the start of the North Palmyra Trophies tournament. – «Maybe here, it will work out».