Norfolk’s Will Davies a smash hit on European tennis tour
Will Davies with his winner's trophy. - Credit: Archant
Norfolk's Will Davies – fresh from his maiden Tennis Europe success in Latvia – has added a second 14-and-under title to his collection, with victory at the Toyota Cup in Šiauliai, Lithuania.
Will Davies on his way to victory at the Toyota Cup tournament in Lithuania. - Credit: Archant
The 13-year-old Langley School pupil was forced to come through the qualifying rounds in Latvia, but his eight-match run and tournament victory at that event ensured an automatic spot in the main draw in Šiauliai.
Davies, seeded eighth, was relatively untroubled throughout and came through all five of his matches without the loss of a set, including a ruthless demolition of top-seeded Anatolii Rainin in the semi-final.
Rainin was beaten 6-2, 6-0 to earn Davies a shot at Pavel Shumeiko, the number two seed from the Ukraine.
Similarly, Shumeiko had reached the final without dropping a set, albeit with the help of a retirement in his semi-final match up with German, Daniil Klimov.
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Yet again, Davies gave his opponent no chance to get a foothold in the match and quickly found himself ahead after taking the opening set 6-1.
A brief recovery from Shumeiko made for a more interesting second set but almost inevitably, it was Davies who broke the deadlock and found the break of serve needed to secure his second Tennis Europe tournament victory, with a 6-1, 6-3 success.
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An unfortunate injury hindered Davies' chance to make it back to back titles as he exited the Narva Cup in Estonia in the second round to Egor Lisitsyn of Russia in three sets.
Davies, who trains at Easton College Tennis Centre, has improved his Tennis Europe U14 ranking to 68, having been ranked outside the top 500 at the turn of the year and will set his sights on the top 10 during 2013.
The Norfolk number had started his campaign in Lithuania by disappointing the local support with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Arnas Sabonis 6-1, 6-2 in the opening round.
Elisey Sankov from Russia provided the sternest test of the whole event for the former Town Close pupil and was the only player to get four games from Davies in one set, before the champion-elect stepped up a gear and closed out the match 6-4, 6-2 in fine style.
Davies' first seeded opponent came in the quarter-finals; Robert Grinvalds of Latvia was favourite on paper, but never on the court, and the fourth seed was given no chance to settle as he was brushed aside 6-0, 6-2.
Next came Rainin, ranked 16th for Under-14 players in Europe and at one point inside the top 10. But it was another match where rankings meant nothing and any resistance from the top seed was quickly broken down by Davies, who was in no mood to exit before the final.
