Four young England players got some essential experience on the international stage as the Europe Youth Series moved on to Serbia.

Oliver Glowacki, Ronan Lamont Tierney, Lev Sahmurov and Lusio Wen (pictured above) competed in the Under-13 team and singles categories.

Glowacki, Sahmurov and Wen have some experience of international competition, having travelled to Hungary last month for the WTT Youth Contender Szombathely, but it was a first international foray for Lamont Tierney – who beat Sahmurov in the Under-13 Boys’ Singles final at the Blackpool 4* at the weekend.

ETTU launched the Europe Youth Series in 2023 to provide high-quality competition for Under-15 and Under-13 players. There are several events around the continent each year. 

Under-13 Boys’ Team

England I started their campaign with a 3-0 defeat to a Moldova/Romania composite, Wen losing to Denis Fonariuc 3-1 (11-6, 11-8, 7-11, 11-6) and Sahmurov going down 3-0 (11-8, 11-6, 14-12) to Nicolae Bujor. The doubles was a 3-0 (4, 7, 5) defeat.

The match against Spain was another 3-0 defeat, though Wen and Sahmurov both took a game off Marcos Gomez and Luca Romero, respectively.

England got their first win in the third match and it was a good 3-0 scoreline against Serbia II. Wen defeated Maksim Peto 3-0 (15-13, 11-5, 11-6) and Sahmurov won 3-0 (11-1, 11-2, 11-8) against Ugrin Katic. The doubles was a 3-1 (2-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9) win for England.

The fourth match saw a 3-0 reverse to Greece II, though Sahmurov took a game off Theofanis Markoulakis.

England bounced back with a 3-0 win over Ireland as Sahmurov beat Daniel Daly 3-1 (11-9, 11-8, 5-11, 12-10), Wen defeated Ryan Li 3-1 (11-6, 12-10, 12-14, 11-7) and there was a 3-2 (13-11, 9-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-6) win in the doubles.

Their final group match was a 3-0 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina, Wen beatin Zejd Hodzic 3-0 (11-8, 12-10, 11-8), Sahmurov defeating Mensur Mesanovic 3-1 (4-11, 11-5, 11-2, 11-6) and the doubles seeing a 3-0 (20-18, 11-6, 11-9) win.

In Group 2, England II (Glowacki and Lamont Tierney) started with a 3-0 reverse to Croatia, though they took a game in the doubles.

In the second match against Montenegro, Lamont Tierney picked up a good victory over Uros Mrkajic (11-3, 11-4, 11-2) but the overall match score was a 2-1 defeat.

It was the same scoreline against Serbia in the third match, with Glowacki this time getting the win for England – 3-1 (12-10, 5-11, 11-4, 11-9) against Dusan Milosevic. Lamont Tierney lost 3-1 (11-7, 12-10, 5-11, 11-6) to Aleksandar Veselinovic and the doubles was a 3-2 (11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 8-11, 11-4) win for Serbia.

The match against Spain II was a 3-0 defeat but that masked some good performances by the English pair. Glowacki went down 3-1 (11-7, 11-5, 7-11, 11-4) to Daniel Casquero and Lamont Tierney lost 3-2 (11-6, 11-6, 12-14, 7-11, 11-8) to Lucas Pardo. The doubles was also 3-2 to Spain – the scoreline was 11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 9-11, 11-4.

England got back to winning ways with a 2-1 victory over Greece. Glowacki beat Emmanouil Pogiatzis 3-0 (15-13, 11-8, 11-9) and Lamont Tierney overcame Panteleimon Michailidis 3-1 (13-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6). The doubles resulted in a 3-2 (11-8, 2-11, 11-5, 10-12, 11-9) win for Greece.

The final match saw a 2-1 win over Serbia III. Lamont Tierney lost out 3-1 (11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 11-9) to Lazar Dragoljevic, Glowacki beat Bogdan Mitrovic 3-1 (9-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-6) and the doubles was a 3-1 (11-2, 11-4, 10-12, 11-8) win for England.  

England I went into the play-off for positions 7-8 and beat Greece 3-0 to finish seventh. Wen overcame Panteleimon Michailidis 3-0 (12-10, 11-8, 11-7), Sahmurov defeated Emmanouli Pogiatzis 3-0 (4, 9, 8) and the doubles was a 3-1 (7-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-4) win for England to close out the overall victory.

England II went into the play-off for positions 11 and 12 and defeated Serbia II 3-1 to claim 11th spot.

Lamont Tierney was defeated 3-2 (11-9, 11-13, 11-8, 2-11, 11-8) by Ivan Karakasevic but Glowacki beat Ugrin Katic 3-0 (8, 9, 7) and the doubles was a 3-2 (9-11, 13-11, 6-11, 11-4, 12-10) win for England. Glowacki then beat Karakasevic 3-0 (8, 5, 10) to seal victory for England.

Under-13 Boys’ Singles

Wen, Sahmurov and Lamont Tierney all went through to the main draw as group runners-up with two wins out of three.

Sahmurov was defeated 3-0 (3, 4, 5) by Nikolaos Alexidis of Greece in the last 32, while Lamont Tierney and Wen advanced to the last 16.

Lamont Tierney’s win was 3-0 (12-10, 18-16, 11-9) over Daniel Casquero of Spain. He was then defeated 3-0 (9, 5, 8) by Milan Vucetic of Montenegro in the last 16.

Wen defeated Ivan Karakasevic 3-0 (16-14, 11-2, 11-6) in the last 32 and went out to Nicolae Bujor of Moldova 3-0 (3, 4, 5) in the last 16.

Glowacki won one of his three group matches and dropped into the consolation B draw – and went all the way to the final with three victories over Serbian opponents, including 3-2 (9-11, 11-6, 13-11, 10-12, 11-4) over Noel Nikolov in the quarter-finals. In the final, he was defeated by walkover by Simun Milosevic of Croatia.

Under-15 Boys’ Singles

None of the English players made it into the main draw, though Lamont Tierney picked up a good 3-2 (7-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-2, 11-5) win over Marko Mihajlov in the groups.

In the consolation draw, Lamont Tierney went all the way to the final, but had to award his opponent Ivan Radibratovic of Serbia a walkover.

Lamont Tierney had defeated team-mate Wen, also by walkover, in the semi-finals. Both youngsters had come from 2-0 down to win 3-2 in an earlier round.

Glowacki won his round of 64 match but exited in the last 32, while Sahmurov had a bye in the first round, won his last-32 match and went out in the last 16.