QUALIFIERS BEGIN FOR ITF J30 TOURNAMENT

DOBOJ, JUNE 21 /SRNA/ – The first-round qualifying matches for the international junior tennis tournament “ITF J30 Doboj Open” began today in Doboj, for boys and girls under the age of 18.

Tournament director Dragan Dragičević told SRNA that 56 players will compete in the three-day qualification phase.

Main draw matches, featuring 96 competitors, will be played from Monday to Saturday, June 23 to 28.

The top seed in the boys’ category is Sami Hayes from Morocco, currently ranked 985th on the ATP list, while the top seed in the girls’ category is Despoina Koskina from Greece, ranked 1,265th on the ATP list.

Dragičević stated that players from BiH will also participate in the fifth ITF J30 tournament in Doboj. Junior members of Tennis Club “Doboj” – Nikša Smiljanić, Filip Jevtić, and Nikolina Kovačević – will play in the main draw.

“Competitors are arriving from more than 35 countries. In addition to those from Europe, we have players from Japan, China, Morocco, India, Turkiye, Argentina, the United States, and Australia,” said Dragičević.

The event is organized by Tennis Club “Doboj,” with the City of Doboj as the general sponsor.

This is a junior tournament for players under 18 years of age.

Dragičević emphasized that this club is the only one in BiH organizing tournaments from the categories "ITF World Seniors Tour," "ITF Juniors Tour," and "Tennis Europe," as well as a veterans’ tournament that brings together players from across the region.

Ana Petković from Croatia and Leon Sloboda from Slovakia were the winners of last year’s “ITF Juniors J30 Doboj Open 2024.”

In the doubles category, the winners were the Hungarian-Serbian pair Marcel Kovač and Nikola Radišić in the boys’ competition, and the French-Croatian pair Lana Agbaba and Ana Petković in the girls’ competition.