Helene Pellicano has become the first Maltese player ever to win the European tennis Junior Championships, beating Denisa Hindova of the Czech Republic.
The win was a fourth straight sets victory of the week for Pellicano, whose only struggle came in a marathon semi-final against Croatia’s Noa Krznaric, in which she was forced to battle back from the brink of defeat before securing a 2-6 7-6(4) 6-4 win.
Last October, Pellicano became the first Maltese to win a Tennis Europe Junior Masters title, and earlier this year became the first to reach the Tennis Europe Junior Tour’s #1 ranking, a position she will regain when the rankings are updated next Tuesday.
Hindova still leaves the Championships with two medals, having secured the doubles gold on Saturday alongside Kristyna Lavickova. The pair upset top seeded Russians Daria Frayman & Avelina Sayfetdinova in the final.