by Simon Daish
Adina Diaconu has been named as top seed for the Junior Girls’ Singles category and will be hoping to reach the top step of the medals podium at the event for the first time.
The Romanian star was left stunned at the recent Stag 2017 European Youth Championships hosted in the Portuguese city of Guimarães, suffering a shock defeat to Azerbaijan’s Ning Jing at the semi-finals stage of the Junior Girls’ Singles tournament.
Ning Jing isn’t present on the entry list for the Europe Youth Top 10 and Adina Diaconu will be keen to take advantage of that fact in Worcester.
Two further Romanian competitors have qualified for the category with Andreea Dragoman and Tania Plaian also being named on the entry list.
Another player in the hunt for the Junior Girls’ Singles trophy is Serbia’s Izabela Lupulesku, who heads to Worcester in promising form while Belgium’s Lisa Lung will also be eyeing up a positive campaign.
Expect to see a strong performance from Zhang Xuan of Spain while the host nation’s Denise Payet will attempt to give the home crowd something to cheer about.
The three-day tournament will also feature Cadet Girls’ Singles action, and there is a decent chance that Russia could come through the category with silverware.
Romania’s Elena Zaharia and Italy’s Jamila Laurenti could pose as serious title contenders in the Cadet Girls’ Singles competition, and Camille Lutz of France will also be looking to enjoy a successful outing at the event.
