He was talked about in our preview for the Junior Championships, and he was crowned the winner a week later. Shintaro Mochizuki (JPN) is the Junior Wimbledon champion, after defeating Carlos Gimeno Valero (ESP) 6-3, 6-2 in the final. Mochizuki had never played an event on grass before arriving in England to play the J1’s at Nottingham and Roehampton, but quickly acclimated due to his great feel around the net, and some surprisingly powerful groundstrokes from the baseline. However, his journey to the final was not easy. Valentin Royer (FRA) was his first victim, but that only came after an 8-6 final set. After getting to the quarterfinals, Mochizuki was expecting to face top seed and junior RG champ Holger Rune, but he was upset by British eccentric Anton Matusevich. However, he was not to be upset, cruising to a 6-3, 6-3 win. The next match was the toughest for Shintaro, as he took a 10-8 thriller over training partner and close friend Martin Damm (USA). Damm, the son of former US Open doubles finalist Martin Damm, has put together a productive year of his own, but Mochizuki found his level late on to take the match.

Gimeno Valero was the product of a bottom half that fell apart quickly, as he himself took down 3 seed Thiago Augustin Tirante (ARG), and only faced two seeds from there, #13 Filip Jianu and #17 Harold Mayot. The Spaniard was a winner at the J1 Lambare this Feburary, but this event was his breakthrough. However, Mochizuki was much more comfortable with the conditions and the pressure than Valero was, folding quickly.

Juniors action kicks back up soon with the European Championships in Klosters, as well as a host of other events around the world!