Junior Update: Gravenor Victorious at Home and Abroad

What a month Romy Gravenor had.  

First, the 16-year-old nearly doubled up at an ITF event down in El Salvador. She then carried that momentum home to the Fischer Indoor Junior Nationals, where she won two titles in two different age groups.

Here is the monthly junior tennis update.

At the Copa Hilton 1, an ITF J60 event, in mid-March, Gravenor had to battle in her opening singles match but cruised from there. In the semis and final, she lost a total of seven games, including a 6-1, 6-0 win in the final four, to claim her second ITF junior singles title. She beat compatriot Payton Dith in an all-Canadian final 6-3, 6-3.

In doubles, the Quebecker teamed up with Dith to reach the final. The pair dropped just two games on their way to the final, but they lost an agonising title match to the top seeds Sarah Stoyanov and Sandra Victoria Talamo Pinto 12-10 in the match tiebreak.

Fresh off her singles victory in El Salvador, Gravenor came home to compete in the U16 Fischer Indoor Junior Nationals in Verdun, QC. In doubles, she was the top seed alongside Ève Thibault and the pair cruised into the final without dropping a set. They had a tougher go in the final but managed to edge out second seeds Elisabeth Djabourian and Catherine Xie 10-8 in the match tiebreak to claim the national title.

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A week later, Gravenor went down to Toronto to compete in the U18s. Once again partnering with Thibault in the doubles, the pair made their way to the final where they took down the top seeds Sophie Michelle Dement and Alexie Normandin to secure the U18 crown.

Gravenor also performed well in singles at both the U16s and U18s, reaching the semifinals of both.

^{Photo : Andre Noel}

The 2026 Fischer Indoor Junior Nationals took place over two weeks at the end of March/beginning of April, with the various events happening as far west as British Columbia and as far east as Quebec.

Here is the full list of winners:

Click the links below to read the recaps of each event:

• U12
• U14
• U16
• U18

On the ITF circuit over the last month, Natalie Tsatsalashvili looked right at home in Huamantla, Mexico. The 16-year-old reached three out of four finals at back-to-back J30 events, including both singles finals, claiming the title at the second event. She reached the doubles final at the second Huamantla event but was beaten by countrywoman Jasmine Li.  

The singles title was the first ITF triumph of Tsatsalashvili’s career.

Here are the Canadian finalists from ITF Junior Tour events outside of Canada over the last month (titles in bold):

• Natalie Tsatsalashvili: J30 Huamantla 2 girls singles champion, J30 Huamantla 1 girls singles runner-up, J30 Huamantla 2 girls doubles runner-up (l. to Li)
• Romy Gravenor: J60 Santa Tecla girls singles champion (d. Dith), J60 Santa Tecla girls doubles runner-up (w/ Dith)
• Filip Malis: J60 Colomiers boys singles champion, J60 Colomiers boys doubles runner-up
• Thomas O’Neill: J60 Santa Tecla boys doubles champion
• Pierre-Olivier Hay: J30 Bayamon boys doubles champion
• Jasmine Li: J30 Huamantla 2 girls doubles champion (d. Tsatsalashvili)
• Emryk Crete: J30 Saint-Francois boys doubles champion (d. I. Dobrovolsky/T. Dobrovolsky)
• Martin Salvador Pages: J30 Tegucigalpa boys doubles champion
• Evalina Nicolaeva: J30 Tegucigalpa girls doubles champion (w/ Rabinovich)
• Veronica Rabinovich: J30 Tegucigalpa girls doubles champion (w/ Nicolaeva)
• Payton Dith: J60 Santa Tecla girls singles runner-up (l. to Gravenor), J60 Santa Tecla girls doubles runner-up (w/ Gravenor)
• Milagros Helena Pastuszka: J60 Telde girls singles runner-up, J60 Telde girls doubles runner-up
• Avery Alexander: J300 San Diego girls singles runner-up
• Mihajlo Ilic: J30 Kosice boys singles runner-up
• Arianna Deb-Baruah: J30 Bayamon girls doubles runner-up (w/ Foisy)
• Marguerite Foisy: J30 Bayamon girls doubles runner-up (w/ Deb-Baruah)
• Ilia Dobrovolsky: J30 Saint-Francois boys doubles runner-up (w/ T. Dobrovolsky, l. to Crete)
• Timofey Dobrovolsky: J30 Saint-Francois boys doubles runner-up (w/ I. Dobrovolsky, l. to Crete) 

The ITF junior swing through Canada picks up in April. This week, there is a J200 happening in Woodbridge, ON. J100s in Kingston, ON, and Quebec City are taking place later in the month.

Next week, Montreal will once again play host to the Americas Qualifying for the 2026 Davis Cup Juniors, Billie Jean King Cup Juniors, and U14 World Junior Tennis team events. Last year, all four Canadian teams qualified for their respective finals. Come back to tenniscanada.com next week for full coverage of the event.

Rankings Update

A trio of Canadian boys currently find themselves in the Top 100 of the ITF junior rankings. Xavier Massotte leads the way at No. 48, with Benjamin Azar not far behind at No. 54. Dani Szabo is hanging on to a Top 100 spot, sitting at No. 99.

Nadia Lagaev continues to be the top Canadian junior overall at No. 39. She played her first ITF junior event since the Australian Open in March, reaching the semifinals in both singles and doubles (with compatriot Clemence Mercier) at the J300 event in San Diego. She lost in the final four of the singles to fellow Canuck Avery Alexander, who finished as the runner-up and is the only other Canadian girl in the Top 100 at No. 99.  

Check out the full ITF junior rankings here.

Feature Photo : Andre Noel