Under 16 and Under 12 Champions Crowned at Fischer Outdoor Junior Nationals

Photo : Gyles Dias

The Under 16 and Under 12 Fischer Outdoor Junior Nationals wrapped up this week with two very different storylines playing out at the two events.

At the U12s in the Montreal area, it was two players cleaning up. While over in Milton, ON at the U16s, the titles were spread out among a few different players.

U12

Top seeds Deniz Karabulut and Isabella Ruyu Yan stole the show in Montreal at the U12 event, winning both the singles and doubles titles in dominant fashion.

Neither one dropped a set on their way to both titles.

In the group stage of the singles, Karabulut lost just eight games in four matches, including two double-bagel wins. He faced a little more resistance in the knockout stage, but still no one was able to pry away a set as he beat Quebec’s Gordon Dankov 6-1, 6-2 in the final.

Alongside fellow Ontarian Nikola Bogojevic, Karabulut also cruised through the doubles, claiming the title with a 6-1, 7-5 win over second seeds Matthew Popa and Ilya Sherifali.

Karabulut’s win in singles on Friday was a successful title defence, having won the U12 outdoor national title in 2022.

Yan, from Saskatchewan, was just as dominant in her run to the singles and doubles titles. She lost just seven games in three group stage matches and only dropped 10 more in the knockout stage. Only once in seven matches did she lost more than three games in a set and capped off the title run with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Dongchen Ding of Ontario.

In doubles, Yan was equally successful with partner Clara Vicol of BC, never losing more than five games in a match on their way to the title. They beat Joni Faye Colburne of Nova Scotia and Emma Cuirassier of Quebec 6-3, 6-0 in the final.

The singles title is Yan’s second at the U12 Fischer Outdoor Junior Nationals, having also won in 2021, while she also defended her doubles title. She also reached the U14 doubles final in 2021 at the outdoor national championships.

For Vicol, it is a first outdoor national title.

U16

The boys title was won by British Columbia’s Gary Chuyue Jiang, who beat Quincy Qianzhou Yao of Ontario in a tight three-set final.

Jiang started out the tournament well, dropping just nine games in his first three matches including a 6-1, 6-3 win over No. 2 seed Alec Barin in the third round. He then had to battle for a three-set semifinal victory before rallying from a set down to beat Yao 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 to claim the title.

It is a second outdoor national title for the BC U16 champion. Jiang won the U14 Fischer Outdoor Nationals in 2022.

Yao got the job done in the doubles, claiming the title alongside BC’s Eric William Wang after a thrilling 7-6(3), 4-6, [11-9] victory over top seeds Miko Lapalme of Quebec and Owen A.K. Nguyen of British Columbia.

The win is Yao’s first national title outdoors, having also lost to Jiang in the 2022 U14 singles final. Wang also won the U14 doubles in 2021 as well as the singles.

Ontario’s Isabella Marton won the girls title, going on a similar path to her male counterpart by cruising through the early rounds before battling in the semis and final.

Marton did her best Iga Swiatek impression, handing out four bagels in her first four matches, including the deciding set of her semifinal win. In the final, she rallied from a set down for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Neda Rahimkhani of Quebec. It is Marton’s first national title.

The all-Ontario team of Andrea Cabio and Bianca Ceroni won the girls doubles title, not dropping a set in four matches and capping off their run with a 7-6(9), 6-3 win over Rahimkhani and Ontario’s Ashvini Tara Gopalan.

Cabio won her second straight U16 Fischer Outdoor Nationals doubles title, having claimed it in 2022 alongside 2023 U18 singles champion Clémence Mercier. She also won the U14 singles title last year. Caroni won the U14 singles title in 2021.

The last batch of Fischer Outdoor Junior Nationals, the Under 14 competition, begins on Saturday.

Written By

Pete Borkowski