Russian rising star Alina Korneeva added the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals crown to her Australian Open and French Open junior titles ©Getty Images

Russian Alina Korneeva and Austrian Joel Schwärzler underlined their burgeoning talent by capturing the respective girls' and boys' singles titles at the International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tennis Tour Junior Finals in Chengdu.

Korneeva lost just three games in her thrashing of Japan’s Sara Saito in the final at the Sichuan International Tenns Center in the Chinese city.

The 16-year-old, who was competing as a neutral due to sanctions against Russia in response to the war in Ukraine, was unstoppable in her 6-0, 6-3 victory over Saito.

Saito partnered Korneeva in the girls’ doubles final at this year’s French Open, but she was simply blown away by the Russian rising star.


Success in Chengdu is another major junior prize for Korneeva who has secured the Australian Open and French Open singles titles this year and registered her first victory on the Women’s Tennis Association circuit earlier this month.

Schwärzler, coached by former Austrian tennis star Jürgen Melzer, also demonstrated his qualities in the Chinese city with an impressive win over Mexico’s Rodrigo Pacheco.

The Mexican was the top seed, but he came unstuck against Schwärzler who triumphed 6-3, 7-6.

"I'm just happy that I won it," said Schwärzler in a report by Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung.

"It is the biggest tournament after the youth Grand Slams.

"When I think about the people who have already won here - and now my name can be next to it, it's an incredible feeling.

"I am incredibly happy and proud of myself and my team and, above all, very grateful to Jürgen."

Schwärzler and Korneeva follow in the footsteps of the likes of Russia’s Andrey Rublev, Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk and Denmark’s Holger Rune who have captured the ITF World Tennis Junior Finals crowns.

The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) had suspended tournaments in China in December 2021 following global concern over the safety of Peng Shuai, who was reportedly not seen for more than two weeks after accusing former senior vice-premier and high-ranking Chinese Communist Party member Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault.

In April, the WTA lifted its suspension despite admitting "we will never fully secure" its goals including a "full and transparent investigation" into the two-time women's doubles Grand Slam winner's claims.

The ITF said it did not want to "punish a billion people" after the Peng allegations were made, welcomed the WTA's stance.