Favourites Moxham & Groenewald Claim European Junior Open Crowns

Belgium's Savannah Moxham warmed up for next week's World Junior Championships in Cairo in style with a second straight ESF circuit victory at the European Junior Open in Hamburg.

In the GU19 final at Sportwerk club, top seed Moxham faced Dutchwoman Renske Huntelaar for the second time in a week, having beaten her seven days earlier in the Dutch Junior Open final in Amsterdam.

For the second weekend in a row, Moxham came out on top, this time with an 11-8 11-9 11-5 scoreline which meant she had gone through the whole tournament without dropping a game.

Moxham is based in Port Chester, New York, where her father Shaun Moxham and mother Katline Cauwels are head coaches at MSquash - but she was born in Belgium and is proud to represent the nation in international competition.

"Going into the final, it was important not to anticipate that it would be the same as last week, so I made sure I came into the final with a fresh mindset," said the 16-year-old. "This was a completely different situation so I tried not to think about last week because anything can happen.

"It feels good to get in some good matches and feel like I can deal with this sort of situation and pressure. The Worlds is the biggest tournament for juniors so there will be even better players there, but this is definitely a nice confidence boost for such a big challenge ahead."

Moxham is heading into her recruiting year and says big wins like this "will definitely help" catch the eye of coaches from the big-name U.S. colleges. "Obviously I have to achieve academically, but it's very important to the recruiters what my results are internationally and in the U.S."

South Africa's Luhann Groenewald was also featuring in his second European U19 final in successive weekends. He was defeated by France's Amir Khaled-Jousselin last Sunday in Amsterdam, but tasted victory in Hamburg with a 11-7 11-6 11-3 victory over Switzerland's 5/8 seed Fabian Seitz.

The 18-year-old, who plays with a distinctive Peter Marshall-style double-handed technique on both forehand and backhand sides, had a tougher test in the semi-final where he battled past Austria's Daniel Lutz in four tight games.

"Yesterday was really, really tough not just physically but mentally because I wasn't playing that well and he was playing with confidence," Groenewald. "I'm really glad I could pull yesterday through to get to today.

"Yesterday was a bit of a struggle finding my lengths to the back, but today I played really well and found my length from the start. I changed my gameplan a bit from yesterday to hitting a few more straight lines when I went short rather than flicking crosscourt or playing a boast."

Like Moxham, Groenewald now heads to Cairo where he'll compete in the World Junior Championships, but as he turns 19 on the last day of the individual event he will not be able to take part in the team championships.

"This last few weeks playing on the European circuit has been awesome. It's very good preparation for Cairo because I've played against a lot of different types of players. World Juniors is a very big scene with lots of experienced players, so for me to get that match practice on a big stage is really important."

In the BU17, top seed Mohammed Alnasfan of Saudi Araba was surprisingly beaten in the quarter-finals by Gabriel Chak and the Englishman went on to reach the final. However, Chak was beaten in Sunday's climax by Egyptian second seed Omar El-Tabbakh 11-6 11-6 11-6.

The GU17 final was an all-Eyptian battle between Mariam El Mattet and Yara Harfoush (who beat Wales' Nia Seren Thomas and Dutchwoman Elcke Mols respectively in the semis) which top seed El Mattet won 11-3 11-6 11-7.

There was success for India in the BU15 as Shreyansh Jha recovered from losing the first game to overcome Poland's second seed Mateusz Lohmann 9-11 11-3 11-7 11-6.

Egypt dominated in the GU15 with all four-semi-finalists hailing from the land of the Pharaohs. The top two seeds, Lana Fathallah and Sandy Hasan, made the final and it was the latter who triumphed 11-5 8-11 11-7 11-1.

Colombian youngster Esteban Suarez built upon last weekend's victory at the Dutch Junior Open with another trophy. Suarez faced Peru's Mauricio Trisano (as he did in Amsterdam) and hit back from two games down to win the all-South American clash 7-11 10-12 11-8 11-9 11-4.

Canada's 9/16 seed Amber Gomaa was a surprise winner of the GU13 trophy. She beat second seed Laya Omara of Egypt in the semi-finals, then won an epic five-setter against the top seed, Egypt's Amy Hasan, 11-4 8-11 11-8 10-12 11-1.