A stalwart of the TEJT since 2022, the North Macedonian has played in a massive 27 tour finals in singles and doubles, winning 15. His sweet sixteenth winner’s title is also fittingly his biggest Tennis Europe Junior Tour triumph and is his sixth of 2025, following victories at two events in Skopje as well as in Ulcinj, Bitola and in Antalya at the Development Championships.

Aleksovski is on the the ITF/Tennis Europe Touring Team and, as part of their tour, recently made the R16 in Düren (GER, SuperCat), followed by a semifinal appearance in Wilrijk (BEL, Cat.1) before reaching the final in Barcelona. His road to the final was a tough one, having beaten fellow Touring Team member Francisco Sardinha (POR) in a three-set quarterfinal before going the distance once more against Iakov Mazin.
In the final he met the in-form Stefan Shangichev (ESP) who nabbed the first set in a tiebreaker. However, with Aleksovski up 3-0 in the second, Shangichev was forced to withdraw due to a forearm injury. 

Post-match Aleksovski stated, “I’m really happy with my result and it was a great week. I want to thank the organisers and Tennis Europe … the final was a really good match. Unfortunately, Stefan had to retire because of injury. I hope he gets better.”
Cai is also no stranger to the TEJT, having won four singles titles in 2024, with Barcelona marking her second win of 2025. The Chinese player was in exceptional form, having not dropped a set all week, including 6-1 6-4 win in the R16 over fifth seed Arina Fomina. In the final, she was too strong for sixth seed Emilia Henningsen (DEN), taking the match and the title with a 6-2 6-2 victory.

As can be seen in the video, Cai is holding two trophies, as she also won the girls’ doubles title with Kira Mikaelian. Shangichev and Jaime Alcaraz were the boys’ doubles champions. 

Marisa Sanchez-Vicario, General Manager of the Academy, was on hand at the trophy presentation. “Thank you to Tennis Europe and the Spanish Federation and also a congratulations to the winners and finalists. You put on some very nice matches today, and it’s too bad one of the players had to retire. Good luck in the next tournaments coming up. It’s a very special tournament for us, in memory of Antonio. Thank you to all the staff who are here and who knew him and who worked very hard this week.”

Tournament History:

• The Barcelona tournament, now known as the Antonio Hernandez Cup, has been part of the Junior Tour since 2004 and is named in the memory of the former Head Coach who passed away ten years ago.

Sound Familiar?:

• Top players who have played here in the past include Carlos Alcaraz, Alex De Minaur, Paula Badosa and Svetlana Kuznetsova, amongst others.

Never Say Never:

• And there is always hope for every junior out there: Roger Federer once played in the 12&U event but failed to make it through the qualies!

ITF/TENNIS EUROPE SMALL STATES CHAMPIONSHIPS

In an all-Maltese girls’ final, Julia Perera Vega defeated Pippa Cutugno 6-3 6-2 in the girls’ final. Meanwhile Team Cyprus dominated in the three other events. The boys’ finalists were both Cypriots, with Anastasis Mosaikos taking out Yiannis Leontis 6-1 6-1. The two boys returned to court later on Thursday to win the doubles, as did their compatriots Thelma Chrysafi & Aleksija Strika in the girls’ doubles.

To read more about this tournament click here.
To see all the other winners from the past week, click here.

COMING UP ON THE JUNIOR TOUR

• The next main event on the 14&U tour is the Category 1 event in Alicante (ESP) at the David Ferrer Academy in La Nucia
• The 16&U players have their own Cat.1 event in Sarajevo (BIH)
• And in a welcome return, the 14&U Cat.3 Ukrainian Open will once again take place in Vyshkovo (UKR)

For the full TEJT schedule go to https://te.tournamentsoftware.com/tournaments