By Glenys Furness
- Ranah Stoiber – top British girl
- Played Wimbledon juniors last season
- Favourite surface is clay
In this series Britwatch are bringing you the future of British Tennis. Each one will focus on a different junior player, providing information on their game. They will be the names to look out for in the future grand slam events.
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Ranah Stoiber
Ranah Akua Stoiber turns 17 this year so still has a year or two left on the junior circuit. The Brit hails from Middlesex and started playing tennis at the age of 7.
The 2021 season was a breakthrough for the Brit on the junior circuit. Consistently making quarter-finals and semi-finals on hard courts and clay courts. This helped to bring Stoiber’s ITF ranking up to 59 by the end of the 2021 season.
Stoiber started the 2022 season with early event losses. Mostly in the second round, however the Brit made the final of her first ITF junior event in March without dropping a set. The event held in Casablanca on clay saw Stoiber against Xenia Lipiec in the first round. The Pole fought well in the first set and forced a tiebreak, before the Brit edged through and took the lead. This spurred Stoiber on, who then dominated the next set to claim the win 7-6(8), 6-0.
The second round saw the young Brit against Manal Ennaciri. The Moroccan played well, and forced Stoiber to bring out some big shots, eventually the young Brit secured a break of serve in each set. Ennaciri couldn’t get back on serve and Stoiber took the win 6-4, 6-4.
A tough quarter-final beckoned against Serbian Tijana Sretenovic. Stoiber and Sretenovic were toe to toe in the first set, before the young Brit secured the vital break of serve at the end of the set. The second set was also fairly difficult, but Stoiber managed to break again and book a semi-final spot 7-5, 6-4.
The semi-final was very easy for Stoiber. Against Kazakh Sandugash Kenzhibayeva the young Brit dominated the first set losing only one game. Kenzhibayeva was unable to do much about the Brits game as the second set progressed. Stoiber continued the excellent match form to move into the final 6-1, 6-2.
The final was against Tereza Valentova. The Czech was always going to be a tough match up, as Valentova has made the quarter-final or better in the last three events she has played. In this match up, Stoiber struggled against the Czech who was unstoppable and took the title in Casablanca 6-2, 6-2.
Stoiber took time out of her schedule and spoke to Tennishead. The Brit was asked who her tennis role models were. The 16 year old replied:
“Emma Raducanu has given such great hope to British tennis players. She’s very young so seeing what she’s done inspires me to work hard every day to try and get to her level.”
Stoiber also looked up to Ash Barty, before the Australian retired from the sport. The Brit has direct acceptance into Roland Garros junior event scheduled to start on 29th May 2022 currently 34th on the entry list. As clay is the favourite surface, an exciting prospect in Paris for British Tennis.
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