Barcelona, Spain, 1 October 2012 | Tennis Australia

Australia has won silver at the Junior Davis Cup world finals in Barcelona, Spain, overnight.

The third seeded Australian team of Thanasi Kokkinakis (Seacombe Heights, SA), Harry Bourchier (Kingston, Tas) and Blake Mott (Thirroul, NSW) fell to second seeds Italy in a thrilling final, 2-1.

Bourchier got the team off to a flying start when he defeated Filippo Baldi in three long sets 4-6 7-6(2) 10-8. The pair were locked in an epic battle that lasted three hours and six minutes.

With fatigue setting in, it wasn’t until the 17th game of the super tiebreaker that Bourchier was given the opportunity to serve for the match at 9-8. The Tasmanian finally secured the match after two match points when Baldi’s backhand found the net.

The Australian won 111 of the 202 points played and Baldi won 109 points.

Kokkinakis then faced the tournament’s top-ranked player and world No.4 junior Gianluigi Quinzi. Kokkinakis won the second set before Quinzi outpowered Australia’s No.1 player to defeat him 6-1 0-6 6-3.

The title was decided in the final doubles rubber where Baldi and Quinzi eventually prevailed over Bourchier and Kokkinakis 6-0 3-6 6-2.

Earlier in the week, the Australians dismissed top seeds USA in the semifinals after defeating Spain, Morocco and No.6 seeds Argentina in the round-robin stage.

Junior Fed Cup team finishes fourth

The sixth-seeded Australian Fed Cup team of Naiktha Bains (Brisbane, Qld), Zoe Hives (Ballarat, Vic) and Isabelle Wallace (East Bentleigh, Vic) finished fourth after they went down to third seeds Brazil in the third place play-off.

The team lost their bout to retain the girls’ title when they lost to the second-seeded Russian team 0-2 in the semis on Friday.

Overnight, Hives continued her good run to defeat Carolina Meligeni Alves 2-6 6-4 6-1, before Wallace then gave Beatriz Haddad Maia a mighty run in the second singles rubber, going down 6-4 1-6 8-6.

The tie, like the boys, was decided in the doubles. Naiktha Bains and Wallace fought hard but the Brazilian pair of Maia and Alves prevailed to win the bronze medal 4-6 6-3 6-2.

“The girls gave everything they had this week and they should be proud of finishing fourth,” said captain Nicole Pratt.

“They have improved, no question. This is Zoe’s first trip to Europe so for her to win four out of five matches was a fantastic achievement. Playing on clay requires patience and good decision making and that is an area the girls definitely improved upon.

“You can not put a value on this experience as they are being exposed to their world peers, the best of the best are here. They have learned many lessons both on and off the court and I hope that they take some of these lessons and execute further success in the future.”

Though they were tired after the week, the girls were pleased with what they accomplished.

“We are all tired as it’s been a big week of tennis but overall we’re happy with what we have achieved,” said Hives.

“Of course we would have liked to have done better. We were the defending champions and we thought we could win the entire event. However there were very tough teams from all over the world ,” added Bains.

Junior Davis and Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas is a prestigious international team event for boys and girls aged 16 and under.

Junior Davis Cup final

ITALY [2] d AUSTRALIA [3] 2-1
Harry Bourchier (AUS) d. Filippo Baldi (ITA) 46 76(2) 10-8
Gianluigi Quinzi (ITA) d. Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) 16 60 63
Filippo Baldi/ Gianluigi Quinzi (ITA) d. Harry Bourchier/Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) 60 36 62

Junior Fed Cup third-place play-off

BRAZIL [3] d AUSTRALIA [6] 2-1
Zoe Hives (AUS) d. Carolina Meligeni Alves (BRA) 26 64 61
Beatriz Haddad Maia (BRA) d. Isabelle Wallace (AUS) 46 61 86
Beatriz Haddad Maia/Carolina Meligeni Alves (BRA) d. Naiktha Bains/Isabelle Wallace (AUS) 46 63 62

Final Standings – Junior Davis Cup by BNP Paribas
1. Italy
2. Australia
3. USA
4. France
5. Sweden
6. Russia
7. Korea
8. Argentina
9. Japan
10. Peru
11. Spain
12. China
13. Brazil
14. Mexico
15. Morocco
16. Egypt

Final standings – Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas

1. USA
2. Russia
3. Brazil
4. Australia
5. Spain
6. Germany
7. Italy
8.  Paraguay
9. Egypt
10. South Africa
11. Latvia
12. Japan
13. Mexico
14. Korea
15. Belarus
16. China