Connor Green saved match points in the quarter-finals and semi-finals as he became the first English Junior to reach a WTT Youth Contender final – but he was unable to take the final step and win gold.

Green, the world-ranked No 50 Junior, took on Mykhailo Lovha of Slovakia, ranked just one place below him, in the Under-19 Boys’ Singles final at the WTT Youth Contender Tunis.

Having beaten three higher-ranked players on his way to the final, Green would have fancied his chances of being the first English boy since Luke Savill in 2017 to win at this level – Savill’s win was in the pre-WTT days at the Slovakian Junior Open.

His opponent settled quickly and opened up a 7-0 lead in the first. Green clawed back to 6-9 down, but Lovha brought up four game points.

When Green saved three of them, the Slovakian took an early timeout, but it did not help immediately as Green saved the fourth game point and another at 10-11. Lovha then saved two Green game points before he finally took his next chance to claim it 15-13.

The second was tight up to 8-8 but rangy left-hander Lovha got to 10-8 with the aid of a dead net cord and took the next point to go 2-0 ahead.

Green went 3-0 up in the third but trailed 3-4 when he took his timeout. He won the next point but that was to be his final point of the match as Lovha, whose confidence was by now sky-high, closed it out, with a frustrated Green picking up a yellow card near the end.

But Green can be proud of creating a little bit of history which will only help his belief, as well as his ranking.

Earlier, Green’s run started as he got through his group with few alarms, then beat Julian Rzihauschek (WR 58) of Austria in the last 32, finally shaking off his opponent 11-7 in the fifth.

His last-16 match was against world No 31 junior Flavio Mourier of France and was a tight four-setter which Green came through 11-9, 9-11, 12-10, 11-8.

Green had to dig deep in the quarter-finals as he took on Yoan Velichkov (WR 45) of Bulgaria. Green was 1-0 down and 2-1 up before being pegged back to 2-2.

The deciding game saw Velchikov bring up three match points at 10-7, but Green reeled off five in a row to take him through to the last-four clash with Antoine Noirault of France (WR 43).

Again, it went the distance and again Green, who twice fought back from a game behind to level, had to save match points before advancing. This time it was two, at 9-10 and 10-11 in the fourth, before he went on to win 3-2 (5-11, 11-8, 7-11, 13-11, 11-6) to book that historic final match – but it was not to be a fairytale ending.

Tianer Yu (WR 142) was unable to make it out of her group in the Under-19 Girls’ Singles as she lost to top seed Wu Ying-syuan of Chinese Taipei, before seeing Bulgaria’s Viktoria Persova (WR 126) come from 2-0 down to win in the fifth.

Abraham Sellado (WR 202) reached the last 16 of the Under-17 Boys’ Singles, going out to world No 72 Petr Hodina of Austria. Kacper Piwowar (WR 203) was defeated in the last 32 Bilel Zouitene (WR 297) of Algeria.

Sellado and Piwowar were respectively the third and fourth seeds in the Under-15 Boys’ Singles but both went out in the last 16 in a deciding game, Piwowar having been 2-0 up against France’s Quentin Sandona (WR 406) and Sellado at the hands of Albin Ingestrom of Sweden (WR 321).

Results

Under-19 Boys’ Singles
Qualifying group 10
Connor Green bt Abishek Vepa (SUI) 3-1 (8-11, 13-11, 11-7, 11-7)
Green bt Artur Gromek (POL) 3-0 (11-2, 11-5, 13-11)

Round of 32
Green bt Julian Rzihauschek (AUT) 3-2 (11-6, 9-11, 12-10, 10-12, 11-7)

Round of 16
Green bt Flavio Mourier (FRA) 3-1 (11-9, 9-11, 12-10, 11-8)

Quarter-finals
Green bt Yoan Velichkov (BUL) 3-2 (9-11, 12-10, 11-3, 6-11, 12-10)

Semi-finals
Green by Antoine Noirault (FRA) 3-2 (5-11, 11-8, 7-11, 13-11, 11-6)

Final
Mykhailo Lovha (SVK) bt Green 3-0 (15-13, 11-8, 11-4)

Under-19 Girls’ Singles
Qualifying group 1
Wu Ying-syuan (TPE) bt Tianer Yu 3-1 (9-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-6)
Viktoria Persova (BUL) bt Yu 3-2 (3-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 12-10)

Under-17 Boys’ Singles
Qualifying group 10
Abraham Sellado bt Ahmed El Fehri (TUN) 3-0 (11-3, 11-5, 11-6)
Sellado bt Bilel Zouitene (ALG) 3-1 (11-7, 11-5, 6-11, 11-3)

Qualifying group 11
Kacper Piwowar bt Anas Mechergui (TUN) 3-0 (11-3, 11-6, 11-8)
Faraz Shakiba (IRI) bt Piwowar 3-2 (7-11, 11-7, 11-13, 11-3, 11-5)

Round of 32
Sellado bt Nolan Johnston (FRA) 3-1 (11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5)
Bilel Zouitene (ALG) bt Piwowar 3-1 (9-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-9)

Round of 16
Petr Hodina (AUT) bt Sellado 3-0 (11-3, 11-1, 11-9)

Under-15 Boys’ Singles
Qualifying group 3
Abraham Sellado bt Mateo Lois (ESP) 3-1 (11-3, 11-4, 7-11, 11-6)
Sellado bt Viktor Dimitrov (BUL) 3-0 (11-5, 11-2, 11-9)

Qualifying group 4
Kacper Piwowar bt Trayan Georgiev (BUL) 3-0 (11-7, 11-4, 11-7)
Piwowar bt Noah Tessier (FRA) 3-1 (5-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-6)

Round of 16
Albin Ingestrom (SWE) bt Sellado 3-2 (5-11, 11-6, 11-7, 7-11, 11-6)
Quentin Sandona (FRA) bt Piwowar 3-2 (6-11, 6-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8)