compass-supported 12-year-old Adela Brhelova from Czechia was superior in both the U15 and U13 singles events in Linz, where one of the first WTT Youth Contenders of 2026 was played from 8–11 January.

Adela defeated Enya Hu of Switzerland in the U15 final and Enya’s sister Elina Hu in the U13 final. Adela also won the mixed doubles title alongside her compatriot, Richard Feber.

Adela won both her group matches, qualifying her for the main draw. In the first two rounds, she played against Emma Varadi of Hungary and Ilvi Ulrich of Switzerland.

In the quarterfinals, she defeated Europe’s number three in the U15 rankings, Sophia Pichler of Austria, with a score of 11:8, 16:14, 11:7. In the semifinal, she continued her series of 3:0 victories, this time against Barbora Guassardo from Slovakia (11:5, 11:6, 11:8). She also won the final in straight games, with a score of 11:5, 11:1, 14:12 against Enya Hu from Switzerland.

Adela won all four of her group matches in the U13 event without losing a single game.

In the quarterfinals, she narrowly beat Emily Wu of Switzerland 3:2. Adela won the first game, lost the second, won the third, lost the fourth, but ultimately proved stronger, winning the decider 11:6.

The final went more smoothly. She won 11:6, 11:4 and 11:9 against Elina Hu from Switzerland. Elina went on to win the U11 event, beating her compatriot Mia Wu in straight games in the final.

This was a very impressive start to the season for 12-year-old Adela, who was up to three years younger than her competitors in the U15 event. She also coped well with the pressure of being the favourite in the U13 event.

Adela won her third title in the U15 mixed doubles event in Linz! Partnering with compatriot Richard Feber, the talented Czech player won two matches to reach the quarterfinals, where they defeated Lukas Wang (Germany) and Irina Silva (Portugal) 3:1.

In the semifinals, they beat Tien Nghia Phong (Germany) and Nadalia Ionascu (Romania) 3:1. In the final, they faced another German/Romanian pair, Tim Toetz and Kariss Serban. As in the previous rounds, Adela and Richard won 3:1, this time with set scores of 11:8, 8:11, 11:8 and 11:7.

An outstanding performance by Adela Brhelova! 19 matches played, 19 matches won! Congratulations!

compass-supported Ladimir Mayorov and Jeffrey Wei also participated in Linz. Both qualified for the knockout stage of the U17 singles, with Ladimir winning one match before losing to Filip Racek from Czechia. Meanwhile, Jeffrey lost in the first round to Santiago Uribe from Peru.

In the U15 singles event, both Ladimir and Jeffrey won their qualification groups. Jeffrey then overcame Albert Czigler from Romania and Sung Chen from Austria in the playoffs, winning both matches 3:1. However, Jeffrey lost to another Austrian, Louis Fegerl, in the round of the last 8.

‘Ladi’ defeated Benjamin Bian of Austria and Matei Nita of Romania before encountering Kuzey Gündoğdu of Turkey in the semifinals, winning in straight games. In the final, Ladimir lost 1:3 to Volodymyr Nevizhyn of Ukraine (9:11, 11:4, 4:11, 6:11).

Nevertheless, winning silver is a good result for Ladimir. He was born in 2013 and competed against opponents up to two years older than him.

Ladimir and Jeffrey also participated in U15 mixed doubles. Ladimir pairing Enya Hu, and Jeffrey Emily Wu, both girls from Switzerland. Ladimir/Enya lost in the second round and Jeffrey and Emily in the round of the last 16.