Vera Lapko wins Junior Australian Open

In the decisive match, the 17 year old Belarusian athlete defeated the Slovakian Tereza Mihalikova in two sets — 6:3, 6:4. On her way to the champion title in Melbourne, Vera also beat Sara Tomic and Michaela Haet of Australia, Jia Ren of China, Japan’s Chihiro Muramatsu and Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya.

This is the first individual title at the Junior Big Slam tournaments in the career of the 17 year old Vera Lapko. Previously, she twice reached the doubles finals: at the US Open in 2014 and at Wimbledon in 2015. Both times she was partnered by Tereza Mihalikova.

Now the winner of the Junior Australian Open is expected to join the Belarusian national team ahead of an away match of the first round of the 2016 Fed Cup World Group II against Canada. In addition to Vera, the team will comprise Victoria Azarenka, Olga Govortsova and Alexandra Sasnovich. The matches will take place in Quebec, Canada on February 6th-7th.