Lydia Panagiotidou, 16, became the first Greek girl ever to win the Tennis Europe Junior Masters on Saturday in Monte Ca...

Lydia Panagiotidou, 16, became the first Greek girl ever to win the Tennis Europe Junior Masters on Saturday in Monte Carlo, defeating Serbia's Zana Peric 6-3, 6-2 in the Girls' 16 & Under final at the Monte-Carlo Country Club. The win did more than hand her a title. She and Peric had arrived in Monaco level at the top of the Race to Monte-Carlo standings with 1,110 points each, so the final also settled the year-end No. 1 ranking. Panagiotidou now finishes 2026 as Europe's top-ranked player in the Girls' 16 & Under category. She was dominant all week. She won all four of her matches in straight sets, dropped just 13 games across the entire tournament, won 76% of her first-serve points (the best rate among all 32 players in the draw), and spent only four hours and ten minutes on court. The Monte Carlo crown is her fourth Tennis Europe title of 2026. Earlier this year she won Category 3 events in Thessaloniki and Larissa, and took the Super Category under-16 title at Rome's Foro Italico, held alongside the ATP and WTA Internazionali d'Italia. She represents the Thessaloniki Tennis Club, where she trains under head coach Marios Michailidis. Hellenic Tennis Federation coach Apostolos Triantafyllidis accompanied her in Monte Carlo. In an Instagram post after the victory, Panagiotidou dedicated the title to her coach and her parents, Maria and Savvas. "This win is dedicated to my coach Marios Michailidis and to my parents Maria and Savvas. Thank you so much for your support and for everything you do," she wrote. She now joins a list of former Junior Masters champions that includes Rafael Nadal, Kim Clijsters, Alexander Zverev, and Belinda Bencic. The title also keeps a Junior Masters trophy in Greek hands for the second year running, after Rafael Pagonis won the Boys' 14 & Under event in 2025. With her Tennis Europe under-16 career now complete, Panagiotidou turns her focus to the ITF Junior Tour. She already sits inside the top 180 of the ITF world junior rankings, with her sights set on Roland Garros and Wimbledon junior draws. #GreekTennis #LydiaPanagiotidou #TennisEurope