Yiannis Sakkas, Deree Tennis Academy athlete and Pierce student on an athletic scholarship, participated last week in the U16 Tennis Europe Category-1 International Tournament, held in Torelló, Spain, in which the top internationally ranked athletes participated.

Yiannis with Stefanos Pournaropoulos won the doubles, after achieving four victories!

In the first round, they won Fermin Barcala Lopez and Eric Maestre Gomez from Spain (4-6, 6-3, 11-9 in the super tie-break), while in the second round they won Christian Pizzolante and Pierandrea Marcello Valente from Italy (6-3, 6-2).

In the semi-final, they faced the #1 couple of the tournament, Kolos Kincses from Hungary and Arturs Zagars from Latvia (6-4, 3-6 and 10-4 in the super tie-break), and in the final game they won the #2 couple of the tournament Joao Morgado from Portugal and Jan Smrcka from Germany (6-4, 6-3).

In singles, Yiannis lost in the first round to Joao Morgado after a very tight match (2-6, 4-6).

Congratulations to Yannis for this major success, and to all athletes for their effort!