Marko Aleksovski loses in final at Athens U18 junior tournament
15-year-old second seed fell 6-2, 6-3 to top seed Marinos Karniatis on November 7, 2026; doubles semifinal also lost alongside Matej Popov.
Fifteen-year-old Marko Aleksovski reached the singles final of the Athens U18 junior tournament but fell short on November 7, 2026, losing to top seed Marinos Karniatis 6-2, 6-3. The event was played on the courts of the Athens Olympic complex.
Match run and doubles outcome
Aleksovski entered the tournament as the second seed and produced several convincing victories on his way to the final. He beat Marko Mastropascana (Italy) 6-2, 6-1, and in the second round defeated Momchil Markov (Bulgaria) 6-1, 6-1.
In the quarterfinal he prevailed against Kei Ichikawa (Japan) in three sets, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2, and then upset fourth seed Herman Kravchenko (Ukraine) 6-3, 7-5 to book his place in the title match.
In doubles, Aleksovski partnered with Matej Popov. The pair reached the semifinals but were edged out by Kei Ichikawa and Felix Reiman (Germany) 2-1 in sets, with the deciding match tiebreak finishing 11-9 in favour of their opponents.
Popov also had a noteworthy singles week: after coming through qualifying, he won three matches in the tournament, defeating Dimitros Melisoglou (Greece) 2-0 in the main draw before losing to Oliver Venerstad (Sweden) 2-0.
The Athens tournament was held at the Olympic tennis courts that hosted matches during the 2004 Olympic Games, and Aleksovski’s run — as a 15-year-old competing in an under-18 field — was one of the tournament’s standout stories on November 7, 2026.
Photo: press material from the event
