"When you're hot, you're hot," sang Jerry Reed years ago in an inarguable (and inarguably catchy) specimen of perfectly circular reasoning. 50 years later, Reed's Grammy-winning ditty could well serve as the soundtrack to another young player who keeps rolling sevens. Kay Stumper (pictured) of Germany strode into the WTT Youth Star Contender in Tunis, Tunisia on a serious hot streak. The 18-year-old Stumper was already a well-established junior star, winner of the last two European Youth Top 10 championships. In recent months, he has also been announcing his presence on the adult circuit, even claiming a win at the prestigious Düsseldorf Masters tournament. The Under 19 Boys Singles event was headlined by Croatia's Ivor Ban, the world #13 in the boys 18-and-under demographic. Not far behind was the aforementioned Stumper, ranked #16 globally and seeded fourth in Tunisia. Stumper upset Ban in the semis, however, knocking off the top seed in five games to earn a shot at the title. In the finals, Stumper met a familiar foe in Belgium's Adrien Rassenfosse, the world #15 seeded second at the tournament. Stumper ignored Rassenfosse's superior seeding, attacking every short serve with a deadly banana backhand flick and never letting the Belgian establish a rhythm. The pivotal point of the match came in game two. With Stumper up one game to nil, the second went to deuce. With a chance to level the match, Rassenfosse instead surrendered two quick points to fall even further behind. He rallied to win the third at deuce, but it was too little, too late as the confident Stumper closed out the match, 11-7 in the fourth. When you're hot, you're hot.

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