June Aces; Hovde Claims ITF J1 Title in Roehampton, Gorzny and Michelsen Take Boys Doubles Championship; Four Americans Qualify for Wimbledon Junior Championships Starting Saturday; Tiafoe and Paul Through to Wimbledon Round of 16

I've arrived in London and am eager to see what will unfold at the third junior slam of the year, but before that begins on Saturday, it's time to look back at the top performances of June.

Roland Garros seems like a long time ago, yet in my monthly column for Tennis Recruiting Network I made sure that the five juniors or former collegians that left Paris as champions weren't forgotten as we turn our attention to the grass season. The USTA Pro Circuit is also back in full swing and current and former collegians have been taking advantage of their opportunities to improve their ATP and WTA rankings.

Liv Hovde won the ITF Grade 1 in Roehampton today, defeating No. 9 seed Johanne Svendsen of Denmark 6-2, 6-3. As this Wimbledon Junior championships preview article from the ITF suggests, that is often an indication of success at Wimbledon, with six of the last nine girls Wimbledon champions having won Roehampton the week before. It didn't turn out that way last year however, with Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic falling in the semifinals. 

Sixteen-year-old Martin Landaluce of Spain is having himself quite a first grass season, winning his second consecutive J1 title today at Roehampton with a 7-6(5), 7-5 victory over unseeded Alex Michelsen. Landaluce also has had an tremendous season on clay, more in line with expectations for a Spanish player. He is now a eye-popping 44-6, with one of those rare losses in the first round of the Roland Garros Junior Championships.

Michelsen also fell just short in the all-USA boys doubles final, with partner Sebastian Gorzny. They lost to Learner Tien and Cooper Williams, also unseeded, 6-1, 3-6, 10-5. (CORRECTION: winner was entered incorrectly on ITF junior website. Score is correct but winning team is wrong).

No. 3 seeds Kayla Cross and Victoria Mboko of Canada won the girls doubles title, beating No. 7 seeds Carolina Kuhl of Germany and Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-1.

The final round of qualifying for the Wimbledon Junior Championships sent four more Americans to the main draw, joining the 14 who received direct entry.

Kaitlin Quevedo[8] defeated British wild card Given Roach 6-3, 6-2 to bring the total of US girls in the main draw to six. 

Aidan Kim[4], Leanid Boika[6] and Jonah Braswell[9] qualified to make an even dozen Americans in the Wimbledon Junior Championships main draw. 

Kim defeated Devin Badenhorst of South Africa 7-6(3), 3-6, 11-9; Boika beat No. 12 seed Togan Tokac of Turkey 6-2, 6-4 and Braswell squeezed past alternate Jelani Sarr 7-6(3), 4-6, 10-7. Braswell, a rising freshman at Florida, will be making his slam debut Sunday.

Only two Americans are on the junior schedule for Saturday, which seems way out of whack until when there are 18 US competitors and half of the first round singles matches are on Saturday's schedule. Although it is still unbalanced, part of the explanation is the necessity of giving the day off to the five Americans who were in the Roehampton finals and the four qualifiers, who are traditionally not scheduled the day after the qualifying concludes.

Third round results of US men and women Friday July 1:

Cameron Norrie[9](GBR) d. Steve Johnson 6-4, 6-1, 6-0
Frances Tiafoe[23] d. Alexander Bublik(KAZ) 3-6, 7-6(1), 7-6(3), 6-4
Jannik Sinner[10](ITA) d. John Isner[20] 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-3
Jack Sock[Q] d. Maxime Cressy 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(1)
Tommy Paul[30] d. Jiri Vesely(CZE) 6-3, 6-2, 6-2

Marie Bouzkova(CZE) d. Alison Riske[28] 6-2, 6-3

 
Third round matches featuring American men and women Saturday July 2:

Coco Gauff[11] v Amanda Anisimova[20]
Jessica Pegula[8] v Petra Martic(CRO)

Jenson Brooksby[29] v Cristian Garin(CHI)
Taylor Fritz[11] v Alex Molcan(SVK)
Brandon Nakashima v Daniel Elahi Galan(COL)
Jack Sock[Q] v Jason Kubler(AUS)

American juniors in action Saturday:
Nishesh Basavareddy[5] v Dylan Dietrich(SUI)
Ozan Colak v Olaf Pieczkowski(POL)