Korneeva Claims Second Straight Junior Slam; Prizmic Wins Roland Garros Boys Title; Ngounoue and Grant Capture Girls Doubles Championship; Krajicek Takes Men's Doubles;Teens Tian, Anthrop and Schuman Roll into San Diego $15K Finals

For the first time since 1990, a girl has begun the season by winning the Australian Open and Roland Garros titles, with 15-year-old Alina Korneeva of Russia keeping alive her hopes for a calendar slam with a 7-6(4), 6-3 victory over Lucciana Perez Alarcon of Peru.

Embed from Getty Images Korneeva, the No. 3 seed, saved four set points in the first set with No. 6 seed Perez Alarcon serving for the set at 5-4, then took control late in the subsequent tiebreaker, assisted by Perez Alarcon's double fault, one of nine she had in the match, at 5-4.

Playing more confidently in the second set, Korneeva converted all three of the break points Perez Alarcon gave her, and she is now half way to a historic junior grand slam, which has never been done by a girl. Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria, who was somehow seeded No. 3 at the Wimbledon Junior Championships despite being the champion at the first two junior slams of 1990, lost there in the quarterfinals, ending her quest for the calendar slam; she did go on to win the US Open that year, taking three of the four titles.

The ITF Junior website article on the girls final does not mention Korneeva's plans for the Wimbledon Junior Championships, but I hope she'll be there; she has yet to lose a singles match at a junior slam period, as she made her debut in Melbourne.

Dino Prizmic became the second Croatian to claim the Roland Garros boys title, with the No. 3 seed defeating No. 8 seed Juan Carlos Prado Angelo of Bolivia 6-1, 6-4. Prizmic, who looks like he's added 15 pounds of muscle since I last saw him at the 2022 Wimbledon Junior championships, lost only one set all week and looked dominant today. Prado Angelo made way too many unforced errors to put any pressure on Prizmic, who looked very controlled and disciplined throughout the match. The 17-year-old Prizmic saved the only two break points he faced, in the third game of the match, and looked like ATP Top 300 player that he is. He joins 2005 champion Marin Cilic as a Roland Garros boys champion from Croatia. Prizmic has said he is unlikely to play any more junior tournaments, although I wouldn't be surprised to see him at the ITF Junior Masters this fall in China.

For comments from Prizmic on his title, see the ITF Junior Circuit article.

Four Americans reached Roland Garros doubles finals, and so far three have raised winners' trophies, with one more final to go.

Clervie Ngounoue and Tyra Grant won the girls doubles title this afternoon in Paris, with the No. 6 seeds defeating top seeds Korneeva and Sarah Saito of Japan 6-3, 6-2.  Ngounoue and Grant were playing together for the first time, but both have impressive doubles resumes, with Grant taking the Orange Bowl title last year and two J300s this year, all with Iva Jovic, who was not in Paris due to an injury.  Ngounoue is now 14-0 in ITF junior doubles competition this year, with titles at the J300s in Indian Wells and San Diego(with Qavia Lopez) and her second junior slam doubles title. Ngounoue, who won the 2022 Australian Open girls doubles title with Diana Shnaider(NC State), is currently No. 1 in the ITF junior rankings, but her stay there will be brief, with Korneeva taking back that top spot next week. 

The Roland Garros boys doubles title went to top seeds Yaroslav Demin of Russia and Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez of Mexico, who defeated the unseeded Italian team of Lorenzo Sciahbagi and Gabriele Vulpitta 6-2, 6-3.

Embed from Getty Images Speaking of No. 1s, Austin Krajicek will move to the top spot in the ATP men's doubles ranking after he and Ivan Dodig of Croatia captured the men's title in Paris this evening. Krajicek and Dodig, the No. 4 seeds, defeated the unseeded Belgian team of Sander Gille(East Tennessee St) and Joran Vliegen(East Carolina) 6-3, 6-1 to give Krajicek his first major. Dodig had won two prior to this: Roland Garros in 2015 and the Australian Open in 2021.

Krajicek is the most recent NCAA doubles champion to earn a slam title; he won the 2011 title (with Jeff Dadamo) as a senior at Texas A&M. 

Today's USTA release on Krajicek's victory has some interesting historical notes:

Krajicek and Dodig defeated the all-Belgian team of Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen on Saturday, 6-3, 6-1, to give the 32-year-old Krajicek his first major doubles title. Krajicek is the first American to win the Roland Garros men’s doubles title since Ryan Harrison in 2017 and it's the sixth time in the last 30 years the French Open men's doubles championship team has featured an American:

2023 - Austin Krajicek
2017 - Ryan Harrison
2013, 2003 - Bob and Mike Bryan
1994 - Jonathan Stark
1993 - Luke and Murphy Jensen

A Tampa native who lives in Dallas, and the 2011 NCAA doubles champion at Texas A&M, Krajicek is the 20th American to rank No. 1 individually in doubles since the inception of the ATP Doubles Rankings in 1976. All 20 Americans to rank No. 1 played collegiate tennis in the U.S.:

2023 - Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M)
2022 - Rajeev Ram (Illinois)
2003 - Bob and Mike Bryan (Stanford)
2002 - Donald Johnson (North Carolina)
2000 - Alex O'Brien (Stanford)
2000 - Jared Palmer (Stanford)
1994 - Jonathan Stark (Stanford)
1993 - Patrick Galbraith (UCLA)
1993 - Richey Reneberg (SMU)
1992 - Kelly Jones (Pepperdine)
1991 - David Pate (TCU)
1990 - Rick Leach (USC)
1989 - Jim Pugh (UCLA)
1989 - Jim Grabb (Stanford)
1985 - Ken Flach (SIU-Edwardsville)
1985 - Robert Seguso (SIU-Edwardsville)
1982 - Peter Fleming (UCLA/Michigan)
1981 - Stan Smith (USC)
1979 - John McEnroe (Stanford)

Taylor Townsend is the fourth American in a doubles final at this year's Roland Garros; she and partner Leylah Fernandez of Canada, the No. 10 seeds, will play unseeded Su-Wei Hsieh of Taiwan and Xinyu Wang of China for the championship at 5:30 a.m. Sunday, prior to the men's final between Novak Djokovic and Casper Ruud. 

The teenagers continue to impress at this week's men's and women's $15,000 SoCal Pro Series events in San Diego, with two teens reaching the women's final.

NCAA singles champion Fangran Tian(UCLA), who is 19, reached her second straight final in the SoCal Pro Series by defeating top seed Samantha Crawford 6-2, 6-1 in today's semifinals. Fifteen-year-old Aspen Schuman beat fellow qualifier Nikki Redelijk(Pepperdine) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in a three-hour and 27-minute marathon to reach her first Pro Circuit final. 

Nineteen-year-old Jack Anthrop defeated No. 6 seed Keegan Smith(UCLA) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to reach his first Pro Circuit final. He'll face Jacob Brumm(Cal/Baylor), who outlasted qualifier Jonas Ziverts(Arizona) of Sweden 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-3 in three hours and 20-minutes. 

The doubles champions in San Diego have been crowned, with Tian and Kimmi Hance(UCLA) defeating Anita Sahdiieva(Baylor) of Ukraine and Malaika Rapolu(Texas) 3-6, 6-1, 11-9 in a final between unseeded teams. 

Former Pepperdine teammates Daniel DeJonge of the Netherlands and Andrew Rogers won the men's doubles title today, defeating wild cards Patrik Trhac(Idaho State/Utah) and Isaiah Strode 3-6, 7-6(5), 10-4. Both teams were unseeded.

Cracked Racquets will have coverage of the singles finals Sunday at their YouTube Channel.