Roland Garros Junior Championships Begin Sunday with Fifteen Americans in Action; Five US Women, Three US Men Reach RG Second Week for First Time in 40 Years; Zhang and Kypson Meet for Little Rock Challenger Title Sunday

The Roland Garros Junior Championships begin Sunday, with 15 of the 19 Americans in the boys and girls draws on the schedule. Twelve US boys, four of them seeded, and seven US girls, with four of them also seeded, are hoping to match Kaylan Bigun's run to the title last year. 

Three-quarters of the junior first round matches are on Sunday's schedule; with the day off yesterday for the qualifiers, there is no need to have them play Monday, but the four singles finalists at the ITF J300 in Belgium this afternoon received a travel day Sunday and won't play until Monday.

That includes Maximus Dussault, who lost to No. 6 seed Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil, 6-4, 6-2 in today's singles final. Ksenia Efremova of France, also the No. 6 seed, beat No. 4 seed Petra Konjikusic of Serbia 7-5, 1-6, 7-6(2) in the girls final. 

In the doubles finals Friday, unseeded Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico and Jacob Olar won the boys championship match, beating No. 4 seeds Valentin Garay of Argentina and Ty Host of Australia 6-4, 6-1 in the final. No. 4 seeds Vendula Valdmannova of the Czech Republic and Ida Wobker of Germany took the girls doubles title, beating the unseeded Russian pair of Felitsata Dorofeeva-Rybas and Anna Pushkareva 7-6(4), 6-3. Dorofeeva-Rybas, 15, and Pushkareva, 16, were not accepted into qualifying at Roland Garros, so they were not eligible for special exemptions in Paris.

In addition to Dussault, the Americans playing their first round matches Monday are Jack Kennedy, Australian Open finalist Benjamin Willwerth and qualifier Capucine Jauffret, who has drawn top seed Emerson Jones of Australia.

The seeds:

Boys:

1. Andres Santamarta Roig(ESP)

2. Jacopo Vasami(ITA)

3. Osaki Paldanius(FIN)

4. Jack Kennedy(USA)

5. Jagger Leach(USA)

6. Benjamin Willwerth(USA)

7. Yannick Alexandrescou(ROU)

8. Amir Omarkhanov(KAZ)

9. Ivan Ivanov(BUL)

10. Timofei Derepasko(RUS)

11. Alexander Vasilev(BUL)

12. Alan Wazny(POL)

13. Ryo Tabata(JPN)

14. Nikita Bilozertsev[SE](UKR)

15. Jan Kumstat(CZE)

16. Keaton Hance(USA)

Girls:

1. Emerson Jones(AUS)

2. Kristina Penickova(USA)

3. Jeline Vandromme(BEL)

4. Teodora Kostovic(SRB)

5. Tereza Krejcova(CZE)

6. Luna Vujovic(SRB)

7. Jana Kovackova(CZE)

8. Hannah Klugman(GBR)

9. Julieta Pareja(USA)

10. Alena Kovackova(CZE)

11. Ruien Zhang(CHN)

12. Julia Stusek(GER)

13. Charo Esquiva Banuls(ESP)

14. Annika Penickova(USA)

15. Thea Frodin(USA)

16. Laima Vladson(LAT)

Sunday's first round junior matches featuring Americans:

Keaton Hance[16] v William Rejchtman Vinciguerra(SWE)

Jack Satterfield v Daniel Jade[WC](FRA)

Maxwell Exsted v Mathys Domenc[WC](FRA)

Jagger Leach[5] v Zangar Nurlanuly(KAZ)

Noah Johnston v Hyu Kawanishi[SE](JPN)

Ronit Karki[Q] v Manas Dhamne[Q](IND)

Ryan Cozad v Linus Lagerbohm[Q](FIN)

Dominick Mosejczuk v Ryo Tabata[13](JPN)

Jack Secord v Damien Clerc[WC](FRA)

Kristina Penickova[2] v Rositsa Dencheva(BUL)

Leena Friedman[Q] v Brooke Black[Q](GBR)

Julieta Pareja[9] v Deniz Dilek(TUR)

Maya Iyengar v Maia Burcescu[Q](ROU)

Thea Frodin[15] v Cindy Langlais[WC](FRA)

Annika Penickova[14] v Nellie Taraba Wallberg(SWE)

Junior matches will be streamed on Max, which can be purchased at a monthly rate of $16.99.

For the first time since 1985, eight Americans have advanced to the fourth round at Roland Garros, after wins today by Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Madison Keys and Hailey Baptiste. 

From the USTA release on that history:

Eight Americans -- five women, three men -- have reached the singles Round of 16 at the French Open for the first time in 40 years. The last time the Roland Garros fourth round featured eight or more American players was 1985, also with five women and three men:

 

Saturday's third round results of Americans:
Jessica Pegula[3] d. Marketa Vondrousova(CZE) 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
Coco Gauff[2] d. Marie Bouzkova(CZE) 6-1, 7-6(3)
Madison Keys[7] d. Sofia Kenin[31] 4-6, 6-3, 7-5
Hailey Baptiste d. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro(ESP) 7-6(4), 6-1

Tallon Griekspoor(NED) d. Ethan Quinn[Q] 4-6, 6-1, 6-7(2), 6-1, 6-4

Sunday's fourth round matches featuring Americans:

Tommy Paul[12] v Alexei Popyrin[25](AUS)

Ben Shelton[13] v Carlos Alcaraz[2](ESP)

Frances Tiafoe[15] v Daniel Altmaier(GER)

Amanda Anisimova[16] v Aryna Sabalenka[1](BLR)

In the all-British, all-TCU battle today, Cam Norrie defeated Jacob Fearnley 6-3, 7-6(1), 6-2.

Qualifier Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M) and wild card Michael Zheng(Columbia) will play for the ATP Challenger 75 title in Little Rock Arkansas Sunday, with Kypson defeating Andres Andrade(Florida) of Ecuador 6-3, 6-2 and Zheng beating No. 2 seed Liam Draxl of Canada 6-4, 6-4 in today's semifinals.

Kypson, 25, who won his last Challenger two weeks ago in Bogota, is seeking his fifth Challenger title; he has never lost a Challenger final. Zheng, 21, will be playing in his second Challenger final after losing to Kei Nishikori of Japan in the Puerto Rico Challenger final in June of 2023.

The singles finals are set for Sunday at the $15,000 SoCal Pro Series tournaments in San Diego.

No. 2 seed Keegan Smith(UCLA) will face unseeded University of San Diego graduate Savriyan Danilov of Russia for the men's title. Danilov defeated Canadian qualifier Jaden Weekes 6-1, 6-2, while Smith got past wild card Rohan Murali(Harvard) 6-2, 7-6(2).

The women's title will be decided by top seed Dejana Radanovic of Serbia and unseeded Katie Swan of Great Britain. Radanovic beat Mao Mushika(Cal) of Japan 7-6(9), 6-2 in the semifinals; Swan ended the run of qualifier Claire Hill(UNC) 6-4, 6-1.

Top seeds Anita Sahdiieva(Baylor, LSU) and Haley Giavara(Cal) claimed the women's doubles championship, beating the unseeded Australian pairing of Lily Taylor(Arizona State) and Lily Fairclough(USC) 6-1, 6-3 in today's final.

The men's doubles title also went to the top seeds, with Finn Bass(Baylor) of Great Britain and Matt Hulme(Coastal Georgia, Omaha) of Australia defeating the unseeded Mexican team of Daniel Moreno(LSU, Loyola Marymount) and Manuel Sanchez 6-4, 7-5.