Qualifier Karki Gets KitKat Boost to Reach Wimbledon Boys Semifinals; Pohankova Ousts Top Seed Jones, Pareja Beats No. 2 Seed Klugman in Girls Quarterfinals; Verbeek Claims Wimbledon Mixed Title; Anisimova Reaches Women's Final
©Colette Lewis 2025--
Wimbledon--
Of the many amenities available at the All England Lawn Tennis Club that qualifier Ronit Karki has noticed in his first appearance in the Wimbledon Junior Championships, none were as critical a KitKat bar that miraculously appeared in his 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 quarterfinal win Thursday over No. 14 seed Alan Wazny of Poland.
"In the third set, food was just appearing on my bench," marvelled the 17-year-old from New Jersey, who wasn't surprised that the chocolate had begun melting in the 88 degree heat. "I was just eating all of it because I didn't want to cramp. I had a KitKat, a banana, strawberries and cream, and honestly, after I ate the KitKat and the strawberries and cream, I think I got a little sugar in my body for the fuel for the 15 minutes I needed it."
Karki was in desperate need of a injection of energy after losing four straight games to Wazny after breaking to open the third set. But he got the break back, and serving at 3-4, came up with a forehand winner and an ace to hold from 30-all.
Down 0-30 serving at 4-all, Wazny hit three consecutive good serves, the last two of them aces, but Karki saved that game point with a forehand volley winner. Wazny then double faulted to give Karki a break point, which he converted when Wazny missed a backhand volley wide.
Karki admitted that the free points he got on serve the in the previous two matches were not there for him today, but he chalked that up as a reversion to the mean.
"Today it was not as clean," said Karki, who has won six matches this tournament to become the first qualifier to reach a junior slam semifinal since Sascha Gueymard Wayenburg of France did it here in 2021. "I didn't expect to be serving as good as the last two days, because that's just not normal for me; it's not how I typically play. I didn't let it get to my head, because in most of my matches I'm winning off ground strokes, not serving through the guy. But I did come up with a few good serves today in some important moments and my second serve was really consistent, so it wasn't that big of a drawback."
Karki will face No. 12 seed Alexander Vasilev of Bulgaria, the runner-up last week at the ITF J300 in Roehampton, who defeated unseeded Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands 6-4, 5-7, 6-3. Vasilev handed Karki his only defeat to date in junior slams in the second round at Roland Garros this year 1-6, 6-2, 6-4.
The other boys semifinal will also feature a Bulgarian, with No. 6 seed Ivan Ivanov getting another shot at No. 13 seed Max Schoenhaus of Germany, who defeated him in the semifinals of Roland Garros 6-3, 6-4. Ivanov beat unseeded Ziga Sesko of Slovenia 6-3, 7-6(4), while Schoenhaus repeated his Roland Garros win over No. 7 seed Benjamin Willwerth 7-6(2), 6-3 in the battle between the past two junior slam finalists.
Schoenhaus had needed to save two match points in a third set tiebreaker to beat Willwerth in last month's Roland Garros quarterfinals, which only made the 17-year-old with a one-handed backhand more wary coming into the rematch.
"It's a completely different surface," said Schoenhaus, who is the first German boy since Maximilian Marterer in 2013 to make a Junior Wimbledon semifinal. "He can play a really high level, can hit really really hard shots, which is hard on grass, so I spoke to my team about it and we did some tactical changes and I think it worked out great today."
Schoenhaus had 28 winners and nine aces, and although he showed signs of nerves in his attempt to serve out the first set at 5-4 and then going down 0-40 in serving out the 5-3 game in the second set, Willwerth found it difficult to locate any other chinks in the armor.
"He was playing insane," said the 18-year-old from Florida. "I feel like the match was all up to him, I had very little to, like, do. It was either he would hit a winner or it was out, so it was tough for me; he took all the rhythm away and I couldn't do what I usually do. He was just ripping winners, his serve was staying very low, so I had a tough time returning his serve."
Schoenhaus, who won the doubles title here last year with Alexander Razeghi, made a trip to the banner posted outside Centre Court honoring the previous year's junior champions, but his title defense ended today. Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain and Schoenhaus, the top seeds, lost to No. 8 seeds Oliver Bonding of Great Britain and Jagger Leach 6-3, 2-6, 10-7.
Bonding and Leach will face unseeded Mees Rottgering and Hidde Schoenmakers of the Netherlands, who beat unseeded Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico and Jack Secord 6-2, 7-6(5).
No. 4 seeds Oskari Paldanius of Finland and Alan Wazny of Poland won the battle of the 2025 boys doubles champions, with the Roland Garros winners beating the unseeded Australian Open champions Max Exsted and Czech Jan Kumstat 6-4, 7-6(5). They will play the unseeded team of Amir Omarkhanov of Kazakhstan and Egor Pleshivtsev of Russia, who beat unseeded Connor Doig of South Africa and Kriish Tyagi of India 6-4, 7-6(8).
The girls singles semifinals will feature three unseeded players and No. 6 seed Julieta Pareja of the United States, after the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 seeds all lost today on three different Show Courts.
Mia Pohankova of Slovakia defeated top seed and 2024 Wimbledon girls finalist Emerson Jones 6-2, 6-2 on Show Court 18, using her slice and her anticipation to force Jones into a bevy of unforced errors.
Pohankova defeated 2024 US Open champion Mika Stojsavljevic of Great Britain, seeded No. 7, in the first round, but long before that she had demonstrated she could be competitive at the very top of the junior game.
At an ITF women's W75 in her home town of Bratislava last October, Pohankova defeated compatriot Renata Jamrichova, just months removed from her Wimbledon girls title, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
"It was in our country, in the finals," said the 16-year-old, who reached the Australian Open girls semifinals this year. "I can beat anyone in juniors; I need to believe in myself. If I just stay focused on the court, I can do it. I believe."
Pohankova will face 2024 semifinalist Vendula Valdmannova of the Czech Republic, who saved a match point in her 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 win over No. 5 seed Teodora Kostovic of Serbia, when Kostovic was serving at 5-4, 40-30 in the third set.
The two girls with the best grass court results of the season will meet in the other semifinal, with Pareja taking on Mimi Xu of Great Britain. Xu defeated Roland Garros champion Lilli Tagger 7-6(4), 6-1 on a match moved to Court 3.
Xu, who has had two Top 100 WTA wins last month early in the grass season, received a main draw wild card into Wimbledon, where she lost to Emma Raducanu 6-3, 6-3. But all the experience she has gained against WTA veterans continues to give her confidence.
"I think it's really relaxed me," said the 17-year-old, who reached the US Open girls semifinals last year. "I lost to Emma but I feel like it was a competitive match so I know I've got that level in me. And it's such great preparation, because all the juniors, except Hannah(Klugman) and Mika(Stojsavljevic), hadn't played on these courts yet, so at the start it was an advantage for me. What better preparation can you get for Junior Wimbledon than playing senior Wimbledon?"
Like Xu, who is playing her fifth Junior Wimbledon, Pareja has excelled on grass, although the last two weeks are the Californian's first exposure to the surface. She now has 18 wins and one loss, the latter in the Roehampton doubles final, after beating No. 2 seed Hannah Klugman of Great Britain 6-4, 6-2 on Show Court 12 and advancing to the doubles semifinals as well.
Pareja and Thea Frodin, the No. 5 seeds, defeated Yihan Qu of China and Kamonwan Yodpetch of Thailand 7-6(7) 6-4 and will play unseeded Julie Pastikova of the Czech Republic and Julia Stusek of Germany. Pastikova and Stusek defeated unseeded Sarah Fajmonova of the Czech Republic and Kali Supova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-3.
No. 8 seeds Kristina Penickova and Valdmannova defeated No. 2 seeds Jones and Jeline Vandromme of Belgium 7-6(7), 6-2 to reach the bottom half semifinal. They will play sisters Alena Kovackova and Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic, the No. 3 seeds, who beat No. 6 seeds Charo Esquiva Banuls of Spain and Nellie Taraba Wallberg of Sweden 7-5, 6-4.
Round robin play in the 14U tournament began today, with all three Americans picking up victories. Emery Combs beat Australia's Caressa Jackson 6-7(3), 6-3, 10-6 and Carol Shao defeated Flavia Souza of Brazil 6-4, 6-2 in groups C and B respectively. The boys played twice today, with Tristan Ascenzo going 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Siyun Kim of Korea and a 6-3, 7-6(8) victory over Ignacio Mejias of Venezuela.
The first of the Wimbledon doubles championships was decided this evening with Sem Verbeek(Pacific) of the Netherlands and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic claiming the mixed doubles title with a 7-6(3), 7-6(3) win over Joe Salisbury(Memphis) and Luisa Stefani(Pepperdine) on Centre Court.
It's the 11th career major doubles title for Siniakova, but her first in mixed, although she did win the gold medal with Tomas Machac at last year's Olympic Games in Paris. It's the first major title for Verbeek.
For more on their title, see this article from the Wimbledon website.
Amanda Anisimova have advanced to her first major final, beating WTA No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 today on Centre Court. Anisimova will face 2018 Wimbledon girls champion Iga Swiatek of Poland for the title on Saturday.
The USTA provided this perspective on Anisimova's accomplishment in a brief release today:
Amanda Anisimova Reaches Wimbledon Singles Final
Fourth Consecutive Grand Slam Women's Singles Final to Feature an American
Twenty-three-year-old American Amanda Anisimova reached the 2025 Wimbledon Ladies' Singles Final by defeating top seed and world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, in today's semifinals. She'll play the winner of Iga Swiatek and Belinda Bencic for the title on Saturday in London.
Anisimova becomes the youngest American women's singles finalist at Wimbledon since Serena Williams in 2004, and continues an incredible run for American women in Grand Slam events.
Four different American women have now reached the singles final of each of the last four Grand Slam events, following Jessica Pegula (2024 US Open, Finalist); Madison Keys (2025 Australian Open, Champion) and Coco Gauff (2025 French Open, Champion).
American Taylor Fritz plays Carlos Alcaraz in tomorrow's men's semifinals in a bid to become the first American Wimbledon men's finalist since Andy Roddick in 2009 -- also the last year Wimbledon featured Americans in both the men's and women's singles finals (Serena d. Venus).
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