Sesko's Tweener Winner Leads to Upset of Boys Top Seed at Wimbledon Junior Championships; Hance Ousts Roland Garros Champion McDonald; Qualifier Karki Advances; Fritz and Anisimova Reach Semifinals

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Wimbledon--

Trailing 2-0 in the third set in his Wimbledon Junior Championships second round match against top seed Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain, Ziga Sesko needed a spark. The 16-year-old from Koper Slovenia found it in the form of a tweener winner to hold for 2-1, and rode the momentum of that improbable shot and the adulation of the Court 4 crowd to a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win over the ITF's world junior No. 1.

"I hit an amazing winner, he lobbed me and I hit an unbelievable winner shot," said Sesko, who ripped the tweener passing shot by  Santamarta at the net, then raised his arms in the air in triumph. "The crowd went crazy and that really helped me; I got some momentum, managed to get back the break and finish the match."

With the Centre Court and Court One matches not yet starting, the four junior boys singles courts were packed, and with an upset of that magnitude a possibility, the crowd continued to grow as the third set progressed.

"It was unbelievable atmosphere," said the ITF junior No. 43, who turns 17 later this month. "The spectators love the way I play, it was louder than a usual tournament, and my first slam also, so it was unbelievable."

Sesko, who was at the Piatti Tennis Center in Italy until returning to Slovenis to train with his father Dejan, believes his aggressive game is tailor-made for grass.

"I always say the faster the court is, the more it suits me," Sesko said. "I tried also in the third set to play a bit more slice, get to the net a lot. I think I have a solid volley and I need to use that. And I served really well at the end, so I think all these things combined led me to the win."

Santamarta was one of three Top 5 seeds to fall in the second round, with Roland Garros champion Niels McDonald of Germany, the No. 5 seed, also an upset victim.  

Keaton Hance had lost to McDonald in the second round at Roland Garros last month, so he made several adjustments today which led to his 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-4 victory.

"He beat me pretty bad (6-1, 6-3), so I was definitely coming into this match trying to improve from that," said the 17-year-old from California, who lives and trains at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona. "I got an idea of how he plays at the French so I went into the match with a better mentality and better strategy and that helped me a lot."

Hance didn't get a look at a break point in the first set, but tried not to get discouraged by his lack of opportunities.

"He served really well in the first and I just tried to stay calm," said Hance, who played the first Wimbledon U14 tournament three years ago. "I tried different things to make him think a little more and maybe I'll start to return a little better and I think I definitely did that."

Hance wasn't able to convert his two set points with McDonald serving at 4-5, but he dominated the tiebreaker with McDonald's unforced error count mounting. In the third set, Hance took a 3-1 lead and McDonald looked uncertain about his prospects for coming back.

"I feel like his game style is pretty set, while I think mine, I can change it a little more," Hance said. "I can do a lot of different things, and during the second set he realized I was getting the hang of how he was playing. I started making a lot more balls and he didn't like that. In the third it was like he didn't know what to do a little bit and he started to panic a little. And I also was playing well."

Closing out an upset at a slam is never easy, but Hance came up with two crucial points serving for it at 5-4, 30-30. He hit a good body serve that McDonald couldn't return and made another first serve on match point, with his deep forehand forcing an error from McDonald that secured the win.

"This is pretty much my first time here, I played the 14 Under thing, but this is my first time in the juniors and I just want to experience all of it," Hance said. "I'm glad I'm able to play more matches, and I just want to enjoy being at this awesome place and try to improve as much as I can."

Hance will play No. 12 seed Alexander Vasilev of Bulgaria in the round of 16 Wednesday.

The only qualifier remaining in the boys draw is Ronit Karki, who defeated No. 9 seed Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania 6-3, 6-4. Karki, who was also the first player out of the main draw at Roland Garros, and made it to the second round as a qualifier, had a dramatic 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(10-7) win over Flynn Thomas of Switzerland in the first round, but there was no such suspense today.

"I did feel a lot looser today," said the 17-year-old from Florida. "I was confident going into the 5-4 game and the whole match I was playing pretty well, so I wasn't that nervous."

Karki said the faster surface presents no problem for him, which was evident in his serving, making 75% of his first serves, with three aces and no double faults.

"I was serving well and was able to get a lot of free points on my serve and take control of rallies early," said Karki, who had 23 winners to just 6 for Alexandrescou. "I grew up on indoor hard in New Jersey, so even though I've been in Florida for the last two and a half years, I still think there's an indoor side of me in my blood."

Karki will face No. 8 seed Jack Kennedy in the only all-USA round of 16 match after Kennedy beat 2024 Australian Open finalist Jan Kumstat of the Czech Republic 7-6(4), 7-6(8) in another crowd-pleasing match on Court 4.

The top-seeded American, No. 4 Jagger Leach, fell to Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-4. 

Boogaard, the 2022 Les Petis As champion, has been highly regarded for many years, but a back injury and then mononucleosis have been hard to recover from.

"I had an injury in my lower back and was out for a few months, and when I came back we found out I had mono, and I've been struggling with that ever since," said the 17-year-old, who is not playing doubles in order to conserve his energy this week.  "It's getting better, but I'm not fully recovered yet. My body is not able to produce the energy it needs to every day. If I practice too much in a day, I feel it in the days after and am not ready to do it again, sick for a few days. That's really annoying, but at the same time, I'm positive for the future."

Boogaard returned well, although he wasn't entirely satisfied with his performance in that aspect of the game.

"I really felt that Jagger was serving unbelievable," Boogaard said. "He has a great serve and it was tough to return them, even the second serve was massive at times. I tried to do my best on the returns and throughout the match I had some moments when I was returning better and some moments where I was not returning as good, but overall I was happy with my returns."

He was also pleased with his serve, hitting 18 aces to just 4 for Leach, a number he was well aware of when he came to his media conference.

"I think these last few weeks on grass I've been serving quite good, but 18 is not a usual number for me," Boogaard admitted. "But I'm very happy with my serve for the last few weeks."

Boogaard will face No. 15 seed Timofei Derepasko of Russia, who beat qualifier Matisse Farzam 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.

The girls, who had the day off from singles, return to action Wednesday, with all 16 singles matches in boys and girls third round on the schedule, as are all 16 second round doubles matches.

There was one notable result in the first round of girls doubles today, with alternates Dora Miskovic of Croatia and Lea Nilsson of Sweden defeating Roland Garros champions Eva Bennemann and Sonja Zhenikhova of Germany 6-7(4), 7-6(7), 10-6.

Tuesday's junior singles results of Americans:

Nikita Bilozertsev(UKR)  d. Gavin Goode[Q] 6-1, 6-4. 

Jack Secord d. Benjamin Gusic-Wan[WC](GBR) 6-3, 4-6, 64

Mees Rottgering[3](NED) d. Maxwell Exsted 6-2, 6-4

Benjamin Willwerth[7] d. Yannik Alvarez(PUR) 6-4, 6-3

Keaton Hance d. Niels McDonald[5](GER) 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-4

Timofei Derepasko[15](RUS) d. Matisse Farzam[Q] 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 

Thijs Boogaard(NED) d. Jagger Leach[4] 2-6, 6-7(3), 6-4

Jack Kennedy[8] d. Jan Kumstat(CZE) 7-6(4), 7-6(8)

Ronit Karki[Q] d. Yannick Alexandrescou[9](ROU) 6-3, 6-4

Alan Wazny[14](POL) d. Dominick Mosejczuk 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-2 

Jacopo Vasami[2](ITA) d. Noah Johnston 7-6(3), 6-4

Wednesday's junior singles matches featuring Americans:

Jack Secord v Ivan Ivanov[6](BUL)

Keaton Hance v Alexander Vasilev[12](BUL)

Jack Kennedy[8] v Ronit Karki[Q]

Benjamin Willwerth[7] v Oskari Paldanius[11](FIN)

Julieta Pareja[6] v Elizara Yaneva(BUL)

Taylor Fritz and Amanda Anisimova are through to the first Wimbledon semifinals of their careers, with No. 5 seed Fritz beating No. 17 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(4) and Anisimova defeating unseeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-1, 7-6(9).

Ben Shelton will face No. 1 seed Jannik Sinner of Italy in the quarterfinals Wednesday.