Antonius, Preston and Secord Make J300 Roehampton Finals; 11 US Juniors Reach Final Round of Wimbledon Qualifying; Eight Americans Advance to Wimbledon Third Round; Wimbledon 14U Competitors Revealed
Michael Antonius and Janae Preston, both of whom won multiple J300 titles early this year, are through to another J300 final in Roehampton.
Antonius, the No. 6 seed, picked up a second win over Australian Open boys champion Ziga Sesko of Slovenia, with the 16-year-old from Buffalo New York posting a 6-3, 6-2 decision today in the semifinals. Antonius had beaten Sesko 6-2, 6-1 in the quarterfinals of the Roland Garros Junior Championships last month.
Antonius, who won two J300s in South America in January and February, will play qualifier Svit Suljic of Slovenia, who defeated Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico 7-5, 2-6, 7-5.
No. 15 seed Preston, who won three titles in Central and South America this winter (two hard and one clay) defeated No. 16 seed Welles Newman 6-1, 6-4. The 15-year-old from Henderson Nevada will face unseeded Yu Jun Lin of China, who surprised top seed and Australian Open champion Ksenia Efremova of France 7-6(4), 6-4.
In boys doubles, Jack Secord advanced to the final when he and Damir Zhalgasbay of Kazakhstan, the No. 8 seeds, defeated No. 5 seeds Alvarez and Leonardo Storck Franca of Brazil 6-3, 6-2. They will play No. 4 seeds and Roland Garros champions Jamie Mackenzie and Vincent Reisach of Germany, who beat the unseeded team of Jordan Lee and Great Britain's Rhys Lawlor 6-1, 6-2.
The girls doubles final will also feature the Roland Garros champions: No. 4 seeds Jana Kovackova and Katerina Zajickova of Czechia. They will face the unseeded British wild card team of Daniella Britton and Edie Griffiths.
The Wimbledon Junior Championships qualifying will conclude Friday, with three US boys and eight US girls playing for a spot in the main draw. At least one American is guaranteed to make the main draw, with Emery Combs facing Sarah Ye.
Yael Saffar will face top seed Ilary Pistola of Italy; Nancy Lee will play No. 2 seed Fleur De Bresser of the Netherlands; Maggie Sohns will play Iva Marinkovic of Sweden; Carrie-Anne Hoo will face Pietra Rivoli of Brazil; Hannah Ayrault faces Riyo Yoshida of Japan and Olivia Traynor plays Iulia Maria Buculei of Romania.
The three US boys competing in the final round are Vihaan Reddy, who will play Takahiro Kawaguchi of Japan; Safir Azam, who faces Kunanan Pantaratorn of Thailand, and Lee, who plays Maxi Carrascosa Diaz of Spain.
Ireland O'Brien, Marcel Latak and Agassi Rusher, who got in to qualifying as an alternate, lost their opening qualifying matches today.
The main draws have been posted, with Xinran Sun of China, who did not play Roehampton, and Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil the No. 1 seeds. I'll have more on the main draw Friday.
The US men and women went 8-4 today in their second round matches, with Ashlyn Krueger posting the most emphatic victory, beating fellow qualifier Mariam Bolkvadze of Georgia 6-1, 6-0 in under an hour. Just four years after falling in the boys final on Court One, qualifier Michael Zheng(Columbia) will play on Centre Court Friday against No. 3 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada.
Thursday's Wimbledon second round results of Americans:
Jan-Lennard Struff(GER) d. Brandon Nakashima[28] v 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-7(5), 7-6(8), 7-6(7)Taylor Fritz[6] d. Patrick Kypson 6-2, 6-2, 7-5
Frances Tiafoe[17] d. Jan Choinski(GBR) 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-2
Marcos Giron d. Quentin Halys(FRA) 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-4
Zachary Svajda d. Kamil Majchrzak(POL) 2-6, 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-4,
Elena Rybakina[2](KAZ) d. Caty McNally 6-1, 6-2
Madison Keys[26] d. Katie Swan[WC](GBR) 6-1, 6-4
Amanda Anisimova[6] d. Sofia Kenin 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(3)
Ashlyn Krueger[Q] d. Mariam Bolkvadze(GEO) 6-1, 6-0
Emma Navarro[23] d. Oksana Selekhmeteva(ESP) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1













