Ye, Hoo, Azam and Rusher Qualify for Roland Garros Junior Championships; Wang Reaches W15 Lakewood Semifinals; Ribbon Cutting for David Filer Courts in South Bend

Four Americans have reached the main draw after posting wins today at the Roland Garros Junior Championships qualifying. Sarah Ye saved three match points with No. 2 seed Maria Pop of Romania serving for the match at 5-4 in the third set, but the 16-year-old from New Jersey won the last three games of the match for a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory that puts her in her first junior slam main draw.

Seventeen-year-Carrie-Anne Hoo, who made her junior slam debut this year in Australia, defeated No. 16 seed Fleur De Bresser of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-4 to reach the main draw.

Sixteen-year-old Safir Azam and 17-year-old Agassi Rusher will be making their junior slam main draw debuts, with No. 3 seed Azam beating Lucas Yunez of Ecuador 7-5, 6-3 and Rusher defeating No. 9 seed Maxi Carrascosa Diaz of Spain 7-5, 6-4.

The draws for the Roland Garros Junior Championships, which begin Sunday, will be out tomorrow.

Although 15-year-old Allison Wang has yet to break into the ITF Junior Top 100, the Northern Californian is poised to have a Pro Circuit breakout during the next seven weeks of the SoCal Pro Series. Wang, who qualified for the W15 event this week in Lakewood California, is through to the semifinals of what is just her second pro event, beating No. 4 seed Kailey Evans(Texas Tech, San Diego) 6-0, 6-0 in 68 minutes today. Next up for Wang is No. 5 seed Anne Christine Lutkemeyer, the recent UCLA graduate, who beat No. 2 seed Dasha Plekhanova of Canada 6-7(8), 6-1, 6-4 in 3 hours and 19 minutes.

Lutkemeyer's teammate, top seed Mayu Crossley of Japan, defeated Kallista Liu(Maryland) of Hong Kong 6-4, 6-1. The top seed will play qualifier Tatum Evans(UNC), who, like Wang, didn't lose a game in her quarterfinal against wild card Olivia Center(UCLA).

Top seed Kaylun Bigun(UCLA) is through to the semifinals of the M15 in Lakewood, defeating Texas rising junior and qualifier Oliver Ojakaar of Estonia 6-1, 7-6(2). Bigun will face another Longhorn in rising sophomore and qualifier Lucas Marionneau of France, who defeated No. 8 seed Noah Zamora(UC-Irvine) 7-6(2), 6-2. 

In the bottom half, No. 4 seed Amit Vales of Israel will face unseeded Spencer Johnson, a rising senior at UCLA. Johnson, who was 14-5 last year during the SoCal Pro Series (including qualifying) defeated Theo Dean(Yale, Cal) 6-1, 7-6(4) in today's quarterfinals.

After a washout Thursday, the second round was played today at the W35 in Wichita Kansas, with No. 3 seed Lea Ma(Georgia), No. 2 seed Clervie Ngounoue and wild card Reese Brantmeier(UNC) the Americans advancing to the quarterfinals. Ngounoue and Brantmeier will meet for the first time Saturday.

The ATP Challenger 75 in Little Rock Arkansas has also been delayed by rain, with both second round and quarterfinal matches played today. No. 5 seed Michael Mmoh is currently the only semifinalist that has been determined, with the three other quarterfinals either in progress or yet to begin.

At Roland Garros today, all three Americans in action lost their third round matches, with eight others on the schedule Saturday looking to make the second week.

Friday's third round Roland Garros results of Americans:

Casper Ruud [15](NOR) d. Tommy Paul[24] 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(4), 7-5
Rafael Jodar[27](ESP) d. Alex Michelsen 7-6(2), 6-7(5), 4-6, 6-3, 6-3

Belinda Bencic[11](SUI) d. Peyton Stearns 6-3, 6-3

Saturday's third round Roland Garros matches featuring Americans:

Zachary Svajda v Francisco Cerundolo[25](ARG)
Learner Tien[18] v Flavio Cobolli[10](ITA)
Frances Tiafoe[19] v Jaime Faria[Q](POR)
Brandon Nakashima[31] v Felix Auger-Aliassime[4](CAN)

Iva Jovic[18] v Naomi Osaka[16](JPN)
Madison Keys[19] v Victoria Mboko[9](CAN)
Coco Gauff[4] v Anastasia Potapova[28](AUT)
Amanda Anisimova[6] v Diane Parry(FRA)

The ribbon-cutting for the A. David Filer Tennis Courts in South Bend Indiana took place yesterday, with the dedication highlighting the efforts of the area's tennis community to provide a fitting tribute to Filer, who died of brain cancer three years ago at the age of 16. Honoring Filer, a top national junior, with this renovation and rejuvenation of his local courts will not only keep his memory alive, but give others the opportunity to discover the joy he found in the game.