Antonius and Hance Meet Friday For Spot in Roland Garros Boys Final; Oktiabreva and 2, 3 and 4 Seeds Advance to Girls Semifinals; Three US Pairs Reach RG Junior Doubles Semifinals

Keaton Hance won a nail-biter of a quarterfinal to reach his second junior slam semifinal at Roland Garros, while 16-year-old Michael Antonius breezed past the Australian Open boys champion to earn a shot at his first junior slam final in just his second appearance in one.

Hance, the No. 6 seed, had to survive several distractions in his 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(6) win over No. 3 seed Jamie Mackenzie of Germany.  After starting out with a nearly flawless first, Hance didn't face a break point until 5-all in the second set, but Mackenzie finally got his chances in that game and converted his third break point opportunity, then held to even the match. 

Hance fell behind in the third set, after getting broken at 1-all, but he broke back in a ten-minute four deuce game on his fourth break point. With Hance serving at 15-all in the next game, Mackenzie sat down in a chair in the corner after winning the point, although on the replay there was no indication of what might have led to that abrupt call for the trainer. The trainer looked at his right ankle, but no treatment ensured, and after six minutes the game resumed, with Hance holding for a 3-2 lead.

Mackenzie then left the court for treatment at the changeover and four minutes later, with Hance shadow serving while his opponent was gone, Mackenzie returned. He then began to press on his left shoulder and even tried an underhand serve in that game, but managed to hold serve without incident, as did Hance, for a deciding tiebreaker. Mackenzie continued to indicate he was having problems with his shoulder, but got it to 6-all in the tiebreaker before Hance locked down, winning the final four points to earn his spot in the semifinals.

In contrast, No. 13 seed Antonius kept the drama to a minimum, getting 75% of his first serves in, converting half of his 10 break points and never looking threatened in a rally.  After defeating No. 2 seed Yannick Alexandrescou of France yesterday and the reigning Australian Open champion today, in straightforward fashion, Antonius will now play Hance, who is two years older and much more experienced given his run to the Australian Open final in January, but his current form will be a challenge for anyone to overcome.

The USTA's Inside American Tennis has comments from both Hance and Antonius about their matches today and facing each other in the semifinals. 

The third US boys in the quarterfinals, Jack Kennedy, had a disappointing 18th birthday, falling to wild card Leonardo Storck Franca of Brazil 6-3, 7-6(1). The 17-year-old Storck Franca, who has a one-handed backhand, was down a break twice in the first set, but Kennedy immediately gave those breaks back and then lost serve for the third straight time to give Storck Franca the chance to serve out the set, which he did.

The second set featured eight service holds to start, with Kennedy the first one broken at 4-all, but Storck Franca could not serve out the match. Despite that inability to close out a big win over a top seed, Storck Franca didn't fade, holding to force a tiebreaker, and then playing much better than Kennedy, who couldn't find any way to put pressure on his opponent.

Storck Franca will face top seed Luis Guto Miguel in the all-Brazil semifinal, after Miguel defeated No. 7 seed Thilo Behrmann of Austria 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. Although both are 17, Storck Franca has been in Guto Miguel's shadow for many years, but he is proving this week that he deserves time in the spotlight as well. That semifinal is the subject of this ITF Junior website article.

The girls quarterfinal featured just one three-setter, with No. 3 seed Victoria Barros of Brazil beating unseeded Ha Eum Lee of Korea 2-6, 6-1, 6-4. Barros will face No. 2 seed Xinran Sun of China, who cruised past No. 6 seed Anastasija Cvetkovic of servia 6-0, 6-2 in less than an hour. Sun and Barros met in the semifinals of the Orange Bowl last December, with Sun winning 6-2, 6-3. 

No. 12 seed Alisa Oktiabreva ended the run of 14-year-old qualifier Ekaterina Dotsenko in the all-Russian quarterfinals, earning a 6-3, 6-4 victory and her second trip to the Roland Garros semifinals, with her first in 2023. 

She will play No. 4 seed Jana Kovackova of Czechia, who zipped past No. 9 seed Charo Esquiva Banuls of Spain 6-0, 6-2.

The doubles semifinals are scheduled for Friday, with both top seeds ousted today. No. 8 seeds Jordyn Hazelitt and Welles Newman, who won a W35 doubles title last month, beat No. 1 seeds Barros and Paola Pinera Celorio of Spain 4-6, 7-6(4), 10-8, saving a match point on a deciding point at 5-6 in the second set.

They will play No. 4 seeds Sun and Ruien Zhang of China in the semifinals.

The other girls doubles semifinal will be between two unseeded teams, with Kovackova and Katerina Zajickova of Czechia facing Lee and Luna Cinalli of Argentina. Kovackova and Zajickova beat No. 3 seeds Cvetkovic and Thea Frodin 6-3, 6-1.

Although technically Yannick Alvarez represents Puerto Rico, which has a separate federation from the USTA, he lives in the United States and has competed in USTA events for many years, including winning the Kalamazoo 16s doubles title in 2024. He and Jack Secord have been playing together regularly for the past year, making the Wimbledon quarterfinals and US Open semifinals, where they lost to eventual champions Hance and Kennedy.

Today Alvarez and Secord came back to defeat top seeds Miguel and Sesko 2-6, 6-2, 10-6 and will face No. 8 seeds Mackenzie and Vincent Reisach of Germany in the semifinals.

Second seeds Hance and Kennedy, who won a M25 doubles title last month in Spain, defeated No. 5 seeds Nicolas Baena of Peru and Tito Chavez of Spain 6-3, 6-4 in an evening quarterfinal match; they will play unseeded Mathys Domenc and Daniel Jade of France, who beat Safir Azam and Dan Brand of Israel 3-6, 6-2, 10-7.

Friday's order of play is here.

In today's mixed doubles final, Evan King(Michigan) and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada, playing together for the first time, fell to defending champions and top seeds Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori of Italy 4-6, 6-3, 10-4. For more on the final, see this article from the Roland Garros website.

One American and three former collegians remain in the men's and women's doubles draws, with top seeds Taylor Townsend and Czechia's Katerina Siniakova playing No. 4 seeds Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani(Pepperdine) of Brazil in tomorrow semifinals. In the bottom half, No. 2 seed Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia and Anna Danilina(Florida) of Kazakhstan will play unseeded Shuko Aoyama of Japan and En-Shuo Liang of Taiwan.

No. 2 seeds Henry Patten(UNC-Asheville) of Great Britain and Harri Heliovaara of Finland reached the final today and will play the winner of tomorrow's semifinal between top seeds Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina and No. 5 seeds Vavassori and Simone Bolleli of Italy.