American Qualifers Defeat No. 5 Seeds in Wimbledon Junior Championships, Home Crowd Powers British Wild Card to Victory Over Roehampton Champion Antonius, Stojsavljevic Makes Successful Return to Juniors; Pegula and Gauff Set to Meet in Quarterfinals

©Colette Lewis 2026--
Wimbledon--

Two American qualifiers sent the No. 5 seeds packing Sunday on a warm and sunny Sunday at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, with one needing less than an hour to complete the task and the other going winning a third set 10-point tiebreaker to reach the second round of the Wimbledon Junior Championships.

Jordan Lee, the youngest player in the boys draw, was eager to return to the Wimbledon courts after reaching the 14-and-under final two years ago, but suffering through a long layoff due to injury in 2025. 

"I felt good on the court, very happy to be back," said the 16-year-old from Florida, who defeated No. 5 seed Yannik Alexandrescou of France 6-0, 6-2 in 56 minutes. "Last year at this time I was injured, didn't really know how long before I could play tennis, so I'm very happy. I trust my level, I know that my game is there, so I'm happy to move forward."

Lee, who lost to World Tennis junior No. 1 Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil 6-4, 6-4 in the third round of Roehampton, won both of his Wimbledon qualifying matches in straight sets which gave him enough time on the grass courts to feel comfortable.

"I lost to Guto in the round of 16, felt pretty confident there," Lee said. "I lost a tough match, but I was looking forward to this week. I love to be aggressive and I think my game suits any surface. I look to come forward, and here that's the main thing."

Playing a seed as a qualifier comes with the advantage playing freely, at least for Olivia Traynor, who defeated No. 5 seed Nana Leme Da Silva of Brazil 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(6).

"The fact that I didn't have any pressure really helped me," said the 18-year-old from New York, who trains with Pat and Ryan Harrison in Bradenton Florida. "She's No. 5 in the world, and I'm coming in as a qualifier, so it's expected for her to come in and hit some good shots. The way she plays is just super big, really goes for every ball. Sometimes it was just too good from her, but I knew she wasn't going to keep that level, especially in the tiebreaker, that if I stayed patient she would get a bit erratic."

After failing to serve out the match at 5-3 in the third, Traynor kept her composure, and in the tiebreaker, the quality of Traynor's serve was the difference. Leme Da Silva didn't make a first serve until she was down 9-5, double faulting twice, while Traynor hit two of her three aces in the match to go up 8-4 and on her second match point.

"That was definitely an advantage for me," said the University of Michigan rising freshman. "I also started reading her second serves, and it allowed me to become offensive on her serving points. I thought my serve was good the whole tiebreaker and that helped me, because the points were really short, the whole match was only like an hour and a half. And that last ace felt great."

Traynor will face fellow American Janae Preston in the second round, after Preston came through a tight match with Polina Berezina of Russia 6-4, 7-6(4). Preston, who won the Roehampton J300 on Friday, saved two set points serving at 4-5 in the second set and benefitted from a couple of unforced errors from Berezina in the tiebreaker.

While Preston was able to continue her winning streak on English grass courts, No. 6 seed Michael Antonius was not, as he fell to wild card Rhys Lawlor of Great Britain 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in front of a huge crowd packing Court No. 4 to support him.

"The home crowd definitely helps the confidence going out there in the first round playing a really good player," said the 17-year-old from Hertfordshire, who has committed to TCU for 2027. "Knowing what I can do in front of my home crowd, having all that pressure, I felt I dealt with it really well."

Lawlor had lost to Antonius after serving for the match in the final of a J300 in Colombia in January, so he knew what he facing when he served for the match at 5-3 in third.

"I knew I had to stay in the present as much as possible," said Lawlor, who didn't convert his first match point, but hit an ace on his second. "Earlier this year I was serving at 30-15 against him for the match. I knew I had to knock it down and really take my time, but I was really excited for it; it was a good challenge."

Lawlor said he knew his best was necessary, and he brought with aggressive forehands and well executed volleys throughout the third set.

"I knew I had to play my perfect game really," Lawlor said. "I knew he was playing well, and earlier this year I was just short, but I felt on grass I had a really good chance to put my game forward."

Lawlor said TCU was his school of choice from the beginning, given its reputation for attracting a host of outstanding British players, including graduates Cam Norrie, Jake Fearnley and Lui Maxted and rising sophomore Oliver Bonding.

"Definitely speaking to some of those guys was really helpful," said 6-foot-two right-hander, who would look right at home as a tight end on Horned Frogs football team. "I knew that was the place I wanted to go ever since I heard about college tennis. It's a great university, and David(Roditi), Devin(Bowen), they work really well together. So as soon as it came up, I went for it."

While Lawlor no doubt raised his profile among British tennis fans today, no introduction was necessary for 2024 US Open girls champion Mika Stojsavlevic, who has played the Wimbledon main draw the past two years. She played her last junior match at the 2025 US Open, but not 18 until December, Stojsavljevic is limited in the number of WTA and World Tennis women's events she can play. So entering the junior tournament here made sense, despite a WTA ranking in the top 300.

Stojsavljevic looked much more comfortable in front of the capacity crowd on Court 18 than 16-year-old American Welles Newman, who lost the first ten games before coming back in the second set in Stojsavljevic's 6-0, 6-4 victory.

"I think playing at Wimbledon is always an incredible thing, firstly," said Stojsavljevic, who is seeded No. 12 this week due to her WTA ranking. "Secondly, as you know, I have the tournament limit because of my age. I only have I think, eight tournaments for the rest of the year, so another reason why I'm playing this is just to get some matches."

As to whether she considers herself the favorite to win this tournament, Stojsavlijevic deflected the question.

"I haven't really thought about it," said Stojsavlijevic, who lost to No. 11 seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6-2, 6-1 in the first round of the women's draw. "There's been so much going on in the last two weeks, I haven't been thinking about juniors at all. But as I said, I just want to play matches."

Junior boys will not play singles Monday, with the girls second round of singles and the entire first round of doubles for the boys on the schedule. Five first round girls doubles matches are on Monday's schedule as well.

Sunday's Wimbledon first round junior results of Americans:

Mika Stojsavljevic[12](GBR) d. Welles Newman 6-0, 6-4

Carrie-Ann Hoo[Q] d. Megan Knight[WC](GBR) 6-4, 6-0

Jana Kovackova[3](CZE) d. Lani Chang 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 

Olivia Traynor[Q] d. Nana Leme Da Silva[5](BRA) 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(6)

Melije Clarke d. Veronika Sekerkova(CZE) 6-0, 6-2

Janae Preston d. Polina Berezina(RUS) 6-4, 7-6(4)

Jordyn Hazelitt d. Sofie Hettlerova(CZE) 6-3, 6-3

Adelina Lacinova(LAT) d. Emery Combs[Q] 6-2, 6-4

Mariella Thamm[9](GER) d. Hannah Ayrault[LL](USA) 6-2, 6-0

Mark Ceban(GBR) d. Gavin Goode 7-5, 4-6, 7-5

Rhys Lawlor(WC)(GBR) d. Michael Antonius[6] 6-2, 3-6, 6-3

Jordan Lee[Q] d. Yannik Alexandrescou[5](FRA) 6-0, 6-2

Svit Suljic[SE](SLO) d. Safir Azam[Q] 6-3, 6-2

Ziga Sesko[4](SLO)  d. Vihaan Reddy[Q] 6-4, 6-4

Jack Secord d. Matteo Gribaldo(ITA) 7-5, 6-2

Monday's second round junior singles matches featuring Americans:

Thea Frodin v Felitsata Dorofeeva-Rybas[13](RUS)

Janae Preston v Olivia Traynor[Q]

Melije Clarke v Ksenia Efremova[2](FRA)

Carrie-Anne Hoo[Q] v Charo Esquiva Banuls[10](ESP)

Two Americans will meet in the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon women's singles Tuesday after Jessica Pegula came from a set down to beat 18-year-old Iva Jovic and Coco Gauff finished her comeback against Belinda Bencic just minutes short of the 11 p.m. curfew Sunday.

Sunday's Wimbledon fourth round results of Americans:

Jessica Pegula[4] d. Iva Jovic[16] 4-6, 6-3, 6-1

Coco Gauff[7] d. Belinda Bencic[11] 4-6, 6-3, 6-4

Monday's Wimbledon fourth round matches featuring Americans:

Ashlyn Krueger[Q] v Marta Kostyuk[12](UKR)

Madison Keys[26] v Linda Nosokova[9](CZE)

Taylor Fritz[6] v Alexander Bublik[10](KAZ)