Antonius and Preston Win J300 Roehampton Titles; Six Americans Qualify for Wimbledon Junior Championships; Top Seeds Miguel and Sun Open Junior Play Saturday; Pegula, Gauff and Jovic Advance to Fourth Round
©Colette Lewis 2026--
Roehampton, England--
Janae Preston and Michael Antonius have a friendly rivalry going, after the two young Americans claimed the World Tennis J300 singes titles today at Roehampton, on a surface they approached with uncertainty.
No. 15 seed Preston, who defeated unseeded Yu Jun Lin 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in today's final, now leads Antonius four J300s to three this year, although Antonius teased that he was a Roland Garros boys finalist last month, after all.
Antonius, who beat both 2026 boys slam champions this week in Roehampton, was facing a less intimidating pedigree in qualifier Svit Suljic of Slovenia. Yet Suljic fought to the bitter end, despite already having earned his special exemption into the Wimbledon Juniors main draw by reaching the final, before falling to Antonius 6-4, 7-6(5).
Antonius didn't detect any letdown from Suljic, despite the eight singles matches he had played in the past eight days.
"He trains is Spain, I train in Florida, so in terms of conditioning, I thought it was pretty similar," said the 16-year-old from New York, seeded sixth. "I think that's why he did such a good job fighting in the second set; he didn't give up until the very last point. He played good tennis, and for me, I'm glad it was a good match, because that gives me more confidence for my tennis next week."
Antonius did play the Wimbledon 14-and-under event in 2024, but that was the extent of his grass experience until this week, save for his appearance at the Giorgio Armani exhibition in Hurlingham last week.
"I didn't know what to expect, honestly," Antonius said. "My serve has improved a lot since then and my transition game has gotten a lot better. I told my coach and parents that I thought I would be good on grass, I just wasn't sure how the other kids would be. I didn't know what to expect, but so far, I'm looking, and feeling, confident."
Antonius also knows he could see many other in-form opponents at Wimbledon.
"A lot of my matches this week could have gone either way," said the 6-foot-4 Antonius, who denied this week's title has increased the pressure on him. "I'm just trying to look at the positives; this is all a just a new experience to get me ready for the future."
Preston had to withstand the barrage of winners from the flat-hitting Lin, using her speed and patience to eventually wear down the 16-year-old from China, despite being uncharacteristically in defensive positions in many rallies.
"She came really strong and we had a great battle in the second set," said the 15-year-old from Nevada, who broke Lin serving at 5-6. "But I think she got a little bit tired in the third, so I was able to take advantage of that and win easier in the third."
Preston had even less exposure to grass than Antonius, and she has yet to set foot on the grounds of the All England Lawn Tennis Club.
"I was not expecting to be good on grass; I thought I would suck on grass," Preston said. "But my movement, and I had a really good strategy on grass, and my serve, really helped me as well. And it was really fun too."
As is the case with all Roehampton finalists over the years, Preston will not play Saturday, so she has one more day to savor the anticipation of her Wimbledon debut.
"I'm super excited, there's obviously so much history there," said Preston, who added her name to the list of Roehampton winners that includes major champions Petra Kvitova, Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Ostapenko and Coco Gauff. "I'm excited to embrace it; it's going to be really exciting."
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| Every junior tournament J300 or above should have a display like this one honoring its past champions |
Jana Kovackova and Katerina Zajickova of Czechia defeated wild cards Daniella Britton and Edie Griffiths of Great Britain 6-0, 6-2 and the German team of Jamie Mackenzie and Vincent Reisach beat No. 8 seeds Jack Secord and Kazakhstan's Damir Zhalgasbay 6-2, 6-2.
The final participants in the Wimbledon Junior Championships were decided today at Roehampton, which is nearly unrecognizable from the last time I was there in 2017. The new stadium courts and all the buildings for player services and amenities has transformed what was primarily a grass field with lines to a proper venue for a tennis tournament. The Lexus wheelchair championships were also concluding today, so the trophy ceremonies and speeches were numerous; only the courts for the Wimbledon Junior qualifying maintained any resemblance to nine years ago.
All three of the US boys who were in the final round of qualifying advanced to their Wimbledon debuts, with top seed Vihaan Reddy defeating Takahiro Kawaguchi of Japan 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 10-7, No. 5 seed Safir Azam defeating Kunanan Pantaratorn of Thailand 7-6(4), 6-3 and No. 7 seed Jordan Lee beating Maxi Carrascosa Diaz of Spain 6-1, 6-4.
Three of the eight US girls in the final round of qualifying advanced to the main draw of Junior Wimbledon, with Emery Combs defeating Sarah Ye in the all-US contest 6-1, 0-6, 10-6, Carrie-Anne Hoo beating Pietra Rivoli of Brazil 6-2, 6-3 and No. 8 seed Olivia Traynor beating Iulia Maria Buculei of Romania 4-6, 6-1, 10-6. Five of the eight girls final round qualifying matches ended with a 10-point match tiebreaker in lieu of a third set, which I have always disliked. Australia and Roland Garros play a full third set in the final round of qualifying; the stakes are simply too high to have a chance to play at the All England Club decided in such arbitrary fashion.
Top seeds Luis Guto Miguel of Spain and Xinran Sun of China are in action Saturday, as the Junior Championships begin with 12 girls singles and 12 boys singles matches. The boys draw is here; the girls draw is here.
Twenty Americans--ten girls and ten boys--are in the Wimbledon Junior draws, but none of the girls are seeded. I don't recall a previous junior slam without a seeded American in a draw, but I can't rule it out. Mika Stojsavljevic of Great Britain is the No. 12 seed based on her WTA Ranking of 276, and Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands is the No. 11 seed based on his ATP ranking of 525.
The Wimbledon Junior Championships Seeds:
GIRLS:
1. Xinran Sun(CHN)
2. Ksenia Efremova(FRA)
3. Jana Kovackova(CZE)
4. Victoria Barros(BRA)
5. Nana Leme Da Silva(BRA)
6. Anastasija Cvetkovic(SRB)
7. Mariia Makarova(RUS)
8. Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi(ARG)
9. Mariella Thamm(GER)
10. Charo Esquiva Banuls(ESP)
11. Paola Pinera Celorio(ESP)
12. Mika Stojsavljevic(GBR)
13. Felitsata Dorofeeva-Rybas(RUS)
14. Anna Pushkareva(RUS)
15. Polina Skliar(UKR)
16. Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi(IND)
BOYS:
1. Luis Guto Miguel(BRA)
2. Jamie Mackenzie(GER)
3. Keaton Hance(USA)
4. Ziga Sesko(SLO)
5. Yannick Alexandrescou(FRA)
6. Michael Antonius(USA)
7. Thilo Behrmann(AUT)
8. Zangar Nurlanuly(KAZ)
9. Dimitar Kisimov(BUL)
10. Yannik Alvarez(PUR)
11. Thijs Boogaard(NED)
12. Andy Johnson(USA)
13. Nicolas Baena(PER)
14. Mathys Domenc(FRA)
15. Kuan-Shou Cheng(TPE)
16. Dante Pagani(ARG)
Saturday's Wimbledon first round junior matches featuring Americans:
Tanishk Konduri v Yannik Alvarez[10](PUR)
Keaton Hance[3] v Simone Massellani
Andy Johnson[12] v Matei Todoran(ROU)
Ryan Cozad v Dan Brand(ISR)
Thea Frodin v Ui Su Jeong(KOR)
Anita Tu v Maia Burcescu(ROU)
The US got shut out today in men's singles, but three American women are through to the round of 16 at Wimbledon: Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff and Iva Jovic.
Friday's Wimbledon third round results of Americans:
Felix Auger-Aliassime[3](CAN) d. Michael Zheng[Q] 7-6(1), 6-2, 6-1
Jannik Sinner[1](ITA) d. Jenson Brooksby 6-4, 6-3, 6-4
Hubert Hurkacz(POL) d. Tommy Paul[21] 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-5, 6-2
Jessica Pegula[4] d. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro(ESP) 6-1, 6-3
Coco Gauff[7] d. Claire Liu[Q] 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-2
Iva Jovic[16] d. Ekaterina Alexandrova[18](RUS) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
Saturday's Wimbledon third round matches featuring Americans:
Amanda Anisimova[6] v Madison Keys[26]
Emma Navarro[23] v Marta Kostyuk[12](UKR)
Ashlyn Krueger[Q] v Daria Snigur(UKR)
Marcos Giron v Alexander Zverev[2](GER)
Frances Tiafoe[17] v Alexander Bublik[10](KAZ)
Taylor Fritz[6] v Lorenzo Sonego(ITA)
Zachary Svajda d. Alex de Minaur[5](AUS)
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