Clarke Topples No. 2 Seed and Australian Open Champion Efremova, Preston's Grass Surge Continues at Wimbledon Junior Championships; Fritz Advances to Quarterfinals, Fery's Dream Run Not Over Yet

©Colette Lewis 2026--
Wimbledon--

Melije Clarke's first competitive matches on grass were last week at the J300 in Roehampton, but few juniors have benefitted from the wisdom of coaches with pedigree that hers have. With the help of Wimbledon women's singles semifinalist Lori McNeil and women's singles finalist Zina Garrison, the 16-year-old from Houston put all their guidance on display Monday in a 6-4, 6-1 second round Wimbledon Junior Championships victory over No. 2 seed and Australian Open girls champion Ksenia Efremova of France.

Clarke's Wimbledon debut Sunday certainly built her confidence, dropping just two games in her win over Veronika Sekerkova of Czechia, who had reached a J200 final on clay in her home country and therefore couldn't play Roehampton, due to a date overlap.

But Clarke knew she was likely to face a more prepared competitor in the second round, with Efremova reaching the semifinals last week in Roehampton.

"I knew Ksenia was the type of person to get a lot of balls back," said Clarke, who had McNeil as a coach at Roehampton before her mentor left for vacation, leaving Clarke's mother Obi as the main voice in her player's box. "I feel like I was really dominant in my first match, but I had to lengthen out the points a bit with her. I had to come into the match confident, because I know she has a lot of confidence, being super highly ranked. I had to stand my ground a little bit and I think I executed that pretty well."

After Clarke got the only break in the first set with Efremova serving at 4-5, 30-40, she kept the momentum going, taking a 3-0 lead in the second set, but the 2025 J300 Pan American Closed champion knew closing it out would not be simple.

"I tried to focus on one point at a time and not think, oh my gosh, I'm up a set and 3-0 and I may win the match," Clarke said. "I've had a lot of matches when I thought it was over and I ended up losing, so I was trying to stay calm, focus on little things, take it step by step."

Blasting winners from close to the baseline and keeping Efremova off balance led to a second break and a 5-1 lead, but the final game was a tense one, with Efremova saving two match points and Clarke fighting off two break points.

Rather than go big on serve break point down, Clarke, at her mother's suggestion, added some variety instead.

"She was telling me to mix it up a lot," Clarke said. "When I went spin-y and then one flat, she probably didn't know what to expect." 

The match point was a lengthy rally with depth and pace from both players before Clarke sent a sizzling forehand winner down the line to claim her spot in the third round against No. 14 seed Anna Pushkareva of Russia, who she defeated in a third-set tiebreaker in th first round of Roehampton last week.

"I knew I could do it, in a non-cocky way," Clarke said. "But I was just relieved, because the game was so long and I didn't want to receive again. I wasn't breaking her enough, so I said I really want to hold my serve now. I let go of all my emotions building up throughout the match."

When Clarke first walked onto the grounds of the All England Lawn Tennis Club Saturday, she took some time to soak in the atmosphere.

"Wimbledon has always been my favorite slam," said Clarke, who played both of her singles matches on Court 8. "It's actually more beautiful in person than on TV. Sometimes on Court 8, which has such a nice a view, I think 'I'm here, it's so nice,' and I'm trying to enjoy every moment."

Roehampton champion Janae Preston stretched her grass court winning steak to eight matches with a 6-1, 7-5 win over qualifier Olivia Traynor, also from the United States.

Preston and Traynor had split matches in back-to-back weeks last year at J100s in Guatemala.

"I was happy to get this win," said the 15-year-old from Nevada. "It was a tough match, especially the second set, was a battle. But I thought I competed really well and managed to pull through."

Preston is obviously comfortable on grass now after six wins at Roehampton, but her opponents might not want to hear that she likes the Wimbledon courts even better.

"The atmosphere is obviously greater," said Preston, who has won four J300s now and is up to a career-high of 14 in the World Tennis junior rankings. "And I feel like the courts are a little bit slower here, so that was a bit of adjustment. But it's obviously great for me, to have more time to hit through the ball, so it works out for me."

As for her first impressions of Wimbledon, Preston said the scope of the tournament doesn't come through on TV.

"It's a lot bigger than I thought," said Preston, who plays No. 10 seed Charo Esquiva Banuls of Spain in the third round Wednesday after Esquive Banuls beat qualifier Carrie-Anne Hoo 6-2, 6-3. "I thought it would be smaller. But yes, this place is beautiful, the flowers, it's so nice: the grounds, the people, everyone is so nice. I was obviously a little bit nervous my first round, excited to play, but I'm to get both wins."

Nine of the 16 girls seeds have been eliminated in the first round, with No. 12 seed Mika Stojsavljevic of Great Britain falling to Anna Pircher of Austria 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 and Thea Frodin beating No. 13 seed Felitsata Dorofeeva-Rybas of Russia 7-6(2), 7-5. 

No. 4 seed Victoria Barros of Brazil was also eliminated today, with Maia Burcescu coming back from 6-3, 4-1 down to earn a 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(4) victory, but almost let the match slip away.

 said the 16-year-old from Romania. 

"I was up in the third set 5-3," said Burcescu, who did not have a match point serving for it at 5-4, and was two points from a loss at 5-6 deuce. "But I guess I was the underdog in the match, so I just tried to take my chance, play my best tennis and just enjoy my time on court here at Wimbledon."

Burcescu will face her doubles partner, No. 15 seed Polina Skliar of Ukraine, who defeated Alyssa James of Jamaica 6-3, 6-2. The two bear a striking resemblance to each other, with the same hairstyle, visor, adidas while Wimbledon apparel and body type, with Burcescu claiming her own mother can't tell them apart.

"We were in the transportation, sitting next to each other and my mom looks at us and said, 'I cannot tell the difference,'" Burcescu said. "It's pretty funny, people actually do think we're sisters."

Top seed Xinran Sun of China struggled in the first set against Denisa Zoldakova of Czechia before the 15-year-old Roland Garros finalist pulled away for a 7-5, 6-1 win.

Most of the afternoon and evening was devoted to the first round of boys doubles, with all 16 matches completed. 

Ryan Cozad and Gavin Goode pulled off the biggest upset, defeating Roland Garros and Roehampton champions Vincent Reisach and Jamie Mackenzie of Germany 6-7(6), 7-6(5), 13-11, saving two match points in the deciding tiebreaker. No. 3 seeds Thilo Behrmann of Austria and Flynn Thomas of Switzerland lost to Oluwaseun Ogunsakin of Nigeria and Ntungamili Raguin of Botswana 6-3, 7-6(1) and Jack Secord and Damir Zhalgasbay of Kazakhstan defeated No. 5 seed Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico and Leonardo Storck Franca of Brazil 7-6(8), 7-6(6).

Only five girls doubles matches were scheduled for today, with all three seeded teams in action winning their matches.

The boys second round of singles is scheduled for Tuesday, with the remainder of the first round of girls doubles.

Monday's second round junior results of Americans:

Thea Frodin d. Felitsata Dorofeeva-Rybas[13](RUS) 7-6(2), 7-5

Janae Preston d. Olivia Traynor[Q] 6-1, 7-5

Melije Clarke d. Ksenia Efremova[2](FRA) 6-4, 6-1

Charo Esquiva Banuls[10](ESP) d. Carrie-Anne Hoo[Q] 6-2, 6-3

Tuesday's second round singles matches featuring Americans:

Andy Johnson[12] v Vincent Reisach(GER)

Keaton Hance[3] v Arnav Paparkar(IND)

Jack Secord v Luis Guto Miguel[1](BRA)

Tanish Konduri v Svit Suljic[SE](SLO)

Jordan Lee[Q] v Tito Chavez(ESP)

The talk of London this morning was Great Britain's 3-2 win over Mexico in the World Cup; the talk of London this evening was Arthur Fery, the 23-year-old former Stanford All-American, who defeated fellow wild card Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(7) to reach the quarterfinals. Fery, who grew up a short walk from Wimbledon, never once looked rattled or tentative playing in front of an obviously partisan crowd and Roger Federer on Centre Court. 

For more on Fery's remarkable run to the quarterfinals, see this article from the Wimbledon website.

No. 6 seed Taylor Fritz reached his third consecutive Wimbledon quarterfinal with a 7-6(1), 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 10 seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan and will play either No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany or Jiri Lehecka of Czechia. Their match was suspended by the 11 pm Wimbledon curfew, with Zverev leading 6-4, 7-5, 3-3.

In the women's quarterfinals Tuesday, No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula will play No. 7 seed Coco Gauff.