Qualifier Lee Faces Hewitt for Boys Wimbledon Title; Top Seed Sun Reaches Second Straight Slam Final; Antonius and Johnson Advance to Boys Doubles Championship; Manchala Moves On in 14U Event
©Colette Lewis 2026--
Wimbledon--
Experience on grass may be an advantage, but two Wimbledon debutants will play for the junior singles championships this weekend at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.
Qualifier Jordan Lee, playing not only in his first Wimbledon this week, but in his first junior slam, breezed past unseeded Vincent Reisach of Germany 6-3, 6-2 today on show court 12 and will play unseeded Cruz Hewitt of Australia in Sunday's boys final.
Hewitt, the son of 2002 Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt, defeated No. 11 seed Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-4 to continue his straight-sets run through the field this week.
Lee defused the power of the big-serving Reisach, who didn't help his cause by making fewer than 50% of his first serves in the opening set. With Lee serving for the first set at 5-4, he double faulted for 30-all, but unfazed, hit a tough overhead winner to earn a set point, then converted it with a good first serve.
"I played him in doubles last week and got destroyed, but every day is different," said the 16-year-old from Orlando, the youngest player in the boys draw. "So either he wasn't hitting his spots as well or I was returning well, could read it."
Lee has faced only one seed this week, taking out No. 5 seed Yannick Alexandrescou of France 6-0, 6-2 in the opening round, but he knows that Cruz, whose ATP ranking of 606 is second best in the field, will be a formidable opponent on Sunday.
"Obviously, he's a good player, he's in the final," said Lee, who recalled their only meeting being a doubles match four years ago at the Eddie Herr in Bradenton Florida. "Beat him then, but that doesn't matter. I really don't know much about him. The guy's good. I saw a couple of points against Thijs this morning, looked like both were playing well."
Hewitt trailed 3-1 in the second set, but fought back to earn a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Boogaard, who has the best ATP ranking of the boys field at 525.
"I think I played a loose game to get broken," Hewitt said of the fourth game of the second set. "But I was very happy to switch straight back on in my mind and break straight back. I think that was big; I didn't let him get the momentum, kept it pretty well, and from there on was able to keep holding, and then put pressure on his service games from there."
Boogaard double faulted six times and had twice as many unforced errors as winners, unable to summon the level he had displayed in the quarterfinals against British wild card Oliver Page Thursday. Hewitt looked comfortable on the grass, with a semifinal and a final on the surface in M15s in Australia this spring, and he fed off the support of Wayne Arthurs and his father throughout the match.
"My main coach is Wayne Arthurs, but my dad does help me a lot," said the 17-year-old, who is playing his first junior tournament this year. "He's in my corner, he's coaching a little bit, but he's just there to support. Every time I look over at him, he's showing positivity, so that gets me up and about as well and I use that. He gives me positive things, nothing too specific."
Hewitt, who last competed in a junior event at the US Open in September, has already outdone his father by making a junior slam final. Lleyton Hewitt, who won his first ATP title at age 16, had his best finish in a junior slam by reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open boys singles in 1997.
When top seed Xinran Sun of China heard the girls final would be played on Court One Saturday, she had to confirm that she had not misunderstood.
"There? me? really?," said the 15-year-old World Tennis junior No. 1. "I thought you talk about the other one. I don't what to say."
Playing on show court 12 today, Sun looked as if she would have performed just fine on that court in the women's draw last week, displaying powerful groundstrokes and deft drop shots in her 6-1, 6-3 win over unseeded Janae Preston.
Sun jumped out to a 4-0 lead, and, for the second consecutive day, won the opening set in 21 minutes. Roehampton champion Preston had won ten matches in a row on grass, with her four previous Wimbledon victories in straight sets, but she couldn't locate any facet of Sun's game to attack.
Preston did break Sun to get on the board at 4-1, but was immediately broken back with Sun crushing a first serve return winner for a 5-1 lead, then holding at love for the set.
Preston dug in to open the second set with a service hold, which elicited an encouraging cheer from the crowd, and when Preston broke back after dropping her serve in the third game, the possibility of a comeback surfaced. But Sun brought out the devastating counter to her powerful groundstrokes and high percentage of first serves made: her dropshot.
"That's my favorite shot, I think, even on grass," said Sun, who knew Preston's speed would require nearly perfect execution of that shot. "I think that helped me a lot."
Preston kept pace after that, and had a glimpse of a break at 15-30 with Sun serving at 4-3, but Sun raised her level as needed and took advantage of Preston's two untimely double faults, including one on game point, to become the first Chinese junior to reach a Wimbledon singles final.
Preston credited Sun for playing well, but was not as generous with herself.
"I don't know why my confidence wasn't there today, because I've just won my last ten matches," said the 15-year-old from Nevada. "It wasn't that I didn't have any, but I didn't have enough. I knew it was going to be a tough match, I wasn't scared of it, but I played not to lose, rather than to win, and that's not the mindset to go into the match with. I'm still happy with the great two weeks I had, and I learned a lot. I'm not happy I lost this match, but I'm happy I learned some things about myself, and things I need to work on."
Sun, who lost in the final at Roland Garros last month, feels she has an advantage over her opponent, Anna Pushkareva of Russia, who defeated Polina Skliar of Ukraine 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 in the other semifinal.
"When you're going to the first grand slam final it's always hard," said Sun, who trains in Belgrade Serbia. "You are nervous, it's hard for everybody. But now, second time, I think I have more experience than the others, so I think that's good."
In addition to the experience advantage over Pushkareva, who is playing her first Wimbledon, Sun also has beaten the 17-year-old from Moscow twice in the past ten months: once in the final of an W15 in last November in Egypt, and in the third round of the J500 in Milan in May.
But the 14th-seeded Pushkareva has been on a revenge tour this week, beating Melije Clarke in the third round after losing to her in the first round of Roehampton, and today avenging a loss last year to Skliar, a trend she hopes will continue Saturday.
Pushkareva is adamant that hard courts are her best surface, and with little practice on grass after that first round loss last week, she is surprised by her success this week.
"I just feel so mixed on this surface," said Pushkareva, who trains in Moscow with her father Nikolai Pushkarev. "I just can't understand it. But for now, I think I start to understand it, and I do like it more than clay courts."
Pushkareva is also not interested in talking tactics or strategy, which often disrupt her performance.
"I'm not really about tactics," Pushkareva said. "I just do what I do in a situation. I just prefer not thinking so much; it's difficult for me when I think so much, it's just pressure for me."
And although she has reservations about the surface, she has none about the tournament.
"I'm so excited," Pushkareva said of the prospect of playing on Court One. "This atmosphere is really amazing, it's really good experience to play here, the most historic slam. I can't explain the atmosphere here, it's just so great. To have this tournament in the juniors, it's a good situation for us, to see the pro players here and you say, yeah, I need work more for this level."
The girls final is scheduled for not before 1 p.m., following the men's wheelchair doubles final.
The boys doubles final will also be on Court One again this year, with the top two seeds squaring off for the title.
No. 1 seeds Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil and Ziga Sesko of Slovenia will face No. 2 seeds Michael Antonius and Andy Johnson following the girls final.
Miguel and Sesko defeated unseeded Oluwaseun Ogunsakin of Nigeria and Ntungamili Raguin of Botswana 6-3, 6-7(6), 10-6 on court 12 Friday, while Antonius and Johnson beat unseeded Raffaele Ciurnelli of Italy and Leon Sloboda of Slovakia 7-6(4), 7-5 on court 18.
The girls doubles final will be on court 18 Saturday, not before 12:30 p.m., with top seeds Victoria Barros and Nana Leme Da Silva of Brazil playing the fifth-seeded Czech team of Jana Kovackova and Katerina Zajickova. Barros and Leme Da Silva defeated unseeded Polina Berezina of Russia and Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia 4-6, 6-2, 10-1 in the semifinals today. Roland Garros champion Kovackova and Zajickova, who beat No. 8 seed Ida Wobker of Germany and Denisa Zoldakova of Czechia 6-4, 6-1 today, are not only going for the rare Paris-London double, but Kovackova is bidding to become the first girl to win all four junior slams, having claimed the 2025 US Open and 2026 Australian Open titles with her older sister Alena.
Former Stanford All-American Arthur Fery's magical Wimbledon run came to end today, with the wild card from Great Britain losing to Roland Garros champion Alexander Zverev of Germany 7-6(0), 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinals. Fery has gone from outside the Top 100 to 36 in the ATP live rankings after his inspiring run during the fortnight.
Former Pepperdine All-American Luisa Stefani of Brazil will play in her first women's doubles final at a major Sunday, after she and partner Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada, the No. 2 seeds, defeated No. 13 seeds Shuko Aoyama of Japan and En-Shuo Liang of Taiwan 7-5, 6-3 in the semifinals today. They will play No. 10 seeds Hanyu Guo of China and Kristina Mladenovic of France, who beat unseeded Xinyu Jiang and Yifan Xu of China 7-6(5), 6-4.
The semifinals are set for the Wimbledon 14-and-under event, with Isha Manchala of the United States advancing to the semifinals with a perfect 3-0 record in her group. Manchala is the first American girl to reach the semifinals in the tournament's five-year history.
Results of Americans in 14-and-under group play Friday:
Oskar Laskowski(GBR) d. David Bender 7-6(4), 6-2
Lyoma Hotelier(JPN) d. David Bender 6-2, 6-2
Isha Manchala d. Ayaka Iwasa(JPN) 6-2, 6-2
Shristi Kiran(IND) d. Anna Kapanadze 7-6(4), 6-4
The 14-and under semifinals Saturday:
Girls:
Isha Manchala(USA) v Lyubov Pronenko(RUS)
Eduarda Gomes(BRA) v Mariia Kocherzhenko UKR)
Boys:
Novak Palombo(AUS) v Jonas Waelti(SUI)
Noah Honsberger(SUI) v Lyoma Hotelier(JPN)
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