Noel Reaches Grade 1 Roehampton Final; 15 US Junior in Wimbledon Main Draw with Seven More Americans Advancing to Final Round of Qualifying; Davis Surprises Defending Champion Kerber

Alexa Noel has advanced to the final of the Roehampton ITF Grade 1, advancing when No. 5 seed Hurricane Tyra Black retired trailing 6-4 in today's semifinal. Noel, seeded eighth, will play No. 15 seed Daria Snigur of Ukraine, after Snigur defeated No. 3 seed Diana Parry of France 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-2.  The boys final will feature No. 11 seed Liam Draxl of Canada against No. 14 seed Gauthier Onclin of Belgium, both of whom came from a set down in the semifinals. Draxl defeated Valentin Royer of France 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 and Onclin took out top seed and French Open boys champion Holger Rune of Denmark 3-6, 7-5, 7-5.

Unseeded Eliot Spizzirri and Tyler Zink have advanced to the boys doubles final, beating the unseeded team of Nicholas Ionel of Romania and Peter Makk of Hungary 6-1, 6-4 in today's semifinals. They will play the unseeded British team of Jacob Fearnley and Connor Thomson, who beat No. 2 seeds Rune and Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan 7-6(8), 6-1.  Elli Mandlik has reached the girls doubles final, with her partner Marta Custic of Spain. The pair will face Kamilla Bartone of Latvia and Oksana Selekhmeteva of Russia in another final between unseeded teams.

Fifteen Americans--seven boys and eight girls--are already in the main draw of the Wimbledon Junior Championships, which begin Saturday, with possibly seven more, who are in Friday's final round of qualifying at Roehampton.

Emma Navarro is the top seed in the girls draw, with the other seven US girls Elli Mandlik, Savannah Broadus, Robin Montgomery, Hurricane Tyra Black[5], Abigail Forbes, Alexa Noel and Chloe Beck. 

There are three US players seeded in the boys draw--Martin Damm[4], Toby Kodat[7] and Brandon Nakashima[6]--plus Govind Nanda, Cannon Kingsley, Tyler Zink and Eliot Spizzirri.

The seven Americans through to the final round of qualifying are: Andrew Dale, Andres Martin[16], Dali Blanch[7], Will Grant [11], Charlotte Ownensby[12], Alexandra Yepifanova[14] and Katrina Scott.

A lot went on at Wimbledon today, with Serena Williams taken to three sets by teen qualifier Kaja Juvan of Slovenia, Amanda Anisimova[25] and John Isner[9] losing, and Tennys Sandgren defeating No. 20 seed Gilles Simon of France 8-6 in the fifth, not to mention Nadal vs Kyrgios. But lucky loser Lauren Davis was the real star of the day, defeating No. 5 seed and defending champion Angelique Kerber of Germany 2-6, 6-2, 6-1. For a complete description of what Davis told WTA Insider was "probably my biggest win of my career,"  see this article from the WTA website.

Thursday’s second round results featuring Americans:

Serena Williams[11] d. Kaja Juvan(SLO)[Q] 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
Lauren Davis[LL] d. Angelique Kerber(GER)[5] 2-6, 6-2, 6-1
Sloane Stephens[9] d. Yafan Wang(CHN) 6-0, 6-2
Magda Linette(POL) d. Amanda Anisimova[25] 6-4, 7-5
Kiki Bertens(NED)[4] d. Taylor Townsend 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2
Alison Riske d. Ivana Jorovic (SRB) 6-2, 6-7(3), 9-7

Mikhail Kukushkin(KAZ) d. John Isner[9] 6-4, 6-7(3), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4
Steve Johnson d. Alex De Minaur(AUS)[24] 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
Sam Querrey d. Andrey Rublev(RUS) 6-3, 6-2, 6-3
Jan-Lennard Struff(GER)[33] d. Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(2)
Tennys Sandgren d. Gilles Simon(FRA)[20] 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 8-6

Friday's second round matches featuring Americans:

Reilly Opelka v Milos Raonic(CAN)[15]

Coco Gauff[Q] v Polona Hercog(SLO)
Danielle Collins v Petra Martic(CRO)[24]