Wimbledon Junior Draws Released with Hovde, Debru Top Seeds; Hovde, Michelsen Reach ITF Roehampton J1 Finals; Eight US Men Reach Third Round at Wimbledon
Qualifying for the Wimbledon Junior Championships doesn't conclude until Friday, but the main draws have been released, with at least five US girls and nine US boys contending for the singles titles.
Liv Hovde is the top seed, with Qavia Lopez seeded No. 8. The other three American girls in the draw, as of now, are Sonya Macavei, Alexis Blokhina and Mia Slama.
The American boys in the draw, as of now, are Nishesh Basavareddy[5], Michael Zheng, Learner Tien, Alex Michelsen, Nicholas Godsick, Cooper Williams, Sebastian Gorzny, Ozan Colak and Alexander Frusina.
Roland Garros champion Gabriel Debru of France is the top seed in the boys draw.
The girls draw is here. The boys draw is here.
Eight Americans are through to the final round of qualifying, with at least one more American guaranteed to advance to the main draw. Jelani Sarr got into qualifying as an alternate after the draws were posted, and he will play Jonah Braswell for a place in the main draw. Sarr defeated British wild card Hugo Coquelin 7-6(3), 6-2 and Braswell, the No. 9 seed, beat Federico Bondioli of Italy 7-5, 2-6, 10-5. Yannik Rahman[13] defeated British wild card Henry Jefferson 3-6, 6-3, 10-3; Aidan Kim[4] beat British wild card Zach Stephens 7-5, 6-3; Leanid Boika[6] got by Daniele Minighini of Italy 6-3, 7-6(3).
Theadora Rabman[12] defeated Ellie Blackford of Great Britain 6-4, 6-3 and Kaitlin Quevedo[8] beat Denise Valente of Italy 6-4, 2-6, 10-6.
All sixteen final round qualifying matches are scheduled for 10:30 a.m at Roehampton.
Also at Roehampton Friday will be the finals of the ITF Grade 1, with Liv Hovde and Alex Michelsen both playing for singles titles, and Michelsen also in the boys doubles final.
Hovde defeated No. 12 seed Lucija Ciric Bagaric of Croatia 6-3, 6-3 to make her fourth Grade 1 final since last March. Hovde will play No. 9 seed Johanne Svendsen of Denmark, who beat unseeded Sayaka Ishii of Japan 6-4, 6-1.
The unseeded Michelsen edged No. 15 seed Coleman Wong of Hong Kong 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4) and will face No. 13 seed Martin Landaluce of Spain, who ended Sebastian Gorzny's run with a 6-3, 6-1 victory. Landaluce will be going for his second straight J1 title, having won last week's tournament in Nottingham.
Gorzny and Michelsen, the reigning Easter Bowl doubles champions, will face another unseeded American team for the title: Cooper Williams and Learner Tien.
Gorzny and Michelsen defeated Mihai Alexandru Coman of Romania and Matej Dodig of Croatia 6-4, 6-3 in today's semifinals, while Williams and Tien eliminated the last seeded team, No. 7 Landaluce and Pedro Rodenas of Spain, 6-4, 7-6(1). The girls doubles final will feature No. 3 seeds Kayla Cross and Victoria Mboko of Canada, who beat top seeds Hovde and Qavia Lopez 6-2, 6-4. Cross and Mboko will play No. 7 seeds Carolina Kuhl of Germany and Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic, who advanced via a walkover from No. 2 seeds Ciric Bagaric an d Nikola Daubnerova of Slovakia.
As a reminder, the two J1 tournaments this month are awarding ITF junior points, but, like the professionals, there will be no points earned at Wimbledon.
With one second round Wimbledon singles match involving American men still not complete, a quarter of the third round participants in men's singles will be Americans, the most at a slam since the 1996 US Open. The winner of the Maxime Cressy/Jack Sock match will be No. 8, joining Steve Johnson, Tommy Paul, Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz, Brandon Nakashima and Jenson Brooksby. Nakashima was particularly impressive today, taking out last year's Wimbledon semifinalist Denis Shapovalov of Canada.
Thursday second round results of Americans:
Jessica Pegula[8] d. Harriet Dart(GBR) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1
Amanada Anisimova[20] d. Lauren Davis 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
Alize Cornet(FRA) d. Claire Liu 6-3, 6-3
Ajla Tomljanovic(AUS) d. Catherine Harrison[Q] 6-2, 6-2
Taylor Fritz[11] d. Alastair Gray[WC](GBR) 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-3
Brandon Nakashima d. Denis Shapovalov[13](CAN) 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(6)
Jack Sock[Q] v Maxime Cressy 6-4, 6-4
Alex Molcan(SVK) d. Marcos Giron 6-3, 6-2, 6-4
Richard Gasquet(FRA) d. Mackenzie McDonald 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
Jenson Brooksby[29] d. Benjamin Bonzi(FRA) 7-6(3), 7-5, 6-3