Ngounoue Advances to Wimbledon Girls Final, Bartunkova Ends Korneeva's Junior Slam Run; Unseeded Searle Aims for Rare British Wimbledon Boys Title Against Demin; Skupski Wins Men's Doubles Title; No Americans Reach Semifinals at 14U Event

©Colette Lewis 2023--
Wimbledon--

No. 2 seed Clervie Ngounoue will play for the Wimbledon girls singles title Sunday after an impressive semifinal victory, but her opponent won't be Australian Open and Roland Garros girls champion and top seed Alina Korneeva, who saw her junior slam winning streak end at 16 matches on a dry and blustery Saturday at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

The rain that canceled all Wimbledon junior semifinal matches Friday held off on Saturday, but the weather continued to present challenges for those on the outside courts. Gusty winds occasionally exceeding 20 mph made elegant tennis impossible, with survival the name of the game on Courts 4, 5, 6 and 7.

Ngounoue, who defeated Roehampton champion and No. 5 seed Renata Jamrichova of Slovakia 6-0, 6-3 in 58 minutes, got off to a blazing start despite the breezy conditions. She lost only one point on serve in the 15-minute first set, hitting 11 winners and just two unforced errors. 

"I think I dealt with it pretty well," Ngounoue said of the windy conditions. "I just tried to stay as patient as possible, try not to worry too much about it, but also accept that it was there. Being mentally prepared for me was the bigger aspect today, I don't think it was really about tennis."

The second set was considerably more difficult for the soon-to-be 17-year-old from Washington DC, who saved six break points in her first two service games of the second set. She was under no illusion that the second set would be a continuation of the first.

"I really just tried to take it point by point and I knew it wasn't going to be the same in the second set," Ngounoue said. "I expected it to be harder and I thought only about pushing myself more in the second set, mentally and physically. It was weird, because of the conditions today, but I'm really happy with myself."

Ngounoue had just one service game that didn't go to deuce in the second set, but she spared herself the stress of serving out the match by breaking Jamrichova, who had beaten her earlier this year on clay. Jamrichova, who had saved three match points in her second round match against Ariana Pursoo, double faulted and 3-5 30-all, and Ngounoue was ready when Jamrichova missed her first serve, blasting a backhand return winner on the second to claim her spot in Sunday's final.

Ngounoue will face unseeded Nikola Bartunkova of the Czech Republic, who ended the junior grand slam hopes of Alina Korneeva with a 6-4, 7-6(2) win on an increasingly wind-buffeted Court 7.

Bartunkova, who received entry into the Wimbledon Junior Championships based on her WTA ranking of 348, was down two  set points serving at 2-5 in the second set, but she held serve and broke in the next game to extend the set. In the ensuing tiebreaker, Bartunkova was the much steadier player as Korneeva struggled with the wind and showed signs of frustration.

"Today was a very crazy day because playing with the wind, for example the serve, was very difficult conditions for us," said the 17-year-old right-hander, who cited today's win as her best victory in the juniors."I didn't play my best, and I think she didn't play her best, because of the very tough conditions. But yes, I think I was a little bit better than her [in the wind]."

Korneeva admitted that the weather all week in London was not what she expected or wanted.

"Everybody said to me that last year in London was really good weather," said Korneeva, who suffered her first defeat in junior slam competition today. "I wasn't ready for this weather. Every time the matches delayed because of the rain, the wind, so yes, it was really difficult and I'm not happy about this weather here."

Although the dream of being the first junior girl to win a calendar grand slam ended today in frustration on a small outer court with no Hawkeye Challenges, Korneeva was upbeat and forthcoming as she assessed what went wrong.

"I played like a child," Korneeva said, without a hint of anger. "Experienced professional players, they don't think about the wind, because every player has the same situation. And today, I played that just me had this wind, and get angry, and this don't help me."

Although she is disappointed in the result today, Korneeva thinks grass will suit her game in the future.

"I'm really sad," Korneeva said. "But it's my first tournament on grass, and it's not a bad loss. I could have lost in the first round. I'm sad about this, but in two days, I'll have the next tournament."

Korneeva is not playing the US Open Junior Championships, citing visa issues, but she is not ruling out more junior competition, particularly the ITF Junior Masters, which is returning in October after a three-year hiatus.

In the near term, she is off to Portugal for an ITF 40K next week, where she has main draw acceptance with her WTA ranking of 324, and a $100K there the following week, where she is in qualifying.

Ngounoue and Bartunkova have played twice in junior competition, with Ngounoue winning 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the 2020 Les Petits As and Bartunkova winning 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals of the 2021 J500 in Milan.

Great Britain has its share of Wimbledon boys finalists in recent years, but unseeded Henry Searle will be attempting what Miles Kasiri (2004), Liam Broady (2011) and Jack Draper (2018) could not: claiming the winner's trophy. Searle defeated No. 4 seed Cooper Williams 7-6(4), 6-3 in front of a raucous crowd surrounding Court 4, which also had the advantage of the adjacent Court 3 blocking the worst of the wind gusts.

Williams had just one opportunity to break Searle in the match, with Searle serving at 3-4 30-40 in the first set. Although Searle is a big and powerful left-hander, he also has displayed excellent feel throughout the week. There is no better evidence of that skill than the drop shot winner he managed on that pressure-packed break point; he also came up with more expected shots in the tiebreaker, closing it out with an excellent second serve up the T and an ace. Searle is 3-0 in tiebreakers this week, all of them in first sets.

Incoming Harvard freshman Williams, who had Harvard alum James Blake as a spectator in his first slam semifinal, fought off eight of the nine break points he faced in the match, but that one, in the sixth game of the second set, was all Searle needed to earn his fifth consecutive straight-sets victory.

Searle's most vocal supporters are from his tennis club in Wolverhampton, and he joked that they can be both a help and a hindrance when he is trying to navigate the crucial points of a match.

"No, they're all really supportive, they're from my local tennis club, Newbridge Tennis Club, so they've all been around tennis for a long time," said Searle, who is coached by Morgan Phillips.

The crowd support Sunday, with the boys final scheduled to be played on Court 1, will be less obvious than in the smaller confines of Court 4, but there is no doubt the vast majority of the thousands of fans will be in his corner as he tries to become the first British boy since Stanley Matthews in 1962 to claim a Wimbledon boys title.

"I won't really think about it too much, to be honest," said the 17-year-old, who reached the quarterfinals of Roland Garros last month. "I'll just focus on myself. It's another match, at the end of the day. I'll do my best to win, but I can't control what goes on on the outside. There's always going to be some nerves, in any match you play, and I think I've been dealing well with that this week and I'll continue to be consistent with my routines, and hopefully it stays that way."

Searle has been on Court 1, as a spectator, watching one of his tennis idols, Roger Federer.

"I've been to watch there, a few years ago, I think I watched Roger, my first time coming to Wimbledon," Searle said. "I think it would be pretty special playing there. Being such a big tennis fan from such a young age, it's inspiring and exciting to see those guys playing on such big stadiums, and being able to do it tomorrow will be pretty cool."

Aside from the crowd's favor, Searle will have another advantage: two recent wins over his opponent in the final, No. 5 seed Yaroslav Demin. Searle defeated Demin 6-3, 6-2 in the first round last week at the Roehampton J300 and also earned a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Demin in the second round of last month's Roland Garros Junior Championships.

Demin earned a spot in his first junior slam singles final in a rare three-set comeback in the boys competition this week, defeating No. 9 seed Darwin Blanch 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

One break decided each of the first two sets, and it was the 15-year-old Blanch, again with Juan Carlos Ferrero among his supporters on the player's bench on Court 5, who got the first break in the third, going up 2-0. But Demin, who had beaten Blanch 7-5 in the third in the second round of the US Open Junior Championships last year and lost to him this winter in Brazil, got the break right back. Holding much more easily than Blanch in subsequent games, Demin wasn't discouraged when he did not convert two break points with Blanch serving at 3-all.

"He played really well those balls, so I just accept it," said Demin, who will be 18 in August. "I start thinking about that I need to push him more and more, to make him more uncomfortable on his serve. At 4-all 30-all, he gets tight, and missed a ball, and then on my break point, I hit a good forehand that he didn't reach."

Serving for the match at 30-all Demin hit a body serve, and was certain the Blanch return landed out, but did not get the call he was expecting.

"The referee didn't say anything, so I hit the ball and then he misses," Demin said. "I was so happy that he missed the ball, because if not, I would start complaining."

Demin converted his first match point, with Blanch netting a forehand at 40-30.

Demin is determined not to let the pro-Searle crowd affect his play in Sunday's final. 

"I cannot stop them," said Demin, who was on Court 5 next to Searle and could hear the crowd's reaction on every point Searle won. "I will not make reaction, when they scream and support him. I'm just going to be the mentality of Novak Djokovic last year in final."

Searle will be aiming to join Great Britain's Neal Skupski as a Wimbledon champion. The former LSU star won his first men's doubles slam title today with partner Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands, beating No. 15 seeds Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-4, 6-4 in this afternoon's final. Skupski, champion of the past two Wimbledon mixed doubles competitions, and Koolhof reached the US Open men's doubles final last year, and were the top seeds this year at Wimbledon.

Of the five junior semifinals featuring Americans today, only Ngounoue took the step into a Sunday final, with the two US doubles teams also suffering losses.

Blanch and Roy Horovitz, the No. 7 seeds in boys doubles, lost to No. 6 seeds Branko Djuric of Serbia and Arthur Gea of France 6-4, 6-4. Djuric and Gea will face the unseeded team of Jakub Filip of the Czech Republic and Gabriele Vulpitta of Italy, who beat No. 2 seeds Joao Fonseca of Brazil and Juan Carlos Prado Angelo of Bolivia 7-6(3), 6-2.

Unseeded Alanis Hamilton and Tatum Evans lost to the British team of Hannah Klugman and Isabelle Lacy 6-2, 6-4 in Saturday's girls semifinal. Klugman and Lacy will play the Czech team of Alena Kovackova and Laura Samsonova, who beat No. 2 seeds Jamrichova and Federica Urgesi of Italy 6-2, 6-4.

The 14-and-under event completed round robin play today, with the group winners advancing to the semifinals. Although top seeds Kristina and Annika Penickova were 2-0 coming into today's final round robin play, they both lost and did not advance out of their groups. 

In the boys semifinals this evening, top seed Mark Ceban of Great Britain defeated unseeded Luis Queiroz Miguel of Brazil 6-4, 6-2 to advance against No. 3 seed Svit Suljic of Slovenia, who beat No. 2 seed Vihaan Reddy of India 6-1, 6-3.

In the girls semifinals, No. 4 seed Hollie Smart of Great Britain defeated No. 7 seed Dusica Popovski of Serbia 6-2, 6-4. She will play No. 5 seed Luna Vujovic of Serbia, who beat No. 6 seed Maia Burcescu of Romania 7-6(3), 7-5.