Ngounoue Claims Wimbledon Girls Singles Title; Searle Ends Great Britain's Boys Championship Drought; Unseeded Teams Capture Junior Doubles Titles

©Colette Lewis 2023--

Wimbledon--

Championship Sunday at Wimbledon brought a second straight title to an American girl, with No. 2 seed Clervie Ngounoue defeating unseeded Nikola Bartunkova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-2 in the final, while Great Britain has a boys champion for the first time in 62 years after unseeded Henry Searle's 6-4, 6-4 victory over No. 5 seed Yaroslav Demin of Russia.

Due to Friday's rainout, both singles finals were scheduled for Sunday, and for 1 p.m., with the girls relegated to Court 12, while the boys played on Court 1, the traditional stadium for the junior finals, when the are on subsequent days. British interest in the boys final, which both girls finalists acknowledged, drove the decision, but both expressed disappointment at the court assignment, as they had anticipated playing on Court 1 after their semifinal wins on the outer courts Saturday.

"I was actually bummed," said Ngounoue, who will celebrate her 17th birthday Wednesday with a Wimbledon trophy as an early present. "I was trying not to complain about it. I wanted to play on Court 1. We were on another big court. I know Novak and Carlos were also starting, so I wasn't surprised that there wasn't that many people."

Bartunkova voiced similar feelings.

"I was a little bit disappointed, because I didn't play on Court 1," said the 17-year-old right-hander, who had beaten top seed and two-time girls slam champion Alina Korneeva in the semifinals on Court 7 Saturday. "It would have been a great experience if I would play Court 1, but Court 12, it was a big court, a big stadium also."

Although they were playing in front of hundreds, rather than thousands, of fans, nerves are always a factor in a slam final, with both girls showing early signs of them, with Bartunkova broken in the second game and Ngounoue in the third.

But after a three-minute rain delay that barely required the raising of umbrellas, Ngounoue locked in, and put pressure on Bartunkova. 

Varying her powerful game with slices and volleys, with even a lob winner thrown in, Ngounoue kept Bartunkova guessing in every rally.

"I would say I have a lot of variety in my game," said Ngounoue, who works with the USTA's Jermaine Jenkins in Lake Nona. "I think sometimes, when I just remember that I have a lot of variety. But today was one of those days similar to yesterday; it was windy, it wasn't the best conditions...I just tried not to play perfect, tried to remember to use everything I have."

Ngounoue consolidated her break with a dominating service game to take a 5-2 lead, and Bartunkova could not hold her off, double faulting on a game point and unable to defend against Ngounoue's drop shot and forehand pass on break point.

Bartunkova had a woeful serving day, making only 20 of 60 first serves and double faulting five times.

"Today was a bit windy, so my serve wasn't good enough," Bartunkova said. "I didn't play so good, she had a lot of winners from her backhand, she was more aggressive than me. Today was not my best day."

In the second set, Ngounoue's level dropped a bit, with several more unforced errors than in the first, but she recovered from her loss of serve in the first game to take a 3-1 lead. She dropped serve for a second time in the fifth game, but Bartunkova couldn't capitalize, and when Ngounoue held at love for 5-2, the title was there for the taking. 

In keeping with the theme of her performance, Ngounoue claimed the championship with a drop shot and lob combination, adding a girls singles slam title to her two junior girls doubles titles, including last month's championship at Roland Garros.

Ngounoue did not drop a set in the tournament, and avenged previous losses to her opponents in the quarterfinals, semifinals and final, results that have convinced her she can thrive on grass.

"I would say over the course of the last two weeks, [my game] has progressed to be more well-suited for the grass," Ngounoue said. "I mean, people have told me before, you know, your game should be so good for grass, you should love it. I just didn't love it. I didn't understand that. But I think people look at kind of like the outward what you see, just game styles. But in terms of how people feel physically, I did not feel good on grass at all. Even now, it's so interesting with the wind and adjusting accordingly. But I'm really glad that I was able to adapt. Now I can actually confidently say that I feel like I am well-suited for grass."

Ngounoue will be attending the Wimbledon Champions Ball later this evening, but won't be dwelling on her title long, as she is playing the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour $25K in Roehampton (on hard courts). She is also expecting to compete in the USTA National Championship in San Diego in August.

Bartunkova will be making her WTA main draw debut in two weeks at the 250 tournament in Warsaw, and is expecting to compete at the US Open Junior Championships in September.

While the girls were playing in relative obscurity on Court 12, Searle was commanding Henry's Barmy Army on Court 1. Led by his mother and brother, Searle had the support of the thousands of fans on Court 1, desperate to witness the first boys championship for Great Britain since Stanley Matthews in 1962.

With the Barmy Army's white T-shirted contingent providing the cues, Searle rode the wave of saving three break points in the eighth game of the first set to an immediate break of Demin.

"Yeah, I think from the break point down, the momentum switched, and I managed to get the crowd behind me," said the 17-year-old Searle, who, like Ngounoue, did not drop a set in his six victories this week. "My coaching team were really pushing me on to use the momentum and try and get the break and I managed to do that."

Demin gave Searle credit for the serves he made to save those three break points.

"He likes to go for the wide serve and I tried to cover the wide side, but he was serving really good T all the time," Demin said. "I had no chance most of the time. He was playing really well on those points and then I got broken at 4-all. He hit a first winner, and everyone was like going nuts."

Demin knew he would be foolish to give the crowd any reason to get even more emotionally invested in the outcome, so the energetic 17-year-old was more stoic than usual.

"I was expecting that everyone was not going to support me, go against me" said Demin, who is coached by James Allenby at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain. "I was trying not to give my emotions to the crowd, but being on court 1, being so loud and so big, all those emotions are going to stay in my life for a long time."

After getting that break Searle served out the first set, then got a break at love to open the second. It was all he needed, as he didn't face a break point after saving those three in the eighth game, and nearing the finish line, cracked a 134 mph serve to hold for 5-3. With the pressure of history adding to the weight of his final service game, Searle showed no sign of feeling it, closing out the championship when Demin returned an excellent second serve just long.

Searle said his powerful serve, which has been a key to his success in the past two junior slams, including a quarterfinal appearance at Roland Garros last month, is a fairly recent development.

"I had quite a big growth spurt in lockdown," said the 6-foot-4 Searle, who has been coached by the LTA's Morgan Phillips for the past 18 months. "It wasn't really too much of a weapon before that. It took a while to get used to the longer limbs and the uncoordination. It's a crucial, crucial part in my game, being quite a big build, a tall build. It definitely won me a lot of my matches this week. Been working really hard the past couple of years with my coaching team and it's starting to pay off a little bit."

Searle, an avid football fan who, received congratulations from the Premier League's Wolverton Wolves coach Julen Lopetegui, is not sure what his next step will be, although more ITF men's tournaments are certainly likely.

"I think there's the jump to the men's game that needs to be done a little bit quicker," said Searle, who has two ATP ranking points. "Hopefully that can happen now. I'll try to continue to work hard to try and be playing at that sort of level in the men's, as well, in the future."

Although Searle is not committing to the US Open Junior Championships this year, Demin is expecting to return to New York for his final junior slam, after reaching the third round last year. But he will return to the Nadal Academy for some rest before entering some ITF $15Ks before the US Open Junior Championships.

"It's a really nice place and the coaches are really good," said Demin, who wanted to thank the Academy, his coaches and his family during his post-match interview, but didn't get an opportunity to do so.

"I don't know why they didn't allow me to say anything more," said Demin, who is in his second year at the Nadal Academy. "They asked me one question, and then said, now, Henry..."

Searle wasn't sure if he would attend the Wimbledon Champions Ball or would spend the evening with those that cheered him on throughout his run.

"I'm sure I'll be with the Barmy Army somewhere, either getting some food or just relaxing, potentially going home," said Searle. "They have been exceptional from the start of the week till the end of the week. Hopefully they can continue to be like that over the years."

The British hopes for a second junior title this year were dashed 

when Laura Samsonova and Alena Kovackova of the Czech Republic held off a late comeback by unseeded Hannah Klugman and Isabelle Lacy to win the girls doubles title 6-4, 7-5. Up 5-1 in the final set, the unseeded Samsonova and Kovackova failed to reach a match point in either of their next two service games, but broke for 6-5 and converted their first match point.

Samsonova and Kovackova, who won the J500 title in Cairo earlier this year, said their toughest match was a 6-2, 4-6, 10-5 victory in the second round over another British team, Ranah Stoiber and Mingge Xu.

"We were in trouble in the second round," said Samsonova. "We were nervous the whole match, because we had lost to these girls in Roehampton."

Like Demin, Samsonova and Kovackova were also facing a partisan crowd, with Show Court 3 nearly two-thirds full.

"We were so nervous, because it was a final and the crowd was against us," Samsonova said. "It was motivating but sometimes uncomfortable, even through the points sometimes they were screaming. But I was happy there was a lot of people there."

Samsonova and Kovackova, who are both just 15, are expecting to continue to compete as team in future junior slams.

While Samsonova and Kovackova are long-time partners,  boys doubles champions Jakub Filip of the Czech Republic and Gabriele Vulpitta of Italy played together for the first time this week, yet came away with a 6-3, 6-3 win over No. 6 seeds Arthur Gea of France and Branko Djuric of Serbia.

Filip, was in singles qualifying for Wimbledon, so he was not assured of making the doubles field if he did not qualify for singles. Vulpitta was in the main draw, but his partner dropped out at the last minute and he was in need of a partner.

"My partner had school, so he told me he would not play doubles," the 18-year-old Vulpitta said. "Jakub texted me and I said ok."

"We texted like one week from Wimbledon," said the 17-year-old Filip. "To be honest, I just wanted the accreditation. We didn't know we were going to win this, but we had a chance, and we played very good."

Filip and Vulpitta twice took match tiebreakers 11-9 to advance during the week, but by today's final, they had found their form.

"It was tough with the wind, but I think we had maybe more balance with the games," Filip said. "We did less mistakes; that was the biggest problem for them. They played two good points and then two terrible mistakes. We were more consistent, yes, that's the word."

Although the US Open Championships were mentioned as a possibility, they have no current plans to partner in the near future, so they will just enjoy this title now.

"It feels amazing," Filip said. "You don't win Wimbledon every day."

The second annual Wimbledon 14-and-under championships also concluded today, with Great Britain batting .500 in those two finals. 

Top seed Mark Ceban of Great Britain, the reigning Les Petits As champion, defeated No. 3 seed Svit Suljic of Slovenia 7-6(5), 6-3 to take the boys title.

In the girls final, No. 5 seed Luna Vujovic of Serbia beat No. 4 seed Hollie Smart of Great Britain 6-3, 6-1 for the girls title.

I will have more on that tournament, including comments from both champions, in my recap for the Tennis Recruiting Network later this month.