Roland Garros Junior Championships Begin with 14 Americans in Contention; Navarro Advances to Second Week of Major for First Time; Tien Claims Doubles Title, Reaches Singles Final at $15K in San Diego

The Roland Garros Junior Championships begin Sunday in Paris, with 14 boys and 16 girls first round singles matches. Five of the 14 Americans in the draw are on Sunday's schedule; below are the seeds and the first round matches featuring Americans. Top seeds and Australian Open junior champions Rei Sakamoto of Japan and Renata Jamrichova of Slovakia are the only two players still in contention for the junior grand slam; no boy has won the first two in a calendar year since Gael Monfils in 2004, according to the much appreciated pre-tournament notes provided by the ITF. Live scoring is available at the Roland Garros website.

Roland Garros seeds:
Girls:
1. Renata Jamrichova(SVK)
2. Emerson Jones(AUS)
3. Laura Samson(CZE)
4. Tyra Grant(USA)
5. Hannah Klugman(GBR)
6. Wakana Sonobe(JPN)
7. Mingge Xu(GBR)
8. Ena Koike(JPN)
9. Alena Kovackova(CZE)
10. Iva Jovic(USA)
11. Iva Ivanova(BUL)
12. Tereza Valentova(CZE)
13. Antonia Vergara Rivera(CHI)
14. Kaitlin Quevedo(ESP)
15. Kaitlyn Rolls(USA)
16. Teodora Kostovic(SRB)

Boys
1. Rei Sakamoto(JPN)
2. Joel Schwaerzler(AUT)
3 Nicolai Budkov Kjaer(NOR)
4. Luca Preda(ROU)
5. Kaylan Bigun(USA)
6. Hayden Jones(AUS)
7. Federico Cina(ITA)
8. Maxim Mrva(CZE)
9. Jangjun Kim(KOR)
10. Petr Brunclik(CZE)
11. Mees Rottgering(NED)
12. Miguel Tobon(COL)
13. Amir Omarkhanov(CKAZ)
14. Reda Bennani(MAR)
15. Thomas Faurel(FRA)
16. Theo Papamalamis(FRA)

First round matches featuring Americans:

*Alexander Razeghi v Lucas Marionneau[WC](FRA)

*Ian Mayew v Andres Santamarta Roig[SE](ESP)

*Matthew Forbes v Daniil Sarksian(RUS)

Cooper Woestendick v Andreas Timini(CYP)

Jagger Leach v Daniele Rapagnetta[Q](ITA)

Kaylan Bigun[5] v Viktor Frydrych(GBR)

Maxwell Exsted v Nathan Trouve(FRA)

Jack Kennedy v Joel Schwaerzler[2](AUT)

*Monika Ekstrand[Q] v Laima Vladson(LTU)

*Iva Jovic[10] v Gaeul Jang(KOR)

Tyra Grant[4] v Julia Stusek(GER)

Thea Frodin v Mingge Xu[7](GBR)

Kristina Penickova v Emily Sartz-Lunde(NOR)

Kaitlyn Rolls[15] v Sonja Zehnikhova(GER)

*Sunday matches

2021 NCAA champion Emma Navarro is through to the fourth round of a major for the first time at Roland Garros, after the 23-year-old former Virginia Cavalier, seeded No. 22, defeated No. 14 seed Madison Keys 7-6(5), 7-6(3) in the third round today. The miserable weather continued in Paris, but Navarro and Keys played in Suzanne Lenglen, so they were at least out of the rain. Navarro next faces No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, whom she defeated in the third round this year at Indian Wells. She is one of two American women remaining in singles, with No. 3 seed Coco Gauff also through to the round of 16. The 2022 NCAA singles champion, Peyton Stearns(Texas), lost to 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva of Russia 6-2, 6-1.

No. 12 seed Taylor Fritz is the only American man still in contention, after he made the fourth round of Roland Garros for the first time with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-7(4), 5-7, 6-3 win over Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia. Tommy Paul[14] and Ben Shelton[15] lost their third round matches today.

Eighteen-year-old Learner Tien, who has played very little this year due to injury, has returned after three months out to claim the doubles title at this week's $15,000 SoCal Pro Series is San Diego. Partnering with Sebastian Gorzny, who, like Tien, has won a junior slam in doubles, the unseeded pair defeated NC State's Robin Catry of France and Braden Shick 1-6, 6-3, 10-1. The first set in the final was the only set they lost this week. It's new Texas transfer Gorzny's first pro title; Tien now has four doubles titles, all with different partners, and he will go for his fourth singles title tomorrow, after the top seed defeated No. 4 seed Alex Knaff(Florida State) of Luxembourg 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-1. Tien will face No. 2 seed Karue Sell(UCLA) of Brazil, who defeated No. 8 seed Alan Rubio Fierros(UCF) of Mexico 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. 

Pepperdine graduate Lisa Zaar of Sweden and NC State's rising sophomore Gabriella Broadfoot of South Africa will play for the women's title at the San Diego W15. Zaar, the No. 4 seed, beat Oklahoma rising sophomore Chloe Noel of France, a qualifier, 6-7(5), 7-6(3), 6-4 in three hours and 33 minutes, while Broadfoot, another qualifier, who played just eight dual matches at 5 and 6 for the Wolfpack, defeated top seed Haley Giavara(Cal) 6-3, 6-3. 

Giavara and Kelly Keller(Arkansas) won the doubles title, with the No. 3 seeds beating top seeds Zaar and Dasha Ivanova 2-6, 6-2, 10-5.

At the ATP Challenger 75 in Little Rock, Mitchell Krueger will play in his eighth Challenger final seeking his third Challenger title of the year. The No. 6 seed defeated No. 8 seed Abdullah Shelbayh(Florida) of Jordan 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 and will face unseeded Yuta Shimuzu of Japan, who beat Nishesh Basavareddy(Stanford) 7-6(3), 6-0 in the other semifinal. Shelbayh played four sets of singles today, winning his quarterfinal match with Brandon Holt(USC), which resumed at 1-1 in the third set, 7-6(4), 2-6, 7-5. 

The doubles title went to the unseeded Canadian pair of former collegians Liam Draxl(Kentucky) and Benjamin Sigouin(UNC), who beat No. 2 seeds Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli of India and Hans Hach Verdugo(Abilene Christian) of Mexico 6-4, 3-6, 10-7. It's the sixth pro doubles titles for Draxl and the seventh for Sigouin, but their first together.