Four Americans Advance to Round of 16 at Roland Garros Junior Championships; ATP Collegiate Accelerator Program Participants Announced; Dostanic Defeats Zheng at Tyler Challenger; Liutova Qualifies for Sumter W75, Collegiate WCs Shine

Julieta Pareja had the day off today at the Roland Garros Junior Championships, but three US boys joined her in Wednesday's third round with wins today.

Both No. 4 seed Jack Kennedy and No. 6 seed Benjamin Willwerth were in trouble deep in their third sets, but managed to survive.

Kennedy went from 3-1 up to 4-3 down in the third set with Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands, who at No. 20 in the ITF junior rankings, was the next player to be seeded this week at Roland Garros. But Kennedy broke for 4-all and got his fourth break of the set after a rare hold to earn the 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 victory.

Kennedy will play No. 13 seed Ryo Tabata of Japan, whom he leads 3-0 in the head-to-head, including a 6-0, 6-0 win in the third round of the J500 on clay in Brazil earlier this year.

Willwerth was down 4-2 in the final set against qualifier Hitesh Chauhan of India, but the Australian Open boys finalist managed to get the break back and push the match to a third-set tiebreaker. Neither returner won a point until Chauhan lost his serve at 6-7, with Willwerth's forehand forcing an error. On the next Chauhan serve, Willwerth's backhand on the sideline was called out, but ruled good when the chair umpire checked the mark, giving Willwerth three match points. He converted the first with a forehand winner, no doubt relieved to have escaped an serious challenge from his fellow 17-year-old 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(10-6).

Willwerth will face No. 10 seed Timofei Derepasko of Russia, who he beat 6-4, 6-4 in the Australian Open boys quarterfinals in January.

No. 5 seed Jagger Leach got through in straight sets, beating Kuan-Shou Chen of Taiwan 7-5, 6-3, but it was far from straightforward. Leach will play one of the hottest players coming into this week's tournament, No. 9 seed Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria, who reached the Milan J500 final two weeks ago and won a $15K in Hungary three weeks ago.

The No. 1 seeds both lost in the first round of doubles today, with boys top seeds Amir Omarkhanov of Kazakhstan and Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain losing to Valentin Garay and Dante Pagani of Argentina 6-2, 2-6, 10-8.

Girls top seeds Emerson Jones of Australia and Hannah Klugman of Great Britain lost to Eva Bennemann and Sonja Zhenikova of Germany 6-3, 3-6, 10-8.

A handful of second round doubles matches were played today, with Kennedy and Keaton Hance, the No. 3 seeds, advancing to the quarterfinals, as did No. 7 seeds Willwerth and Noah Johnston, and girls No. 2 seeds Annika and Kristina Penickova.

The Americans playing in second round doubles matches tomorrow:

Ronit Karki and Jack Satterfield

Jagger Leach and Oliver Bonding[8](GBR)

Maxwell Exsted and Alexander Vasilev(BUL)

Jack Secord and Yannik Alvarez(PUR)

Capucine Jauffret and Laima Vladson(LTU)

Julieta Pareja and Luna Cinalli[5](ARG)

Tuesday's second round junior results of Americans:

Jack Kennedy[4] d. Thijs Boogaard(NED) 4-6, 6-0, 6-4

Benjamin Willwerth[6] d. Hitesh Chauhan[Q](IND) 6-2 ,2-6, 7-6(10-6)

Jagger Leach[5] d. Kuan-Shou Chen(TPE) 7-5, 6-3

Timofei Derepasko[10](RUS) d. Maxwell Exsted 6-4, 6-4

Stefan Haita[Q](ROU) d. Noah Johnston 2-6, 6-3, 6-4

Wednesday's third round junior matches featuring Americans:

Jack Kennedy[4] v Ryo Tabata[13](JPN)

Jagger Leach[5] v Ivan Ivanov[9](BUL)

Benjamin Willwerth[6] v Timofei Derepasko[10](RUS)

Julieta Pareja[9] v Victoria Barros(BRA)

Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul both lost to their higher seeded opponents today in the men's quarter finals at Roland Garros, with No. 15 seed Tiafoe losing to No. 8 seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 and No. 12 seed Tommy Paul losing to No. 2 seed and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz of Spain 6-0, 6-1, 6-4.

Madison Keys[7] and Coco Gauff[2] face off tomorrow for a spot in the semifinals.

The ATP announced the participants in its Collegiate Accelerator Program, with 22 men receiving up to eight main draw spots in Challenger 50s and 75 (Top 10) or qualifying spots (11-20 and NCAA quarterfinalists), depending on whether they remain in school or are finished. The breakout of how each of the 22 qualified for this program can be found at the ITA article. The 12-month period for using these entries begins July 7.

The ATP Challenger 75 in Tyler Texas doesn't have any collegiate men using theirs from the last 12-month period, but it does have two 2024 junior slam champions who received entry based on the ITF junior version of this program: rising Virginia sophomore Rafael Jodar of Spain (who also just qualified for the collegiate program) and rising UCLA sophomore Kaylan Bigun.

Jodar won his first round match today, defeating Andres Andrade(Florida) of Ecuador 6-3, 6-4.  Bigun retired from his first round match this evening against Ilya Ivashka of Belarus.

The wild cards in Tyler were awarded to Andres Martin(Georgia Tech), who beat No. 5 seed Aziz Dougaz(Florida State) of Tunisia 6-2, 6-2; SMU rising junior Trevor Svajda, who advanced when No. 2 seed Liam Draxl(Kentucky) of Canada retired at 1-1 in the first set; and Stefan Dostanic(USC, Wake Forest).  

Dostanic followed up his win over 2024 NCAA fall champion Michael Zheng(Columbia) in the team quarterfinals with another win today, beating last week's finalist in Little Rock 7-6(3), 6-4. They could meet again in two weeks at the USTA's inaugural Collegiate Wild Card Playoff in Lake Nona.

Alex Rybakov(TCU) is the only American qualifier to advance to the second round, beating Govind Nanda(UCLA) 6-4, 6-3.

Qualifying concluded today at the women's USTA Pro Circuit W75 in Sumter South Carolina, with 15-year-old Kristina Liutova, a Russian living in the United States, among those making the main draw. Liutova defeated former North Carolina All-American Fiona Crawley 7-5, 6-4 in today's final round of qualifying. 

Americans advancing to the main draw via qualifying are Jada Robinson, Jaeda Daniel(Auburn, NC State), Liv Hovde(Duke), Jamie Loeb(UNC), Jenna Defalco and Solymar Colling(San Diego).

Wild cards were awarded to Julia Fliegner(Michigan), who defeated Madison Sieg(USC) in the first round today 3-6, 6-1, 6-2; Amelia Honer(UC-Santa Barbara), who beat No. 6 seed YeXin Ma of China 6-3, 6-0, and Luciana Perry(Ohio State), who defeated Victoria Hu(Princeton) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. The fourth wild card, DJ Bennett(Auburn), plays Jamie Loeb Wednesday. Robin Anderson(UCLA) defeated No. 2 seed Maria Mateas(Duke) 0-6, 6-4, 6-4 today. 

No. 7 seed Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) and Dasha Vidmanova(Georgia) of the Czech Republic are also in the draw, with Stoiana playing Hovde and Vidmanova facing No. 5 seed Elvina Kalieva.