Pareja and Willwerth Fall in Roland Garros Junior Quarterfinals, Schoenhaus and Klugman Save Match Points to Reach Semifinals; Gauff Through To RG Women's Final; Svajda, Bennett Reach $75K Quarterfinals; SoCal Pro Series Update

The last of the American juniors in contention for singles championships at Roland Garros lost today, with No. 9 seed Julieta Pareja falling 7-5, 6-4 to top seed Emerson Jones of Australia and No. 6 seed Benjamin Willwerth losing to Max Schoenhaus of Germany.

Pareja started today's quarterfinal in the same dominant fashion she displayed in her first three wins, going up 5-0 over two-time junior slam finalist Jones, who was spraying balls to start. But serving for the set at 5-0, Pareja double faulted twice, and Jones took full advantage of that small crack, breaking and holding to make it 5-2. Pareja made three straight unforced errors to go down 0-40, got it back to deuce, but lost that game too. 

Jones finally found her deadly backhand around this stage, and after Pareja had taken a 30-0 lead serving for the set at 5-4, she won the next four points to pull even. Pareja needed to hold to force a tiebreaker, but her errors piled up and Jones continued to hit with depth and pace, breaking to win her seventh consecutive game.

Pareja had reason to be hopeful when she broke to start the second set, but Jones immediately got the break back, and it wasn't until the eighth game of the second set that Pareja held serve for the first time since the fourth game of the first set.  Jones wobbled a bit, watching her 5-1 lead disappear, but she broke Pareja one last time to earn a 7-5, 6-4 victory.

Jones will play unseeded Lilli Tagger of Austria in Friday's semifinals, after Tagger defeated No. 12 seed Julia Stusek of Germany 6-0, 6-4. Jones and Tagger met in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open this year with Jones winning 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

The second girls semifinal will also feature a seed against an unseeded player, with No. 8 Hannah Klugman of Great Britain facing Rositsa Dencheva of Bulgaria.

Klugman knew she was in for a battle in her quarterfinal today against Czech qualifier Sarah Fajmonova, after she had faced her in the quarterfinals of the J500 in Milan two weeks ago and eked out a 7-6(2,) 5-7 6-4 victory.  Today Klugman had to save a match point, serving at 4-5 30-40, but the 16-year-old went for her forehand, hit a winner and went on to take the game. She then broke to serve for the match, but went down 15-30 to sow some seeds of doubt. Fajmonova made an unforced backhand error to make it 30-all and Klugman slammed an ace to get to match point. An entertaing rally ended with Klugman improvising a slice backhand volley to secure a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 win and her first junior slam semifinal.

Dencheva, who beat Luna Cinalli of Argentina 6-0, 7-5, has yet to drop a set this week. Klugman and Dencheva played just once on the ITF Junior Circuit, way back in the spring of 2022, when Klugman was 13 and Dencheva 15, and Klugman won that. But three months earlier, it was Dencheva who had won their quarterfinal matchup in the Junior Orange Bowl. Dencheva, the Eddie Herr 14s champion that year, lost to Shannon Lam in the semifinals, before Lam fell to Iva Jovic in the championship match.

Klugman wasn't the only player to advance to the semifinals after saving a match point, as Max Schoenhaus saved two match points in his 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(13-11) win over Australian Open boys finalist Willwerth.

Willwerth served for the match at 5-4 in the third set, but went down 0-40, with Schoenhaus breaking at 30-40. Schoenhaus held, with Willwerth following with a hold for the tiebreaker. It was Willwerth who had the experience in that situation, having won a third-set tiebreaker in the second round, but he double faulted on his first two serves, and fell behind 5-0. He got one of the mini-breaks back, but Schoenhaus would not surrender the second, taking a 9-7 lead to earn two match points. He then double faulted, and Willwerth held for 9-all. 

Willwerth went up 10-9 by forcing an error, but Schoenhaus came up with an ace to save that match point. He then proceeded to double fault to give Willwerth another match point, but Willwerth made a two consecutive backhand unforced errors and Schoenhaus converted his third match point when Willwerth's second serve return went long.

Schoenhaus will face No. 9 seed Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria, who reversed his loss in the ITF J500 in Milan two weeks ago to No. 2 Jacopo Vasami of Italy 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. Ivanov, who beat Moise Kouame in a tough first round match, and No. 5 seed Jagger Leach in the quarterfinals, both from a set down, will be the first Bulgaria boy in history to reach a Roland Garros final if he beats Schoenhaus tomorrow in their first meeting.

In the top half, Unseeded Niels Mcdonald of Germany will face No. 13 seed Ryo Tabata of Japan after both came through in tight two-setters. Mcdonald, who beat top seed Andres Santamarta Roig of Spain in yesterday's quarterfinals, defeated No. 7 seed Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania 7-5, 6-2, while Tabata downed No. 11 seed Alexander Vasilev of Bulgaria 6-3, 7-6(5).

While there are no Americans left in singles, seven remain in doubles, and in the boys doubles, at least one American is guaranteed to make the final when No. 7 seeds Noah Johnston and Willwerth face No. 8 seeds Jagger Leach and Great Britain's Oliver Bonding.  Johnston and Willwerth defeated the unseeded pair of Linus Lagerbohm of Finland and William Rejchtman of Sweden 4-6, 6-3, 10-8, with Lagerbohm and Rejchtman coming back from 9-2 down in the match tiebreaker, only to watch as Johnston hit an unreturnable serve to seal the victory.

Leach and Bonding beat No. 4 seeds Tabata and Alexandrescou 6-3, 6-4.

In the bottom half, No. 3 seeds Keaton Hance and Jack Kennedy ended the quest of two-time Australian Open boys doubles champion Maxwell Exsted for another junior slam title, beating Exsted and partner Vasilev 6-2, 6-4.  Hance and Kennedy will play No. 2 seeds Oskari Paldanius of Finland and Alan Wazny of Poland in the semifinals.

While Exsted's quest for another slam title ended today, the Penickova twins extended theirs, beating No. 7 seeds Charo Esquive Banuls of Spain and Nellie Taraba Wallberg of Sweden 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 10-5.  They will play fellow sisters and No. 3 seeds Alena and Jana Kovackova, who defeated unseeded Maia Burcescu of Romania and Luna Vujovic of Serbia 6-7(1), 6-1, 10-3.  The Penickovas and Kovackovas met in the semifinals of the Australian Open in January, with the Penickovas winning 5-7, 6-1, 11-9.

Two unseeded teams will play in the top half, with Eva  Bennemann and Sonja Zhenikhova of Germany facing Tagger and Mia Pohankova of Slovakia. Bennemann and Zhenikhova beat No. 4 seeds Vendula Valdmannova and Tereza Krejcova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4; Pohankova and Tagger beat  No. 5 seeds Cinalli and Pareja 6-0, 6-4.

In the mixed doubles final today in Paris, No. 3 seeds Andrea Vavassori and Sara Errani of Italy won their second slam title, beating No. 4 seeds Taylor Townsend and Evan King(Michigan) 6-4, 6-2.

King and Christian Harrison will play Joe Salisbury(Memphis) and Neal Skupski(LSU) of Great Britain in the men's doubles semifinal Friday.

Second seed Coco Gauff will play in her second Roland Garros women's final Saturday, after the 2018 girls champion defeated wild card Lois Boisson of France 6-1, 6-2. Gauff will face top seed and WTA No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in a rematch of the 2023 US Open final.  Sabalenka ended the three-year run of Iga Swiatek of Poland 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-0.

At the ATP Challenger 75 in Tyler Texas, SMU rising junior Trevor Svajda is through to the quarterfinals after defeating former ATP Top 40 player Ilya Ivashka of Belarus 7-5, 6-3.  Svajda will try to end the streak of Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M), who has won two Challenger titles in a row and defeated No. 8 seed Paul Jubb(South Carolina) 7-5, 6-1 in today's second round. Wild card Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) and qualifier Alex Rybakov are the other two Americans through to the quarterfinals.

Four collegians, the top two recent graduates and two with eligibility remaining, are through to the quarterfinals of the USTA women's Pro Circuit W75 in Sumter South Carolina.

No. 7 seed Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M), who finished at No. 2 in the ITA's final rankings, and Dasha Vidmanova(Georgia) of the Czech Republic, who finished No. 1 and won the NCAA singles title last fall, are one win away from yet another meeting, after both won today. Stoiana beat Usue Arconada 7-5, 6-3 and Vidmanova came back to beat Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-1. 

Vidmanova plays unseeded Shrivalli Bhadmidipaty of India in the quarterfinals, while Stoiana takes on Japanese qualifier Ena Koike. Stoiana and Vidmanova have met once on the Pro Circuit with Stoiana getting the 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 win in the quarterfinals of last fall's W75 in Oklahoma.

Wild card DJ Bennett, a rising senior at Auburn, defeated Robin Adnerson(UCLA) 6-3, 6-4 and will face Katherine Sebov of Canada in the quarterfinals.

Qualifier Jaeda Daniel(Auburn, NC State) will take on LSU rising sophomore Cadence Brace of Canada, who beat wild Luciana Perry(Ohio State) 6-0, 6-2.

Stoiana is the only seed to reach the quarterfinals.

In week 2 of the SoCal Pro Series, top seed Keegan Smith(UCLA) extended his winning streak, with last week's San Diego champion reaching the men's quarterfinals with his second win in two weeks over qualifier Dominique Rolland(UC-Santa Barbara) 7-5, 6-3. The $15Ks this week and next are at the University of San Diego.  For more on Rolland, see this article from Steve Pratt for USTA Southern California.

In the women's quarterfinals, Duke recruit Aspen Schuman is through, and the No. 8 seed is the only seed remaining in her half, with Pratt's article providing some information on two of the wild cards who have advanced to the quarterfinals in that half. Top seed Dejana Radanovic of Serbia, who lost to Katie Swan of Great Britain in last week's San Diego $15K final, beat junior reserved entry Claire An, an incoming Duke freshman, 6-2, 0-6, 6-3, and will play Cal's Mao Mushika[7] of Japan one round earlier than last week.