Tagger Makes Austrian Tennis History with Roland Garros Girls Title; Mcdonald Wins All-German Boys Final; Gauff Claims Second Slam Title; Vidmanova, Brace Meet in W75 Sumter Final
Two unseeded 17-year-olds claimed the 2025 Roland Garros junior singles titles today in Paris, with Lilli Tagger of Austria beating No. 8 seed Hannah Klugman of Great Britain 6-2, 6-0 and Niels Mcdonald beating fellow German Max Schoenhaus 6-7(5), 6-0, 6-3 on Court Simonne Mathieu. Tagger is the first Austrian, girl or boy, to capture a Roland Garros junior singles title, while Mcdonald is the third German boy overall, and second in the Open Era, to win a junior singles title in Paris.
The score of the girls final, at least in the first set, was not indicative of how close it was. Tagger and Klugman met in the semifinals of a W35 in Spain this spring, with the Austrian winning it three sets, and the first two games today, which took 16 minutes, suggested a similar battle. But Tagger asserted herself with a break in the fourth game, then fought off three break points to keep that break, before breaking an error-prone Klugman for a second time to take the set.
Dropping the first set had been something of a pattern for Klugman during the week, having done it in her first round, quarterfinal and semifinal wins, but those comebacks may have taken their toll, and in her on-court comments at the trophy ceremony alluded several times to how long the week had seemed to her.
Tagger, in contrast had not lost a set all week, and with her 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 3 seed Jeline Vandromme of Belgium in the first round, she had immediately announced herself as one of the favorites. With her reliable one-handed backhand, which is difficult to read for many players, given its novelty among girls, and her forehand a fearsome shot, Tagger looked nothing but confident in the second set, giving Klugman no hope for another comeback. In 28 minutes, just over half as long as the first set, the title was hers, 15 years after her coach, Francesca Schiavone of Italy, had taken the women's singles title.
Tagger is just the second Austrian to win any junior slam singles title, joining Jurgen Melzer, the 1999 Wimbledon boys champion.
Considering that Mcdonald and Schoenhaus, also unseeded, were both playing in their first major singles final, and, despite the dismal weather, in front of a large crowd, they engaged in a poised and competitive first set, with no breaks of serve. Mcdonald saved two break points in his first service game, but did not face another one in the match; Schoenhaus, who had 16 winners in the opening set, didn't face a any break points at all in the first.
Schoenhaus, who, like Tagger, has a one-handed backhand, came up with a crucial penetrating forehand with Mcdonald serving at 5-5 in the tiebreaker, forcing an error and giving himself a set point. He converted it when Mcdonald missed a backhand return on a second serve, but Mcdonald immediately seized the momentum by getting break points, his first of the match, in Schoenhaus's opening service game, converting the second for a 1-0 lead. Once he was broken at love to give Mcdonald a 3-0 lead, Schoenhaus's game deserted him, and he made 17 unforced errors, while collecting just one winner.
Although Schoenhaus eventually pulled out of that with a hold in the second game of the third set, he fell behind permanently when he lost serve in the fourth game, and Mcdonald was just too solid to provide any openings. Schoenhaus did hold his next two service games to keep himself alive, and a Mcdonald double fault to open his 5-4 service game might have indicated some nerves, but he shook them off. A calmly executed drop shot winner, and then a forehand winner gave him two match points, with the first one saved by a forehand from Schoenhaus forcing an error. But on his second championship point, Mcdonald put an end to any tension, hitting a good first serve that Schoenhaus caught late on his backhand, with Mcdonald immediately collapsing on the baseline in celebration of his improbable title.
Mcdonald wasn't the only unseeded 17-year-old German champion in today's Roland Garros finals, with Eva Bennemann and Sonja Zhenikhova of Germany pulling off an improbable comeback to beat No. 3 seeds Alena and Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic. Trailing 6-4, 4-0, Bennemann and Zhenkihova won the next six games, including four consecutive deciding points to get to the match tiebreaker, where they never trailed, but needed three match points to finally secure.
No. 2 seeds Alan Wazny of Poland and Oskari Paldanius of Finland defeated No. 7 seeds Noah Johnston and Benjamin Willwerth 6-2, 6-3, with the Americans unable to save any of the three break points they faced, while Wazny and Paldanius saved five of six.
There were no breaks in the second set until Johnston lost his serve on a deciding point serving at 3-4, and the No. 2 seeds, who did not face a break point in the set, closed it out on their first championship point.
Seven years after she claimed the Roland Garros girls title at age 14, Coco Gauff won the women's title, beating top seed and WTA No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4. Gauff's other major, the 2023 US Open, was also a comeback over Sabalenka, with the 19-year-old taking that one 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. Gauff win remain at No. 2 in the WTA rankings, but she is now is one of only four women this century to win a girls title and women's title at the same slam, joining Victoria Azarenka(AO), Ashleigh Barty(Wimbledon) and Simona Halep(RG).
For more on Gauff's win, see this article from the Roland Garros website.
In the men's doubles final this evening, No. 5 seeds Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina ended years of frustration with their first slam title, beating No. 8 seeds Joe Salisbury(Memphis) and Neal Skupski(LSU) of Great Britain 6-0, 6-7(5), 7-5. Granollers, 39, was 0-5 in men's doubles finals at slams, while Zeballos, 40, was 0-3. They saved break points at 3-all and 5-all and then broke Skupski at love in the final game to take the elusive championship.
Two unseeded collegians will play for the title at the women's USTA Pro Circuit W75 in Sumter South Carolina, with NCAA 2024 fall singles champion Dasha Vidmanova(Georgia) of the Czech Republic taking on Cadence Brace(LSU) of Canada.
Vidmanova tilted the 2025 won-loss record against her collegiate rival Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) in her favor with a 7-6(13), 6-1 win over the No. 7 seed in today's semifinals. Vidmanova was 1-2 against Stoiana in college this year going into the NCAA team final last month, but won that match and today to move to 3-2. Brace defeated compatriot Katherine Sebov 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-3 in the bottom half semifinal. This is the first final at the ITF WTT W75 level for both Vidmanova and Brace.
No. 4 seeds Tara Moore and Abigail Rencheli(NC State) won the doubles title today, beating unseeded En Shuo Liang of Taiwan and YeXin Ma of China 7-5, 6-2 in the final.
Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M) gave a walkover to the final to Yi Zhou of China today, setting up just the second all-Chinese Challenger final against qualifier Yibing Wu at the ATP Challenger 75 in Tyler Texas. Wu, the 2017 US Open boys champion, has struggled with injuries throughout his pro career, but he is always a threat at Challengers if he is healthy. He defeated Karue Sell(UCLA) of Brazil 7-6(1), 6-4 today.
In the Tyler doubles final, No. 4 seeds Finn Reynolds(Ole Miss) and James Watt(Saint Mary's CA) of New Zealand took the title with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Alex Martinez(Oklahoma) of Spain and Adria Soriano Barrera(Miami) of Colombia. It's the third Challenger title for Reynolds and the first for Watt.
Colton Smith's match with Rinky Hijikata(UNC) of Australia at the ATP Challenger 125 in Birmingham England was suspended due to rain with Smith up 6-3, 3-3. They will resume tomorrow morning, with the winner facing Otto Virtanen of Finland for the title.
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