My Thoughts on the 2026 Wimbledon Junior Championships

Last year's post-Wimbledon article of opinions and observations helped me put a bow on the gift of covering my 12th Junior Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club(I covered 2021 remotely) and also drew a surprisingly large number of readers. In year 13, I also had a variety of items that didn't make it into the daily posts, so at the risk of repeating myself (the schedule, the schedule, the schedule) here is the second edition:

Roehampton revisited:

Before I dig into Wimbledon, the J300 in Roehampton deserves mention. I had not been to that event since 2017 and had no intention of returning, but the stars aligned: an early landing Friday morning in London, good weather and two singles and one doubles finalist from the United States. Although the grounds are not easily accessible by public transportation, we managed to arrive before the start of play, which also includes the final round of Wimbledon Junior qualifying. Again, Americans were prevalent in that competition, with six qualifying and one more making the Wimbledon Junior Championships main draw as a lucky loser, so there was no dearth of matches to watch. I focused on the Roehampton finals, all unfortunately scheduled at the same time, and was able to speak to both Michael Antonius and Janae Preston about their titles and their success in J300s going into Wimbledon. 

The Roehampton grounds have changed so much from my visit nine years ago as to be practically unrecognizable, with several stadium courts and much improved player spaces and amenities, although the courts for the Wimbledon Junior qualifying looked very familiar—just a strip of courts with little seating delineated by green temporary fencing. And, in a major drawback, there was no live scoring, in contrast to the J300 in Roehampton, which had live scoring all week. For families and fans unable to attend, the inability to follow along during the match that would decide a place in the Wimbledon Junior Championships had to be frustrating, and even if you were on the grounds, scores were nearly impossible to find.

The difference in the surfaces from Roehampton to AELTC is always a topic of conversation, with the consensus that Roehampton, having seen more wear-and-tear during the men's and women's qualifying, are faster. Whether this matters is open to debate, and the correlation between Roehampton champions and Wimbledon Junior champions varies.

It's rare for boys to win the only two major grass events on the junior calendar back-to-back, with only four accomplishing that this century, with the most recent ten years ago, when Denis Shapovalov of Canada swept both. In contrast, ten girls have won both, most recently American Liv Hovde in 2022 and Renata Jamrichova of Slovakia in 2023. From 2010 to 2019, seven girls won Roehampton and then the Wimbledon girls title, and only one boy did, so trends are, as of now, gender specific.

Where were all the college coaches?



I can think of no more striking indication of the change in Division I tennis than the dearth of head coaches at Roehampton and the Wimbledon Junior Championships this year. In past years, many head coaches of Top 25 programs attended qualifying at Roehampton and spent several days assessing talent at Wimbledon, but this year I saw almost none of the top coaches I regularly chatted with, although I'm sure I missed some who made brief appearances. Instead of scouting the potential of 18-and-under players, those coaches have directed their attention to players they may have seen and/or recruited two or three years ago at Wimbledon, who rebuffed their offer of a scholarship offer then and went on to play pro tennis, but are now open to returning in the era of NIL.

The TCU connection to Great Britain is showing no signs of diminishing, with both David Roditi and Devin Bowen on site, and Stanford's Paul Goldstein joined assistant Harrison Adams for the late stages of the Arthur Fery run. Texas A&M's Steve Denton, a member of the Wimbledon Final Eight club, and Duke's Ramsey Smith, whose father Stan won the men's title in 1972, are regularly in attendance and were again this year, but even counting the many assistant coaches I don't know, I estimate that this year's tournament drew less than half the usual number of college coaches.

Arizona State's Jamea Jackson was the most visible women's head coach on site, but as with the men, there was a noticeably reduced number of women's coaches from the Top 25 onsite.

The silver lining to an unexpected loss:

No. 3 seed Keaton Hance, who reached the final of the Australian Open and the semifinals of Roland Garros, bowed out in the second of the Wimbledon Junior Championships to Arnav Paparkar of India 6-2, 6-3. Given his previous success this year at junior slams, Hance was certainly disappointed that he was unable to equal his third round performance at Wimbledon last year, but he had the consolation of being available to attend his sister's wedding, half a world away in Hawaii. Hance, the 2025 US Open boys doubles champion, did not enter the Wimbledon doubles to avoid a second possible dilemma, so after his singles loss, he was able to catch a flight and enjoy the festivities when Kimmi Hance, the former UCLA star, married Las Vegas Raiders guard Jackson Powers-Johnson Saturday.

Arthur Fery, junior version:



I had never heard of Oliver Page before the Wimbledon Junior Championships, and I'll admit to not paying much attention to yet another British wild card(all eight wild cards went to British players), even after he defeated qualifier Oluwasean Peter Ogunsakin of Nigeria, who had generated some buzz at Roehampton with two routine wins in qualifying. But when the 18-year-old from Wales beat No. 4 seed and Australian Open champion Ziga Sesko of Slovenia 6-4, 6-4 in the second round and followed it up with 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 15 seed Kuan-Shou Chen of Taiwan, the parallels between his run in the juniors and wild card Arthur Fery's run in men's singles were impossible to ignore. Page dropped his quarterfinal match to No. 11 seed Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands, falling short of equaling Fery's semifinal appearance, but he will begin his college career at Wichita State this fall with a newfound confidence.

"I wish they had grass courts there to train on, but unfortunately I don't think that will be the case," said Page, whose A-Level exams this year reduced his opportunity to play a full slate of World Tennis junior events.

Yet Page never doubted that Division I tennis in the United States was in his future.

"A lot of people in a similar situation to me take the college route," Page said. "We kind of knew we'd take that route. My agent Pippa(Lane) put my profile out to people and college coaches reached out to me. I spoke to quite a few, visited some. I have a friend who went there, so it's good to have someone there I know. I just got in contact with the coach, me and my dad visited, and I liked the team, I liked the campus and in about a month, I'm going. It's exciting."

Agents abound:

While Page referred to his agent, and is technically correct in doing so, those who are principals in companies that find roster spots for players in US colleges, as Lane does, have been a part of the collegiate recruiting landscape for decades. Top juniors with more high-profile agents—be it IMG, Octagon, Topnotch or other sports management companies—are also not rare, although few Americans had them previously, when signing with an agency rendered them ineligible to compete in college. That is no longer the case with the new NIL rules that govern NCAA sports, so, unlike college coaches, they are as numerous as ever on the outside courts, watching juniors they have signed or hope to sign, regardless of nationality.

Not all sponsorships are global:

Janae Preston has had an astounding 2026, winning four J300 titles, most recently in Roehampton, then reaching the semifinals at Junior Wimbledon unseeded. Now up to 6 in the latest World Tennis junior rankings, the soon-to-be 16-year-old is sporting a logo unique to her hometown of Henderson Nevada: that of the Four Seasons luxury hotel chain.

"A family friend of my dad wants to invest more in tennis, and he is currently building Four Seasons Las Vegas residences there," Preston said. "He wants to start sponsoring athletes, and I managed to be one of those athletes. I'm very honored."

Celebrity brings the spotlight to boys final:



Although always well-attended by the tennis-loving British public, the Wimbledon junior tennis finals rarely garner any interest from the media onsite, and that was again the case this year for the girls final. After Russian Anna Pushkareva upset top seed and Roland Garros finalist Xinran Sun of China 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, with 8000 fans filling Court One to watch the longest girls final since records have been kept, a grand total of two journalists attended her press conference in the 100-seat Media Theatre: me and Ross McLean of World Tennis.

In contrast, boys finalist Cruz Hewitt, the son of 2002 Wimbledon men's singles champion Lleyton Hewitt, was in demand with the press throughout the week, routinely drawing a half dozen journalists after each match. I am usually the only journalist to interview the player that loses in a junior final, at a hightop in the media pavilion lobby; this year Hewitt drew at least three times as many journalists as the five whom champion Jordan Lee spoke to in his press conference in the Media Theatre.

Unsurprisingly the majority of those interested in Hewitt were from the Australian press, in a room with enough seats to accommodate most of them and a door that could be closed, and the questions were less about the final itself than about Hewitt's reaction to losing, his father's role in the player's box and his future plans.



Usually I can count on one hand the number of occupants in the press seats on Court One for a junior final; for the boys this year, they were nearly full. And although the quality of the match was excellent, with twists and turns and the requisite suspense late in the third set, I know that wasn't what attracted all the journalists. Unless Hewitt makes another junior slam final (and he's not expected to play in his last opportunity in juniors at the US Open), I'm confident the interest in junior finals will return to its previous levels.

The schedule:



There were several reasons the junior finals were played in front of near-capacity crowds on Court One, and one of them is the scheduling of the matches not before 1 p.m. with the women's and men's finals now scheduled for a 4 p.m. start. Pushing back the previous 2 p.m. start time for the men's and women's singles hasn't been particularly popular, but it has increased the window for exposure to the junior finals.

Although extremely hot throughout the second week, rain delays were non-existent, providing a leisurely pace to complete the 64-player singles and 32-team doubles draws in nine days. The girls draws and both doubles draws are finished in eight days, with the finals on Saturday; the boys receive an extra day of rest before the final, but all players get a day off from singles during the week.

"I love it, I love it," said Janae Preston, who played six singles matches in six days in Roehampton the previous week. "It's nice to let my body recover, relax a little bit, avoid the stress."

Boys champion Jordan Lee, who came through qualifying, was happy to have the day before the boys final to recuperate.

"I'll get some good sleep, try to rest and recover as best as I can," said Lee, who planned to make his way into Court One to observe the atmosphere. "I'll hit once, but I've played a lot of tennis, so I don't think I need to play too much tomorrow."

As I mentioned last year when praising the Wimbledon junior schedule, the US Open and Roland Garros cram their Junior Championships into seven days (the Australian Open uses eight days) for reasons I have never understood, limiting the fans' exposure to junior tennis and adding to everyone's stress if the weather is not perfect. There are many things Wimbledon does better than any other slam; junior scheduling is definitely one of them.

UCLA's Johnson Reaches Lincoln Challenger Quarterfinals; Qualifiers Advance to Quarterfinals in Dallas and Louisville; Bennett Joins Auburn's Coaching Staff, Kane to Lead Cal Women; Three US Girls Make J200 Bogota Semifinals

The 2026 version of my Wimbledon Thoughts and Observations will be out tomorrow as a stand-alone post, so tonight I'll focus on the USTA Pro Circuit, college news and notable US junior results (don't forget to check Tennis Recruiting Network each day for their National Clay Courts recaps).

Last night at the ATP Challenger 75 in Lincoln Nebraska, UCLA rising senior Spencer Johnson advanced to his first Challenger quarterfinal by winning the battle of the wild cards over JJ Wolf(Ohio State) 6-2, 6-4. Johnson, whose last loss was to 16-year-old Andy Johnson in the semifinals of the M15 in Los Angeles in early June, has now won 17 consecutive matches. He'll look to extend that streak on Friday against No. 3 seed Coleman Wong of Hong Kong. The other two Americans to reach the quarterfinals are No. 6 seed Colton Smith(Arizona) and qualifier Matt Forbes, who reached his first Challenger quarterfinal with a 6-7(3), 7-6(4), 6-3 win over Jie Cui of China. He will face No. 8 seed Bernard Tomic of Australia next.

At the W35 in Dallas, four Americans advanced to the quarterfinals in the bottom half: No. 7 seed Malaika Rapolu(Texas), qualifier Lexington Reed(Texas A&M), Christasha McNeil(Texas) and No. 2 seed Hanna Chang. Alina Shcherbinina(Baylor, Okalahoma) of Russia won her 23rd match in her last 24 matches today, defeated No. 4 seed Jia-Jing Lu of China 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. She will face Ekaterina Khayrutdinova(Florida International, Auburn) of Russia in the quarterfinals.

The quarterfinals at the M25 in Louisville Kentucky features two qualifiers, both current collegians. Texas A&M's rising junior Alex Frusina beat Great Britain's Will Jansen(UNC, Ohio State, Georgia) 7-6(8), 6-4 and will play former Texas All-American Timo Legout of France in Friday's quarterfinals. Legout defeated No. 6 seed Oliver Bonding(TCU) 6-2, 6-1 in today's second round.  Bonding's teammate Max Dussault, like Frusina a qualifier, defeated Vignesh Gogineni(Yale) 6-3, 7-5 and will face No. 4 seed Ozan Baris(Michigan State) Friday. Baris defeated 15-year-old qualifier Teodor Davidov 6-0, 6-1. Top seed Mees Rottgering(Wake Forest) of the Netherlands beat 18-year-old UCLA rising freshman Lev Seidman 6-1, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals.

At the M15 in Rochester New York, all second round matches were pushed back until this evening and all doubles postponed until Friday, I assume due to poor air quality due to the wildfire smoke, which we are also experiencing here in Michigan. Two matches have finished with top seed Tristan McCormick defeating 16-year-old wild card Sulaiman Syed 6-2, 6-4 and 17-year-old Jerrid Gaines Jr reaching his second M15 quarterfinals with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over wild card Drew Fishback(Virginia Tech). 

Auburn announced that 2024 NCAA singles finalist DJ Bennett, who graduated in May, has been hired as an assistant coach for the Tigers. Bennett explains in this article why, after she competes in the US Open women's doubles draw with the wild card she won at last month's USTA US Open Collegiate Playoffs with Ava Esposito, she will not pursue a career in pro tennis.

Many other associate and assistant coach positions have been filled in the past month; see Parsa Nemati's twitter feed (@ParsaBombs) for updates on those.

Few Division Power 4 conference head coaching positions were vacated this year, and technically, Cal was not one of them, as the school did not replace women's head coach Amanda Augustus when she announced her retirement this fall. After men's head coach Kris Kwinta served as interim coach this spring, Cal filled the position early this month, naming Maggie Kane, a former North Carolina player, as head coach. Kane, who served as an assistant at Oklahoma State last year and associate head coach at UC-Santa Barbara from 2022-2025, is the first coach to benefit from the endowed position of the Stacy Savides Director of Women's Tennis, which was announced last month.

With no World Tennis junior events in the United States this week, and the USTA National Clay Courts concluded, it's a quiet time for American juniors. But three US girls have had success on the South American red clay this week, with No. 3 seed Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann, No. 4 seed Olivia De Los Reyes and unseeded Ciara Harding through to the semifinals of the J200 in Bogota Colombia. De Los Reyes will face Harding, who beat No. 2 seed Ireland O'Brien today, while Drenser-Hagmann, who defeated Reiley Rhodes today, will play top seed Sofie Hettlerova of Czechia, who came through qualifying. Drenser-Hagmann and De Los Reyes, the No. 2 seeds, are into the doubles semifinals, while top seeds Scarlett Fagan and O'Brien have already secured their spot in the final.

Forbes Defeats Gorzny at Lincoln Challenger; Retirements Abound at Louisville M25; Antonius Advances, First ATP Points for Syed and Columbo at M15 in Rochester; Qualifier Reed Ousts No. 3 Seed at Dallas W35

It didn't take long for Matt Forbes to avenge his loss last month to Sebastian Gorzny(TCU, Texas) in the USTA's US Open Collegiate Playoff, with the soon-to-be Ohio State junior defeating playoff champion Gorzny 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round of the ATP Challenger 75 in Lincoln Nebraska. 2024 Kalamazoo 18s champion Forbes, who announced his transfer from Michigan State to Ohio State in May, qualified for the Lincoln main draw with wins over No. 3 seed Alafia Ayeni(Cornell, Kentucky) and wild card Aniss Rafiq(Nebraska) of Morocco. He was slotted into the spot at the top of the draw when Adam Walton(Tennessee),  finalist at last week's ATP Challenger 125 in Newport, withdrew. Forbes will play Jie Cui of China in the second round Thursday.

UCLA rising senior Spencer Johnson, who received a wild card into the Lincoln main draw after closing out the SoCal Pro Series with his third consecutive title last week in Rancho Santa Fe, defeated No. 7 seed Remy Bertola of Switzerland 6-1, 6-4 for his first ATP Top 200 victory Tuesday. He is playing fellow wild card JJ Wolf(Ohio State) in the second round tonight.

The heat and humidity at the USTA Pro Circuit M25 in Louisville Kentucky appear to have been a factor in the retirements today of four players, all after at least one set had been played. Five qualifiers have reached the second round, including 19-year-old TCU rising sophomore Maximus Dussault; 20-year-old Alex Frusina(Auburn, Texas A&M); Duke rising sophomore Dylan Long, who beat No. 5 seed Marko Miladinovic(Baylor) of Serbia; Alejandro Moreno(Auburn, Tennessee); and 15-year-old Teodor Davidov.

Wake Forest rising sophomore Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands is the top seed this week, and will face 18-year-old Lev Seidman, a rising UCLA freshman. Rottgering's teammate Luca Pow of Great Britain, will face No. 2 seed Millen Hurrion of Great Britain in the second round.

Michael Antonius is only three days removed from playing in the Wimbledon boys doubles final, but the 16-year-old from Buffalo is already back in action, and picked up a win, today at the M15 in Rochester New York. Seeded No. 2 and a quarterfinalist last year at this event, Antonius defeated Texas's Jonah Braswell 6-3, 6-3 to advance to a second round meeting with Dillon Beckles, a Dartmouth recruit.

Seventeen-year-old wild cards Kayden Colombo and 16-year Syed Sulaimon picked up their first ATP points today, with Sulaimon slated to meet top seed Tristan McCormick(Notre Dame, Georgia) next, and Colombo faces No. 8 seed Ilyas Fahim(Virginia Tech). 

Seventeen-year-old Jerrid Gaines Jr and 19-year-old qualifier Benjamin Willwerth have also advanced, with Gaines beating No. 5 seed Andrew Delgado(Wake Forest, Georgia) 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-2.

The only women's event this week is the W35 in Dallas, which is played indoors. 

YeXin Ma of China is the top seed; she defeated qualifier Thea Rabman(UNC) 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the second round. 

Qualifier Lexington Reed, a rising junior at Texas A&M, defeated No. 3 seed Eunhye Lee of Korea 7-5, 6-1, and will play TCU's rising sophomore Jennifer Jackson next.

Nineteen-year-old Christasha McNeil, a rising Texas sophomore, defeated No. 6 seed BoYoung Jeong of Korea 6-1, 6-1 and plays qualifier Maria Kononova(North Texas) next.

Liv Hovde(Duke) and Jo-Yee Chan(Oregon, San Diego State) are the other qualifiers through to the second round. Alina Shcherbinina(Baylor, Oklahoma) had her 22-match SoCal Pro Series winning streak (including qualifying) stopped by Veronika Miroshnichenko(Loyola Marymount) in Sunday's Rancho Santa Fe final, but she's begun another one after receiving a special exempt into Dallas. The 22-year-old from Russia will face No. 4 seed Jia-Jing Lu of China in the second round.

Kockinis Claims Back-to-Back World Tennis Junior Titles in Mexico, Reaches Top 100; Shick Wins First Challenger Title, Nakashima Earns First Singles Title on Pro Circuit

While I was covering the World Tennis J300 in Roehampton and Wimbledon Juniors, which produced three American champions, five other Americans won singles titles in the first two weeks of July, with 16-year-old Armira Kockinis of Southern California earning two of them, and with those results rising to the Top 100 in the World Tennis junior rankings.

Unseeded at the J200 in Monterrey Mexico two weeks ago, Kockinis defeated four seeds, including top seed Avery Alexander of Canada in the semifinals. Kockinis then defeated No. 6 seed Isabella DeLuccia 7-6(5), 7-5 in the final for her best result in a World Tennis tournament.

Last week at the J100 in Monterrey, the fifth-seeded Kockinis again defeated DeLuccia, this time in the semifinals, then won her tenth straight match with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over unseeded Riho Goto of Japan in the final.

With those two results, Kockinis is now up to a career-high of 98 in the WT junior rankings.

Olivia De Los Reyes and Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann won the girls doubles title, with the No. 2 seeds beating unseeded Elicia Lin of Canada and Ellery Mendel 6-3, 6-4 in the final. 

At the J100 in Medellin Colombia last week, 14-year-old Kathryn Cragg of New York won her second career WT junior title, with the No. 3 seed beating Emanuela Lares of Colombia 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

Charlies Minvielle, who reached the semifinals in boys singles, won the doubles title with Colombian partner Alejandro Pena. The No. 2 seeds beat the unseeded Colombian team of Alejandro Castellanos and Juan Sebastian Castellanos Mogollon 6-3 6-1 in the final.

It was an all-USA final at last week's J60 in Vancouver Canada, with No. 5 seed Dylan Meineke capturing his first WT junior title in boys's singles.

The 16-year-old from Texas defeated 17-year-old Luca Tabidze of Northern California 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 in the final. 

Fifteen-year-old twin sisters Saranya and Sitara Agarwal took turns winning their first titles at the J30s in Aruba, with Saranya, the No. 2 seed, winning her championship with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over top seed and compatriot Leila Montevidoni Leroy in the first week of the month. Last week, Sitara, also the No. 2 seed, beat top seed Charlotte Perks of Great Britain 7-5, 7-5 in the championship match.

There were also two doubles titles for Americans last week. At the J100 in the Dominican Republic, No. 3 seeds Kaya Baker and Audrey Dussault took the girls titles with a 6-4, 6-1 win over top seeds Aarini Bhattacharya and Kalista Papadopoulos in an all-USA final. 

At the J30 in Canada, 14-year-old Southern Californian Melody Lee won her first title in her second World Tennis junior tournament, partnering with Sophia Montemurro of Canada for the doubles championship. Lee and Montemurro, the No. 3 seeds, defeated fourth-seeded Ruxleigh Jahnne Bayasen and Flora Zhang of Canada 7-5, 6-2 in the final. Lee, unseeded in singles, also reached that final, losing to No. 7 seed Katherine Kobzar of Canada 6-4, 6-1.

I covered the USTA Pro Circuit singles champions from last week yesterday, but didn't have time to go back two weeks for the American champions crowned on July 5.

Qualifier Bryce Nakashima, the Ohio State rising senior, won his first pro singles title at the M15 SoCal Pro Series event in San Diego, beating teammate and top seed Aidan Kim 6-2, 7-6(2) in the final. Rising sophomores Noah Johnston(Georgia) and Max Exsted won the doubles title in San Diego, with the No. 4 seeds beating unseeded Vignesh Gogineni(Yale) and Matthew Shearer(William Carey, Nebraska) of New Zealand 3-6, 6-4, 11-9.

Alina Shcherbinina won the W15 in San Diego, her third straight title during this USTA Southern California Pro Series. Because she took the previous week off, she had to qualify again, but she got through and beat UCLA rising junior Kate Fakih 6-3, 7-6(1) in the final.  Anne Christine Lutkemeyer(UCLA) and Anita Sahdiieva(Baylor, LSU) won the doubles title in San Diego, with the top seeds beating Salma Ewing(USC, Texas A&M) and Alexandra Vagramov, the No. 2 seeds, 6-1, 6-3 in the final.

At the W100 in Cary NC, Savannah Broadus reached a final at that level for the first time, with the former All-American at Pepperdine, a qualifier, falling to 2 seed Lucrezia Stefanini of Italy 6-3, 6-2 in the final. Catherine Harrison(UCLA) and Dalayna Hewitt, the No. 2 seeds, won the doubles title with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Hiroko Kuwata of Japan and Ankita Raina of India.

Former NC State star Braden Shick won his first Challenger title two weeks ago at the ATP 75 in Cary North Carolina. The unseeded Shick defeated former Texas All-American Timo Legout of France, also unseeded, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the final, and he is now getting close to entry into the US Open men's qualifying with his ATP ranking of 232.

Last week at the ATP 125 in Newport Rhode Island, former TCU All-American Jake Fearnley of Great Britain claimed the title with a 5-7, 7-6(8), 6-4 win over No. 4 seed Adam Walton of Australia. Fearnley saved six match points in the final. No. 2 seeds Finn Reynolds(Ole Miss) and James Watt(St. Mary's) of New Zealand won the doubles title, beating top seeds Fernando Romboli of Brazil and JP Smith(Tennessee) of Australia 6-2, 6-7(2), 10-6 in the final.

In non-USTA Pro Circuit news, Orange Bowl 16s champion Matias Reyniak reached his first World Tennis men's final two weeks ago, with the 17-year-old wild card from New York falling to top seed Constantin Bittoun Kouzmine of France 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the M15 final in Turkey last month.

USTA National Clay Court Championships Final Results; Svajda, Pareja and Johnson Claim USTA Pro Circuit Titles

It's been a long travel day after 10 fantastic days of tennis on the grass courts of London, so I'll keep this post short with the weekend's USTA Clay Courts finals results, and a brief review of the USTA Pro Circuit winners. I'll try to catch up on the World Tennis junior results and other significant results from the holiday weekend earlier in the month in posts this week.

USTA Clay Court National Championships Results:

(links to draws in headers)

B12s (Lake Nona FL)

Singles final: Miguel Valencia[1] d. Milan Nair[2] 6-3, 6-3

Doubles final: Samuel Hartley and Louis Xu[9] d. Milan Nair and Zachary Burunov[4] 6-1, 4-6, 6-3

Boys 14s (Dothan AL)

Singles final: Nathan Lee d. Sebastian Cheaney[9] 6-3, 2-6, 6-3

Doubles final: Wyatt Markham and Evaan Mohan[2] d. Nathan Lee and Blount Williams[9] 6-0, 6-4

Boys 16s (Delray Beach)
Singles final: Gurbaaz Narang[12] d. Joshua Dolinksy[9] 7-6(5), 6-4

Doubles final: Joseph Kim and Aryan Ponugoti[9] d. Trishiv Premanand and William Goodwin[8] 6-2, 6-3

Boys 18s (Delray Beach)
Singles final: Tristan Stratton[10] d. Noah Bayon[17] 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(1)

Doubles final: Alexander Wriedt and William McEwan[2] d. William Freshwater and Lucas Smith[1] 6-3, 4-6, 6-3

G12s (Greensboro NC)

Singles final: Lindy Zhou[1] d. Lerong Yao[9] 6-0, 6-3

Doubles final: Ayenxavia Calugay and Lerong Yao[2] d. Sofia Pizarro and Suzannne Kang[3] 1-6, 6-2, 6-3

Girls 14s (Plantation FL)
Singles final: Lucy Dupere[5] d, Zhongyi Zhou[11] 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-4

Doubles final: Christina Li and Kyndall Noel d. Ava Chua and Reese Ellingson[2] 7-6(1), 6-4

Girls 16s (Huntsville AL)
Singles final: Nikol Davletshina[1] d. Olivia Lin[2] 6-1, 7-6(4)

Doubles final: Nikol Davletshina and Daniela Davletshina d. Mehar Kaur and Emma Prose[6] 6-0, 6-1

Girls 18s (Mount Pleasant SC)
Singles final: Addison Lindsay [4] d, Julia Seversen[17]

Doubles final: Autumn Xu and Enya Hamilton[8] d. Blythe Sturman and and Elana Zarevtsky[9] 8-6

The Tennis Recruiting Network will begin their coverage of the Clay Courts Tuesday, with the Boys and Girls 12s championships leading off the articles about each gold ball winner in the eight divisions.

At this time last year Julieta Pareja was competing in the Wimbledon girls singles and doubles championships; 12 months later the unseeded 17-year-old from Southern California claimed her second W50 title of 2026 in Columbus Ohio yesterday without dropping a set. Pareja defeated No. 7 seed Sakura Hosogi of Japan 6-3, 6-3 in the final.

SMU's Trevor Svajda, the 2025 NCAA singles finalist, won his second career M25 title on his home courts in Dallas, with the 20-year-old from San Diego, seeded third, beating unseeded Ohio State rising senior Aidan Kim 6-3, 6-2 in yesterday's final.

And UCLA rising senior Spencer Johnson won his third SoCal Pro Series singles title in the seventh and final week of the circuit, with the top seed beating recent UC-Irvine standout Noah Zamora, the No. 2 seed, 7-6(2), 7-5 in Sunday's Rancho Santa Fe M15 final. Johnson closes out the SoCal Pro Series with 15 consecutive victories. 

For more on Johnson's recent run, and Veronika Miroshnichenko(Loyola Marymount) of Ukraine snapping the winning streak of Alina Shcherbinina(Baylor, Oklahoma) of Russia, see this article from Damian Secore for the USTA SoCal

website.

Qualifier Lee's Wimbledon Debut Ends with Comeback Win Over Hewitt; Manchala Claims Girls 14U Title on Championship Sunday at Wimbledon

©Colette Lewis 2026--

Wimbledon--

For the first six games of the Wimbledon boys final, 16-year-old Jordan Lee looked as if the seven-victory journey to the championship match had taken its toll, falling behind 5-1 in the opening set against Australian Cruz Hewitt, before rebounding to claim the title in a tense two-hour battle 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

As the crowd, eventually in excess of 9000, continued to build on the All England Lawn Tennis Club's celebrated Court One, so too did Lee's confidence. Hewitt, the son of 2002 Wimbledon men's champion Lleyton Hewitt, did hold off Lee's charge to take the first set, but needed four set points to edge ahead.

"He started out off very well, very aggressive," said Lee, who admitted he was a bit nervous when he arrived on one of the sport's biggest stages. "Yeah, a couple of unforced errors, but I managed to get my level back. And once I got it back, once the second set started, I kind of felt like, okay, I've got him and I'm here....I was going in with full confidence in the second set."

Lee took a 2-0 lead in the second set when Hewitt couldn't hold from 40-15 up, with a double fault giving Lee a break point and a video review of a not-up call from the chair, which confirmed that Hewitt did not reach Lee's drop shot on one bounce, deciding the game in Lee's favor.

The next game was a battle of forehand winners, which Hewitt eventually won, getting the break back, but he struggled in the next game and was broken again. Lee had two set points with Hewitt serving at 2-5, but Hewitt, who received entry into the Wimbledon Juniors by virtue of his ATP ranking of 606, held to force Lee to serve out the set. Lee played one of his worst games of the match, committing several unforced errors that led to a break.

Yet despite his lack of experience, Lee didn't concede, and Hewitt couldn't close out the game, with two of his nine doubles faults giving Lee free points. Hewitt saved a third set point, but when Lee hit an inside out backhand winner to set up a fourth, Hewitt finally succumbed, with his backhand error giving Lee the set.

Lee played a loose game to open the third set, and with Hewitt's easy hold, the 17-year-old Australian had a lead to protect. As Lee, a year younger and with less professional experience, began to show signs of fatigue, Hewitt had a chance to put him away, with a break point as Lee served at 1-3. But after Hewitt's unforced error and two poor second serve returns, Lee had held to stay within range.

Down 4-2, Lee held and broke Hewitt to pull even, never doubting that he could erase that deficit.

"I don't think I'll ever envision losing a match," Lee answered when asked if he was contemplating a loss. "I think there's always a chance to win it no matter what the score is, I've seen it plenty of times, watching Rafa(Nadal) down 5-1, 40-love, finding a way."

That belief and composure was on display when Lee saved a break point to go up 5-4, with Hewitt again failing to get second serve return in play. In the position of having to hold serve to stay in the match, Hewitt did so easily, but after Lee made it 6-5 just as quickly, the pressure was back on Hewitt, who made two unforced errors on the backhand sandwiched around a double fault to give Lee three match points. He needed only one, ripping a backhand winner down the line, then falling to his knees, before doing a celebration shimmy made famous by Manchester United forward Matheus Cunha.

Hewitt was disappointed in the result, but recognized that reaching the Wimbledon boys final was an accomplishment he can be proud of, even if the result was not what he had hoped.

"Playing for the Wimbledon trophy in the final, there's a lot of emotions going around," said Hewitt, whose father was providing encouragement from the players box. "I could have maybe handled it a little better, but I thought I competed well, left it all out there. I could have executed a few shots better, but that's tennis. Jordan's a great competitor, a great player and I wish him all the best. He played a great match today and he deserved the win in the end."

Few players, especially a 16-year-old returning from a wrist injury that kept him out for seven months in 2025, have ever won the first junior slam they've played, yet Lee is adamant that it will not change his outlook or plans.

"Obviously, I really happy I won this title," said Lee, who is coached by Felipe Mantilla and Sylvain Guichard at the USTA's National Campus in Orlando. "It's a big title and I'm happy to be here. For me, the mentality going forward is I know I can do it. I know there's a long journey ahead of me, and I'm ready for it."

Although Lee has recently gone viral on social media with his resemblance to 19-year-old Spanish soccer star Lamine Yamal, Lee did not choose Yamal's team when answering the inevitable question from the British journalists on who he was supporting in next week's World Cup semifinals.

"France and England," said Lee, who maintains he had the Yamal hairstyle first. "I think I got the cut before he got the cut. Maybe he saw one post and copied me," Lee joked.

Lee is planning to compete at the USTA 18s National championships in Kalamazoo next month, where a men's main draw US Open wild card in on the line, but he already has secured Wimbledon traditional qualifying wild card for the previous year's junior champion.

"I had no clue," Lee said, when asked if he was aware of that tradition before the taking the court today. "It's pretty nice."

Hewitt, who turns 18 in December, will continue to concentrate on pro tennis, as he has for the past year, and will probably not play any more junior events.

Lee was actually the second American Wimbledon champion crowned on Sunday, with 13-year-old Isha Manchala taking the girls 14-and-under title with a 7-5, 2-6, 10-8 victory over Mariia Kochenzhenko of Ukraine.

Manchala, the first US girl to advance to the semifinals of the event, now in it's fifth year, struggled to find her form in the opening stages of the match on show court 12.

"I was definitely very nervous for this match because you're in the finals of Wimbledon," said Manchala, who fell behind 4-1 and missed her first seven first serves. "But you just have to accept it. I think I was thinking too much of the outcome, instead of just playing the point, and because of that I was just rushing the serve."

Manchala got the break back with Kochenzhenko serving at 4-2, and then survived a 10-deuce game after leading it 40-love to level the first set.

"That game was very important because at 4-all you never know what can happen," said Manchala, who is coached by Derek Porter at the Van Der Meer Academy in Hilton Head South Carolina. "I was really trying to push myself to get that game. I lost the next game to go down 4-5, but on that changeover I calmed my brain, told myself to have no regrets, because I've only got one 14-U Wimbledon, so I just want to put all out there."

Manchala said Kochenzhenko's depth improved in the second set, and her own footwork kept her from responding.  "Her balls were hitting the lines and I don't think I was in the right headspace," Manchala said. "So the set just slipped away from me."

The match tiebreaker that would decide the title was more errors than winners from both girls, but at the end of it, Manchala was able to raise her game.

With Kocherenko up 7-6, Manchala drew even with a good deep serve and two big forehands in the next point gave her a lead. Then a bit of good fortune came her way, in the form of a net cord return winner that gave her two match points.

"I got a little lucky on the return to go up 9-7, got a let cord," Manchala said. "At 9-7 we had a long point and I framed a backhand out, and I told myself, right here, first serve. I placed the first serve, hit my plus-one cross and then went open court and she missed."

Manchala described her emotion at the match's conclusion as more relief than joy.

"All the pressure is off of this match, and I'm a Wimbledon champion."

Next for Manchala is representing the United States in the World Tennis Junior team competition for 14-and-under players next month in Czechia.

"It's a definitely a great privilege to play for the USA and for the USTA to give me opportunities to play for Team USA," Manchala said. "I'm very honored to be part of that team."

Manchala is planning a modest celebration after her win today.

"Probably ice cream," said Manchala, who may gravitate to strawberry, not her favorite flavor caramel, after today's title.

The boys 14-and-under title was also decided in a match tiebreaker with Jonas Waelti of Switzerland defeating Lyoma Hotelier of Japan 3-6, 6-1, 10-6 in the final.

The girls 14-and-under draws are here; the boys draws are here.

Thinking Less and Winning More, Pushkareva Claims Wimbledon Girls Championship; Kovackova Makes Junior Tennis History with Doubles Title; Sesko and Miguel Earn Boys Crown; Manchala Reaches 14U Final; Patten Claims Second Men's Doubles Title

©Colette Lewis 2026--

Wimbledon--

Anna Pushkareva has learned that thinking on court doesn't help her play her best tennis, so on one of the biggest stages of the sport Saturday afternoon, the 17-year-old from Moscow cleared her mind and raised her level to defeat top seed and World Tennis No. 1 Xinran Sun 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 to capture the Wimbledon girls title.

"My biggest secret is actually that I just try to not think," said Pushkareva, seeded 14th in her Wimbledon junior debut. "I just tried every time, because when I don't think it's easy for me to explain. Just go to court, just do your job, and that's all. Just not thinking so much."

On of the thoughts she wanted to avoid was her losses in her only two previous meetings with Sun. And despite that history, it was Pushkareva who had the more confident start on the sun-baked grass of Court One of the All England Lawn Tennis Club. 

 

For most of the first set, Pushkareva was holding serve comfortably, while every Sun service game went to deuce, until Pushkareva finally converted her seventh break point in the eighth game. But serving for the set at 5-3, Pushkareva faltered, with Sun saving a set point in a long backhand rally, and four games later Pushkareva had lost a set she controlled.

Down 2-0 in the second set, Pushkareva might have considered her opportunity gone, but that would have required thinking, not reacting. Instead of dwelling on her situation, she rededicated herself to her power game, stepping into the court and putting a usually aggressive Sun on defense to reel off five straight games, then holding to even the match.

The crowd began to fill the 12,000 plus Court One seats as the third set began, with those arriving for the women's final on Centre Court encouraging both the underdog and the top seed in their quest for the girls title.  As the champaign corks popped, and the frequently entertaining points applauded, there was no clear favorite until at 3-all, Sun dropped serve, then took a medical timeout for an arm injury. Looking to consolidate the break, Pushkareva fell behind 15-30 serving at 4-3, but kept blasting her forehand, closing out a deuce game with a forehand winner, a good second serve and another forehand winner.

Pushkareva had her first match point with Sun serving at 30-40, but the 15-year-old from China saved it with a great serve, and went on to hold the four-deuce game to force Pushkareva to serve it out.

Up 40-0, Pushkareva seemed well on her way to victory, but three more match points came and went, with a double fault at 40-30 drawing audible groans from the near-capacity crowd. 

"So many pressure," said the effervescent Pushkareva in the Wimbledon Media Theatre press conference after the match. "I'm just not breathing. I'm not breathing really. Okay, I need to serve. I do the double-fault on championship point. Like, okay. I just tried to not think so much. Actually so many pressure, so many nervous."

Just doing her job, rather than considering the implications of a deflating double fault on match point, Pushkareva closed the net and hit crisp backhand volley winner to earn her fifth match point. She then survived a long, tense rally by forcing Sun into a backhand error, ending the two-hour and 22-minute match, a record for a girls final since duration times began being recorded in 2001.

Collapsing on the baseline, Pushkareva spent a moment on her knees to consider her accomplishment before embracing Sun at the net, then climbing up to the player's box to celebrate with her coach and father Nikolai Pushkarev.

An hour later, Pushkareva was still trying to process her emotions.

"I just need the time to realize the fact that I'm a Wimbledon champion," said Pushkareva, who is expecting to play the US Open Junior Championships in September. "Like, it sounds crazy really. For me, I just can't realize for now. I just need the time."

It was a second disappointment in a junior slam final for Sun, who lost to Alisa Oktiabreva in the Roland Garros championship match last month.

"I was up 2-0, but she still fights, she plays really good, she doesn't give up. I think this is her best level," said Sun, who could not match Pushkareva's 39 winners. "She's an amazing player and it's unbelievable to do on the Wimbledon final. At this important time, she plays better, that's unbelievable."

Sun, who turns 16 later this month, is also planning to compete at the US Open in September.

Until today, no junior girl has ever won all four junior slams, but Jana Kovackova of Czechia now holds that distinction, with the 16-year-old claiming the only doubles title she had lacked today on show court 18. Partnering with Katerina Zajcikova, the No. 5 seeds defeated top seeds Victoria Barros and Nana Leme Da Silva of Brazil 7-6(7), 6-7(5), 10-6 to complete the Paris-London doubles double.

After winning last year's US Open and this year's Australian Open with her older sister Alena, Kovackova had to find a new partner for Roland Garros this year. When her best friend Zajcikova qualified, Kovackova, who had considered skipping doubles in Paris, signed up, and they took the title over the American team of Welles Newman and Jordyn Hazelitt, setting Kovackova up for history this week at Wimbledon.

"We had played together in Milan two weeks before Roland Garros and it was bad," said Zajcikova, also 16. "We won one match, but it was no good."

That was the last match they lost, taking the Roland Garros title and last week's J300 title in Roehampton, but they are still not sure why the partnership has worked so well.

"We know each other really good," Zajcikova said. "We're best friends," added Kovackova, who is the confident volleyer of the two. "I'm a little scared of the net," Zajcikova said.

Although they had not been forced into a match tiebreaker in lieu of a third set this week, they did have close matches, which prepared them for the stress of the three tiebreakers in today's final. 

But despite all her positive experience in major finals, Kovackova admitted to nerves, with the tension rising after they failed to convert three match points in the second set on the Brazilians' serve. Even as they slowly built a lead in the second half of the match tiebreaker, the jitters continued.

"We were shaking so much," said Kovackova, who was not aware of the history she was attempting to write in today's final, which perhaps explained the muted celebration after Kovackova closed out her career slam with a backhand volley winner.

"It's amazing, but it would be better in singles," Kovackova said.

While the No. 1 seeds in girls doubles fell at the final hurdle, the boys doubles champions were on the precipice of defeat in the second round, with Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil and Ziga Sesko of Slovenia saving four match points in their epic 18-16 third set tiebreaker against Kunanan Pantaratorn of Thailand and Arnav Paparkar of India.

"We got a bit lucky there, I need to say," said the 17-year-old Sesko, who won the Australian Open boys singles title this year. "But the energy was definitely going up, match by match. For sure, today was the best match we played this week."

Facing No. 2 seeds Michael Antonius and Andy Johnson of the United States, Sesko and Miguel took a 3-1 lead in the first and stayed committed to assertive tennis throughout their 6-1, 6-4 victory.

"That was for sure the plan," said the 17-year-old Miguel, who won the Roland Garros boys singles title last month. "Me and Ziga we played more aggressive tennis. As much as we pressure the opponents is better for us, and today we had an amazing day. Everything was really good. But it's the energy we have had not only today but the whole week together; we have played a year already and are connected in doubles and that's really important."

Sixteen-year-olds Antonius and Johnson were back on their heels for most of the first set.

"They came out with guns firing," said Johnson, from Southern California. "And I'd say we were ready for it, but they played some unbelievable points. But hats off to them, they served ridiculous, served really well."

"They served well, they got to the net well," said Antonius, who often trains at the USTA National Campus with Johnson. "They were hitting deep on the grass court, and deep, flat balls, you can't do much when they're closing in. I don't know what changes really we could have made."

Both teams are unsure of their plans for the last major on the junior calendar, but Antonius and Johnson are planning to partner in Kalamazoo next month.

The last match of the Wimbledon Junior Championships will be Sunday's boys final between qualifier Jordan Lee of the United States and Australia's Cruz Hewitt. That match is also on Court One, not before 1 p.m.

While just one match remains in the Junior Championships, the 14-and-under event continues with the finals and additional consolation matches.

Isha Manchala was the first American girl to reach the semifinals in the tournament's five-year history, and the 13-year-old from South Carolina is now the first girls finalist, after her 6-1, 6-0 victory over Lyubov Pronenko of Russia. Manchala will face Mariia Kocherzhenko of Ukraine in Sunday's 11 a.m. final, with Kocherzhenko defeating Eduarda Gomes of Brazil 6-3, 7-5.

The boys final, to follow the girls championship match on show court 12, will feature Lyoma Hotelier of Japan and Jonas Waelti of Switzerland. Hotelier, the reigning Les Petits As champion, defeated Noah Honsberger of Switzerland 7-6(3), 3-6, 11-9, while Waelti got by Novak Palombo of Australia 6-4, 1-6, 10-7.

In consolation play, David Bender of the United States defeated Martin Adamca of Slovakia 6-3, 3-6 10-8; Beata Maresova of Czechia defeated Anna Kapanadze of the United States 6-4, 6-3.

Great Britain's Henry Patten, the former All-American at University of North Carolina-Asheville, delivered a second Wimbledon title for his home country today. Patten and Harri Heliovaara of Finland, the 2024 Wimbledon champions, defeated No. 6 seeds Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Mate Pavic of Croatia 7-6(4), 7-6(3) in the men's doubles final this afternoon. For more on that final, see this article from the Wimbledon website.

Qualifier Lee Faces Hewitt for Boys Wimbledon Title; Top Seed Sun Reaches Second Straight Slam Final; Antonius and Johnson Advance to Boys Doubles Championship; Manchala Moves On in 14U Event

©Colette Lewis 2026--

Wimbledon--

Experience on grass may be an advantage, but two Wimbledon debutants will play for the junior singles championships this weekend at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

Qualifier Jordan Lee, playing not only in his first Wimbledon this week, but in his first junior slam, breezed past unseeded Vincent Reisach of Germany 6-3, 6-2 today on show court 12 and will play unseeded Cruz Hewitt of Australia in Sunday's boys final.

Hewitt, the son of 2002 Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt, defeated No. 11 seed Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-4 to continue his straight-sets run through the field this week.

Lee defused the power of the big-serving Reisach, who didn't help his cause by making fewer than 50% of his first serves in the opening set. With Lee serving for the first set at 5-4, he double faulted for 30-all, but unfazed, hit a tough overhead winner to earn a set point, then converted it with a good first serve.

"I played him in doubles last week and got destroyed, but every day is different," said the 16-year-old from Orlando, the youngest player in the boys draw. "So either he wasn't hitting his spots as well or I was returning well, could read it."

Lee has faced only one seed this week, taking out No. 5 seed Yannick Alexandrescou of France 6-0, 6-2 in the opening round, but he knows that Cruz, whose ATP ranking of 606 is second best in the field, will be a formidable opponent on Sunday.

"Obviously, he's a good player, he's in the final," said Lee, who recalled their only meeting being a doubles match four years ago at the Eddie Herr in Bradenton Florida. "Beat him then, but that doesn't matter. I really don't know much about him. The guy's good. I saw a couple of points against Thijs this morning, looked like both were playing well."

Hewitt trailed 3-1 in the second set, but fought back to earn a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Boogaard, who has the best ATP ranking of the boys field at 525.

"I think I played a loose game to get broken," Hewitt said of the fourth game of the second set. "But I was very happy to switch straight back on in my mind and break straight back. I think that was big; I didn't let him get the momentum, kept it pretty well, and from there on was able to keep holding, and then put pressure on his service games from there."

Boogaard double faulted six times and had twice as many unforced errors as winners, unable to summon the level he had displayed in the quarterfinals against British wild card Oliver Page Thursday. Hewitt looked comfortable on the grass, with a semifinal and a final on the surface in M15s in Australia this spring, and he fed off the support of Wayne Arthurs and his father throughout the match.

"My main coach is Wayne Arthurs, but my dad does help me a lot," said the 17-year-old, who is playing his first junior tournament this year. "He's in my corner, he's coaching a little bit, but he's just there to support. Every time I look over at him, he's showing positivity, so that gets me up and about as well  and I use that. He gives me positive things, nothing too specific."

Hewitt, who last competed in a junior event at the US Open in September, has already outdone his father by making a junior slam final. Lleyton Hewitt, who won his first ATP title at age 16, had his best finish in a junior slam by reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open boys singles in 1997.

When top seed Xinran Sun of China heard the girls final would be played on Court One Saturday, she had to confirm that she had not misunderstood.

"There? me? really?," said the 15-year-old World Tennis junior No. 1. "I thought you talk about the other one. I don't what to say."

Playing on show court 12 today, Sun looked as if she would have performed just fine on that court in the women's draw last week, displaying powerful groundstrokes and deft drop shots in her 6-1, 6-3 win over unseeded Janae Preston.

Sun jumped out to a 4-0 lead, and, for the second consecutive day, won the opening set in 21 minutes. Roehampton champion Preston had won ten matches in a row on grass, with her four previous Wimbledon victories in straight sets, but she couldn't locate any facet of Sun's game to attack.

Preston did break Sun to get on the board at 4-1, but was immediately broken back with Sun crushing a first serve return winner for a 5-1 lead, then holding at love for the set.

Preston dug in to open the second set with a service hold, which elicited an encouraging cheer from the crowd, and when Preston broke back after dropping her serve in the third game, the possibility of a comeback surfaced. But Sun brought out the devastating counter to her powerful groundstrokes and high percentage of first serves made: her dropshot.

"That's my favorite shot, I think, even on grass," said Sun, who knew Preston's speed would require nearly perfect execution of that shot. "I think that helped me a lot."

Preston kept pace after that, and had a glimpse of a break at 15-30 with Sun serving at 4-3, but Sun raised her level as needed and took advantage of Preston's two untimely double faults, including one on game point, to become the first Chinese junior to reach a Wimbledon singles final.

Preston credited Sun for playing well, but was not as generous with herself.

"I don't know why my confidence wasn't there today, because I've just won my last ten matches," said the 15-year-old from Nevada. "It wasn't that I didn't have any, but I didn't have enough. I knew it was going to be a tough match, I wasn't scared of it, but I played not to lose, rather than to win, and that's not the mindset to go into the match with. I'm still happy with the great two weeks I had, and I learned a lot. I'm not happy I lost this match, but I'm happy I learned some things about myself, and things I need to work on."

Sun, who lost in the final at Roland Garros last month, feels she has an advantage over her opponent, Anna Pushkareva of Russia, who defeated Polina Skliar of Ukraine 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 in the other semifinal.

"When you're going to the first grand slam final it's always hard," said Sun, who trains in Belgrade Serbia. "You are nervous, it's hard for everybody. But now, second time, I think I have more experience than the others, so I think that's good."

In addition to the experience advantage over Pushkareva, who is playing her first Wimbledon, Sun also has beaten the 17-year-old from Moscow twice in the past ten months: once in the final of an W15 in last November in Egypt, and in the third round of the J500 in Milan in May. 

But the 14th-seeded Pushkareva has been on a revenge tour this week, beating Melije Clarke in the third round after losing to her in the first round of Roehampton, and today avenging a loss last year to Skliar, a trend she hopes will continue Saturday.

Pushkareva is adamant that hard courts are her best surface, and with little practice on grass after that first round loss last week, she is surprised by her success this week.

"I just feel so mixed on this surface," said Pushkareva, who trains in Moscow with her father Nikolai Pushkarev. "I just can't understand it. But for now, I think I start to understand it, and I do like it more than clay courts."

Pushkareva is also not interested in talking tactics or strategy, which often disrupt her performance.

"I'm not really about tactics," Pushkareva said. "I just do what I do in a situation. I just prefer not thinking so much; it's difficult for me when I think so much, it's just pressure for me."

And although she has reservations about the surface, she has none about the tournament.

"I'm so excited," Pushkareva said of the prospect of playing on Court One. "This atmosphere is really amazing, it's really good experience to play here, the most historic slam. I can't explain the atmosphere here, it's just so great. To have this tournament in the juniors, it's a good situation for us, to see the pro players here and you say, yeah, I need work more for this level."

The girls final is scheduled for not before 1 p.m., following the men's wheelchair doubles final. 

The boys doubles final will also be on Court One again this year, with the top two seeds squaring off for the title. 

No. 1 seeds Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil and Ziga Sesko of Slovenia will face No. 2 seeds Michael Antonius and Andy Johnson following the girls final. 

Miguel and Sesko defeated unseeded Oluwaseun Ogunsakin of Nigeria and Ntungamili Raguin of Botswana 6-3, 6-7(6), 10-6 on court 12 Friday, while Antonius and Johnson beat unseeded Raffaele Ciurnelli of Italy and Leon Sloboda of Slovakia 7-6(4), 7-5 on court 18.

The girls doubles final will be on court 18 Saturday, not before 12:30 p.m., with top seeds Victoria Barros and Nana Leme Da Silva of Brazil playing the fifth-seeded Czech team of Jana Kovackova and Katerina Zajickova. Barros and Leme Da Silva defeated unseeded Polina Berezina of Russia and Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia 4-6, 6-2, 10-1 in the semifinals today. Roland Garros champion Kovackova and Zajickova, who beat No. 8 seed Ida Wobker of Germany and Denisa Zoldakova of Czechia 6-4, 6-1 today, are not only going for the rare Paris-London double, but Kovackova is bidding to become the first girl to win all four junior slams, having claimed the 2025 US Open and 2026 Australian Open titles with her older sister Alena.

Former Stanford All-American Arthur Fery's magical Wimbledon run came to end today, with the wild card from Great Britain losing to Roland Garros champion Alexander Zverev of Germany 7-6(0), 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinals. Fery has gone from outside the Top 100 to 36 in the ATP live rankings after his inspiring run during the fortnight.

Former Pepperdine All-American Luisa Stefani of Brazil will play in her first women's doubles final at a major Sunday, after she and partner Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada, the No. 2 seeds, defeated No. 13 seeds Shuko Aoyama of Japan and En-Shuo Liang of Taiwan 7-5, 6-3 in the semifinals today. They will play No. 10 seeds Hanyu Guo of China and Kristina Mladenovic of France, who beat unseeded Xinyu Jiang and Yifan Xu of China 7-6(5), 6-4. 

The semifinals are set for the Wimbledon 14-and-under event, with Isha Manchala of the United States advancing to the semifinals with a perfect 3-0 record in her group. Manchala is the first American girl to reach the semifinals in the tournament's five-year history. 

Results of Americans in 14-and-under group play Friday:

Oskar Laskowski(GBR) d. David Bender 7-6(4), 6-2

Lyoma Hotelier(JPN) d. David Bender 6-2, 6-2

Isha Manchala d. Ayaka Iwasa(JPN) 6-2, 6-2

Shristi Kiran(IND) d. Anna Kapanadze 7-6(4), 6-4

The 14-and under semifinals Saturday:

Girls:

Isha Manchala(USA) v Lyubov Pronenko(RUS)

Eduarda Gomes(BRA) v Mariia Kocherzhenko UKR)

Boys:

Novak Palombo(AUS) v Jonas Waelti(SUI)

Noah Honsberger(SUI) v Lyoma Hotelier(JPN)

Results of the girls group play are here; the boys results are here.

Lee and Preston Reach Wimbledon Junior Championships Singles Semifinals; Antonius and Johnson Advance to Boys Doubles Semis; Manchala Earns Two Wins to Start 14U Tournament; Gauff Falls in Third Set Tiebreaker; Arevalo Claims Wimbledon Mixed Title

©Colette Lewis 2026--
Wimbledon--

Sixteen-year-old Jordan Lee is making his junior slam debut a memorable one, while 15-year-old Janae Preston has fashioned a ten-match winning streak on grass, after the American pair posted straight-sets Wimbledon Junior Championships quarterfinal victories on another blistering day at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

Lee took to show court 18 first, after the Men's Invitational doubles match, which featured Lleyton Hewitt, the father of Lee's potential opponent in the boys final, Cruz Hewitt. 

If Lleyton Hewitt stuck around to do some scouting, he would have witnessed Lee's third win in the last two months over unseeded Arnav Paparkar of India, this time by a score of 6-2, 7-5.

Lee was in control throughout the first set, with Paparkar struggling to stay in the rallies when he didn't get his first serve in. 

The second was much tighter, with Paparkar, who had lost to Lee on clay at the J300 Belgium in May and last week in Roehampton, taking a 3-1 lead before Lee broke back for 3-all and held to take a 6-5 lead. Down 0-30 serving to stay in the match, the 18-year-old Paparkar hit a 128 mph ace to relieve some of the pressure, but Lee's superior depth on his groundstrokes forced an error to set up two match points. Paparkar saved the first by controlling the rally from corner to corner before Lee made and error, and got a gift from Lee to save the second when Lee couldn't get a second serve return back in play. But an ill-advised drop shot attempt that didn't clear the net gave Lee a third opportunity, which he converted when Paparkar made an unforced error on the backhand.

Lee has now played six singles matches in the past seven days, with each day warmer than the previous one, but the Orlando resident said he's experiencing no repercussions from that.

"I feel fine," said Lee, who was out with a wrist injury for most of 2025, but says that issue is now resolved. "And I'm hungry for more. I'm ready for whatever comes my way and I'll deal with it as best as possible."

Lee says he is not surprised by his run this week.

"No, I've put in a lot of work to this point," said Lee, who works with USTA national coaches Felipe Mantilla and Sylvain Guichard in Orlando. "And with the injuries. it was not easy at all, but this is where I belong. I feel confident in my game and I feel I can never get enough."

An unseeded boys finalist is guaranteed, when Lee takes on Vincent Reisach of Germany Friday, after Reisach defeated Jack Secord 6-3, 6-3 on show court 12.

Reisach lost in the first round at Roehampton last week, which was his first tournament on grass, but the 17-year-old from Bavaria is averaging 124 mph on his first serve and using his flat backhand to maximum effect as the courts get faster with the 90 degree temperatures.

"It's a little bit slower here, I think, but my serve is pretty good here," said Reisach, who has struck 137 mph first serve sin each of his last two matches. "I like the serve plus one, come to the net, and I have that flat backhand and I think that's a good game for grass."

Unlike Lee, Reisach admits this is an unexpected result for him.

"At the beginning of the tournament, I just wanted to have fun here, find out where I am in the juniors, get the experience." said Reisach, who won the Roland Garros boys doubles title with Jamie Mackenzie last month. "So yes, it surprises me, of course."

Reisach and Lee met in the doubles semifinals last week in Roehampton, with Reisach and Mackenzie winning 6-1, 6-2, but that is the only time they have played.

"I know he's (birth year) 2010, he plays amazing for 2010," Reisach said. "And now he's in semis. We haven't played in singles yet, but I'm looking forward to it."

The semifinal in the bottom half will feature No. 11 seed Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands and Hewitt, with both posting routine victories. Boogaard ended the run of British wild card Oliver Page 6-3, 6-1, who had, of course, the majority of the support on show court 12, but fell short of producing the junior version of Arthur Fery.

"I watched his match after mine yesterday," said 18-year-old from Wales, who will start his collegiate career next month at Wichita State. "Obviously yesterday when I won I was in the quarters and I was watching him play the quarters. He definitely gave me inspiration that I could win today, but it didn't go that way. But still an incredible run here, being a wild card."

Page, who beat No. 4 seed and Australian Open champion Ziga Sesko in the second round and No. 15 seed Kuan-Shou Chen of Taiwan in the third round, saw a different level from Boogaard today.

"From point one, you could tell he is ready to play, and has got the ability to play, men's tennis," said Page, who lost the winners battle 20 to 4. "Playing against him is like a different level from the juniors. You can tell he's adapting to the men's game and is ready to play men's tennis."

Boogaard and Cruz will be meeting for the first time in Friday's semifinal.

Preston followed Lee on Court 18, but she didn't spend much time there, beating unseeded Emily Eigelsbach of Germany 6-3, 6-1 in 64 minutes.

As the temperature continued to rise, Preston detected a weakness she could exploit and did not shy away from doing so.

"I didn't play my best, but I think I played smart today," said the 15-year-old from Nevada, who had 22 winner and 13 unforced errors. "I build the points pretty well; I don't know if the heat was getting to her, but whenever we had longer points I managed to get them, so I was trying to move her a little more."

Preston will aim for her eleventh consecutive win on grass when she plays top seed and World Tennis junior No. 1 Xinran Sun of China, who overwhelmed Austrian qualifier Anna Pircher 6-0, 6-3 in 53 minutes.

"I know she's super solid," said the Roehampton champion, who has not played against Sun, the Roland Garros finalist. "She gets every ball back, but she's also super aggressive. She definitely knows her game and she trusts it; I would say that's a big thing."

Although she's a long way from her home town of Henderson Nevada, Preston said she's feeling the support from the Las Vegas suburb.

"People at home, they're going crazy," said Preston, who wouldn't be surprised if her grandparents organized a watch party. "I try not to read too much into it, but they're really happy for me and excited."

The other girls semifinal will feature 15-year-old Polina Skliar of Ukraine, the No. 15 seed, against No. 14 seed Anna Pushkareva of Russia. Skliar won the day's longest junior match, beating No. 7 seed Mariia Marakova of Russia 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-4, while Pushkareva, 17, defeated unseeded Yihan Qu 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

The doubles semifinals are also set for Friday, with one US team remaining. No. 2 seeds Michael Antonius and Andy Johnson will face unseeded Raffaele Ciurnelli of Italy and Leon Sloboda of Slovakia in the bottom half semifinal; top seeds Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil and Ziga Sesko of Slovenia will face unseeded Oluwaseun Ogunsakin of Nigeria and Ntungamili Raguin of Botswana.

Top seeds Victoria Barros and Nana Leme Da Silva of Brazil will face the unseeded team of Polina Berezina of Russia and Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia in the top half of the girls doubles draw. No. 8 seeds Ida Wobker of Germany and Denisa Zoldakova of Czechia will face No. 5 seeds Jana Kovackova and Katerina Zajickova of Czechia. Kovackova currently holds all three junior girls doubles titles and will make history as the only girl to win all four if she takes the title here on Saturday.

Doubles quarterfinal results of Americans:

Victoria Barros and Nana Leme Da Silva(BRA)[1] d. Thea Frodin 

and Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi(IND)[7] 3-6, 6-4, 10-6

Polina Berezina(RUS) and Anastasija Cvetkovic(SRB) d. Jordyn Hazelitt and Welles Newman 6-2, 6-2

Michael Antonius and Andy Johnson[2] d. Hyu Kawanishi and Kanta Watanabe(JPN) 6-4, 6-2

The 14 and under tournament began today, with Isha Manchala picking up two wins in Group A and David Bender getting a victory in Group B.  Anna Kapanadze lost both of her matches in Group D. Bender will play twice tomorrow, with Manchala and Kapanadze playing once, after which the group winners will be determined, and move into Saturday's semifinals.

Group play results of Americans in 14U tournament:

Isha Manchala d. Ke-Chieh Hsu(TPE) 6-1, 6-2

Isha Manchala d. Isabella Rebel(GBR) 7-5, 6-2

Nishta Kesavan(GBR) d. Anna Kapanadze 7-6(2), 6-4

Lyubov Pronenko(RUS) d. Anna Kapanadze 6-3, 6-7(5), 10-4

David Bender d. Mathias Gonzalez Osorio(COL) 6-2, 6-2

The boys draw is here; the girls draw is here.

Friday's order of play is here.

Coco Gauff's bid for a third major final was agonizingly close Thursday, but she couldn't convert her match point in the third set tiebreaker, falling to Karolina Muchova of Czechia 6-2, 1-6 7-6(10). For more on that semifinal, see this article from the BBC. 

Former Tulsa standout Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador won his third major doubles title tonight on Wimbledon's Centre Court. No. 2 seeds Arevalo and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated the unseeded Australian team of Marc Polmans and Storm Hunter 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the mixed doubles championship match. Arevalo, who won the 2022 and 2024 Roland Garros men's doubles title, will play for the men's doubles title Saturday with partner Mate Pavic of Croatia. They will face top seeds Harri Heliovaara of Finland and Henry Patten(UNC-Asheville) of Great Britain in final Saturday.