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.
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 a 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 with on the Brazilians served. 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.
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.
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