Sixteen-year-old Jordan Lee is through to his second ITF J300 final, while 17-year-old Anita Tu has reached her first with victories today at the 61st Astrid Bowl in Belgium.
Lee, who like Tu is unseeded, beat top seed Arnav Papakar of India 6-3, 6-4 and will meet No. 6 seed Dan Brand of Israel, who beat Matei Cheleman of Romania 6-4, 6-1 in the bottom half semifinal.
Tu defeated lucky loser Sofia Barhacova of Slovakia 6-7(6), 6-1, 6-1 and will face top seed Mariella Thamm of Germany, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over qualifier Barbara Kostecka of Poland today.
Three US girls and three US boys have reached the final round of qualifying for the Roland Garros Junior Championships, which begin Sunday in Paris.
Sarah Ye defeated No. 11 seed Alena Kharchenko of Russia 7-5, 6-4 and will play No. 2 seed Maria Pop of Romania Friday for a place in the main draw. Olivia Traynor defeated wild card Mila Bastianelli of France 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 and will face No. 5 seed Sofia Bielinska of Ukraine. Carrie-Anne Hoo, one of the last players to get into qualifying, took out No. 6 seed Veronika Sekerkova of Czechia 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 and will play No. 16 seed Fleur De Bresser of the Netherlands in the final round of qualifying.
In the boys first round of qualifying today, No. 3 seed Safir Azam defeated French wild card Evan Giurescu of France 6-2, 6-2 and will play Lucas Yunez of Ecuador next. Agassi Rusher beat No. 5 seed John Bothma of South Africa 7-5, 7-5 and Navneet Raghuram defeated No. 6 seed Kunanan Pantaratorn of Thailand 6-3, 6-0. Rusher faces No. 9 seed Maxi Carrascosa Diaz of Spain and Raghuram plays No. 13 seed Christopher Thies of Germany for a spot in the main draw.
Once again, a hearty well-done to Roland Garros officials, who play out a full third set in junior qualifying, which Wimbledon and the US Open do not do.
The shock of Jannik Sinner’s loss to Juan Manuel Cerundolo of Argentina today after leading 6-3, 6-2, 5-1 sucked most of the oxygen out of the other Roland Garros results today, but eight Americans advanced to the third round with wins today, joining Peyton Stearns(Texas), Tommy Paul and Alex Michelsen, who won their second round matches yesterday.
Learner Tien(USC), now on a six-match winning streak on clay after claiming the ATP 250 title in Geneva last week, saved two match points in a 7-5, 4-6, 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 win over qualifier Facundo Diaz Acosta of Argentina in just short of four hours. But that was only the third longest match time by an American man today, with Brandon Nakashima(Virginia) going 4 hours and 34 minutes tonight for a 6-7(5), 6-4, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 win over Luca Van Assche of France and Frances Tiafoe beating Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-4 in 4 hours and 43 minutes.
Two-time Kalamazoo 18s champion Zachary Svajda got through in four sets in under three hours, and Ben Shelton(Florida) lost to Raphael Collignon of Belgium in straight sets in just two hours.
Thursday’s Roland Garros second round matches results of Americans:
Learner Tien[18] d. Facundo Diaz Acosta[Q](ARG) 7-5, 4-6, 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-3
Raphael Collignon(BEL) d. Ben Shelton[5] 6-4, 7-5, 6-4
Frances Tiafoe[19] d. Hubert Hurkacz(POL) 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-4
Brandon Nakashima[31] d. Luca Van Assche(FRA) 6-7(5), 6-4, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3
Zachary Svajda d. Adam Walton[WC](AUS) 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-2
Diane Parry(FRA) d. Ann Li[30] 6-3, 6-4
Iva Jovic[17] d. Emma Navarro 6-0, 6-3
Amanda Anisimova[6] d. Julia Grabher(AUT) 6-0, ret.
Coco Gauff[4] d. Mayar Sherif[Q](EGY) 6-3, 6-1
Diana Shnaider[25](RUS)d. McCartney Kessler 7-6(3), 6-1
Maria Sakkari(GRE) d. Claire Liu[Q] v 6-7(7), 6-3, 6-3
Madison Keys[19] d. Antonia Ruzic(CRO) 6-4, 6-4
Tommy Paul[24] v Casper Ruud [15](NOR)
Alex Michelsen v Rafael Jodar[27](ESP)
Peyton Stearns v Belinda Bencic[11](SUI)