Mika Stojsavljevic reaches Wimbledon junior semi-finals at the age of 14

By Sports Desk July 12, 2023

Fourteen-year-old Mika Stojsavljevic is among a trio of British juniors to make it through to the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

Stojsavljevic, who is ranked 282nd and making her Wimbledon debut, followed up her second-round victory over fourth seed Lucciana Perez Alarcon by taking out Australian 13th seed Emerson Jones 6-1 7-5.

“I think it went really well, especially in the first set, I felt like I was just cruising, really comfortable out there,” said Stojsavljevic. “It was a bit of a surprise, I thought I’d be a little bit more nervous but I was quite chill.”

Stojsavljevic, a tall, powerful hitter who grew up idolising Maria Sharapova, took confidence into Wimbledon from a close contest against leading American junior Clervie Ngounoue last week.

“I had five match points against number two in the world,” she said. “I know the level I can produce, it’s just if I can produce it at the right time.”

Joining the 14-year-old, who next meets Slovakian fifth seed Renata Jamrichova, in the last eight are 18-year-old Ranah Stoiber and 17-year-old Henry Searle.

Stoiber is in her final year of juniors and is bidding to reach a slam final for the first time having lost in the semi-finals of the Australian Open to breakout star Mirra Andreeva.

She defeated Italian Francesca Pace 6-3 6-4 and will next face Czech Nikola Bartunkova, who saw off Britain’s Mingge Xu 6-3 6-2.

Fourteen-year-old Hannah Klugman, who is widely considered the most exciting young British talent, lost 6-4 6-4 to Japan’s Sayaka Ishii.

Searle was the only British boy to reach the third round in singles and he matched his run to the French Open quarter-finals by defeating France’s Arthur Gea 6-4 6-2.

Searle, from Wolverhampton, took out top seed Juan Carlos Prado Angelo in the first round and will face eighth seed Joao Fonseca for a place in the last four.

It is the first time Britain has had three singles quarter-finalists in the juniors since 2018, which matches the all-time best. The trio all train at the Lawn Tennis Association’s national academy in Loughborough.

Laura Robson is the last British player to win a junior singles title here back in 2008, while Liam Broady and Jack Draper have both lost in finals since then.

Related items

  • Jarry defeats Paul to set up Zverev showdown in Italian Open final Jarry defeats Paul to set up Zverev showdown in Italian Open final

    Nicolas Jarry defeated Tommy Paul in three sets on Friday to set up a showdown with Alexander Zverev in the Italian Open final.

    The men's world number 24 prevailed 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 in a little under three hours in Rome to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 final.

    Jarry earned the only break of serve in the eighth game of the opening set, but Paul - who dropped just one set in four matches en route to this stage - hit back in the second.

    Birthday boy Paul lost serve to trail 4-2 at one stage, but he produced one of the shots of the tournament at the ideal moment and soon dragged it back to 4-4.

    A gruelling set concluded with Paul taking the tie-break 7-3, but Jarry was unperturbed and won the deciding set with his fifth match point to see off Paul in a gruelling contest.

    Data Debrief: 

    Jarry is the third male Chilean in the Open Era to reach the singles final of the Italian Open after Marcelo Rios (1997-98) and Fernando Gonzalez (2007).

    The 28-year-old registered 13 aces against Paul to his opponent's seven and hit 35 winners to 19 in a deserved victory.

  • Zverev ends Tabilo's dream run to reach Italian Open final Zverev ends Tabilo's dream run to reach Italian Open final

    Alexander Zverev fought back from the brink to reach the Italian Open final on Friday, overcoming Alejandro Tabilo by a 1-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 scoreline in the last four.

    Zverev was punished for a slow start as Tabilo took the opener within 32 minutes, but the German fought back in a one-hour, 15-minute slog of a second set.

    The 2017 Italian Open champion put his foot down from 3-3 in the second-set tie-break, with Tabilo potentially feeling the effects of a fine run that included a last-32 upset of Novak Djokovic.

    Zverev upped the intensity in the final set and won a huge 94 per cent of points behind his first serve as his opponent wilted, the third seed reaching the Rome final for a third time. 

    Data Debrief: Zverev draws level with Becker

    Zverev will now face either Nicolas Jarry or Tommy Paul in Sunday's final, which will be his 11th at ATP 1000 Masters level.

    That tally pulls him level with Boris Becker for most such finals by a German player since the format's 1990 introduction.

  • Sabalenka defeats Collins to set up Swiatek rematch Sabalenka defeats Collins to set up Swiatek rematch

    Aryna Sabalenka defeated Danielle Collins 7-5 6-2 to set up yet another meeting with Iga Swiatek at the Italian Open.

    Having defeated Collins en route to the final of the Madrid Open, which she lost to Swiatek, Sabalenka repeated the trick with a straight sets win over the American in Thursday's semi-final.

    And the Belarusian's reward will be an immediate rematch with Swiatek.

    The duo have met 10 times, including in Madrid earlier this month, with Swiatek winning seven times and Sabalenka claiming three victories.

    This will be Sabalenka's first appearance in the Italian Open final.

    She is the sixth player, along with Simona Halep (2017), Dinara Safina (2009), Serena Williams (2013), Ons Jabeur (2022), and Swiatek (2024) to have reached the final of both Madrid and Rome in the same season.

    Data Debrief: Perfect record

    Collins is the only player against whom Sabalenka has registered six wins without a loss in WTA events, while only against Maria Sakkari and Elise Mertens does she have more wins in her career in such events (seven each).

    The final will mark the fourth meeting on clay between Swiatek and Sabalenka as world number one and two, equalling Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova for the most meetings on the surface as the WTA's top-two ranked players.

© 2023 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.