Mia Pohankova joined Iga Swiatek as a Wimbledon girls’ singles champion when she beat Julieta Pareja 6-3, 6-1 in Saturday’s final on No.1 Court.
Pohankova, of Slovakia, took one hour and eight minutes to emulate her countrywoman Renata Jamrichova, last year’s champion, and Swiatek, who claimed the title in 2018.
Pohankova, who lost a nervy opening game, said: “When I stepped on the court and saw
the crowd and the stadium (which) is so big, I was a little bit nervous for the first
three games.
“I’m just trying to play, and I’m trying to do my best, like I did.
“I’m really emotional now. It is an incredible moment because Renata won last year. (It’s) unbelievable for Slovakian tennis.”
The 16-year-old won her first professional title at W75 Bratislava on the ITF World Tennis Tour last October and is now the fifth Slovakian player to triumph at a Junior Grand Slam.
Pareja had knocked out three British players – Flora Johnson (2R), Hannah Klugman (quarter-finals) and Mimi Xu (semi-finals) – on her way to the final.
Finland’s Oskari Paldanius and Alan Wazny of Poland repeated their boys’ doubles triumph at Roland-Garros when they fought back to beat Britain’s Oliver Bonding and Jagger Leach 5-7, 7-6(6), [10-5] on No.1 Court.
Previous boys’ doubles champions include Roger Federer and Nick Kyrgios, though not playing together, and Leach has a Wimbledon pedigree of his own, as the son of former ladies’ singles champion Lindsay Davenport.
Bonding and Leach, the No.8 seeds, took the first set and had two match points in
the second, but Paldanius and Wazny, the No.4 seeds, would not go quietly.
They fought back in style and hit three world class top-spin lob winners in the match tie-break, which they dominated. A massive return from Paldanius drew an error and wrapped up the come-from-behind victory.
The Finn said: “It was one of the best tournaments in our doubles career to win Roland-Garros - I would say the best moment of my life. Now, winning a match where we saved match points, and playing on Court 1, where there was a full crowd supporting, what a level in the match. So, of course, it's an even better feeling to win it.”