Special from
Zoo Tennis
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Wimbledon - Clervie Ngounoue gave herself an early birthday present at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, collecting the Wimbledon girls title three days before turning 17 with her 6-2, 6-2 victory over Nikola Bartunkova of the Czech Republic. Henry Searle gave Great Britain the gift of its first boys champion since 1962, defeating Yaroslav Demin of Russia 6-4, 6-4 in the final.
Singles Champion Clervie Ngounoue
© Paul Ballard
Ngounoue, the No. 2 seed, had struggled on the grass at the International Tennis Federation J300 in Roehampton the week before Wimbledon, losing to Sayaka Ishii of Japan in the quarterfinals. But she avenged that loss in the Wimbledon quarterfinals to reach her first singles semifinal at a major. She then defeated No. 5 seed Renata Jamrichova of Slovakia 6-0, 6-3 to advance to the final.
The unseeded Bartunkova had received entry into the tournament based on her Top 400 WTA ranking, so her 6-4, 7-6(2) semifinal defeat of the 2023 Australian Open and Roland Garros champion Alina Korneeva of Russia was not the surprise the ITF junior rankings disparity would suggest. In winds gusting up to 30 MPH, Bartunkova was the more poised competitor, and, with what she called her best junior victory, she ended Korneeva's quest for an unprecedented third consecutive girls slam singles title.
