Noskova triumphs in French Open junior singles final

Linda Noskova prevailed in a battle of 16-year-olds to win the Roland Garros junior girls' singles title on Saturday, overcoming Erika Andreeva 7-6(3), 6-3 for her first junior Grand Slam title.

"I’m speechless, I don’t know if I’m going to say too much to you right now," Noskova said to the crowd, during the trophy ceremony on Court 14. "This has been an incredible tournament."

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In a final which parallels the women's singles final in the nationalities of the competitors, it was the Czech Noskova who outlasted Russia's Andreeva in two close sets spanning an hour and 37 minutes.

Noskova became the first Czech to claim the Roland Garros junior girls' singles title since Hana Mandlikova in 1978. In doing so, she won 46 percent of points on return, converting four of her nine break points as she came back from a break down in the second set to clinch victory.

Both players came into the final unseeded, but each has already demonstrated success at pro level on the ITF Challenger circuit. Noskova has already won two titles on the ITF circuit in 2021, and Andreeva has picked up three of those crowns over the last two years.

This week in Paris, the pair took out seven seeded players combined to reach the final.

The duo was well-matched in the tightly-contested first set which took a hair under an hour. Fleet-footed Andreeva prevented Noskova from serving out the set at 5-4, eventually forcing a tiebreak.

But Noskova's strong forehand put her ahead 3-0 in the breaker, and the Czech used error-forcing backhands to round out the set and grab the lead.

Andreeva gritted out an early break in the second set to lead 3-1, but Noskova again broke serve with a backhand winner, tying up the set at 3-3. All told, Noskova won the final five games of the encounter before sharing a hug with her competitor after the clash.

The Roland Garros junior girls' doubles final was also contested on Saturday, with No.1 seeds Alexandra Eala and Oksana Selekhmeteva claiming the title over No.8 seeds Maria Bondarenko and Amarissa Kiara Toth, 6-0, 7-5 in 67 minutes.

The top seeds followed up a 20-minute first set by holding off a charge from their opponents in the second set. Eala and Selekhmeteva triumphed by winning five of the last six games of the match.

This is the second Grand Slam junior doubles title for both Eala of the Philippines and Selekhmeteva of Russia, but their first paired together.