Saville battles past Townsend; Mboko, Valentova qualify for Roland Garros

Five players had already booked their places in the Roland Garros main draw on Day 4 of qualifying: Nina Stojanovic

On Friday, the 11 remaining qualifiers were decided.

• Two tour-level stalwarts opened the day with a quintessential qualifying battle that pitted Daria Saville's defensive grit against Taylor Townsend's net-rushing aggression. Former No. 20 Saville held off No. 6 seed Townsend in the end, advancing 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in 2 hours and 39 minutes. Saville will contest her 35th Grand Slam main draw, having made her debut at the 2013 Australian Open -- the last time she successfully navigated the qualifying rounds. Townsend will nonetheless also compete in the main draw as a lucky loser following Belinda Bencic's withdrawal.
• No. 193-ranked Sara Bejlek dismissed No. 1 seed Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-0, 6-4 to score her eighth career Top 100 win, and first of 2025 -- and ending the Ukrainian's 14-match winning streak in Grand Slam qualifying. At the age of 19, Bejlek has already qualified at six different majors, including twice at Roland Garros -- but the Czech teenager is yet to win a main-draw match.
• On a good day for Argentina, No. 9 seed Solana Sierra improved her season record to 27-9 with a 6-3, 6-2 defeat of No. 29 seed Wang Xiyu. The 20-year-old, who won her first WTA 125 title in Antalya this spring, did not drop a set in qualifying for her second major (following last year's US Open).
• Argentinian No. 1 Sierra was joined by the country's No. 2, Maria Lourdes Carle, and No. 4, Julia Riera, both former Top 100 players. Carle raced past Lithuania's Justina Mikulskyte 6-0, 6-1 in 71 minutes, and Riera eased past Romania's Miriam Bulgaru 6-4, 6-1 in 68 minutes.

• Four of the first nine completed matches saw a player make it to her first Grand Slam main draw. Victoria Mboko, the Canadian 18-year-old who has been near-unbeatable on the ITF World Tennis Tour this year, improved her season record to 40-5 by defeating Kaja Juvan 7-5, 6-3. Mboko, who has also taken both Paula Badosa and Coco Gauff to three sets this year, did not drop a set in the first Grand Slam qualifying campaign of her young career.
• Last year's junior champion, Tereza Valentova, also made it through her first Grand Slam qualifying competition without dropping a set. The Czech 18-year-old defeated Simona Waltert 6-2, 6-4, and her season record is now 23-6, including two ITF W75 titles.
• No. 230-ranked Anastasiia Sobolieva came through a rollercoaster 6-0, 0-6, 6-2 contest over No. 22 seed Francesca Jones. The 20-year-old Ukrainian, who had not won a Grand Slam qualifying match in three previous attempts, recovered after winning just eight points in the second set.
• Former Top 20 junior Joanna Garland was sidelined due to injury for much of 2024, but has put together a spectacular comeback, winning nine ITF titles in the past eight months. Now ranked No. 177, the 23-year-old Chinese Taipei player brought that form into her first Grand Slam qualifying event since 2023, coming through 6-4, 7-5 against Anna-Lena Friedsam to complete a campaign in which she did not drop a set.
• Spain's Leyre Romero Gormaz, a two-time WTA 125 finalist in Antalya this spring, won a match between two players both bidding for their first Grand Slam main draw. The 22-year-old defeated Poland's Linda Klimovicova 6-4, 6-4.
• The final qualifier was Italy's Lucrezia Stefanini, who plays with two-handed strokes on both sides. The 27-year-old defeated Veronika Erjavec 6-3, 6-2 to qualify for the third Grand Slam main draw of her career, first since Wimbledon 2023 and first at Roland Garros.

2025 Roland Garros qualifier and lucky loser placements

[Q] Lucrezia Stefanini