Lilli Tagger is in the French Open-DiePresse.com junior finals

Austria’s big tennis youth hope Lilli Tagger is fighting for the Grand Slam title on Saturday in the Junior Finals of the French Open. The 17-year-old East Tyrolean defeated the top seeded Australian Emerson Jones in Paris after 1:33 hours 6: 4.7: 6 (5) and thus reached the final without loss of sets. In this she meets Hannah Klugman (GbR-8) or Rosiza Denschewa (Bul).

Tagger is the first Austrian in a junior finals in Paris or as the first since Tamira Paszek at a major (2006 US Open). In front of her, eight Austrians had reached the single finals of a Grand Slam young competition, including Thomas Must (Finalist 1985) and Dominic Thiem (finalist 2011). Jürgen Melzer had achieved the only win with the juniors to date in the Junior Wimbledon final in 1999.

Schiavone protégé avoided the first set of sets

Tagger, who has been coached by ex-French Open winner Francesca Schiavone since November 2023, managed the break to 4: 3 in the first set and no longer gave up this advantage. With the first set ball, she placed 6: 4. In the second round, Tagger fended off three break balls at 2: 3, one of them thanks to their worth seeing, one -handed backhand along the line. Tagger missed two break chances at 5: 5. In the tiebreak, the unsettled Austrian awarded a 4-1 lead, but then used her first match ball at 6: 5.

In the wheelchair junior competition, the 17-year-old Vorarlberg Maximilian Taucher successfully defended his title in Roland Garros. He defeated Charlie Cooper from the USA 6: 2.7: 6 (3). (APA)