Bigun is new junior world No. 1 after Roland Garros triumph

Kaylan Bigun has surged to the top of the ITF World Tennis Tour boys’ rankings following his stunning victory at the 2024 Roland Garros Junior Championships.

The 18-year-old recovered from a set down to defeat Poland’s Tomasz Berkieta in Saturday’s boys’ singles final, a victory which sees him take over from Japan’s Rei Sakamoto as the world’s top-ranked boy.

Bigun was impressively resilient at Roland Garros and chalked up some notable scalps including former junior world No. 1 Joel Schwaerzler, who last month won his first pro title at the Skopje Challenger.

It has been a productive period for the Los Angeles-born left-hander as he lay down a significant marker on clay the week prior to Roland Garros by conquering all before him at J500 Milan – at the time his career-best title.

Bigun has only played three other junior events in 2024 but reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open Junior Championships in January and the semi-finals at J300 Indian Wells in March.

Bigun, who was part of the USA team that finished runners-up at the 2022 Davis Cup Juniors Finals, has also continued his development with exposure to ITF World Tennis Tour and ATP Challenger Tour events this season.

In the ITF World Tennis Tour girls’ rankings, meanwhile, Slovakia’s Renata Jamrichova has retained her position at the summit of the ITF World Tennis Tour girls’ rankings.

Jamrichova reached the quarter-finals in the girls’ singles at the Roland Garros Junior Championships but won the doubles alongside 17-year-old Tereza Valentova of Czechia.

Valentova, who has won a staggering four ITF World Tennis Tour titles this season, was the biggest rankings mover, jumping 11 places to No.  4 in the girls’ standings after winning the singles and doubles in Paris.

Laura Samson, another highly talented youngster from Czechia, returned to No. 2 in the rankings after boosting her burgeoning reputation by reaching the girls’ final.