Debru carries French hopes in boys’ final against Bailly
Roland Garros 2021 saw perhaps the best-attended junior semi-finals and finals at any Grand Slam in recent memory. With four French players contesting the boys’ singles semi-finals, it was standing room only around the intimate and atmospheric Court 14 where most of the junior matches were played.
It was an exceptional year, for sure, in terms of French prowess conquering all challengers. But the home fans have continued to turn out in force for the junior event this year – and they have been rewarded with a future French star to cheer for once again.
Sixteen-year-old Gabriel Debru, France’s highest-ranked junior player, has shouldered the burden of local expectation phenomenally well during his path through the boys’ singles. He will have a chance of matching compatriot Luca van Assche’s achievement and winning the boys’ singles title when he faces Belgium’s Gilles Arnaud Bailly in this year’s boys’ singles final on Saturday.
“It's crazy if I win Roland Garros because it's a dream since I was five years old,” Debru said after his rain-interrupted 6-1 0-6 6-3 semi-final win against Croatian tenth seed Dino Prizmic on Friday. “But, yeah, if I win, I'm very happy to win the tournament. I have to stay focused on my final and to give all my best.”
Bailly also secured a three-set win in his semi-final match on Friday, making the most of a rain delay to turn his match against Poland’s Martyn Pawelski on its head. Bailly recorded a 1-6 6-1 6-2 victory to become the first Belgian player to reach a Grand Slam boys’ singles final in a decade.
If he is to match 2012 Roland Garros boys’ champion Kimmer Coppejans’ triumph, Bailly knows that he will have to overcome not only Debru’s considerable talent, but also a stadium full of fans who are rooting against him.
“Playing a French guy with the French crowd… hopefully there will be a lot of people,” he enthused after his semi-final victory. “They will not cheer for me, I know that, but, yeah, it's going to be crazy experience and I'm looking forward to playing it.”
The boys’ singles final is the second scheduled match on Court Simonne Mathieu on Saturday. First up will be Czech ninth seed Lucie Havlickova against unseeded Argentinian Solana Sierra, with Havlickova aiming to complete a rare double triumph.
The singles final is the first of two matches for the Czech player on Saturday, with 17-year-old is also contesting the girls’ doubles final, alongside the player she beat in Friday’s semi-final, Sara Bejlek.
“Of course we both wanted to win. We're doubles partners, so that was kind of tough for both of us,” Havlickova said after a hard-fought 6-3 6-7(2) 7-5 victory over Bejlek. “[Roland Garros] would be my biggest title, of course. There's no bigger one. So I would be really happy, but now I just have to focus on playing what I should be and not about winning, that's the second thing. I just have to enjoy it.”
Sierra will certainly be a tough opponent – the Argentine, who reached the US Open girls’ singles semi-finals last year, has already beaten two Czech players here this year, and will be keen to add a third to her list of vanquished opponents on Saturday. Having come through a tough battle with No. 4 seed Brenda Fruhvirtova in the first round, Sierra’s game has looked better and better with every round. She romped to a 7-5 6-0 win against the 13th seed, Nikola Bartunkova, in the semi-finals on Friday.
“I'm super happy,” she said after the match. “It's unreal to think that I'm in a final of a Grand Slam. I was really nervous [in the semi-finals at the 2021 US Open] and here I was a little bit less nervous and I played better.”
The girls’ doubles final will see Havlickova and Bejlek take on Bartunkova and Celine Naef in the third match on Court Simonne Mathieu. The boys’ doubles final, scheduled first on Court 13, will be a battle of the two top-seeded teams: No. 1 seeds Edas Butvilas and Mili Poljicak against the Peruvian powerhouses of Gonzalo Bueno and Ignacio Buse, who are seeded second.