Juan Carlos Prado Angelo made history for Bolivia on Friday after becoming the first player from his nation to reach a junior Grand Slam singles final at the 2023 Roland Garros junior championships.

The junior world No. 9 (who will face Croatian Dino Prizmic for the boys' title on Saturday) defeated American Learner Tien 6-1 7-5 to ensure Bolivian presence in any Grand Slam final for the first time since Juan Carlos Aguilar won the 2016 US Open boys’ doubles title.

“I’m very happy, it’s incredible, it’s my first Grand Slam final and I’m the first Bolivian to make it to the final," he beamed.

“I have been training very well for a year so I feel I deserve this and also that I can do more.”

In a series of milestones as a result of his achievement, Prado Angelo also becomes the first South American player to reach the boys’ singles final at Roland Garros since 2018, when Argentine Sebastian Baez finished runner-up.

“I’m very happy, it’s incredible, it’s my first Grand Slam final and I’m the first Bolivian to make it to the final"

A champion at J300 Santa Cruz (the South American Junior Championships) this April, Prado Angelo produced another clay court masterpiece against Tien. The American lefthander gave everything he had in the second set but was regularly pegged back. Whatever he tried: being super aggressive, working the rallies, charging the net was to no avail. He simply kept crashing into the Prado Angelo wall.

“Tien started playing very well, to hit his forehand to my backhand a lot so he was dominating the points," Prado Angelo admitted. "But then my coach told me to go for more with my forehand and I started to play better so I was able to come back and win.”

Sounds pretty easy when you put it like that.

Arms aloft after match point, the Bolivian was rewarded for his love of clay - even if he insists he's not a one-trick pony.

“I think I can play great on every surface," he said. "I felt well in Wimbledon last year, but I [have] played on clay all my life.”

Prado Angelo doesn’t hail from a tennis family. He played football for some time, until, by chance, his family moved to a place that had tennis courts. He was soon scouted by a coach and now, as he says, “here I am!”

It wasn't quite as straightforward as that, of course, and Prado Angelo has been supported in his professional ambitions by the Grand Slam Player Development Programme, having received a Player Grant in 2022. He made his professional debut a year earlier, and already has an ITF World Tennis Tour title to his name - winning on home soil at M15 Cochabamba last October.

Prizmic, meanwhile, will provide stern opposition in Saturday's title match.

Beaten here in the semi-finals last year by eventual champion Gabriel Debru, of France, the Croatian powered into a his first junior Grand Slam final after seeing off 15-year-old American Darwin Blanch 6-3 6-2.

At 17 years old, Prizmic is already ranked at No. 293 on the ATP Tour and made a return to junior competition just for this Roland Garros - 11 months on from his last junior outing. The former junior world No. 8 has a point to prove as he looks to bring the curtain down on his junior career in style.

“This my first time in a Grand Slam final so of course I’m very happy, also with my performance today," Prizmic said. "I think if I keep playing that well I can win [the tournament] but my opponent is a very good player.

"Last year here I was playing in the semi-finals on the same court, but today I knew what I had to do. I played aggressively and that’s why I won and also I’ve already played so many big points in close matches that I know how it is to play them better.”

He played a very solid match against Blanch on court 14 in front of a decent crowd.

“I want to win this tournament because this is my last junior tournament and I know I’m the favourite here"

He struggled for the first half of the opening set against the speedy lefty paw of the American but soon got used to it and began to impose his own pace. With five titles already under his belt as a professional on the ITF World Tennis Tour, Prizmic let his experience do the talking on the big points. The Croatian takes the ball very early and has impressive backhand quality - an ideal combination against another of Juan Carlos Ferrero’s protégés. 

Prizmic, who is managed by Ivan Ljubicic, has now become only the second Croatian player to reach a junior singles final at Roland Garros since Marin Cilic triumphed here in 2005. He is also the 6th Croatian to reach a Grand Slam boys’ singles final after Ivan Ljubicic (1996 Wimbledon runner-up), Mario Ancic (2000 Australian Open runner-up and 2000 Wimbledon runner-up), Marin Cilic (2005 Roland Garros champion), Borna Coric (2013 US Open champion) and Mili Poljicak (2022 Wimbledon champion).

It is pretty clear watching Prizmic that he is more than ready to compete on the ATP Tour - and, managed by Ivan Ljubicic, can also benefit from Borna Coric and Marin Cilic for support and advice.

He made his Tour-level debut this year at the ATP event in Banja Luka in April as a wild card in qualifying, defeating Mattia Bellucci and Liam Broady to reach the main draw - where he fell to Richard Gasquet in the first round. He has also reached the quarter-finals at five Challenger-level events in 2023.

You might question the need for Prizmic to play the junior event here, but this tournament matters - whatever the level.

“I want to win this tournament because this is my last junior tournament and I know I’m the favourite here," he said. "When I was a kid, my dream was to win Grand Slams, junior or not, it doesn’t matter. Now I’m close.”