Look at the Junior Roland Garros draw and you will see the next generation of professional tennis player poised to break onto the scene.

But the world’s best juniors are not resting on their laurels, waiting for their opportunity to come. Rather they are already plying their trade on the ITF World Tennis Tour, where they will gather the necessary experience to move their professional career onwards and upwards.

One such player, who has competed in every major junior event, from Junior Billie Jean King Cup to the Youth Olympics, is Russia’s Oksana Selekhmeteva.

The 18-year-old, who has a junior ranking of No. 10 and advanced to the third round in Paris with a straightforward 6-1 6-2 victory over Czech Republic’s Barbora Palicova on Tuesday, is now in a position where she can compete at the Junior Grand Slams, but for the rest of the year she can focus on gaining entry to W15 and W25 events on the World Tennis Tour.

“It’s tough,” admitted Selekhmeteva on how she is finding the transition from juniors to professional. “I’m being honest. It’s really tough. I’m trying to play more pros, but because of COVID a lot of players are trying to play as many tournaments as they can, so it’s pretty tough to get in, first of all, and then, if you pass the qualies, you are like ‘oh this is so good’ because the draw is really tough.

“The level, maybe not the level of tennis, but the level of mental, they are older, they are more experienced and it’s much tougher against this type of player.”

Selekhmeteva’s experience on the professional tour is reaping rewards when she does turn out at Junior Grand Slams – even if she sees herself as one of the elders on site at the grand old age of 18.

“I can feel it,” she said. “All the players here are good. I don’t know them because more juniors are coming and I’m older already! So, I’m just going with that experience that I’ve got from playing 25k’s, maybe it’s not that big an experience, but it’s helping.”

And with her time on the junior circuit coming to an end, Selekhmeteva has only fond memories and believes the tour serves as the perfect stepping-stone on the professional pathway.

“I was actually very lucky because I got to play everything – [Youth] Olympic Games, Junior Billie Jean King Cup twice, every Junior Slam. I think it’s important for every junior to go through this because it can help you in the future. I played Masters in China, so I played everything. Maybe the results were not that good, or maybe not as I wanted, but still it was a really good experience.”

The Russian, who trains in Barcelona and believes the one area of her game that she needs to improve is her serve, also takes heart from the fact that a number of high-profile players, like reigning Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek, have successfully made that leap from juniors to the top of the professional game.

She added: “They were there. We were at the same tournaments. I was pretty young, but now I just look at them and I’m like ‘wow, maybe, not even maybe, I can do it too!’”.

Another name to watch out for is Czech Republic’s Linda Noskova, who swept past Maria Bondarenko 6-3 6-0 in her second-round match in the girls’ draw at Roland Garros.

Noskova rose to prominence earlier this year when she won her first professional title at W15 Bratislava, aged just 16.

Three months later and the talented teenager is turning heads once more with her professional approach to the game.

“I knew it was going to be tough,” she said of her clash with junior world No. 12 Bondarenko. “I prepared my game for it. I try to play what she doesn’t like. When she lost the first set yesterday, I was looking at it, and looking at what kind of mistakes she was doing. I try to play my best, of course, but I was more interested in how she was playing.”

That tactical awareness is something that will stand Noskova in good stead moving forwards, as will the simple fact that she comes from a country that consistently produces some of the best female tennis players in the world.

Czech Republic can boast 10% of the world’s Top 100 players and with the likes of Noskova and the Fruhvirtova sisters, Linda and Brenda, who are 16 and 14 respectively, there are no signs of a lack of talent coming out of the country.

Noskova herself has been lucky enough to play with Barbora Krejcikova, who is through to the quarter-finals at Roland Garros this year, and Katarina Siniakova, but was modest when asked what it is about her country and the number of top tennis players that emerge from it.

“I don’t know,” she said. “High dreams, I guess. We are just going for it. We are just a small country, so we are trying to have the best rankings and the biggest titles. We are working hard for it every day.”

Other notable results on day three at Junior Roland Garros saw girls’ fourth seed Diana Shnaider, from Russia, defeat USA’s Clervie Ngounoue in a close-fought encounter 7-5 7-6(5).

While in the boys’ draw, second seed Bruno Kuzuhara, from USA, overcame Croatia’s Mili Poljicak 6-4 6-3 to advance to the third round.

Sweden’s Leo Borg, son of six-time Roland Garros champion Bjorn Borg, came back from a set down for the second consecutive day to defeat Germany’s Max Hans Rehberg 1-6 7-6(5) 6-3. Borg will now face top seed Shang Juncheng from China.

Home hopes are certainly high in the boys’ draw, with 14th seed Arthur Fils one of six French players through to the third round on home soil after he defeated Brazil’s Joao Victor Couto Loureiro 6-3 6-4. Fils will be up against world No. 5 Kuzuhara in the next round.