By Ricky Dimon
The last American junior left standing in either the boys or girls singles events bowed out of the French Open on Thursday. Stefan Kozlov, No. 6 in the ITF rankings, lost to doubles partner Andrey Rublev of Russia 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
A back-and-forth affair saw Rublev take a 15-minute injury timeout just before Kozlov served for the first set at 5-4. Rublev promptly broke back and ended up winning three games in a row to steal the set. Kozlov responded by taking a lengthy bathroom break during the second, which he ultimately snagged with relative ease. Rublev, seeded two spots better than his opponent at No. 4, broke once in the third before serving it out at 5-4.
A few hours later, the top-seeded duo of Kozlov and Rublev teamed up to beat eighth-seeded Spaniards Pedro Martinez Portero and Jaume Antoni Munar Clar 6-4, 6-1 to reach the semifinals.
“Yeah,” Kozlov told Tennis Magazine’s Peter Bodo when asked if he said anything to his partner about the medical timeout during the singles match. “I knew he wasn’t injured. I asked him how his leg was in doubles and he laughed it off.”
Junior boys results
Singles quarterfinals
Orlando Luz (2), Brazil, def. Johan Sebastien Tatlot (9), France, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4.
Quentin Halys (5), France, def. Hong Seong-chan, South Korea, 7-5, 6-4.
Jaume Antoni Munar Clar (7), Spain, def. Marcelo Zormann (14), Brazil, 6-1, 6-2.
Andrey Rublev (4), Russia, def. Stefan Kozlov (6), United States, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.
Doubles quarterfinals
Benjamin Bonzi and Quentin Halys, France, def. Filippo Baldi and Matteo Berrettini, Italy, 6-4, 6-1,
Stefan Kozlov, United States, and Andrey Rublev (1), Russia, def. Pedro Martinez Portero and Jaume Antoni Munar Clar (8), Spain, 6-4, 6-1.
Lucas Miedler, Austria, and Akira Santillan, Australia, def. Karen Khachanov and Daniil Medvedev (4), Russia, 7-5, 6-3.
Orlando Luz and Joao Menezes (5), Brazil, def. Martin Blasko and Alex Molcan, Slovakia, 6-4, 6-3.
Topics: Andrey Rublev, French Open, Itf, Roland Garros, Stefan Kozlov, Tennis, Tennis News
KOZLOV LOSES TO DOUBLES PARTNER, WINS IN DUBS AT JUNIOR FRENCH OPEN – http://t.co/GBtJ5AsBBM #tennis #doubles #FrenchOpen #Paris #RG14
RT @10sBalls_com: KOZLOV LOSES TO DOUBLES PARTNER, WINS IN DUBS AT JUNIOR FRENCH OPEN – http://t.co/GBtJ5AsBBM #tennis #doubles #FrenchOpen…