©Colette Lewis 2026–
College Park Maryland–

The fifth-seeded Pinera had the less arduous final on another warm and sunny day in the Washington DC area, defeating No. 3 seed Mariia Makarova of Russia 6-2, 6-4.

Pinera started slowly, losing 11 of the first 13 points as Makarova fired winners from every spot on the court.

“She played so good at the start, said the 15-year-old from Gijon Spain, who said she played even better today than she had in her 6-2, 6-1 semifinal win over Maia Burcescu of Romania Friday. “If she play like in the first two games all the match, it’s ok, you win, too good.”

But the match turned quickly with Makarova broken from 40-0 up, and Pinera winning six games in a row, with a lob winner on set point. Pinera showed early that she was not intimidated by the Makarova serve, returning Makarova’s strongest serves with pace and depth, and Makarova began to struggle in the rare rallies that went past four shots.

“I started to make mistakes and I think I lost the first set in like 20 minutes after this start,” said the 16-year-old from Moscow, who had beaten Pinera on clay in back-to-back weeks last fall. “I could not play normal. It’s so tough, playing in a final when you lose six games in a row.”

Makarova made that seven games in a row when she was broken to open the second set, but she got the break right back only to give up another break serving a 2-all. Makarova kept herself withing striking distance by saving a break point serving at 2-4, and had a break point to get back on serve at 3-4, but she missed a return and Pinera’s forehand winners gave her the lead. 

Makarova won a rare easy game to force Pinera to serve for it, and the Spaniard went down 0-30, with a double fault to start the game.

“At 5-4, I’m so nervous, because it’s 30-love,” Pinera said. “But I said, come on, it’s a final, focus, and I did. I’m so happy.” 

At 30-all, Pinera hit a deep forehand that forced an error and claimed her first championship point when Makarova netted a first serve return.

“In last game, in my head, I think now I can do something, try to play better, but she had so good serve and I made mistakes on return,” said Makarova, who is training in College Park for a few days before heading to New York for the US Open Junior Championships. “I thought I played better later, but I don’t know, maybe it’s time to change something before the US Open. She made all her mistakes in the first two games, and she played so good.”

Pinera is also staying in College Park for a few days to rest and practice before heading to New York, where she is certain to be seeded after winning the title in the first junior event on hard courts she has played this year.

“In that last game I was nervous, but I played so good, and I am so happy to win,” said Pinera, the first girl from Spain to win this tournament, which has been a J300 since 2013.

Roussel’s 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-1 win over top seed Vincent Reisach of Germany put an exclamation point on his outstanding week, which also included a 6-4, 6-2 victory over No. 2 seed Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico in the quarterfinals.

Roussel wasn’t able to find his form early in the match, and he admitted that he was not playing as aggressively as necessary at the beginning of his second J300 final. 

Reisach got 75 percent of his first serves in during the opening set and was able to dictate play, although he had to work to hold on to his break advantage for 3-1 and 4-2. But when he hit a passing shot winner for a 5-2 lead and served out the set comfortably, Roussel faced an uphill battle.

The 18-year-old left-hander from Canada was ready for it, despite feeling a twinge in his hamstring that required a medical timeout after the third game. Five of the first six games of the set went to deuce, there were back-to-back breaks early, and the drama increased especially in the ninth game, when Roussel saved two break points in a six-deuce game to hold. He had to come from 15-40 down in the 5-all game, but won four straight points to again put pressure back on Reisach, but the 17-year-old German held to force a tiebreaker.

Down 2-0, Roussel got back on serve with a volley winner and took control when he outlasted Reisach in a long rally, then ripped a forehand winner into the corner for a 6-3 lead. Roussel couldn’t convert his first set point, netting a backhand, but Reisach netted a forehand on the next point to send the match to a third set after two hours and 10 minutes.

With the temperatures in the low 80s and not much breeze, both players were bound to begin feeling the effects of a week of daily matches and a lengthy final.

“Both my quads were cramping, especially my right one,” said Roussel, who had the support of his future coach at the University of Kentucky Cedric Kaufman, who was among the several hundred spectators attending the final. “It was tough to explode up on the serve and run down balls, and I just pushed and it ended up working out.”

Roussel said his physical issues weren’t responsible for his more aggressive game style in the second set, but they did play a factor in the third set.

“In the first, I wasn’t playing as aggressive as I normally do, and that’s why I flipped it,” said the Toronto resident. “In the third, I was extra aggressive, because I don’t think my body could have handled longer points.”

Reisach had requested the physio for the next changeover after the first game of the third set, and he received attention on his left leg, which was retaped, while Roussel was had a visit for his left calf during the same changeover.

Reisach admitted that he began to wear down early in the third.

“Physically, I’m not feeling too good,” said Reisach, who lives in a small town in Bavaria. “Honestly, it was the hardest match physically. “I made the mistake that I was running after every ball, even was I was down 0-40, and it got me in the third set. I just didn’t have the energy on the important points, to get to one more ball and give him the chance to make an unforced error.”

Reisach said he wasn’t expecting Roussel’s backhand to be so effective.

“His backhand, he could really go down the line, pretty fast and with not much unforced, always got it over the net,” said Reisach, a Wimbledon semifinalist who was playing in his first J300 final. 

Roussel was happy to win his first J300 title after falling in the final in the J300 in Costa Rica in January.

“It feels amazing, winning a big title here, especially from one set down, in my last year of juniors,” said Roussel, who joins Felix Auger-Aliassime as the only Canadian singles champion in College Park. “It’s something I’ll remember for a long time.”

Roussel said he met Auger-Aliassime, the College Park champion in 2015, at Wimbledon this year.

“He’s a nice guy and hopefully I’ll follow in his footsteps,” Roussel said. “I’d love to be No. 3 in the world.”

Rather than rest, Roussel is headed to the J300 in Canada, where he’ll play his first round match tomorrow. 

“I’m excited, I love competing,” Roussel said.

Reisach will rest this week, although he is heading to New York Sunday to be a spectator on the first day of the US Open.

“We’re flying tomorrow to New York, and we’re going to watch the match with (Alexander) Bublik in the night session,” Reisach said. “My coach knows someone who is with Bublik. I’m looking forward to it, see how the pros are playing, so I can see something I can use there.”

Boys doubles champion Yannik Alvarez is also heading to the US Open, where he’ll compete in the main draw of men’s doubles next week, and he and Ryan Cozad, last year’s doubles champion, provided a confidence boost for that match with a title today. The top seeds defeated No. 3 seeds Kunanan Pantaratorn of Thailand and Arnav Paparkar of India 6-3, 6-2, without facing a break point.

“We knew they were going to return well, serve well,” said Alvarez, who, alongside Noah Johnston, won the Kalamazoo 18s doubles title and with it, the US Open wild card. “We just kept staying aggressive, moving at the net, planning every point out and staying in every game, even if we were down, putting pressure on in every single game, not giving them any hope.”

“We were just trying to make first serves, like we do always and a bunch of returns,” said Cozad, who won last year’s title here with Gavin Goode. “And like he said, stay in the games, when we were down returning, being aggressive at the net and just going for it.”

After dropping the opening set in their first match in the second round, Alvarez, who represents Puerto Rico World Tennis junior competition, and Cozad didn’t face another match tiebreaker the rest of the week.

“We played well the whole week,” said Alvarez, who will be partnering with Cozad at the US Open Junior Championships, with Johnston no long eligible for junior slams.

Seventeen-year-olds Cozad and Alvarez won a USTA Pro Circuit M15 men’s doubles title back in April, while girls doubles champions Yihan Qu and Yushan Shao of China, also both 17, earned a W35 title on the World Tennis women’s circuit in Spain in June.

That title convinced them they should continue playing as a team, after a rough start, and they won their first junior title together today, beating JTCC wild cards Shristi Selvan and Aarini Bhattacharya 6-3, 6-3.

“The first and second time we play, the result is not good, actually,” Qu said. “So our coach said, maybe we try this year, and it’s getting better.”

“We know each other since very well since we were really young,” said Shao, who lost in the final last year with current World No. 1 Xinran Sun of China as her partner. “Then playing in some women’s tournaments, we feel pretty good, won a 35K, so we decided to play here.”

Shao believed they had a major advantage over Selvan and Bhattacharya, who were playing together for the first time.

“The service games, I think, we do better,” Shao said.

The pair are planning to play together at the US Open Junior Championships, after staying in College Park to practice for the next several days.

The first round of the US Open begins at 11 a.m. Sunday, with 14 Americans in action, including Kalamazoo 18s champion Jack Kennedy, who will play qualifier Lloyd Harris second match on Court 12. Collegiate Playoff winner Sebastian Gorzny will play Raphael Collignon of Belgium fourth match on Court 11.

US Open First Round Matches Sunday Featuring Americans:

Women:

Jessica Pegula[3] v Elena-Gabriela Ruse(ROU)

Venus Williams[WC] v Sofia Kenin[WC]

Carol Lee[WC] v Katie Boulter(GBR)

Emma Navarro[26] v Lois Boisson(FRA)

McCartney Kessler v Ekaterina Alexandrova[18](RUS)

Elvina Kalieva[Q] v Lanlana Tararudee(THA)

Alycia Parks v Taylah Preston[WC](AUS)

Men:

JJ Wolf[WC] v Alexander Bublik[15](KAZ)

Sebastian Gorzny[WC] v Raphael Collignon(BEL)

Tommy Paul[20] v Coleman Wong[Q]

Jack Kennedy[WC] v Lloyd Harris(RSA)

Jenson Brooksby v Jaime Faria(POR)

Alex Michelsen v Federico Cina[Q](ITA)