French Open: Hannah Klugman beaten by Lilli Tagger in girls' final at Roland Garros
Hannah Klugman beaten in the French Open girls' singles final and Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski lost men's doubles final, but a mixed day for Alfie Hewett; You can watch all the action from the ATP and WTA on Sky Sports Tennis and Sky Sports+, NOW and the Sky Sports app
Saturday 7 June 2025 21:34, UK
Saturday proved a day of disappointment for British tennis at the French Open as three out of four finals ended in defeat.
Hannah Klugman lost the girls' singles final before British pair Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski fell short in the men's doubles final.
But there was mixed fortunes for Alfie Hewett, who was beaten in the wheelchair men's singles final before bouncing back to win the wheelchair men's doubles final alongside Gordon Reid.
Klugman's stunning run at French Open fell short at the last as the British teenager was beaten by Lilli Tagger.
Klugman became the first British player to make it through to a Junior final at Roland Garros in 49 years but was beaten 6-2 6-0 by the impressive Austrian.
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Klugman has won LTA Junior National titles in Britain and reached the third round of qualifying for Wimbledon last year at the age of 15, and is poised for a major breakthrough.
Tagger, though, performed superbly and was comfortably better than the 16-year-old Brit on the Paris clay - wrapping up victory in emphatic fashion.
Last June, Klugman made headlines by winning two matches at Wimbledon women's qualifying.
She has been working alongside long-standing coach Ben Haran, as well renowned strength and conditioning coach Jez Green and physio Will Herbert.
Klugman appears to be benefitting from her time practising at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca this March where she received words of encouragement from the 'King of Clay'.
"I had three days there, which was amazing, I'm so grateful they gave me that opportunity at Rafa's. I love Rafa," Klugman said.
"He said to me, once you have the level, things will come, so trust the hard work, the process. If you're not having results right now, you have to keep believing."
British pair beaten in men's doubles final
Later on Saturday, Salisbury and Skupski suffered another defeat for Great Britain as they lost in three sets to fifth seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 6-0 6-7 (5-7) 7-5.
The duo, who only started playing together earlier this year, had made history at Roland Garros when they became the first British men's doubles finalists since 1936.
They were dominated in the opening set before fighting back to win the second on a tie-break and were close to building a 4-3 lead in the decider before a stunning shot from Zeballos changed the course of the match.
The Argentine somehow squeezed the ball around the post to level at deuce and Salisbury and Skupski were ultimately edged out 7-5 in the deciding set.
Hewett defeated in singles final, wins in doubles
There was more British heartbreak in the wheelchair men's singles final as Hewett lost to Japanese star Tokito Oda, 6-4 7-6 (8-6).
The Norfolk native couldn't add to his three French Open titles as he fell to defeat in a tight contest against the top-ranked 19-year-old.
Hewett did, however, pick up a seventh title in the men's doubles with fellow Brit Reid against Oda and 54-year-old Frenchman Stephane Houdet.
Hewett and Reid's latest victory means they now have an unprecedented streak of six successive titles at both the French Open and the Australian Open, the first two Grand Slam tournaments of the year.
Back-to-back service holds for the two Brits gave them a 4-1 cushion on their way to taking the first set, but as Hewett and Reid's perfect record of winning five from five games on deciding deuce points started to falter so the second set started to get away from the top seeds.
However, the reigning Paralympic gold medallists at Roland Garros last September launched a tremendous fightback from 5-1 down in the deciding match tie-break and Hewett fired a cross-court forehand at Oda's chair that the Japanese player was unable to evade, handing the British duo a memorable victory.
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