While promising Czechia talent Jana Kovackova already has a taste of Grand Slam success given her doubles deeds with sister Alena, she is very much chasing individual glory at the Roland Garros Junior Championships this week.

The 15-year-old is in the midst of her best week in singles at a Junior Grand Slam and on Friday she will play 12th seed Alisa Oktiabreva for a spot in the girls’ final.

In especially tricky conditions in a quarter-final on Thursday, she handled the wild wind gusts that played havoc with the flight of the ball with distinction to defeat Spaniard Charo Esquiva Banuls 6-0 6-2 in just 54 minutes, with her footwork superb throughout the match.

In an interview outside Court Suzanne-Lenglen after her triumph, Kovackova said she was pleased with her form and delighted to be in the semi-finals of the tournament.

Her previous best results in Junior Grand Slams were reaching the third round at the Australian Open and US Open in 2025.

In the chat which was translated by a representative of the Czech media, the teenager said she was well aware of the recent success women from her nation have enjoyed in the Roland Garros girls’ singles. 

Czechia representatives have won three of the past five editions of the tournament, with Linda Noskova successful in 2021, Lucie Havlickova triumphant a year later and Tereza Valentova victorious against compatriot Laura Samson in 2024.

She has trained with Valentova, who is ranked inside the world’s Top 50 just two years after her success on Court Simonne-Mathieu, and hopes to follow a similar path.

“Of course, they are an inspiration,” she said. 

“Tereza practices in the same club, so we know each other, and of course it is great to see many Czech female players who have played here and been successful here.” 

Kovackova has performed admirably on the ITF World Tennis Tour across both juniors and pros and was the most successful girl on Tour in 2024 as she won 17 titles, eight of them in singles. The teenager also has two pro titles to her name – both coming in 2025 at W35 Antalya and W15 Monastir. 

She combined with her older sister Alena Kovackova to win the 2025 US Open and 2026 Australian Open doubles crowns and said the experience of playing on major courts at Grand Slams had been beneficial in her development.

“It definitely helps. Both in singles and in doubles, you can hit serves and returns and practice everything,” she said.

The Czechia star is also in pursuit of a third straight girls’ doubles title, though she is partnering Katerina Zajickova in Paris as her sister is not playing here.

Her semi-final opponent Oktiabreva progressed on Thursday with a strong 6-3 6-4 victory over Ekaterina Dotsenko, who had ousted No.1 seed Ksenia Efremova in the first round. 

The other semi-final will be played between No.2 seed Sun Xinran and the third seeded Victoria Luiza Barros after the pair experienced contrasting quarter-final victories.

Sun was outstanding when winning her clash against Anastasija Cvetkovic 6-0 6-2 in 56 minutes, while Barros overcame a set deficit to defeat Ha Eum Lee 2-6 6-1 6-4. 

Barros is among the Brazilians enjoying great success in Paris this fortnight and later cheered boys No.1 seed Luis Guto Miguel to victory in a tough quarter-final.

A full list of results from the 2026 Roland Garros Junior Championships is available here