©Colette Lewis 2025–
Spring, Texas–
“I was actually thinking about that during my match,” said the 16-year-old from Humble Texas, who went on to claim a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory over Hoo. “I thought, ‘oh my God, he won his match, I have to step up now so we can both win.'”
According to Antonius, the pair rolled through the Little Mo draw, barely dropping any matches on their way to the title.
“We absolutely destroyed everyone in the tournament,” Antonius recalls. “I think we won all our games with a bagel, or they won one game.”
Inspired by that memory, Clarke took a 4-1 lead in the second set, but fifth-seeded Hoo fought back and won three consecutive matches to give themselves a chance at a straight-set victory. Hoo was able to handle the pressure of being 4-5 down, but after Clarke played a quick service game, Hoo was unable to force a tiebreak. At 40-30, Clarke scored a forehand winner and then won the next two points after unforced errors from Hoo.
Returning from a toilet break before the third set, Clarke was determined to play more aggressively and again took a 4-1 lead, which she wanted to hold this time.
“I know when I play Carrie-Ann I always have to make sure I’m at the top of my game,” said Clarke, who defeated Hoo 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5) in the final of the USTA 18s Winter National Championships in Lake Nona in January. “She’s very sneaky; she’ll hit some crazy shots and you really have to stay mentally engaged.”
Hoo held at love to close the gap to 4-2, but holding the next game allowed Clarke to breathe a little easier.
“It helped my confidence a little bit, it helped my confidence,” Clarke said of taking a 5-2 lead. “I thought, there’s actually an opening here and I think I can do it.”
Hoo went down 15-40 to stay in the match, but fought against those two match points. Clarke missed a second service return on the first and Hoo played a hyper-aggressive point on the second to force an error from Clarke. But Clarke earned a third match point with a laser from a backhand winner to claim her first ITF J300 title.
With coaching now allowed in ITF junior matches with a chair umpire, Clarke was able to get advice from her mother Oby, who has coached her since she started playing tennis.
“She told me in the second set that I had to get on the court and stop playing so far behind the baseline,” said Clarke, who revealed she was last measured as 6ft 1in but feels she is now almost 6ft tall. “In the third set, closer to the end, she told me to mix it up because Carrie-Anne is very close to the ground and will absorb your balls very well. So she told me to give her different types of balls so she doesn’t see the same thing.”
That strategy caused Hoo to make a few mistakes, but Hoo also felt like she couldn’t raise her level on the big points like Clarke did.
“I feel like the third set was a little closer than the score,” said the 16-year-old from Brooklyn, who trains in New Jersey. “But she just won more of the important points. She really stepped up her game, I have to give it to her.”
Hoo felt like she came into the match and had to emulate Clarke’s aggressive basic play.
“I had to be a little more aggressive because she is very good at intervening,” Hoo said. “She’s also very tall, so she has a good serve and that advantage, and she’s in the court all the time. At Winter Nationals, I usually stood just behind the baseline trying to outrun her, but I hit too short, so I tried to get my ball a little deeper and work it inside. I feel like my execution today wasn’t the best, but she was also good at defending and neutralizing my ball.”
Hoo plans to play the USTA National Indoor Championships or the IMG ITF J300 late next month, followed by the J500 Orange Bowl. Clarke, whose goal now is to compete in the 2026 junior slam main draws, starting with Australia, where she expects she will have more time to make memories with Antonius.
“He’s a great player and it’s always great fun to watch him,” said Clarke. “I’m excited to connect with him again; hopefully we’ll see each other at more tournaments.”
Antonius knew that a good start was crucial for his chances against Johnson, who had beaten him 6-2, 7-6(3) in the J200 semi-finals last week in Corpus Christi.
“Last week I didn’t start well, and I didn’t get the confidence back after starting love-five,” said the 15-year-old from Buffalot New York. “This week I did a better job of keeping the ball deep, staying consistent from the start, and my shot tolerance and my margins were better. In the end it paid off. I could see he was getting tired, he was going for more, trying to shorten points and that’s not one of our games. He did that to me last week, but today I think I did a good job of keeping the pressure on.”
The match started with six consecutive breaks of service before Johnson held on to take a 4-3 lead. Antonius got his first hold of the set at 4-all and then broke Johnson to give himself a chance to serve for the set.
Trailing 15-40, Antonius was on the eve of another break, but he won the next four points and took the opening set 6-4.
“I was nervous that match, but I hit a good serve wide and he came back across the court and I went after him again,” about one of the break points he saved. “I definitely thought it could be another break and the set would continue, but I felt like overall I was doing a good job of trusting my shots. So I told myself to go for it, to go the extra mile, because if I’m not the one, then he definitely is.”
The first break of the second set came in the third game, with Johnson dropping serve while Antonius began collecting routine grips. When Johnson scored a backhand to go down 5-2, Antonius saw the end in sight, although he could not serve out the match in the next game. Johnson had two game points to put pressure on Antonius, but he too could not convert, and an unforced error gave Antonius his first match point. Johnson saved it when his backhand forced an error from Antonius, but two backhand unforced errors from Johnson followed, giving Antonius his first ITF J300 title.
Johnson felt he physically hit a wall during the finals.
“He brought his A-game today,” said the 16-year-old from Rancho Palos Verdes, California, who ended his winning streak at 10. “I didn’t play as well as I did last week. I’ve played so many games and I think it has affected me. It’s a shame it was the final but I’ve played about 20 games in total in these two weeks. I don’t want to take anything away from him, he played great. Michael is really consistent from the baseline and I should have done more with the ball. He’ll never miss so I have to do better on the way to the net.”
Johnson and Antonius will be teammates, not rivals, in their next major tournament, the ITF Junior Davis Cup final in Santiago, Chile.
“I am very excited about the Junior Davis Cup,” said Antonius. “Me, him and Jordan (Lee), we’re all good friends and besides, we’re a good team. I’m looking forward to the week before when he comes to train in Orlando, and then on to Chile.”
#Mixed #Doubles #champions #Antonius #Clarke #claim #ITF #J300 #Pan #American #Closed #titles #years