News: Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy

For all the success of American men at Wimbledon over the years, it is a strange anomaly that in the past 25 years, only two American boys have won the junior title.

In Devin Britton and Harry Fowler, perhaps they have two boys capable of righting that wrong and the two pupils of the IMG/Nick Bollettieri academy advanced to the third round in impressive fashion on Tuesday.

The 18-year-old Britton, the runner-up at the US Open last year, eased past Sebastien Lavie of New Zealand 64 75, while Fowler recovered from a difficult start to down Britain’s Ashley Hewitt 36 63 64.

With most players learning their trade on hard courts or clay these days, it is rare to find someone for whom grass is their best surface but Britton loves it and warmed up for Wimbledon by winning the AEGON International Junior Championships singles and doubles titles last weekend.

He didn’t have everything his own way against Lavie, but snatched a couple of breaks at the right time to move into the third round.

“I love the grass, it suits my game perfectly,” Britton said. “Life seems better on the grass. It eliminates some of the grinders and the guys that you hate playing on all the other surfaces.”

Britton now plays Tiago Fernandes of Brazil but with just 16 players remaining, he is growing in confidence. “The goal is to win the tournament,” he said. “It’s possible, if I play well. Obviously each match is going to be very tough, but to win it would be huge.”

Both Britton and Fowler grew up watching Wimbledon champions Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, but while Britton favoured Sampras for his serve and volley style, Fowler had some extra admiration for Agassi.

“I liked Agassi a lot, actually because he gave me a racket one time at the Masters Cup in Houston,” Fowler said. “I was a ball boy and I got a racket off him when he broke it. I still have it hanging in my room.”

Fowler had to withstand a strong start from Briton Ashley Hewitt before clinching his place in the third round. “He was playing great tennis in the first set,” the 17-year-old Fowler said. “The courts are really dry and playing really fast. I was trying to hit some slices to keep it low, but it was to no avail. He was cracking forehands all over the place.

After saving a couple of break points in the opening game of the second set, Fowler began to find his form and he stormed back to take his place in the last 16, where he will play Croatia’s Dino Marcan, another colleague from the same academy.

“For me the big question is my head,” Fowler said. “I have lots of energy on the court and I like to get really into it, especially when I am nervous. If I start fist-pumping, saying ‘come on’ or getting upset or angry, I can work out the nerves, so if I keep my head and play my game I think I can do really well here.

Jordan Cox and Alexander Domijan made it four Americans into the third round, but No 15 seed Tennys Sandgren squandered three match points as he was ousted 36 76 64 by Filip Horansky of Slovakia.

Top seed Daniel Berta was an impressive 63 61 winner over Britain’s David Thomson, while Bernard Tomic (3) and Agustin Velotti (4) advanced, but Gianni Mina (6), the French Open runner-up, was beaten 75 61 by Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov.

In the girls’ event, No 1 seed Kristina Mladenovic hammered American Sachia Vickery 61 63 and defending champion and No 2 seed Laura Robson cruised past Australian Sally Peers 63 62 to reach round three.

But No 3 seed Ana Bogdan suffered a shock defeat, beaten 36 61 64 by Richel Hogenkamp of the Netherlands, but last year’s runner-up, Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand, beat Nastja Kolar of Slovenia 61 63.