17-year-old American of Indian origin Ronit Karki delivered a breakthrough performance at the ITF J500 clay-court event in Milan, Italy, pulling off two impressive upsets en route to the Round of 16.

Ranked No. 53 in the ITF Junior World Rankings, Karki opened his campaign with a hard-fought 7-5, 7-5 victory over Switzerland’s Flynn Thomas (No. 17), before dominating Taiwan’s Kuan-Shou Chen (No. 36) 6-2, 6-1 in the second round.

His run came to an end in the Round of 16, where he fell to No. 13 seed Timofei Derepasko of Russia, 3-6, 2-6.

Despite the loss, Karki’s strong showing on clay is a promising sign as he heads into the prestigious Junior Roland-Garros.