Henry Bernet of Switzerland and Wakana Sonobe of Japan Make History with Australian Open Junior Singles Titles

Henry Bernet is not likely to forget the day he turned 18, with the smooth right-hander from Switzerland taking home the Australian Open boys singles trophy as a one-of-a-kind gift. Bernet, seeded No. 8 but undefeated in 2025, beat unseeded Benjamin Willwerth of Jupiter Florida 6-3, 6-4 Saturday afternoon in Rod Laver Arena, becoming the first player from his country to win a junior slam title at the Australian Open.

After claiming the title last week at the ITF J300 in Traralgon, the tradition warmup event, Bernet came into his fourth junior slam in form and confident, taking out top seed and 2024 finalist Jan Kumstat of the Czech Republic in two tiebreakers in the quarterfinals. 

Against surprise finalist Willwerth, who won his first junior slam match on Sunday, Bernet was able to control most of the rallies with his forehand, which may not be as talked about as his one-handed backhand, but produces most of the winners. Although he faced only two break points, both in the first game of the second set, Bernet was able to get out of other tight spots by ramping up his first serve when he needed it, hitting a 127 mph ace, for example at 2-all 40-30 in the second set. 

Willwerth made Bernet work for his games, but was too often defending, and when Bernet got a short ball, he had no trouble putting it away. Bernet had a few more unforced errors than Willwerth but more than twice as many winners, with Willwerth able to muster only seven winners.

After getting broken twice in the first set, Willwerth scrapped his way to four holds in the second set to keep pace with Bernet, but serving at 4-5, the 17-year-old quickly got into trouble and an unforced error on the backhand gave Bernet two match points. He only needed one: Willwerth's serve caught the tape and sat up, giving Bernet the time to attack as he moved forward. Willwerth threw up a lob that landed just long, and the perfect birthday present was his.

Wakana Sonobe had reached the final of the US Open Junior Championships last September, falling to Mika Stojsavljevic of Great Britain 6-4, 6-4. She went one step farther in her next opportunity, with the 17-year-old left-hander breezing past 15-year-old Kristina Penickova 6-0, 6-1 Saturday on Rod Laver Arena. 

Sonobe, who did not play a warmup event and was forced into a third set tiebreaker in her opening round, found her form after that first match, beating ITF junior No. 1 and top seed Emerson Jones 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals to deny Jones a place in the final for a second straight year. She continued that form Saturday, and with Penickova off her game, the first set was over in a mere 23 minutes.

Penickova, who had to come from a set down in her first three matches and lost eight straight games in the middle of her grueling 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 semifinal win over Mia Pohankova, showed signs of fatigue, mostly in the form of unforced errors, and the energy to mount another comeback simply wasn't there.

Sonobe had won both their meetings last year, but they were close: 7-5, 6-4 in the third round of the US Open last September, and 6-7(1) 6-3 6-1 in the ITF World Junior Finals in October. In the final, Sonobe served well, used her forehand to move Penickova and had a positive winners to unforced errors ratio; Penickova, on the other hand, had only six winners, an unusually low number for her, and 25 unforced errors.

Rei Sakamoto was the first Japanese player to win an Australian Open junior title last year; one year later, Sonobe is the first girl to accomplish that.  She is also only the second Japanese girl to win a junior slam singles title, following Kazuko Sawamatsu, who won Roland Garros and Wimbledon way back in 1969.

The consolation for the two Americans extends back to 1992, the last time two US juniors made the Australian Open final. Although Lindsay Davenport and Brian Dunn both lost those finals, they went on to claim the US Open singles championships that year.