August Aces; Qualifier Caldwell's First and Last Junior Slam Continues; Wimbledon Champion Pohankova Returns to Competition at US Open; Cash and Tracy Win Three-Tiebreak Thriller to Advance in Men's Doubles

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Flushing Meadows NY--

Before I get into the details of all the action at the US Open today, please check out the 18 players who are featured for their August accomplishments in my monthly Tennis Recruiting Network column.

The past week has been a whirlwind of firsts for Simon Caldwell, with today's 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 opening round win over Savva Rybkin of Russia in the US Open Junior Championships his latest accomplishment.

"It's my first time here and my first slam ever," said the 18-year-old from Grand Rapids. "I've never been here, not to watch the juniors or play juniors, or watch the pros. It's super busy, but so fun."

Caldwell had to win two matches in qualifying at the Cary Leeds Tennis Center in the Bronx last Thursday and Friday, with both matches decided in the the tiebreakers used in lieu of a full third set, with the first 10-7 and the second 10-8.

"There were obviously nerves, but you almost have to be happy with how far you've come," Caldwell said. "Yes, all these tournaments have built for this moment, but I was accepting that I had done well, and win or lose, I was going to walk off the court with a smile on my face. That took some pressure off for sure and I was able to play some good tennis."

Caldwell described the feeling when he had earned his spot in the main draw at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center as "Surreal. There were so many emotions I can't even explain, so happy for my parents as well," Caldwell said. "They've sacrificed so much for me to be here, and having my mom coaching me, it was so amazing having her there. Lots of emotions and an amazing feeling."

Not only did Caldwell play and win his first match today, but he also had his first exposure to Electronic Line Calling, which has been available at several junior slams since 2021, but not at any tournament Caldwell has competed in, including last week's qualifying.

"You don't get that basically anywhere, and it's the first time for me," said Caldwell, who will join Arizona State next fall. "I've played with a chair umpire, but not this. And the ballkids, you don't get that basically anywhere. And I signed a few autographs, which was really cool. I haven't done that too much before."

On Tuesday, Caldwell will play unseeded Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil, who won the ITF J300 in Canada Saturday and defeated Roland Garros boys Niels McDonald of Germany, the No. 7 seed, 6-1, 6-4 today.

In addition to McDonald, three other seeds lost today, with No. 4 seed Benjamin Willwerth losing to Georgia Tech freshman Hidde Schoenmakers of the Netherlands 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 and No. 10 seed Ryo Tabata of Japan falling to qualifier Tito Chavez of Spain 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-3 in second round action. No. 11 seed Nicolas Arseneault of Canada, a freshman at Kentucky, lost to 2024 Australian Open boys finalist Jan Kumstat of the Czech Republic 6-2, 7-6(3) in a first round match.

Maximus Dussault is the sole American boy into the third round, with eight other playing second round matches Tuesday. The TCU freshman defeated unseeded Dante Pagani of Argentina 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-4.

US Open 2024 girls champion Mika Stojsavljevic of Great Britain, the No. 9 seed, got her title defense off to a good start, defeating Sol Allin Larraya Guidi of Argentina 6-2, 6-1 in a first round match. Another reigning junior slam champion, Mia Pohankova of the Slovakia, is through to the third round, beating wild card Bella Payne 6-1, 6-4 on Court 15, a far cry from the pomp and circumstance of her victory on Court One at Wimbledon six weeks ago.

Pohankova said she took more than a month off after winning the title at Wimbledon, where she was, as Stojsavljevic was last year in New York, unseeded. Seeded No. 4 this week, Pohankova said that seeding, and a renewed motivation, were the only differences in her life since her title in London.

With no match play since that title, Pohankova made sure that she got to New York early.

"We got in Tuesday, and I was doing everything in practice," said the 16-year-old, who noted how fast the courts are playing this year. "We were training at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy, it's a nice place and I'm ready to fight."

Pohankova will play unseeded Yushan Shao of China in the third round Wednesday.

No. 15 seed Ronit Karki, who reached the Wimbledon final as a qualifier, defeated Ziga Sesko of Slovenia 6-3, 7-6(4) on Court 5, one of the featured courts for juniors, but still much smaller than Court One at Wimbledon, his previous match at a junior slam. 

Like Pohankova, Karki mentioned the speed of the courts and how comfortable he is on fast courts in general and at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in particular.

"It's pretty fast here and I did a good job of keeping the pace up," said Karki, who had lost to Sesko on 6-0, 6-3 on clay prior to Roland Garros this year. "I had a hitting partner job here two years ago, and I've had a lot of experience on these courts, and did a good job of adjusting to conditions."

Karki, who saved one set point serving at 4-5 and forced a tiebreaker after going down 0-40 serving at 5-6, was in New York last year for several days, unsuccessful in getting in as a lucky loser after losing in the final round of qualifying. But looking back on that now, the 17-year-old Stanford recruit can see how far his game has come since then.

"I think my game has gotten tougher mentally," Karki said. "Just going through the experience, some of the tough losses, a lot of tough practices, seeing the game every day. But something definitely clicked, I started staying calmer on court, and maybe just growing up."

Karki will play Ludvig Hede of Sweden, but didn't know that, as he is trying not to look ahead in the draw, seeing that knowledge as something he doesn't need during the match he is playing.

"It doesn't effect me on court, but I definitely start thinking about who I'm playing next if I go up in the score," Karki said. "Thinking about the guy I'm going to play next is a bad habit. So I just try to silence that thought."

Monday's first round junior singles results of Americans:

Ronit Karki[15] d. Ziga Sesko(SLO) 6-3, 7-6(4)

Gavin Goode[SE] d. Kuan-Shou Chen(TPE) 1-6, 6-1, 6-1,

Alan Wazny[12](POL) d. Ryan Cozad 6-3, 7-6(4)

Zangar Nurlanuly(KAZ) d. Roshan Santhosh[WC] 6-3, 6-3

Simon Caldwell[Q] d. Savva Rybkin(RUS) 6-4, 4-6, 6-0

Max Exsted d. Karim Bennani(MAR) 6-4, 6-4

Welles Newman[WC] d. Kali Supova(SVK) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3

Julia Stusek[5](GER) d. Tianmei Wang[WC] 6-1, 6-1

Nancy Lee[WC] d. Sonja Zhenikhova(GER) 6-2, 6-1

Janae Preston[WC] d. Nauhany Leme Da Silva(BRA) 7-6(5), 6-1

Monday's second round junior singles results of Americans:

Julieta Pareja[1] d. Nadia Lagaev(CAN) 6-2, 6-2

Lea Nilsson[Q](SWE) d. Anita Tu[SE] 6-2, 6-2

Kristina Penickova[3] d. Maia Burcescu(ROU) 6-1, 7-5

Mia Pohankova[4](SVK) d. Bella Payne[WC] 6-1, 6-4

Maximus Dussault d.  Dante Pagani(ARG) 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-4

Hidde Schoenmakers(NED) d. Benjamin Willwerth[4] 6-3, 2-6, 7-5

Max Schoenhaus[8](GER) d. Noah Johnston 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(4)

Tuesday's second round junior singles matches featuring Americans:

Jack Kennedy[9] v Flynn Thomas(SUI)

Matisse Farzam[WC] v Andrew Johnson[WC]

Gavin Goode[SE] v Jan Kumstat(CZE)

Dominick Mosejczuk v Alexander Vasilev[5](BUL)

Ronit Karki[15] v Ludvig Hede(SWE)

Simon Caldwell[Q] v Luis Guto Miguel(BRA)

Maxwell Exsted v Ivan Ivanov[1](BUL)

Thea Frodin[16] v Julie Pastikova(CZE)

Janae Preston[WC] v Ksenia Efremova(FRA)

Welles Newman[WC] v Tahlia Kokkinis(AUS)

Nancy Lee[WC] v Jana Kovackova[6](CZE)

One of the most exciting matches of the day, with seven of the eight singles matches decided in straight sets, was the second round men's doubles match between 2024 NCAA spring champions Robert Cash and JJ Tracy and No. 7 seeds Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori of Italy, which the former Ohio State Buckeyes won 6-7(4), 7-6(2), 7-6(8) in front of near-capacity crowd on the Grandstand.

"It was probably the best atmosphere we've ever played in front of," Cash said. "There's nothing like playing in front of the USA fans. We've never gotten to experience a late-night match, and it wasn't too late, but the sun went down and the fans started packing in and they were behind us the entire way. The energy was through the roof, it was awesome."

"Definitely the biggest stage, biggest court, we've every played on," said Tracy. "And when the USA chants started raining down, it was an unbelievable feeling."

There were no breaks of serve until Cash and Tracy went up 4-2 in the third set, but Tracy was unable to serve it out at 5-4 after leading 30-15 in the game.

They didn't show any frustration, however, and continued to rely on the energy and support from the pro-USA fans.

"If you would have told us we were on serve at 5-6 in the third set before the match started, I know JJ and I would have taken that in a heartbeat," Cash said. "We knew we were in a good spot even if we didn't hold and win it 6-4, we were still one serve, still in the match, still had the momentum, with the crowd behind us, and we were playing well."

Up a mini-break from the first point of the 10-point third set tiebreaker, Cash and Tracy held that slim lead until they broke Bolelli to go up 8-5. But Cash dropped both points on his serve to send it back on serve, but Vavassori lost the fourth consecutive point by the server to give Cash and Tracy two match points at 9-7. Vavassori held his service point for 9-8 to save the first, but Tracy's first serve was too good on the second with the return sailing well long, giving Cash and Tracy revenge for their loss to Vavassori and Bolelli two weeks ago in Cincinnati.

In their first few months as pros in 2024, Cash and Tracy had an immediate impact in ATP doubles competition, and have played all slams except for Australia. Now around 50 in the ATP live doubles rankings, they are planning on traveling to Asia, in hopes of getting their rankings high enough to play all the ATP Masters tournaments.

"You really have to be Top 30 to make your own schedule and get into all these Masters," Tracy said. "One hundred percent we want to make our own schedule, so that's something we definitely have our eyes set on," Cash said. "We don't want to look too far ahead, but Top 30, Top 20, Top 10, we want it all."

Cash and Tracy face No. 10 seeds Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni of Argentina in the round of 16 Tuesday in Armstrong Stadium.

USTA Collegiate Playoff winners Cooper Williams and Theo Winegar of Duke came very close to another upset, falling to No. 4 seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz(Auburn) of Germany 7-6(7), 7-6(3). Williams and Winegar had two set points in the first set, leading 6-4 in the tiebreaker.

Monday's US Open fourth round singles matches featuring Americans:

Naomi Osaka[23](JPN) d. Coco Gauff[3] 6-3, 6-2

Amanda Anisimova[8] d. Beatriz Haddad Maia[18](BRA) 6-0, 6-3

Tuesday's US Open quarterfinal matches featuring Americans:

Jessica Pegula[4] d. Barbora Krejcikova(CZE) 6-3, 6-3

Novak Djokovic[7](SRB) d. Taylor Fritz[4] 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4