Defending Champion Stojsavljevic Returns to Semifinals at US Open Junior Championships; Ivanov's Quest For Second Straight Slam Title Survives Third-Set Tiebreaker; US Boy Guaranteed to Win Doubles Title; Cash and Tracy Fall in Men's Doubles Semifinals

©Colette Lewis 2025--

Flushing Meadows, NY--

Back on Court 12, where she won her unexpected US Open girls title as an unseeded 15-year-old last September, Mika Stojsavljevic didn't just have great memories to push her through to Friday's semifinals; she also had a loss to avenge.

Mia Pohankova, the No. 4 seed, had beaten Stojsavljevic in the first round of July's Wimbledon Junior Championships, her first step in earning the title. Today, on a windy day at the US Open Junior Championships, it was all Stojsavljevic, who reversed her straights-sets loss in London with a 6-4, 6-2 win.

"I think I just came in with a different mindset," said Stojsavljevic, seeded ninth this week. "To be honest at Wimbledon, I'd just finished my exams and I was pretty exhausted from all of that. I'd just played the seniors as well(a main draw women's singles loss to Ashlyn Krueger). I can't say I was playing my best. Today I was just mentally on it, every ball, physically moving well, intense, and it really worked."

Stojsavljevic was not entirely sure how she managed to get her chance to avenge her Wimbledon loss to Pohankova today, after trailing 15-year-old Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic 4-0 in the third set before rebounding for a 5-7, 6-1, 7-5 win yesterday.

"I was not thinking about winning at that point, obviously," Stojsavljevic said. "But slowly and surely I kept coming back, eventually 4-all, 5-4, and suddenly, you're in it again."

Although winning a title here last year is always going to provide Stojsavljevic with a reason to think fondly of New York, she genuinely enjoys the city.

"I just love the energy, I think there's an absolutely incredible vibe," said Stojsavljevic, who is staying in Manhattan this week. "I love the architecture, I think it's so cool. I don't think there's anywhere like it in the world. It makes me even more excited to play here. I love it."

Stojsavljevic will face Swedish qualifier Lea Nilsson, who is having a run similar to the one Stojsavljevic had last year. Nilsson defeated No. 8 seed Charo Esquiva Banuls of Spain 6-4, 6-1 to post her sixth win of the tournament.

"I've never played her," Stojsavljevic said. "I've practiced with her in the past, but it will be a new challenge. Congrats to her for getting this far, and we'll see how it goes tomorrow."

The possibility for an all-British girls final, which was also in play last year before Wakana Sonobe of Japan defeated Mimi Xu in the semifinals, still exists, with No. 2 seed Hannah Klugman defeating No. 5 seed Julia Stusek of Germany 6-3, 6-2 in her second consecutive appearance on Louis Armstrong Stadium. 

Klugman will have to be the one to end No. 14 seed Jeline Vandromme's winning streak to uphold her end of that all-British final, with Vandromme defeating unseeded Ksenia Efremova of France 6-1, 6-3 for her 21st consecutive victory.

Vandromme is not willing to proclaim this as the best tennis she's ever played, although she concedes the 17 wins on the ITF women's Pro Circuit and the four wins this week are indications of her improvement in the past few months.

"I just feel like I'm confident in what I'm doing, and the way I'm playing is what I want," the 17-year-old Belgian said. "But I don't know if this is my highest level, let's see. I feel good."

Vandromme has had a high-profile fan at her matches this week, with Kim Clijsters, a two-time US Open women's champion, on hand to provide support.

"I've known her since I was little, because we went to her academy," Vondromme said. "But I was so young, I didn't really know her personally or talk to her. But now, at the grand slams, we talk a lot, and I had a chance to practice with her here, and at Wimbledon last year. It's nice that she comes to my matches and supports, we talk a bit. She's not my coach, but it's nice she can give advice to younger Belgian players."

An all-Bulgarian boys final is also a possibility, after both No. 1 seed Ivan Ivanov and No. 5 seed Alexander Vasilev advanced to the semifinals for the second straight junior slam.

Vasilev ended the run of 16-year-old wild card Andrew Johnson, the last American competing in singles, 6-3, 7-5.

Vasilev, an 18-year-old left-hander, had such an obvious physical advantage that the crowd surrounding Court 12 was even more pro-Johnson than they might have been, but in the end, Vasilev was able to figure out a winning strategy.

"He's an uncomfortable player," Vasilev said. "Definitely he's maybe not as strong or the tallest, but he has the game. I found it pretty tough to make a good shot selection, because he was quite fast, taking the ball pretty early, so I had to manage myself to put so much quality in my shots and was so happy that I managed that."

Vasilev did post 130 mph on the serve radar, but he was not going for the huge first serves as often he did in his 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(7) win in the third round over Jan Kumstat of the Czech Republic, with the winds, with gusts over 30 mph, making the ball toss an adventure. 

"I didn't focus that much on the speed of the serve today, but on the positioning and the placement," said Vasilev, who reached the semifinals at Wimbledon. "The wind was blowing pretty hard, weather conditions were tough, the ball position was changing so fast, so the flat serve was not as effective as usual."

Vasilev will face unseeded Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil, who defeated No. 14 seed Oliver Bonding of Great Britain 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-1 in the second junior match on Louis Armstrong Stadium. 

They have met recently, at the ITF J300 warmup to Wimbledon in Roehampton, with Vasilev taking a 7-5, 6-3 decision in the semifinals.

"I have to structure my game different from today and try to adapt faster," Vasilev said. "It's going to be a good match tomorrow, a big stage. It is going to be pressure, but I have to stay present and feel the confidence."

While Vasilev got through in straight sets, Wimbledon champion Ivanov had to deal with the pressure of a third set tiebreaker, which he conquered admirably in his 6-4, 0-6, 7-6(3) decision over No. 8 seed Max Schoenhaus of Germany.

Ivanov lost to Schoenhaus in straight sets in the semifinals of Roland Garros, then beat him in two tiebreakers in the semifinals of Wimbledon, so his description of Schoenhaus as the "toughest opponent for me in juniors, for sure, by far," was understandable.

"He knows how to play against me and I know how to play against him, so it's a very good test too," Ivanov said. 

Ivanov was outstanding in today's tiebreaker, making no unforced errors and blasting forehand winners whenever he had an opportunity, locking in as he had done in their two tiebreakers on Wimbledon's show court 18.

Ivanov will return to Court 7 for tomorrow's match against surprise semifinalist Zangar Nurlanuly of Kazakhstan, who beat No. 13 seed Timofei Derepasko of Russia 6-2, 6-4.

While there are no American girls left in singles or doubles after Thea Frodin and her Brazilian partner Victoria Barros lost to Kamonwan Yodpetch of Thailand and Ruien Zhang of China 6-3, 3-6, 10-7, an American champion is already guaranteed in boys doubles, with six American boys in Friday's semifinals.

No. 7 seeds Noah Johnston and Benjamin Willwerth and No. 6 seeds Keaton Hance and Jack Kennedy each play against teams with one American.

Hance and Kennedy, 6-2, 6-4 winners over wild cards Michael Antonius and Matisse Farzam, will play unseeded Jack Secord and Puerto Rico's Yannik Alvarez, who beat No. 2 seeds Schoenhaus and Niels McDonald of Germany 6-4, 6-3.

Johnston and Willwerth, who defeated the unseeded Italian team of Gabriele Crivellaro and Michele Mecarelli 6-1, 7-6(5), will play unseeded Jamie Mackenzie of Germany and Dominick Mosejczuk. Mackenzie and Mosejczuk defeated unseeded Ronit Karki and Jack Satterfield 7-6(5), 6-3.

A rematch of the Roland Garros final is set for the girls doubles semifinal between No. 3 seeds Alena and Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic and unseeded Eva Bennemann and Sonja Zhenikhova of Germany. The Kovackova sisters led 6-4, 4-0 in that final in Paris, but Bennemann and Zhenikhova fought back to win the title in a match tiebreaker. The Czechs defeated No. 5 seeds Esquiva Banuls and Sweden's Nellie Taraba Wallberg 7-6(6), 6-2, while Bennemann and Zhenikhova defeated unseeded Yihan Qu of China and Kanon Sawashiro of Japan 6-2, 6-4. 

Vandromme, the only player who remains in both singles and doubles, and partner Laima Vladson of Lithuania will play College Park doubles champions Yodpetch and Zhang in the semifinals. The No. 3 seeds beat No. 7 seeds Stusek and Pastikova 6-3, 6-2.

The run of JJ Tracy and Robert Cash, Ohio State's 2024 NCAA spring doubles champions, came to an end tonight in Louis Armstrong Stadium, with No. 5 seeds and reigning Roland Garros men's doubles champion Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina beating the unseeded pair from Ohio 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.

Granollers and Zeballos will face No. 6 seeds Neal Skupski(LSU) and Joe Salisbury(Memphis) in Saturday's final, with the British pair defeating No. 14 seeds Michael Venus(LSU) of New Zealand and Yuki Bhambri of India 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 6-4 in just under three hours.

No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula lost Thursday evening to top seed and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a rematch of last year's final. 

Friday's schedule, which includes the women's doubles final and the men's semifinal is here. Top seeds Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic will play No. 3 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Erin Routliffe(Alabama) of New Zealand at noon.