Qualifier Nilsson Beats Defending Champion to Reach US Open Girls Final; All-Bulgarian Boys Final Set After Vasilev's Comeback; Two American Teams Reach Boys Doubles Final; Anisimova Faces Sabalenka for Women's Title

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Flushing Meadows NY--

If Lea Nilsson wins the US Open girls singles title Saturday, to become the first qualifier and the first Swedish girl ever to accomplish that feat, don't expect a animated celebration. The 17-year-old from Stockholm had displayed no more than a small fist pump when she defeated ITF World Junior No. 1 Julieta Pareja in the third round, and she seemed even less impressed with her 0-6, 6-1, 6-1 semifinal win over No. 9 seed and defending champion Mika Stojsavljevic of Great Britain at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

True, Stojsavljevic got less than half of her first serves in and made more than twice as many unforced errors as Nilsson, but Nilsson deserves the credit for making the changes required to get the match played on her terms.

"In the second set I tried to get her doing the mistakes and not me," Nilsson said of her plan to recover. "I was telling myself to play easier, more simple, not to give it away too fast. Let her play as many balls as possible, make her fight for the ball, not give her free points."

Although the first two sets were lopsided in terms of games, three games in each set went to deuce. The third set was all Nilsson, who had just one unforced error, while Stojsavljevic made 17. 

Still, Stojsavljevic had come from 4-0 down in the third set in her third round win over Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic, so Nilsson was on her guard.

"I saw she was down 0-3, I didn't know it was 0-4, and saw she won 7-5," Nilsson said. "So I knew, it's not over until it's over,  and I didn't want to let her in."

Despite all the tennis she's played the past nine days, Nilsson said she is physically and mentally ready for one more.

"It's been a long tournament," said Nilsson, who is the first qualifier to reach the final since 2019, when recent Stanford graduate Alexandra Yepifanova lost to Camila Osorio of Colombia. "But mentally, I'm not so tired. I haven't yet looked at my phone since third round--I'm only using it for booking practice. And physically, I don't have any problems right now, so that's a blessing."

The first Swedish girl to reach a US Open junior final, Nilsson, who says she been calm her whole life, won't be changing her personality based on this run. "I've never been a girl that screams a lot," Nilsson explained. "I'm not [an] extrovert, I'm [an] introvert, but of course I'm super happy. I don't know how to show it."

Nilsson will face No. 14 seed Jeline Vandromme, who again posted a straight-sets victory, her fifth this week, in beating No. 2 seed Hannah Klugman of Great Britain 6-3, 6-2.

Vandromme fell behind 2-0 to start, but all the matches she's won since the end of July, 17 on the ITF women's World Tennis Tour and five this week, helped her stay positive.

"In the beginning of the streak I won a match when I was three matches points down," Vandromme said, referring to her 7-6(4), 5-7, 7-5 win over Han Shi of China in the final of the W35 in Roehampton. "I was 5-3 down, 40-15 on her serve and 30-40 on my serve, and since that match I've had the mindset that anything can happen, don't think result-wise, and I think that mindset has helped me every match. When you get 0-2 down, don't panic."

Vandromme again had the support of three-time US Open women's champion Kim Clijsters at her match, and on Saturday, Vandromme can do something that neither Clijsters nor Justine Henin, a  two-time US Open women's champion, did: win the US Open girls title. There has been only one Belgian girls singles champion in New York, with Kirsten Flipkens winning the title in 2003.

Nilsson and Vandromme have not played on the ITF Junior Circuit, but met in the quarterfinals of the European 16s championships two years ago. Vandromme, who went on to claim that title, defeated Nilsson 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-1. 

Grigor Dimitrov won the Wimbledon and US Open boys singles titles in 2008, the last time a Bulgarian had made a junior slam final, until Ivan Ivanov won Wimbledon this year.

Ivanov can equal Dimitrov's feat after the top seed and ITF Junior No. 1 defeated unseeded Zangar Nurlanuly of Kazakhstan 6-1, 6-4, but Bulgaria will have a second US Open boys champion regardless of the outcome of Saturday's final, after No. 5 seed Alexander Vasilev came back to defeat unseeded Luis Miguel of Brazil 2-6, 6-1, 6-0.

Vasilev knew that he had to change his strategy after Miguel rolled through the opening set, making 81% of his first serves and riding the vocal support of the crowd on Court 7.

"He started very, very powerful and I didn't play as I should, as I had planned," said Vasilev, who lost in the Wimbledon semifinals to thwart the first all-Bulgarian junior slam final. "I didn't play how I needed to to make him make mistakes, taking him outside the court. So second set I started to concentrate more, I put that fighting spirit on and said, do the plan, do the things and work for it."

Part of that plan came to fruition in the second set. 

"I was trying to change the pace, to change the rhythm, trying to keep up and slow down a bit," said Vasilev, who is Dimitrov's cousin. "He likes to play very fast, so I tried to kill the momentum, and managed to do it."

Miguel, who won last week's ITF J300 in Canada and pulled out of doubles this week as a precaution, was not able to serve effectively with pain inhibiting that stroke.

"We saw the serve was not on point," said the 18-year-old lefthander. "I had an advantage there; he was not serving well. First set, he had everything, was playing good, but as the set went, as the points and games go by, I focused more, and found where I could push that."

The last game was a struggle, with two double faults complicating Vasilev's service game, but he saved a break point, and finally closed out the win on his third match point.

"On the third match point, I went with more confidence and said 'if not now, when?' and go for it," Vasilev said. "When it was over, I said, this is not finished, there is one more match. I'm a bit more relaxed, but the tournament hasn't ended."

Ivanov also had problems at the end, with Nurlanuly saving four match points serving at 3-5. Ivanov went down 15-40 in his attempt to serve it out, but two of his seven aces helped get to a fifth match point, which he converted with laser forehand/feathery drop shot combination.

Ivanov was playing in his third consecutive junior slam semifinal, and he admitted his comfort level has increased with every one.

"It was my third semifinal, so of course there is stress, but way less than the first two, that's for sure," Ivanov said. "But I enjoyed it way more, I enjoy the crowd, and yes this was the calmer one."

Ivanov and Vasilev, who were recently named to the Bulgarian Davis Cup team for their home tie with Finland next week, did not grow up together, with different home towns and Ivanov's move to the Nadal Academy several years ago, feel obvious pride in achieving this milestone for their country.

"It's great success for both," Ivanov said. "It's his first final, my second, so it's all about the experience, we take it, we play against each other and enjoy the match."

"We're of course good friends, it's going to be a good battle, and I'm going to enjoy every second on the court," Vasilev said.

The boys doubles final will also feature compatriots and friends, with No. 7 seeds Noah Johnston and Ben Willwerth facing No. 6 seeds Jack Kennedy and Keaton Hance, all from the United States.

Johnston and Willwerth defeated unseeded Dominick Mosejczuk and Germany's Jamie Mackenzie 7-5, 4-6, 10-6, while Kennedy and Hance beat unseeded Jack Secord and Puerto Rico's Yannick Alvarez 6-2, 6-4.

Willwerth and Johnston, the 2025 Kalamazoo 18s doubles finalists, have rounded into form during the course of a week's play. 

"I feel like we've been getting better every round," said the 17-year-old Johnston, who has begun his freshman year at the University of Georgia. "We had a tough first round, 13-11 in the tiebreak, and since then, we've just been playing better and better, getting used to the conditions, finding our game."

The winds of the past two days have required some changes in strategy.

"We were holding good, but the wind made it tougher for us," Willwerth said. "We had to be more creative with where we were serving; we couldn't just blast through the wind."

After reaching the Roland Garros boys doubles final in June, Willwerth and Johnson have a better idea what to expect in Saturday's final.

"I think it will help," Willwerth, 18, said. "Because we know we've been there and they haven't. We got the first one out of the way, so I think all the nerves we felt in the first one is just gone now, so now we're just playing."

Hance and Kennedy, like Willwerth and Johnston, are longtime doubles partners, with their partnership extending back more than three years.

"This is really awesome, thinking about all the tournaments we've played together," said the 17-year-old Kennedy, who lives and trains nearby in Long Island. "All the times we've imagined being at this stage, in this moment, and we're finally here. We're both super grateful, super happy that we have this opportunity to play together at our home slam."

"It feels great," said Hance, 17, who lives in Southern California, but trains, often with Kennedy in attendance, in Orlando. "We've been together for so long and obviously we were always hoping to have great results, but it super awesome to make it this far in this tournament, especially his home town."

In today's semifinal, Hance and Kennedy won four of the six deciding points, including in the final game, when Secord and Alvarez saved three match points but couldn't save the fourth, when Hance's good first serve went unreturned.

"I think me and Keaton do a good job of trusting each other in those big moments," Kennedy said. "We put a lot of trust in each other and I think that's what makes us such a great team." 

The girls doubles final will feature No. 3 seeds Alena and Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic against No. 4 seeds Vandromme and Laima Vladson of Lithuania. The Kovackova sisters avenged their Roland Garros finals loss to unseeded Eva Bennemann and Sonja Zhenikhova of Germany 6-2, 6-3. Vandromme and Vladson came back to defeat unseeded Kamonwan Yodpetch of Thailand and Ruien Zhang of China 6-7(5), 6-1, 10-6.

With rain in the forecast for Saturday afternoon, both singles finals and the boys doubles final will be played at 11 a.m. The girls doubles final will be played after the girls singles final, with Vandromme competing in both.

In the women's doubles final today, No. 3 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Erin Routliffe(Alabama) of New Zealand defeated top seeds Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4 to capture their second US Open women's doubles title. For more on their championship, see this article from the WTA website.

Amanda Anisimova will play defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in the women's singles final Saturday, after Anisimova reached her second consecutive major final with a 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 6-3 win over Naomi Osaka in the early hours of Friday morning. 

For more on the women's final, see this article from usopen.org.