©Colette Lewis 2026--
Kalamazoo MI--
As it turned out, most of the drama on the second Saturday of the
USTA Boys 18s and 16s National Championships came from the dull gray skies, not from the US Open blue courts. But the sprinkles throughout the day didn't turn into full-fledged wet courts until the final trophy of the day was being awarded to the 18s doubles champions.
The early 10:00 am start, without the customary 16s semifinals, which were played on Friday due to the forecast, produced two quick results in the 18 semifinals, with No. 6 seed Jordan Lee defeating No. 3 seed Andy Johnson 6-2, 6-0 in 59 minutes and top seed Jack Kennedy beating No. 9 seed Jack Secord 6-3, 6-1 in 90 minutes.
Choosing the more impressive performance isn't an easy task, with Lee playing aggressive, yet error-free tennis to cruise past Johnson. But the nod probably goes to Kennedy, who played six sets of tennis on Friday--a three-hour-plus singles quarterfinal and a three-set doubles semifinal that finished after 8 pm--and still came out this morning with his groundstrokes firing and his energy high.
"It's top secret stuff," Kennedy joked when asked how he recovered so quickly. "Yesterday was a long day; I felt I was on the court for a whole year yesterday. Had a long, long match with Ryan(Cozad) and three sets in doubles and I was just fighting to get through the day, honestly. I didn't want to let Keaton(doubles partner Hance) down with my energy, it's a big opportunity for us, semifinals, but we fought. I had a really good recovery: ice bath, massage gun, a quick dinner. But today I felt really good surprisingly, after the day I had yesterday."
Kennedy was playing in his third consecutive Kalamazoo 18s semifinal, winning the first, in 2024, and losing to champion Darwin Blanch last year.
"Semifinals here in Kalamazoo, you're playing for a spot at the Open, so you've got to go all out," said Kennedy, an 18-year-old from New York, who begins his collegiate career at Virginia in September. "Give every last drop of energy you have on that court and whatever happens, happens. Today I thought I played pretty well in the circumstances, and Jack was hitting a pretty clean ball, but I think sometimes he would get a little too antsy to be done with the point, rushed it a little bit."
Kennedy thinks his experience in the 2024 final, a 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 loss to Matthew Forbes, may provide him with an advantage over the 16-year-old Lee.
"I think I have a little bit of the edge with the experience of playing three out of five two years ago," Kennedy said. "it's going to be interesting to see how Jordan holds up, but I'm going to be ready."
Lee admitted he didn't have any lapses of concentration in his performance against Johnson.
"I made a couple, but not many," Lee said of his unforced error count. "I think my biggest strength on the court is my mental toughness. I compete very well and I'm willing to suffer."
Lee knew that Johnson's quickness could be a problem if he didn't finish points at the net.
"I think against anyone now, the game's so fast, if you don't close the net, it's hard," Lee said.
Lee's winning streak in juniors, which is now at 14 matches after eight victories en route to the Wimbledon boys title, was interrupted by a loss in the first round of qualifying of the Washington DC ATP 500 last month. He believes the experience will help however, as he is now guaranteed at least a qualifying wild card at the US Open later this month.
"I learned a lot from that match," Lee said of his 7-5, 6-1 loss to ATP No. 197 Moez Echargui of Tunisia. "I think the main thing I learned is that my level's there, but staying disciplined is the most important thing."
Lee and Kennedy have never played, but Kennedy knows Lee from their frequent encounters at the USTA's National Campus in Lake Nona.
"Jordan, Wimby champ, he's got a lot of momentum going on right now," Kennedy said. "He's playing really good tennis, and he's healthy, which I am really happy to see. Besides tennis and all that, Jordan's a great kid. At USTA when I see him he's always smiling, having fun, and on the court, he's such a hard worker, so disciplined. I have nothing but good things to say about Jordan. He's in the situation I was in two years ago, and it's going to be a great match, I'm really looking forward to it."
Before Sunday's 18s final, scheduled for noon, 16s doubles champions Kamil Stolarczyk and Daniel Malacek will meet in the 16s final, set for 10 a.m.
Both Stolarczyk and Malacek have already secured their places on the boards of Kalamazoo champions displayed at Stowe Stadium after the No. 2 seeds defeated No. 9 seeds Kahven Singh and Griffin Goode 6-3, 7-6(3) in the 16s final on Acker Center Court.
Stolarczyk served for match at 5-4 and had two match points, which Goode and Singh saved with help from Malacek and Stolarczyk, with Malacek missing an overhead and Stolarczyk netting a forehand to squander the 40-15 lead.
"The match went a little longer than it should have," said Malacek, a 16-year-old from Kirkland Washington. "We dropped that game, it was honestly an error on my part, but I think I made up for it pretty good in the following games. It almost felt like a relief, because I was very nervous in the tiebreaker, instead of pure joy."
"It's good to have my name in the history books at Kalamazoo now," said Stolarczyk, a 16-year-old from Glendale New York, who had not won any USTA ball until today. "I get to come back here next year, find my name."
"You'll be coaching kids one day, and show them our name," Malacek said.
Stolarczyk, who played with Goode last year in Kalamazoo, reaching the quarterfinals, shrugged off a double fault that gave Goode and Singh a 2-1 lead. With Malacek and Stolarczyk getting the mini break back immediately, their confidence grew, while the nerves began to fray for Goode and Singh. When Singh double faulted down 3-5, Stolarczyk and Malacek could breathe a little easier.
"We found our tennis when we needed to," Malacek said.
Malacek and Stolarczyk, who have been rooming together throughout the tournament, plan to warm up together before Sunday's final, but Stolarczyk had scheduled a practice session after the doubles final with another player.
"I have a couple of things to work on, if I want to beat this guy," Stolarczyk said.
Noah Johnston may have been in the midst of his freshman season at the University of Georgia, but he knew who he wanted as his doubles partner eight months ago, and now he and Yannik Alvarez have earned a wild card into the main draw of the US Open men's doubles with a 6-4, 6-1 win Gavin Goode and Ryan Cozad.
"I tried to get him as fast as I could, right after he won the Orange Bowl, probably in January." said Johnston, who reached the 18s doubles final last year with Benjamin Willwerth, who aged out of Kalamazoo.
Although both Johnston and Alvarez have impressive doubles resumés, they did not look formidable in their first match in the second round, a 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 win over Connor Plunkett and Michael Lorenzetti, with Alvarez recovering from an illness.
"I started feeling sick after my singles match," said Alvarez, who withdrew from singles before his third round match. "I wasn't feeling my best, obviously, and Noah had to come in and help me. We barely won that match, and I guess that was the turning point."
"I felt we played really well together after that first match," said Johnston, who turns 19 in November. "I felt we got better and better every match."
The first set saw five of the ten games go to a deciding point, with the only break coming with Goode serving at 4-all.
"We got that deciding point, it was an amazing point, and Yannik finished with the overhead and the crowd went crazy," Johnston said. "It was a lot of fun."
Johnston and Alvarez didn't lose their momentum after the set break, with an Alvarez hold and a second straight break of Goode giving them a 2-0 lead.
"We knew we just had to stay focused," said Alvarez, a 17-year-old from Georgia, who represents Puerto Rico on the World Tennis junior circuit. "I held pretty easily and we got the break and that was the energy shift. We kept playing aggressive, just played our game."
As for the US Open wild card, they are taking inspiration from last year's Kalamazoo champions Cooper Woestendick and Max Exsted, who won a round in the main draw in New York.
"Our friends Max and Cooper did very well last year," Johnston said. "I played them in the final last year, we had three match points against them and they got it done, did really well there. So hopefully we can match their footsteps."
Alvarez and Johnston have no preference regarding their US Open opponents.
"We'd be excited to play anyone there," Alvarez said. "We'll just enjoy it." "But if we could play some Americans, that would be fun," Johnston said.
The boys 16s final is scheduled for 10 a.m., with the 18s final to follow, but simultaneous finals are possible if the prediction for morning rain is accurate.
Live streaming will be available
here; live scoring is provided by
iOnCourt.
The singles finals are the only two matches remaining for Sunday.
In the 16s consolation final, Mikaeel Alibaig[14] defeated Tristan Ascenzo[26] 6-4, 6-3 to finish in fifth place.
Zen Uehling[33] took fifth in the 18s, when Vihaan Reddy[12], who won two consolation matches today, elected not to compete in the final scheduled for Sunday.
The bronze ball in boys 16s singles went to Tristan Stratton[4], with Sulaiman Syed[2] withdrawing with an injury.
Andy Johnson took third in 18s singles, when Jack Secord withdrew from the third place match.
Kennedy and Hance finished third in 18s doubles, with Secord and Ford McCollum[8] withdrawing from the third place match.
Alibaig and Ivan Rybak[1] took the bronze ball in 16s doubles, defeating Mason Fekete and Louden Muha[10] 6-2, 6-4.
The recipient of the Wes Richards Sportsmanship Award for Feed-In is George Ho.
Syed was given the Bobby Kaplan Sportsmanship Award for 16s and Secord received the Allen B. Stowe Sportsmanship Award for 18s.
The finals are set for Sunday at the
Girls 18s in San Diego, with top seed Julieta Pareja falling to No. 3 seed Thea Frodin 7-6(2), 7-6(4) in the semifinals. Frodin will face No. 4 seed Janae Preston, who reached the final with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 win over No. 33 seed Melije Clarke.
The 18s doubles final will feature two No. 9 seeds: Bella Payne and Sara Shumate versus Welles Newman and Jordyn Hazelitt.
Top seed Shristi Selvan, who won the Winter National 16s and Easter Bowl 16s, added a third gold ball to her collection, beating fellow Junior Tennis Champions Center student Aarini Bhattacharya, the No. 14 seed, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
The 16s doubles title went to Abigail Haile and Olivia De Los Reyes, who defeated fellow No. 9 seeds Isabelle Nguyen and Madeline Cleary 6-3, 6-1 in this afternoon's final.
The results of the singles and doubles finals at the 12s and 14s National Championships, with full draws in link in the heading.
Singles final:
Gabrielle Villegas[2] d. Daniella Yogumyan[4] 5-7, 6-4, 6-2
Doubles final:
Kareena Cross and Gabrielle Villegas d. Meghna Pillai and Harshitha Thiruganam 6-2, 2-6, 6-0
Singles final:
Lailah Cowgill[10] d. Vlada Hranchar 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(5)
Doubles final:
Nandika Singamala and Everly Cogdell[9] d. Grace Goode and Dargan Alexander[9] 7-6(6), 6-2
Singles final:
David Bender[7] d. Krish Advani[1] 6-3, 2-6, 6-2
Doubles final:
Sebastian Cheaney and London Slaton[1] d. Daniel Gardality and David Bender[9] 6-1, 4-6, 6-4
Singles final:
Aleksander Denisov[7] d. Zachary Burunov[6] 6-3, 6-0
Doubles final:
William Zhou and Thomas Gamble[1] d. AJ Williams and Miles Markham[2] 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
