Jodar Captures US Open Boys Title in Third Set Tiebreaker; Unseeded Stojsavljevic Wins Girls Championship; Pegula Falls to Sabalenka in Women's Final

©Colette Lewis 2024--
Flushing Meadows, New York--

A break down in the third set, against the third consecutive junior slam champion he had played this week at the US Open Junior Championships, No. 12 seed Rafael Jodar could have conceded that his streak of victories the past three weeks would come to an end at 10. 

Yet the lanky right-hander from Madrid reversed his fortunes against top seed and Wimbledon champion Nicolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway, getting the break back and dominating the match tiebreaker to earn a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(1) victory and well deserved junior slam title of his own in front of a packed house on Court 11.

"I had another match in the quarterfinals that was similar to this one," said Jodar, who beat Roland Garros champion and No. 2 seed Kaylan Bigun of the United States 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 after trailing 5-3 in the third, then defeated Australian Open champion and No. 3 seed Rei Sakamoto of Japan 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals. "Yeah, the confidence was high, like many people, you know, watching the match. But in general, I had to keep pushing, to keep believing in myself, and that's it."

Getting off to a slow start, with more than his usual number of unforced errors, Jodar dropped the opening set in 23 minutes. But he quickly turned the second set around, facing no break points and eliminating his unforced errors, with the 34-minute set a mirror image of the first for Budkov Kjaer.

"In the second set, he had, in a way, nothing to lose, so he started playing freely, and continued that in the third set," said Budkov Kjaer, who converted only one of his eight break point chances, while Jodar got his break with Budkov Kjaer serving at 3-4 on his third chance of the game, the only break points he had in the final set.

"When I finish the first set, I just thought that I had to believe in myself," said Jodar, who credited better serving and better returning for his rebound. "I was in a final at US Open. I mean, it was for me a gift, no, to play a final."

Serving at 4-all, Jodar again got himself in trouble, with several errors giving Budkov Kjaer two break points. Budkov Kjaer couldn't keep his defensive lob in play on the first, and Jodar took a risk with a big forehand winner to save the second. Jodar got the ad on the next point when Budkov Kjaer shanked a forehand long, but the start of the girls trophy ceremony on the adjacent Court 12 was so loud that it disrupted play. Budkov Kjaer approached the chair to complain, and Jodar was also not inclined to proceed, and 1500 fans who had packed the bleachers and the standing area opposite them after the men's doubles on Ashe had concluded were eager to see if Jodar could take the lead. 

The referee was called to the court, not once but twice, and after his second visit, with the girls ceremony continuing at the same decibel level, the chair umpire announced play would be resumed after the end of the girls trophy presentation. The delay, which was over five minutes, seemed to affect Budkov Kjaer more than Jodar, who quickly got the point for a 5-4 lead when Budkov Kjaer couldn't get a first serve return in play.

"It was definitely was a factor," said Budkov Kjaer. "In my opinion, extremely stupid to start the ceremony. They started (sound checks) in my 4-3 game that made me get broken. Then I had the break points and they started the ceremony and that really threw me off."

Budkov Kjaer did regain his concentration to hold in a deuce game for 5-all and held again trailing 5-6 to force the tiebreaker, the first in a boys final since current ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi of Italy beat Mikael Tillstrom of Sweden 62 46 76 for the title in 1990.

That's when the wheels came off for Budkov Kjaer, who was forced into errors by Jodar's aggressive play in the first few points and then began to miss wildly as the tiebreaker continued. 

After some tentative play in the third, Jodar reset his focus, ignoring the biggest crowd he'd ever played in front of.

"I was not thinking about the next points. I was just thinking about the next shot," said Jodar, who moved to a career-high ranking of 4 with the title. "That's the most important thing for me. For example, if I was serving, I just was thinking about the serve. Where should I serve the next point. That helped me a lot during the super-tiebreak when I was, I don't know, 6-1 or 7-1 up, I just tried to do the same as the points before."

Jodar said he has some thinking to do about his future in the wake of this title, the third for a Spanish boy in the past four years. 

"Of course it's a big tournament for me, but the plans, I don't know, I don't know, to be honest," Jodar said, when asked about the likelihood of attending the University of Virginia in January. "I cannot tell you that I am going or that I am not going, because maybe, like, everything can happen."

Budkov Kjaer, whose outstanding year saw him go 15-3 in junior slams, understands how small the margins are at this level of the sport.

"Of course I'm extremely proud the year and what I've achieved, but tennis is a brutal sport," Budkov Kjaer said. "You are happy when you win, extremely disappointed when you lose, and sometimes the losing affects you more than the winning."

With the threat of rain, which delayed play for 45 minutes before the scheduled noon start and returned about an hour after play concluded, the four finals were played simultaneously, with the girls championship match overshadowed a bit by all the drama unfolding in the boys final just a few feet away,

But there was no question that unseeded Mika Stojsavljevic of Great Britain had her breakthrough this week in New York, beating top seed Emerson Jones, No. 3 seed Iva Jovic and, in today's final, No. 7 seed Wakana Sonobe of Japan to claim the first US Open title by a British girl since Heather Watson won the title in 2009.

Stojsavljevic, who at 15 years and eight months, is the youngest girls champion since Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia in 2006, had beaten Sonobe here last year in the first round 0-6, 6-4, 6-4. This year, she got off to a much better start, putting the exclamation mark on an unexpected junior slam title run with a 6-4, 6-4 victory.

The peak level that the 6-foot righthander from London displayed in the first set of her 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 win over Jovic in the semifinals wasn't likely to return in a slam final, but Stojsavljevic pointed to nerves, the breeze, and her desire to control her power.

Sonobe, a 16-year-old left-hander said she was expecting more pace from Stojsavljevic and had a hard time adjusting those expectations.

"I think I just started off trying to be more consistent at the start," said Stojsavljevic, who trains at the Loughborough Tennis Academy and will return to classes there on Tuesday. "Obviously in a final, you want to just get into it a little bit. But I think I was consistently getting good depth. It was a bit windy out there, so I think that could have changed things. But I think my pace was good enough."

After double faulting to give back the break she'd earned at 2-1, Stojsavljevic got another to go up 4-3 and held on to it, despite a subpar serving performance by her standards this week, making just 59 percent of her first serves and double faulting four times. Her serving stats didn't improve in the second set, but Stojsavljevic broke in the opening game and kept the lead despite the always dangerous ball striking of Sonobe. 

Sonobe kept herself in the match with holds in her next three service games, but serving at 3-5, she had to save a match point at 30-40, with her forehand forcing an error, then held for 5-4.

Stojsavljevic closed as if she had years of experience in junior slam finals, making every first serve and hitting three backhand winners, two ground strokes and one volley, to give herself the luxury of three more match points. She converted immediately with a forehand forcing an error, and fell to her knees in celebration of her dream run to a US Open title.

"I think it was not something that I maybe expected, but I'm super happy," said Stojsavljevic, who, with two years left of junior eligibility in 2025 and 2026, will compete in both the ITF Junior Circuit and pro events. "I think I'm still in a little bit of shock. I haven't had much time to process it yet, but I'm super grateful for it."

Sonobe, who also has two more years to play juniors if she wishes, is not certain of her plans after reaching a first junior slam final, but is happy with her week.

"I learned a lot of things throughout this week," said Sonobe, through the translation of her IMG Academy coach Ryuji Hirooka. "I was able to enjoy the environment, grand slams are a little bit different, nervousness and everything, but I could enjoy it."

The unseeded team of Malak El Allami of Morocco and Emily Sartz-Lunde of Norway won the girls doubles championship, beating unseeded Julie Pastikova of the Czech Republic and Julia Stusek of Germany 6-2, 4-6, 10-6 to record historic first for their countries. 

Playing together for the first time at Wimbledon this year, they lost in the second round to eventual finalists Mimi Xu and Stojsavljevic, but were encouraged by their level and excited for their last chance at a junior slam. They avenged that loss to Xu and Stojsavljevic in the quarterfinals 7-5, 2-6, 10-8, one of the match tiebreakers that prepared them for the biggest one of all in today's final.

"It was not our first tiebreak, so we were prepared," said El Allami, the first girl from Morocco to win a junior slam title. "We went with our strategy, went point by point and we were both bringing positive energy, kept believing and we managed to pull it off."

Sartz-Lunde, who started her freshman year at Michigan last week, had a trick to keep the pressure off when she served for the match at 9-5.

"We had a couple of nerves, but I think we handled it pretty well," said Sartz-Lunde, also the first girl from her country to claim a junior slam title. "I kept telling myself we're actually not going to 10, we're going to 20, so I wouldn't feel any pressure serving for it. I was thinking there was so much left."

Sartz-Lunde finished the match with her best serve of the match, and hit a cross-court backhand angle winner off the return to deliver the title.

"I was grateful for her doing all the job on the point," joked El Allami, who had the vocal support of her Columbia Lion teammates throughout the match."

Both El Allami and Sartz-Lunde hope their unprecedented titles can help inspire the girls in their respective countries.

"It's an honor and I'm very proud to say it," El Allami said. "I hope it encourages people back home to keep dreaming big and working hard to represent Morocco at the highest stages, do what they love most, be happy and make everyone proud."

"I hope it motivates the kids back home to try and practice," said Sartz-Lunde, who grew up playing mixed doubles with boys finalist Budkov Kjaer.

To celebrate the first US Open girls doubles title by an unseeded team since Ena Shibahara and Jada Hart in 2016, El Allami and Sartz-Lunde were planning to seek out some good food, but were headed right back to campus to catch up on the classes they missed while making history.

The boys doubles title went to top seeds Rei Sakamoto of Japan and Max Mrva of the Czech Republic, who beat the unseeded team of Denis Petak of the Czech Republic and Flynn Thomas os Switzerland 7-5, 7-6(1). 

Up 4-2 in the second set, Sakamoto and Mrva, playing together for the first time, lost their next two service games but broke back and forced a tiebreaker, which they won going away.

"When it's 6-1 and he's on serve, it's impossible to lose," said Mrva.

Sakamoto wasn't ready to endorse that sentiment, but he did say that Mrva's personality helps them as a team.

"This guy makes me so loose," said Sakamoto, who claimed he wasn't convinced they could win the tournament until they won the last point today.

"We were getting better, but together we're a good pair but I played so bad, wasn't playing really good, but when I play with him I'm relaxed," said Mrva.

Mrva and Sakamoto saved a match point in their 5-7, 6-4, 13-11 quarterfinal win over wild cards Nikita Filin and Matisse Farzam, so they understood how fortunate they were to get another opportunity for the title.

They also had time to perfect their samurai sword celebration, which Sakamoto debuted when he won the Australian Open singles in January. 

As for winning a second junior slam title as bookends to 2024, Sakamoto pronounced his year "not too bad."

In the men's doubles final today, No. 7 seeds Jordan Thompson and Max Purcell of Australia won their first major title, beating No. 10 seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz(Auburn) 6-4, 7-6(4).

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus defeated Jessica Pegula of the United States 7-5, 7-5 in today's women's final for her third major singles title. 

On Sunday afternoon, Taylor Fritz, who beat Frances Tiafoe 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Friday night to reach his first slam final, will face No. 1 seed Jannik Sinner for the men's title.