Eight Intriguing Questions for US Open Junior Championships Beginning Sunday with 28 Americans in Action; Xinran Sun and Guto Miguel No. 1 Seeds; Kalamazoo Doubles Champions Alvarez and Johnston Drop Close Match in Debut

You may have noticed that Michael Lewis(no relation) has been contributing interviews to Zootennis during the US Open and, I'm happy to say he will continue to provide articles here throughout the Junior Championships. Michael has been writing about the juniors for the US Open for the World Tennis(ITF) website for several years, but they are not posting daily articles this year, so we hope to pick up the slack here at Zootennis.

We came up with eight questions we're eager to see answered at the US Open Junior Championships this year, with Michael's four first:

1. Can Xinran Sun finally break through? 

It's been a sensational 2026 for the 16-year-old from China. She reached the Roland Garros final before losing to Alisa Oktiabreva of Russia, then competed in the longest Wimbledon girls final ever (2 hours, 23 minutes) before falling to Anna Pushkareva, also of Russia, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. Will the third time be the charm for Sun, who is ranked No. 1 in the World Tennis Juniors rankings? She certainly has the game for hardcourts, as she reached the quarters at the other major on this surface, in Australia in January.

2. Can a U.S. male break a decade-long drought? 

It's been since 2015 and Taylor Fritz that an American boy has won his home Slam; two have come close since then, as Emilo Nava (2019) and Learner Tien (in 2023) both reached the finals before losing. This year seems like a great chance to do it, with players like Keaton Hance, Jack Kennedy, Michael Antonius, Jordan Lee and Andrew Johnson all having terrific shots. It's a deep field of international players so it certainly won't be easy. Last year we had two Bulgarian boys in the final, could this year bring an all-USA final like in 2015, when Fritz beat Tommy Paul?

3. Can Guto get his mojo back? 

Brazil's Guto Miguel enters as the world No. 1 junior and seemed destined for immediate stardom after winning Roland Garros with flair and a ton of his home country's fans supporting him. But he lost in the quarterfinals at Roehampton and was stunned in the second round of Wimbledon by American Jack Secord. He reached the semis at a men's Challenger event in Brazil in May, on clay. Can he show that he's dangerous on hard courts as well? His compatriot on the women's side, Victoria Luiza Barros, is ranked No. 4 and also will be a player to watch.

4. Will a college tennis signee grab the title again? 

The path to pro tennis stardom has led more and more through college in recent U.S. Open champions. Joao Fonseca had signed with Virginia before winning the 2023 U.S. Open, and Rafael Jodar went to UVA for a semester after winning the '24 Slam. Katherine Hui was bound for Stanford when she won the 2023 crown. This year there are no shortage of college-bound players, will one of them lift the trophy before lugging textbooks across the quad?

My four questions:

5. Could the unlikely 2024 run of Raphael Jodar be duplicated?

It's rare for all three of the previous slam champions to enter the year's last junior major, but we have that this year in the boys draw, with Ziga Sesko(Australian Open), Guto Miguel(Roland Garros) and Jordan Lee(Wimbledon) all competing in New York. So the remarkable feat of 2024 champion Rafael Jodar, beating all three of the previous junior slam champions to claim the title, is theoretically possible, although obviously not likely for that scenario to play out again.

6.  Can anyone stop Jana Kovackova's doubles reign?

The 16-year-old from Czechia has already made junior history by winning all four girls doubles titles, and has won them in succession since last year's first with sister Alena. Alena was her partner for the second in Australia, before Katerina Zajickova took over for Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Certainly the Penickova twins, Kristina and Annika, who beat the Kovackova sisters en route to their 2025 Australian Open girls title, are a threat to end Jana's streak, with two W35 pro doubles titles this summer.

7. Do warm-up tournaments matter?

Whether is was due to starting college, or US Open qualifying, or lower-level pro events, none of the boys Top 10 seeds played even one of the two J300s in North America to warmup for the US Open Junior Championships.  Although Australian Open champion Ksenia Efremova played both College Park and Repentigny, and Wimbledon champion Anna Pushkareva played College Park, the top two girls seeds, Xinran Sun and Jana Kovackova did not play a warmup event. Sun reached the Wimbledon final without playing a warmup on grass, a much less common surface, so perhaps a warmup tournament is no longer considered as necessary as it once was.

8. Will the USTA ever give the juniors more visibility?

The junior finals are treated as much bigger occasions at the other slams, with the Australian Open using Rod Laver Arena for back-to-back finals, Wimbledon Court One, on consecutive days for the girls and boys finals, and Roland Garros also featuring each final as a separate event on a big court. The US Open has insisted on simultaneous finals for many years now, never on a featured court, which is just baffling to me. Moving to back-to-back finals on Court 17 would be my suggestion; with a little promotion, the junior finals could be events, as they are in Melbourne, Paris and London.

The seeds for the juniors are listed below, as well as the 28 matches featuring Americans scheduled for Sunday.

Boys

1. Guto Miguel(BRA)

2. Jamie Mackenzie(GBR)

3. Michael Antonius(USA)

4. Keaton Hance(USA)

5. Jack Kennedy(USA)

6. Ziga Sesko(SLO)

7. Thilo Behrmann(AUT)

8. Jordan Lee(USA)

9. Yannickk Alexandrescou(ROU)

10. Dimitar Kisimov(BUL)

11. Vincent Reisach(GER)

12. Andrew Johnson(USA)

13. Yannik Alvarez(PUR)

14. Mathys Domenc(FRA)

15. Kuan-Shou Chen(TPE)

16. Nicolas Baena(PER)

Girls

1. Xinran Sun(CHN)

2. Jana Kovackova(CZE)

3. Ksenia Efremova(FRA)

4. Victoria Barros(BRA)

5. Anna Pushkareva(RUS)

6. Janae Preston(USA)

7. Mariia Makarova(RUS)

8. Nauhany Leme Da Silva(BRA)

9. Polina Skliar(UKR)

10. Paola Pinera Celorio(ESP)

11. Felitsata Dorofeeva-Rybas(RUS)

12. Sol Ailin Larraya Guida(ARG)

13. Charo Esquiva Banuls(ESP)

14. Kristina Penickova(USA)

15. Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi(IND)

16. Jordyn Hazelitt(USA)

Sunday's US Open Juniors matches featuring Americans

Ryan Cozad v Thilo Behrmann[7](AUT)

Teodor Davidov[WC] v Connor Doig(RSA)

Daniel Malacek[[Q] v Guto Miguel[1](BRA)

Jerrid Gaines Jr.[WC] v Lanta Watanabe(JPN)

Navneet Raghuram[WC] v Kai Thompson{HKG)

Kayden Colombo[WC] v Matei Victor Cheleman[Q](ROU)

Andy Johnson[12] v Arnav Paparkar(IND)

Jack Kennedy[5] v Ryo Tabata(JPN)

Michael Antonius[3] v Leonardo Storck Franca(BRA)

Jordan Lee[8] v Raffaele Ciurnelli(ITA)

Tanishk Konduri v Jakub Kusy(CZE)

Vihaan Reddy v Vincent Reisach[11](GER)

Matias Reyniak[WC] v Jamie Mackenzie[2](GER)

Mason Vaughan[WC] v Daniel Jade(FRA)

Jack Secord v Damir Zhalgasbay(KAZ)

Thara Gowda[WC] v Emily Eigelsbach(GER)

Kristina Penickova[WC][14] v Renee Alame(AUS)

Annika Penickova[WC] v Victoria Barros[4](BRA)

Hannah Ayrault[WC] v Ui Su Jeong(KOR)

Jordyn Hazelitt[16] v LujzaBeviz(HUN)

Allison Wang[WC] v Mariia Makarova[7](RUS)

Emery Combs[WC] v Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi[15](IND)

Natalie Kha[Q] v Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi[12](ARG)

Yael Saffar[Q] v Maia Burcescu(ROU)

Scarlett Fagan[Q] v Ksenia Efremova[3](FRA)

Anita Tu v Clemence Mercier[Q](CAN)

Melije Clarke v Polina Berezina(RUS)

Lani Chang v Jana Kovackova[2](CZE)

It's been a rough day at the US Open for Americans in singles, with only Iva Jovic and Coco Gauff advancing to the fourth round.

Saturday's third round matches featuring Americans:

Francisco Cerundolo[24](ARG) d. Taylor Fritz[9] 

Learner Tien[14] v Jakub Mensik[17](CZE)

Arthur Gea[LL](FRA) d. Michael Zheng[WC] 7-6(7), 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2

Anastasia Potapova[24](AUT) d. Amanda Anisimova[10] 6-2, 7-5 

Coco Gauff[4] d. Cristina Bucsa(ESP) 6-3, 6-4

Iva Jovic[14] d.  Alexandra Eala[17](PHI) 7-5, 3-6, 7-5

Qinwen Zheng[Q](CHN) d. Madison Keys[22] 6-1, 6-7(3), 7-5

Sunday's fourth round matches featuring Americans:

Tommy Paul[20] v Carlos Alcaraz[2](ESP)

Frances Tiafoe[11] v Daniil Medvedev[7]

Alex Michelsen v Tomas Martin Etcheverry[27](ARG)

Ben Shelton[8] v Stefanos Tsitsipas(GRE)

Taylor Townsend v Aryna Sabelenka[1](BLR)

Emma Navarro[26] v Anna Kalinskaya[21](RUS)

Jessica Pegula[3] v Sorana Cirstea[16](ROU)

In the first round of men's doubles, Kalamazoo 18s champions Yannik Alvarez and Noah Johnston lost to Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner of Germany 6-3, 7-6(6).

"Obviously we're disappointed but we have to look at the positives," Alvarez told Michael Lewis after the match. "We were, we had them.' "It's great to see that we're at that level, that if we come back here next year, that we belong," Johnston said.

"We started out strong and the crowd really helped us," Alvarez said. "We enjoyed every second on the court and tried to stay positive."

USTA Collegiate Playoff wild cards Nikita Filin and Brandon Carpico of Ohio State will play their second round match against John Peers of Austraila and Marcelo Melo of Brazil Saturday.