Making history. In front of an effusive, packed crowd on Court 11, girls’ No. 10 seed Alexandra Eala became the first-ever Filipina to lift a junior Grand Slam singles trophy, subduing the ballstriking of No. 2 seed Lucie Havlickova to capture the US Open girls’ singles title, 6-2, 6-4.
“It's very overwhelming right now,” Eala said after the match. “I'm super happy to represent my country and do something with a big platform, being able to inspire other younger people.”
Eala represented herself quite well throughout the match, committing to standing as close to the baseline as possible and hitting with controlled aggression. She converted all four of the break point opportunities she received and got 79% of her returns in play—not an easy feat considering her opponent, who lifted the French Open junior girls’ trophy earlier the summer, was hitting her serves at speeds as high as 113 miles per hour. In the fourth game of the first set, she faced minor adversity when she struggled to hold serve and saved a break point. Once she held, however, she reeled off 16 of the next 21 points as Havlickova suddenly couldn’t seem to find the court with her shots. (The Czech player would finish with 21 unforced errors in the opener and 39 for the match.) In the second, Eala and Havlickova traded early breaks, but Eala, who trains at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Manacor, never seemed overwhelmed. She broke Havlickova late to go up 5-4, then confidently served it out to claim the championship.
Watch highlights from Eala's championship win:
“I just tried to focus on every single point, visualize what I was going to do,” she said. “Today I was able to execute that well.”
Eala, who was returning to her first junior tournament after competing at the pro-level for nearly a year, didn’t drop a set throughout the event and never spent more than an hour-and-a-half on court.
“I would say I'm very happy with the way I handled each and every point,” Eala said in reflecting on her week. “I had a lot of moments in this tournament where I was down, I could have lost, could have lost a set and could have gotten mad easily, but I didn't. I think my behavior throughout the whole week is something I'm very proud of.”
While Havlickova may have been disappointed with the runner-up finish, she had reason to celebrate later in the day. A couple hours after her singles match, she came back out onto the same court and contested the girls’ doubles final with partner Diana Shnaider. The top seeds in the draw defeated the all-German duo Carolina Kuhl and Ella Seidel, 6-3, 6-2.
On the boys’ side, Spaniard and No. 5 seed Martin Landaluce captured the singles title, outlasting fellow 16-year-old and No. 2 seed Gilles Arnaud Bailly, of Belgium, 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-2, in a match that spanned more than two hours and featured no shortage of momentum swings.
Bailly—who also finished runner-up at the French Open earlier this year—actually didn’t miss a first serve through his first few service games and eventually served for the first set, but could not sustain the lead. In the tiebreaker, the Belgian went down an early minibreak and never recovered, feeling the weight of his opponent’s commanding shots.
Watch highlights from Landaluce's championship win:
The pair stayed even for much of the second until the eleventh game, when Landaluce fired two forehand winners en route to receiving two break point opportunities on Bailly’s serve. Bailly saved them both, held, then immediately broke in the next game to take the championship to a decider. It seemed like Bailly held all the momentum going into the third; he’d won four straight three-set matches heading into the final, and in each of those battles had captured the final set decisively, often by breaking early and wearing his opponent down. Instead, Landaluce saved his best tennis for the late stages of the match. He broke Bailly in the first game, then made 16 of 18 first serves (and won 14 of those points) to never allow his opponent back into the match.
“I tried one game plan at the beginning that went more or less good,” Landaluce said. “But then in the third set I tried to change it, to be more solid, more consistent. I think that's what gave me the match, the win.”
Landaluce is the second Spaniard to win the boys’ singles tournament in as many years, after compatriot Daniel Rincon lifted the trophy in 2021. He cited Rafael Nadal as a major reason as to why there’s been so much success at the junior level in recent years.
“He’s one of the best examples of sports management,” Landaluce said. “He’s my idol since I’ve been playing. I think for many people he’s been such an inspiration.”
Even though he had the biggest match of his junior career the next day, Landaluce said that he stayed up to watch fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz defeat American Frances Tiafoe in the men’s semifinals. He just couldn’t resist.
“I tried to sleep, but he was on the TV, so I couldn't sleep at that moment,” Landaluce said. “It was a great match. Both were playing good. I took some things from Alcaraz and from Tiafoe also.”
While Americans didn’t have the strongest showing in the junior singles draws, Nishesh Basavareddy, of Indiana, and Ozan Baris, of Michigan, did capture the boys’ doubles title together, sailing past Dylan Dietrich, of Switzerland, and Juan Carlos Prado Angelo, of Bolivia, 6-1, 6-1. The pair played inspired tennis together throughout the week, claiming a 6-0 bagel set in 15 minutes over the No. 2 seeds in the draw, Gonzalo Bueno and Ignacio Buse, in the semifinals.
