Insert a “The British are coming” joke here. Hours before Jack Draper upset world No. 10 Alex de Minaur inside Arthur Ashe Stadium on Day 10 of the 2024 US Open, United Kingdom’s Mika Stojsavljevic—the No. 33-ranked junior in the world—served up 13 aces (seven in the second set) en route to dismissing the top seed in the junior girls’ draw, Australia’s Emerson Jones, 7-5, 6-4.
Jones—the 2024 Australian Open and Wimbledon girls’ singles finalist—previously showed impressive fight in her second-round match against the Czech Republic’s Alena Kovackova, coming back from a set and a break down (and another break in the third) to ultimately advance. She simply couldn’t manage the same escape act battling Stojsavljevic, who played an incredibly clean match throughout, firing 39 winners against 23 unforced errors.
Elsewhere in junior girls’ Round of 16 action, it was all about the red, white and blue. Four Americans advanced to the girls’ singles quarterfinals: No. 2 seed Tyra Caterina Grant, No. 3 girls’ seed and recent 2024 USTA Girls’ 18s National Championship winner Iva Jovic, 2024 USTA Girls’ 18s National Championship finalist Valerie Glozman and unseeded Annika Penickova, who came back from a set down to upset the No. 5 seed Jeline Vandromme. It’s the most Americans to reach that stage of the draw since 2017, when Amanda Anisimova, Elysia Bolton, Coco Gauff and Katie Volynets all advanced to the final eight. (Anisimova would eventually claim the title over Gauff.)
Glozman, perhaps, recorded the most emphatic victory of the day. The Washington resident—who received a wild card into the junior girls’ event—soared into the quarterfinals Wednesday with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over the Czech Republic’s Tereza Krejcova. The American claimed the first set in just 20 minutes, converting all three of her break point opportunities and winning every single rally that extended nine shots or more. Krejcova did not manage to hold until serving while down, 2-4.
Playing inside Louis Armstrong Stadium, Jovic also captured a routine win over No. 14 seed Sonja Zhiyenbayeva of Kazakhstan, 6-1, 6-2. The 16-year-old hit 14 winners and broke her opponent seven times to advance to her third straight junior girls’ quarterfinal of 2024.
In her on-court interview after the encounter, Jovic noted that the experience she gained competing in the women’s draw earlier at the US Open—she upset 2023 Australian Open semifinalist Magda Linette and pushed the No. 29 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova to three sets in their second-round match—will be invaluable as she continues to embark on her junior career.
“Just being next to the pros and training with them, you see how hard they work and how professional they are—win or lose,” she said. “Everybody’s always training and getting better every day, so that’s what you have to always do as a junior to make it to that level.”
Other names rounding out the quarterfinals include Stojsavljevic’s compatriot and the No. 8 seed Mingge Xu; the No. 4 seed Teodora Kostovic, of Serbia; and Japan’s Wakana Sonobe, the No. 7 seed who defeated Penickova’s sister Kristina earlier in the day.
Over in the boys’ draw, all three reigning junior boys’ champions advanced: Wimbledon junior champion and No. 1 seed Nicolai Budkov Kjaer, of Norway; French Open junior champion and No. 2 seed Kaylan Bigun, the home favorite; and Australian Open junior champion and No. 3 seed Rei Sakamoto, of Japan.
Other seeds weren’t quite as lucky: No. 4 seed Mees Rottgering, of the Netherlands, fell to Swiss qualifier Flynn Thomas while France’s Theo Papamalamis, the No. 8 seed, lost to Atakan Karahan of Turkey. And No. 11 seed Jangjun Kim, of South Korea, faltered against another upstart from the United Kingdom, Charlie Robertson. A teenager from Scotland, Robertson has been mentored by three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray.
In perhaps the most anticipated contest of the day, incoming UCLA freshman Bigun took on the only other remaining American in the draw, 2024 USTA Boys’ 18s National Championship winner, wild card and incoming Michigan State freshman Matthew Forbes. The future Bruin got the better of the future Spartan, also inside Louis Armstrong Stadium, 6-2, 6-4. After the match, Bigun credited his older compatriots—Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe—for inspiring the next generation.
“Those guys for sure blazed the way for us,” he said. “I just want to hopefully have a career like them one day and play with them on these courts.”
Others advancing to the quarterfinals: No. 5 seed Luca Preda, of Romania; and No. 12 seed Rafael Jodar of Spain.
In junior doubles, two all-American duos reached the final eight: the wild card duo Matisse Farzam and Nikita Filin remain in the boys’ draw, while Capucine Jauffret and Christasha McNeil are still alive in the girls’ tournament.
