Junior quarterfinal action kicked off on a blustery Thursday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, and when the dust settled, four players in each draw remained to vie for their first (or, in one case, second) US Open title.
Yesterday, Swedish qualifier Lea Nilsson produced what is undoubtedly the upset of both junior events, shocking Californian and world No. 1 junior Julieta Pareja inside Louis Armstrong Stadium to advance to the quarterfinals. Today, the Swede continued her excellent run-of-form, taking out No. 8 seed Charo Esquiva Banuls of Spain, 6-4, 6-1. Once again, it was Nilsson’s consistency that made the difference; in the second set alone, she hit just two unforced errors.
Next up for Nilsson: Mika Stojsavljevic, the reigning US Open girls’ singles champion. The Brit avenged her first-round Wimbledon loss to Mia Pohankova, defeating the Slovakian and No. 4 seed, 6-4, 6-2. (Pohankova, interestingly, went on to lift the championship trophy at the All-England Club in July.) Stojsavljevic leaned on her potent serve to capture her first title in Flushing Meadows, and that shot propelled her today. The 16-year-old won 76% of her first-serve points (89% in the second set), captured eight of nine service games and clocked one serve as high as 113 mph.
Stojsavljevic isn’t the only Brit playing for a spot in the final. No. 2 seed and 2025 French Open finalist Hannah Klugman also earned a semifinal berth, sailing past No. 5 seed Julia Stusek of Germany, 6-3, 6-2. Klugman had a tough road to this stage of the tournament, having come from a set down in both of her last two matches to advance. Inside Louis Armstrong Stadium today, she had an easier go of it. Even though she dropped her first two service games, she faced just one break point for the remainder of the encounter. Klugman said in her on-court interview following the match that she was motivated by the fact this might be her last chance to claim a junior championship.
“This might be my last year of juniors, or even [my] last tournament [in juniors],” Klugman said. “So I left it all out there, and I’m excited to go for it.”
First, she’ll have to face Belgian and No. 14 seed Jeline Vandromme, who needed just 57 minutes to dismiss world No. 24 Ksenia Efremova of France, 6-1, 6-3. The pair previously battled each other in the first round of the 2024 US Open, with Vandromme only emerging victorious after two tight sets that both ended in tiebreaks. Today, Efremova won just three points through the first five games of the first set—and two of those points came on double faults from Vandromme. Vandromme, who has reached the final eight at every junior Grand Slam tournament, now makes the semifinals of one for the first time in her career.
While the girls’ semifinalists advanced with relative ease, the final four boys were made to work for a spot in the semis—except for world No. 54 Zangar Nurlanuly of Kazakhstan, who employed his aggressive game style to dispatch No. 13 seed Timofei Derepasko. (The average rally length in this match? Three shots.) Nurlanuly had never made it past the second round of a Grand Slam tournament previously; now he’s upset three straight seeded players to score his best-ever result.
If Nurlanuly wants to become the first Kazakh US Open boys’ singles champion, he’ll first have to get through reigning Wimbledon boys’ champion Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria. The current world No. 1 faced his toughest test of the tournament from familiar foe and 2025 French Open finalist Max Schoenhaus of Germany, but overcame a rough second set to eke out the win, 6-4, 0-6, 7-6(3). In the third-set, 10-point tiebreak, Ivanov showed why he’s such a tough out on the court these days, firing winners and unreturnable serves to claim eight of the first 10 points played. Schoenhaus and Ivanov have now met at the last three straight Grand Slams, with the Bulgarian leading, 2-1.
Joining Ivanov in the semifinals is his compatriot Alexander Vasilev, who overcame a spirited effort from American wild card Andrew Johnson to advance, 6-3, 7-5. The 16-year-old from California displayed some impressive court craft throughout and saved nine of 12 break points—including several match points—to the delight of spectators on Court 12. But Vasilev—who also scored a semifinal berth at Wimbledon this past July—was just too strong in the end, employing his penetrating forehand to great effect to consistently push his opponent back.
Could the US Open see an all-Bulgarian final? Vasilev will first need to beat unseeded Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil, who upset No. 14 seed Oliver Bonding of Great Britain, 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-1. The Brazilian showed some impressive fight throughout this duel inside Louis Armstrong Stadium, reminiscent of compatriot, friend and 2023 US Open junior boys’ champion Joao Fonseca. Miguel was down 2-5 in the first before claiming the set in a tiebreak, then appeared to be struggling with an injury in the second. But he simply couldn’t miss in the third, unleashing on his forehand and hitting just three of his 27 unforced errors in the decider. He will enter his semifinal against Vasilev on an eight-match win streak, having captured the title at an ITF junior tournament in Canada the week before arriving in Flushing Meadows.
Elsewhere, all four teams reaching the boys’ doubles semifinals feature at least one American: No. 6 seeds Jack Kennedy and Keaton Hance will take on American Jack Secord and partner Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico, while No. 7 seeds Noah Johnston and Benjamin Willwerth will face American Dominick Mosejczuk and partner Jamie Mackenzie of Germany.
In girls’ doubles, No 4. seeds Vandromme and partner Laima Vladson of Lithuania will play Kamonwan Yodpetch of Thailand and Ruien Zhang of China, while No. 3 seeds and sister duo Alena Kovackova and Jana Kovackova of Czechia will take on the all-German pair, Eva Bennemann and Sonja Zhenikhova.
