Different surface, same result. Just two months after hoisting the boys’ singles championship trophy on the grass at Wimbledon, world No. 1 Ivan Ivanov, of Bulgaria, claimed a second straight Grand Slam title on the hard courts in Flushing Meadows, overcoming friend, compatriot and No. 5 seed Alexander Vasilev in an all-Bulgarian final, 7-5, 6-3. He’s the first junior boy to score both victories in a single season since Canada’s Filip Peliwo achieved the feat in 2012.
“Full Bulgarian final and full Bulgarian crowd,” Ivanov said after the match. “I'm very happy that this happened, and I'm very happy that I took success today.”
And Ivanov really did take it. He broke early in each set and stayed in front for the majority of the contest. He hit 19 winners—11 off his forehand—and ultimately handled his opponent’s lefty shots better in the big moments. Although he faltered serving for the first set and then serving for the match, he regrouped both times to break right back. Credit the world No. 1’s big-match experience as of late—even if he did admit it was a strange experience to play someone so familiar in such a high-profile contest.
“There were some moments that I had, like, deja vu, let's say it, and I remember some of the moments [in] under-12 and that,” he said. “I just managed to keep calm and keep my discipline and focus, which I think gave me the positive mentality that I was playing with.”
That positive mentality is what propelled Ivanov to his two big wins this summer, though he said he’ll remember each one as two very distinct experiences. He didn’t drop a set en route to his Wimbledon triumph, but in Queens he needed to grit out some tough battles, including in the quarterfinals, where Germany’s Max Schoenhaus won the second set of their contest, 6-0, and pushed Ivanov to a third-set, 10-point match tiebreak.
“In New York, I don't think I could find the same level as Wimbledon,” he said. “But I was playing [at a] very good level… I keep finding solutions, even though sometimes I was not feeling very well or having some tough moments.”
Ivanov is, incredibly, not the first Bulgarian to complete the Wimbledon-US Open double as a junior. He shares that achievement with former US Open semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov, who also notched both victories back in 2008. Ivanov was proud to hear his name in the same sentence as one of his role models.
“To have an example [like Grigor] in Bulgaria, to have someone to look up to is something amazing,” Ivanov said. “I mean, a lot of countries with our population…they don't have someone like this. We're lucky enough to have [one].”
Elsewhere, in the girls’ final, No. 14 seed Jeline Vandromme, of Belgium, overcame Swedish qualifier Lea Nilsson, 7-6(2), 6-2, to become the first Belgian to win the event since Kirsten Flipkens triumphed at Flushing Meadows in 2003.
Although Vandromme was the clear favorite on paper coming into the match, the relentlessly-consistent Nilsson had dismissed three straight seeded players en route to the final, taking out world No. 1 junior Julieta Pareja in the third round and No. 9 seed and defending champion Mika Stojsavljevic in the semifinals. (In the third set of her duel with the big-serving Stojsavljevic, the underdog hit just one unforced error.)
And in the beginning stages of their encounter on Saturday, Nilsson jumped out to early 2-0 and 4-2 leads. Each time, however, Vandromme reeled in her opponent’s momentum and erased the deficit, eventually taking the first set in a tiebreak and then quickly claiming the first four games of the second. The key to the fightbacks for Vandromme? Ignorance.
“I just tried to not focus on the fact that I'm 2-4 or 0-2 down,” she said. “I just tried to focus on every point, every shot that I make, on my plan, and my tasks on court. Then, yeah, I kind of forgot the score.”
Vandromme knows a thing or three about what tactics she needs to employ to emerge victorious on a tennis court; she’s currently on a 23-match win streak after capturing three lower-level women’s titles on the ITF tour earlier this summer. As she prepares to transition to the professional circuit, Vandromme said she was thrilled to end her junior career on such a high note, as well as make her country proud. She noted that Flipkens had already sent her a congratulatory text.
“Yeah, I was just incredibly proud of what I've done the whole week,” she said. “I was honored to win this title for myself, but also a bit for the country.”
At the net after the final, Vandromme displayed congeniality reminiscent of another Belgian tennis star, three-time US Open champion Kim Clijsters.
“[Lea] said ‘Congrats on a good week’ and I said, ‘Yeah, the level that you showed this week coming from qualies making it to the final, it's also something to be proud of,’” Vandromme explained of their exchange. “Then… when we were doing the ceremony, I think she was crying a bit, and I wanted to hug her and say, ‘Okay, you can be very proud. I mean, I know it's probably tough to lose like this in the final if you've come this far.’ But, yeah, I mean, she's also incredibly kind... so I just wanted to make sure that she knows she could be proud.”
In the all-American boys’ doubles final, No. 6 seeds Keaton Hance and Jack Kennedy edged No. 7 seeds Noah Johnston and Benjamin Willwerth in a match tiebreak, 6-3, 1-6, [10-8]. Hance and Kennedy—who grew up in New York—fought back from 3-7 and 5-8 in the decider to ultimately capture the trophy.
And sisters Alena Kovackova and Jana Kovackova of Czechia prevented Vandromme from capturing two titles on the day, claiming the girls’ doubles event over the very recent junior girls’ champion and her partner Laima Vladson of Lithuania, 6-2, 6-2.
