It was something discussed in a joking, friendly manner.

Rising Bulgarian tennis starts Ivan Ivanov and Alexander Vasilev have known each other for years now. They do not train together except for team competitions but they see each other a lot at tournaments.

Would it not be crazy, they said years ago, if we played each other one day in a Grand Slam final?

“I mean, we dreamed about it for sure, but we couldn’t have imagined that,” Vasilev said.

Who could? Bulgaria is a country of 6.4 million people and has produced tennis stars before, most notably former Top 10 star Grigor Dimitrov and the three Maleeva sisters

Well that dream of two Bulgarian boys has become reality.

Winning their semi-final matches here at the US Open Junior Championships in very different ways, Ivanov and Vasilev each reached the 2025 US Open boys' final, and we will now for certain have the first Bulgarian boy to win the US Open since Dimitrov in 2008.

Ivanov, the top seed and this year’s Wimbledon boys' champion, used his powerful serve (seven aces) and even more powerful forehand to end the surprising run of unseeded Zangar Nurlanuly of Kazakhstan, 6-1 6-4.

About 15 minutes after that match finished, Vasilev, a semi-finalist at Wimbledon, turned his semi completely around after a disastrous first set, and crushed a physically ailing Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil, 2-6 6-1 6-0.

“It’s such great success for both of us, my second final and his first,” Ivanov said. “We will play against each other and enjoy the match.”

The big question: who will the Bulgarian Tennis Federation coaches in attendance here in New York be rooting for?

“That’s going to be tough,” said Ivanov, a two-time recipient of Grand Slam Player Grants financed through the ITF-operated Grand Slam Player Development Programme, with a smile. “They’ll just take some popcorn and enjoy it.”

Vasiley’s route to the title match was more difficult. Finally able to get through a match with his white Vapor Pro sneakers intact (the 18-year-old said he’s gone through three pairs already this week), he faced an in-form Guto Miguel who raced through the first set in 39 minutes, breaking serve three times.

“He played well. I mean he started very, very powerfully and I didn't play as I should, as I planned,” Vasilev said.

“My plan was not working. I didn't do what I needed to do. So. in second set, I started to concentrate more. And I put that fighting spirit on and said, 'just do the plan, do the things, and work for you'.”

The lefty with a serve that can reach 137mph came out in that second set and pounced, breaking Guto Miguel’s serve in the second game and then was off and running, losing only one more game.

Guto Miguel was clearly having trouble on the hottest day of the tournament so far, walking very slowly between points and lacking energy after rallies.

Vasilev hit nine aces and won seven of nine net points in the match.

Ivanov, meanwhile, had no drama until the end in his semi-final. Racing off to a 5-0 lead in the first set, the 16-year-old righty dominated Nurlanuly en route to a quick first-set win.

In the second set, the Kazakhstani righty put up more of a fight, as the players were on serve to 3-all.

But Ivanov broke in the seventh game and. while leading 5-3, was unable to convert on three match points.

Finally on his fifth try, at 5-4, a beautiful drop shot winner could not be returned by Nurlanuly, and Ivanov dropped his racket and screamed with joy.

Remarkably, Ivanov and Vasilev have never faced each other in a sanctioned ITF match. And after Saturday’s showdown, they’ll be teammates again, having both been named in Bulgaria’s Davis Cup team for their match against Finland later in September.

“It’s a long journey, and regardless of what happens tomorrow we are going to be friends and both hopefully play each other many more times,” Vasilev said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun no matter what.”

While the boys' singles final will be an all-Bulgarian affair, the boys' doubles final is all red, white and blue. Two teams of Americans advanced from their semi-finals.

Noah Johnston and Benjamin Willwerth, the No. 7 seeds, squeaked out a win over Jamie Mackenzie and Dominick Mosejczuk, 7-5 4-6 10-6 to advance to the championship match.

There they will face the No. 6 seeds Keaton Hance and native New Yorker Jack Kennedy, who grabbed a 6-2 6-4 win over Jack Secord and Yannik Alvarez.

A full list of results from the 2025 US Open Junior Championships is available here