Sakamoto and Kumstat to contest 2024 Australian Open boys' final

After five matches in seven days the Australian Open boys' final will be between Jan Kumstat of Czechia and Japan’s Rei Sakamoto.

It’s a match-up that almost no-one would have predicted, including 17-year-old Kumstat, who is contesting his maiden Grand Slam.

“I’m so happy to win this match. I thought I could get to the quarter-final or something but now I am in the final,” he said, unable to believe his eyes after seeing off Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands with some ease in his semi-final.

At the moment of victory, the Czech dropped his racket in the middle of the court and stood with a smile as wide as the River Yarra that flows past Melbourne Park.

To say the teenager from Prostejov was thrilled does not even begin to tell the story. That he was serving at senior men’s pace – a 211kmh thunderbolt early in the first set his fastest – was a part only of his 6-1 6-3 dismantling of Rottgering.

Kumstat wallops every ball regardless of which part of the court he is standing in. Points are invariably short as a results but he is not above self-criticism.

“My forehand was better yesterday because I made errors from my forehand today,” he said before hurtling off to the locker room to check his messages from home.

Saturday will be difficult for Sakamoto. Kumstat has enjoyed an outstanding week and with pace, power and reach, while now he has self-belief.

Shortly after his win, Kumstat was waiting to chat to the media when the winner of the first girl’s singles semi-final, Renata Jamrichova, arrived for her media stint.

Congratulations flowed and the Slovakian Jamrichova – the girls’ top seed – was fulsome in her praise of Kumstat.

“He is Czech and we know each other and we are really good friends with his coach so I am supporting him and I hope he will win,” she said.

This is Rei Sakamoto’s sixth consecutive Grand Slam and previously he had managed no further than the last-16 in the boys' singles.

Yet suddenly, after a  deserved 6-2 6-4 win over Norway's Nicolai Budkov Kjaer, he is into the Australian Open boys' final. Perhaps tellingly, he has form on his side.

It is little more than a week since the two players met in the final at Traralgon where Sakamoto was the winner, losing just five games. 

Sakamoto was on fire from the off today. At 5-2 in the first set, such was his emboldenment that Sakamoto played an underarm serve to the advantage which had Budkov Kjaer scrambling unsuccessfully to retrieve it.

When the final point was won, the Japanese went down on one knee mid-court and pointed one arm, Usain Bolt style, to the sky. He was a happy player indeed.

The boys singles final will be the second match to be played on Rod Laver Arena on Saturday afternoon.

Click here for a full list of results from the 2024 Australian Open Junior Championships.