Wang and Seyboth Wild triumph at 2018 junior US Open
The US Open title was the perfect way for Brazil's Thiago Seyboth Wild to wind up his junior career. For Xiyu Wang of China, it was an authentication of her seeding.
Both of them made history with their victories - Seyboth Wild was the first Brazilian boy to triumph in the singles event here, and Xiyu Wang became the first Chinese girl ever to win a Junior Grand Slam.
In the first final of the day, Seyboth Wild defeated unseeded Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 6-1 2-6 6-2 for the Junior Boys' singles crown. Seeded third, the highest seed left in the tournament, Wang took the Girls' singles title after beating Clara Burel of France 7-6(4) 6-2.
"Winning a Grand Slam is every junior player's biggest dream," Seyboth Wild said. "Reaching it in my last chance makes it even more special to me because I have always dreamed about it."
Seyboth Wild reached the semifinals in both singles and doubles at Roland Garros, his best Grand Slam result until this week. Instead of playing junior tournaments, the Brazilian has been testing the professional waters in Futures events. "I think that I just gotta keep working because now my junior career is over," he said."But the transition to the pros, it's a lot harder than the juniors. I think I'll have to focus on that from now on."
One last Junior event Seyboth Wild may still play in is the ITF Junior Masters, which will take place at the end of October in Chengdu, China. The top eight boys and girls in the world are invited to play for a chance to win the trophy, and also gain valuable rankings points in the quest to become the ITF Junior World Champion and the highest-ranked player come the end of the year. After his win here, Seyboth would be well-placed to succeed once again.
Seyboth Wild raced through the opening set before Musetti settled down and finally found the court with his ground strokes, especially his slice backhand.
"He was slicing every single backhand," Seyboth Wild said. "I was, like, Okay, now I can't be that aggressive. I'll have to keep crossing till I get a shorter ball or maybe a mistake from him, something like that.
Coupled with a basket full of unforced errors by Seyboth Wild, Musetti broke his opponent in the sixth game of the second set to take a 4-2 lead. The Italian held from deuce, then broke Seyboth Wild at 15 to win the set 6-2 and knot the score at one set apiece.
Musetti held to begin the third set, then broke Seyboth Wild for the third straight time, moving in front 2-0. They traded unforced backhand errors before Seyboth Wild caught Musetti at the net with a perfect lob that touched down just inside the baseline.
"We played a really long point and I lobbed him with my forehand," the winner said. "That point just turned the game upside down. I was, like, I'm back in the game.
Three points later Seyboth Wild broke Musetti's serve and the Italian never won another game.
"It was a great run here," Musetti said of reaching the final. The Italian said he will play the Junior Davis Cup and the Youth Olympic Games, but "I don't think I'll play the Orange Bowl."
A native of Jiangsu, China, Wang was a semifinalist in singles and won the doubles at Wimbledon. This was another huge step for the left-hander.
She lost her serve to begin the match, which followed the Boys' singles on Louis Armstrong Stadium, which, because of rain, had the roof closed. But she broke Burel back in the fourth game and eighth games. Serving for the opening set, Wang was broken in a game that had three deuces.
Burel, who lives in Perros-Guirec, France, was a finalist at the Australian Open in January. She held for 5-5, then broke Wang again at 15, giving her a 6-5 lead. But the left-hander proved the steadier and broke back to send the set into a tiebreak, where Wang was victorious 7-4. The left-hander dominated the second set to capture the trophy.
The junior doubles trophies were also decided on Sunday. Adrian Andreev of Bulgaria and Great Britain's Anton Matusevich won the boys' title, outlasting Americans Emilio Nava and Axel Nefve 6-4 2-6 10-8. The top-seeded team of Cori Gauff and Caty McNally won the girls' title, defeating Hailey Baptiste and Dalayna Hewitt 6-3 6-2 in an all-American battle.
At 14 years of age Gauff was one of the youngest competitors in the field. Despite that, she was the top seed in both singles and doubles. The winner at Roland Garros, she lost in the singles quarterfinals on the hard courts of her home Grand Slam, but was able to come through in the all-American doubles final.