Eastern at the 2023 US Open

On the rise. In their own backyard, several Eastern juniors turned in strong performances at the 2023 US Open. 

Competing in his final junior Grand Slam before heading off to Harvard University this fall, Cooper Williams reached the quarterfinals of both the boys’ singles and doubles events. The results cap off a solid year on the court for the NYC native, who lifted the boys’ doubles trophy at the Australian Open earlier in January (with Learner Tien, of California) and earned a boys’ singles semifinals berth at Wimbledon in July. Williams entered the tournament as the top-ranked American and showed some impressive grit en route to a final eight showing. In the second round, his opponent—Lucky Loser Markus Molder, of Estonia—served for the match, but Williams fought back and eventually leveled the score with a scintillating return winner; soon after he claimed the two-and-a-half-hour bout in a third-set tiebreak, 10-7. 

Williams ultimately lost another tight three-set battle in the quarterfinals against Brazil’s Joao Fonseca, who would go on to capture the championship title. Both Williams and Fonseca—as well as boys’ No. 2  seed Rodrigo Pacheco Méndez, of Mexico—competed at USTA Eastern’s Big Apple Cup in 2019, which was held on the same courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center where the US Open is contested.

Read a US Open feature on Cooper Williams

Elsewhere, Eastern’s Shannon Lam nearly pulled off a major upset in the girls’ singles event. The East Brunswick, N.J. resident—who reached the girls’ 18s singles semifinals of the Easter Bowl earlier this year and came through qualifying to earn a spot in the draw at Flushing Meadows—led No. 10 seed Laura Samsonova by a double break in the final set of their first-round match and served for the victory twice. Samsonova ultimately reeled off five games to advance—and eventually reached the semifinals. But Lam, at just 15 years old, continued to prove she has a bright future ahead of her in the game. In doubles, she and partner Mika Stojsavljevic—of Great Britain—knocked out No. 3 seeds Lucciana Perez Alarcon and Alisa Oktiabreva, then took a set off eventual runner-up team Nanaka Sato and Sara Saito—the only set the pair lost en route to the final.

Congratulations to all USTA Eastern athletes who participated in the 2023 US Open:

William Blumberg

Men’s Doubles (Round 1)

Louisa Chirico

Women’s Singles (QR2)

Elvina Kalieva

Women’s Singles (QR2)

Maxim Kalinin

Boys’ Doubles (Round 1)

Cannon Kingsley

Men’s Singles (QR1)

Aleksandar Kovacevic

Men’s Singles (QR2)

Men’s Doubles (Round 1)

Shannon Lam

Girls’ Singles (Round 1)

Girls’ Doubles (Round 2)

Jamie Loeb

Women’s Doubles (Round 1)

Christasha McNeil

Girls’ Singles (Round 1)

Ariana Pursoo

Girls’ Singles (Round 1)

Girls’ Doubles (Round 2)

Theadora Rabman

Girls’ Singles (Round 1)

Girls’ Doubles (Round 1)

Eliot Spizzirri

Men’s Singles (QR3)

Men’s Doubles (Round 1)

Cooper Williams

Boys’ Singles (Quarterfinals)

Boys’ Doubles (Quarterfinals)

Michael Zheng

Men’s Singles (QR2)