Top American juniors Zachary Svajda (18; San Diego) and Ashlyn Krueger (17; Highland Village, Texas) won the USTA Boys’ and Girls’ 18s National Championships, respectively, this past weekend, each earning a wild card into the main draw of the US Open and headlining the annual USTA National Championships that took place last week.
The nation’s top junior tennis players competed in the Championships, held at five locations across the country featuring singles and doubles competition across the 18s, 16s, 14s and 12s age groups.
In addition to the US Open main draw wild cards awarded to the 18s singles and doubles champions, the singles finalists in the boys’ and girls’ 18s divisions received wild card entries into the US Open Qualifying Tournament set to being on Tuesday, Aug. 24, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Meanwhile, the boys’ and girls’ 16s singles champions earned wild card entries into the US Open Junior Championships.
Svajda defended his title from 2019 in Kalamazoo, Mich., (the event was not held in 2020) defeating University of Florida rising sophomore Ben Shelton (18; Gainesville, Fla.), 6-1, 6-4, 6-1, to become the first player to win back-to-back boys’ 18s singles titles since Jack Sock did so in 2010 and 2011. Svajda memorably pushed ATP Tour veteran Paolo Lorenzi to five sets in the first round of the 2019 US Open at the age of 16.
Zachary Svajda poses with the USTA Boys' 18s National Championships singles trophy.
As the runner-up, Shelton will receive not only a wild card to compete in the US Open Qualifying Tournament, but also a place in the US Open men’s doubles main draw by nature of his 18s doubles title alongside Bruno Kuzuhara (17; Coconut Creek, Fla.).
Ashlyn Kruger won the singles title at the USTA Billie Jean King Girls' 18s National Championships in San Diego.
Krueger won the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s National Championships, defeating Reese Brantmeier (16; Whitewater, Wis.), 6-2, 7-6(3), in the final at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego. Krueger notably won the girls’ 18s title at the prestigious Orange Bowl junior tennis tournament last December.
Read More: Krueger tops list of nine American winners at 2020 Orange Bowl
Krueger also partnered with Robin Montgomery (16; Washington, D.C.) to win the 18s doubles title, and the pair will receive a wild card into the US Open women’s doubles main draw. Brantmeier will receive a US Open qualifying wild card.
Alexander Razeghi (15; Humble, Texas) and Tatum Evans (15; McLean, Va.) won the respective singles titles at the USTA Boys’ and Girls’ 16s National Championships and will receive wild cards into the main draw of the US Open Junior Championships.
Complete results from the USTA National Championships can be found below. The full draws are available on USTA.com.
USTA National Championships – Boys’ 18s
Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, Mich., August 6-15
Singles: (1) Zachary Svajda (San Diego) d. (3) Ben Shelton (Gainesville, Fla.), 6-1, 6-4, 6-1
Doubles: (1) Shelton / Bruno Kuzuhara (Coconut Creek, Fla.) d. (2) Ethan Quinn (Fresno, Calif.) / Sebastian Gorzny (Fountain Valley, Calif.), 6-4, 6-4
USTA National Championships – Girls’ 18s
Barnes Tennis Center, San Diego, August 8-15
Singles: (6) Ashlyn Krueger (Highland Village, Texas) d. (17) Reese Brantmeier (Whitewater, Wis.), 6-2, 7-6 (3)
Doubles: (1) Krueger / Robin Montgomery (Washington, D.C.) d. (11) Elvina Kalieva (Staten Island, N.Y.) / Elise Wagle (Niskayuna, N.Y.), 6-0, 6-1
USTA National Championships – Boys’ 16s
Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, Mich., August 7-15
Singles: (1) Alexander Razeghi (Humble, Texas) d. (4) Lucas Brown (Plano, Texas) 6-3, 6-2
Doubles: (1) Brown / Nicholas Godsick (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) d. (2) Cooper Woestendick (Olathe, Kan.) / Quang Duong (Manhattan Beach, Calif.), 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-3
USTA National Championships – Girls’ 16s
Barnes Tennis Center, San Diego, August 4-11
Singles: (2) Tatum Evans (McLean, Va.) d. (33) Luciana Perry (Export, Pa.), 6-1, 7-5
Doubles: (3) Piper Charney (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) / Ava Bruno (Bronxville, N.Y.) d. (7) Erin Ha (Tenafly, N.J.) / Kaitlyn Carnicella (Whippany, N.J.), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
USTA National Championships – Boys’ 14s
Mobile Tennis Center, Mobile, Ala., August 7-14
Singles: (17) Jacob Olar (Lakewood Ranch, Fla.) d. (8) Maxwell Exsted (Savage, Minn.), 6-4, 6-4
Doubles: (9) Exsted / Olar d. (4) Ronit Karki (East Brunswick, N.J.) / Aarav Patel (Pittsford, N.Y.), 2-6, 6-3, 7-5
USTA National Championships – Girls’ 14s
Rome Tennis Center, Rome, Ga., August 7-14
Singles: (5) Sydney Jara (Wenham, Mass.) d. (2) Claire Hill (Cary, N.C.), 6-4, 6-1
Doubles: (1) Riley Crowder (Dothan, Ala.) / Katie Rolls (Plymouth, Mich.) d. Addison Bowman (Jefferson, Ga.) / Hill, 6-3, 6-1
USTA National Championships – Boys’ 12s
Mobile Tennis Center, Mobile, Ala., August 8-14
Singles: (1) Jack Secord (Lake Forest, Ill.) d. (16) Joseph Nau (Brentwood, Calif.), 6-4, 6-1
Doubles: (9) Ilias Bouzoubaa (San Diego) / Nau d. (2) Ryan Cozad (Alpharetta, Ga.) / Jordan Lee (Orlando, Fla.), 6-3, 6-2
USTA National Championships – Girls’ 12s
Windward Lake Club, Alpharetta, Ga., August 8-14
Singles: (15) Julieta Pareja (Carlsbad, Calif.) d. (1) Isabelle DeLuccia (Livingston, N.J.), 6-4, 6-1
Doubles: (5) Harper Stone (Greenwood, S.C.) / Pareja d. (4) Bela Martinez (San Juan, P.R.) / Anita Tu (Jacksonville, Fla.), 6-3, 6-4
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