New York | Brit Stojsavljevic lands US Open junior singles title

There’s a new name to wrap our tongues around – 15-year-old Mika Stojsavljevic, who became the first Briton in 15 years to win the US Open girls junior singles title at the weekend.

I think I’m still in a little bit of shock, I haven’t had much time to process it yet. I think it was a really good match. She [Sonobe] played really well, I think we both stepped up our level in the second set. I think it was not something I expected, but I’m super happy. Mika Stojsavljevic

Born in Hammersmith, Stojsavljevic is the youngest junior champion at the event since 2006, when the trophy went to 15-year-old Russian prodigy Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who has since reached the final of the French Open.

With a Serbian father from Velika Popina in Croatia, and a Polish mother from Warsaw, Stojsavljevic was raised in Ealing, where she attended St Benedict’s School, and now trains at the LTA national academy in Loughborough.

Ranked 36 among the juniors, her run in New York was impressive, where she not only won the junior singles title, taking down 3 seeded players on the way, but she also reached the quarter-finals of the girls doubles.

• Final: d Wakana Sonobe (JPN, junior world No 10 / seeded 7), 6-4 6-4
• Semi-final: d Iva Jovic (USA, junior world No 5 / seeded 3), 6-0 3-6 6-3
• Quarter-final: d Annika Penickova (USA, junior world No 91), 6-2 7-6(3)
• 3rd round: d Emerson Jones (AUS, junior world No 2 / seeded 1), 7-5 6-4
• 2nd-round: d Kaitlyn Rolls (USA, junior world No 17), 6-1 6-0
• 1st-round: d Charo Esquiva Banuls (ESP, junior world No 48), 6-7(5) 6-2 6-2

In the singles, the only set she dropped was against 16-year-old Jovic, who upset Magda Linette in the 1st-round of the main draw as a wild-card before stretching No 29 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova to 3 sets. The American was the heavy favourite to progress to the final, but the Londoner stunned her with her 3-sets win.

Standing 6ft tall, with size 10 shoes, Stojsavljevic cuts an imposing figure, which she uses to bully the ball, and she came away with 9 aces and 36 clean winners, while the overpowered Jovic managed just 6 winners.

It was only a brief loss of focus in the second set, when Stojsavljevic hit 3 successive double-faults to give up a break, that extended matters into 3 sets.

“It would be incredible,” she said ahead of the final. “But I’ve still got to win tomorrow, and take every point at a time. I think I was just playing my tennis, honestly. I think I was just going for my balls, confident and calm.

“It feels amazing, I didn’t really expect it, but I’m super, super happy to be in the final.”

Photo by Manuela Davies/USTA

The final was a rematch of two 1st-round junior Grand Slam contests last year, at Wimbledon and the US Open, both won by Stojsavljevic from a set down.

In this clash of first-strike power, it was Stojsavljevic who kept a cleaner scorecard, striking 14 winners to Sonobe’s 13, and committing 25 unforced errors to her opponent’s 30.

16-year old Sonobe had not dropped a set on her way to the final, and she seemed to settle first, saving break point to hold for 3-2 after an edgy start for both, but Stojsavljevic responded by winning 6 of the next 7 games to go up 2-0 in the second set, producing a dominant passage of play that gave the Brit a decisive lead.

Stojsavljevic also showcased some useful variety, winning 6 out of 7 points at the net overall, but it was her backhand that proved to be her most reliable weapon, and she used it to seal the first set with a crosscourt winner and made another 2 clean winners from that wing when she served out the match to love.

“I think I’m still in a little bit of shock, I haven’t had much time to process it yet,” Stojsavljevic said on winning her first Grand Slam junior title. “I think it was a really good match.

“She [Sonobe] played really well, I think we both stepped up our level in the second set. I think it was not something I expected, but I’m super happy.

“I started off trying to be more consistent at the start. Obviously in a final, you want to just get into it a little bit. I think I was consistently getting good depth. It was a bit windy out there, so I think that could’ve changed things.

Stojsavljevic and Sonobe have both begun to make inroads into the pro game, and are ranked No 641 and No 792 respectively on the PIF WTA Rankings.

The Brit captured her first pro title at the Nottingham ITF W35 in April, defeating former No 26 Tamira Paszek on the way, and went on to make her WTA qualifying debut in Birmingham, falling 6-2 6-3 to Camila Osorio.

Sonobe has already made 3 ITF W15 finals to date, and made her WTA qualifying debut as a wild-card in Abu Dhabi this February, falling 6-4 6-0 to Bernarda Pera.

Alongside clinching her first Grand Slam title, Stojsavljevic also reached the girls’ doubles final at Wimbledon this year with compatriot Mimi Xu, and has previously made the singles quarter-finals at SW19.

Mika Stojsavljevic dropped just one set on her way to winning the US Open junior singles title

Photo by Manuela Davies/USTA

Despite returning back to home soil with a Grand Slam title under her belt, life is set to return to normality for Stojsavljevic as she prepares to head back to school.

“I think I’m going back to school on Tuesday,” she said in New York. “I’m flying back tomorrow and then going back to school. I have my GCSE’s this year and, obviously, it’s important to get those done, and we’ll see after that.

“In our setup, it’s only tennis players in our classroom. The Loughborough National Academy from the LTA have made these really small classrooms to make sure it’s just focused on us. So I think it will be a little bit easier just being with tennis people, but around school it might be a little bit different.”

Stojsavljevic came into the US Open as the least heralded of the 3 British girls in the draw, behind Orange Bowl champion Hannah Klugman and the consistent Mimi Xu.

Klugman lost in the 2nd-round to the Czech Tereza Krejcova, the junior world No 43, 6-4 6-4, but made it the semi-finals of the doubles with partner Joy De Zeeuw from the Netherlands, seeded 7.

Xu teamed up with Stojsavljevic in the doubles, and, seeded 5, they lost to Morocco’s Malak El Allami & Emily Sartz-Lunde from Norway, 7-5 2-6 [10-8] in the Last 8, who went on to claim the girls’ doubles crown, becoming the first ever girls’ major titlists from their respective countries.

Xu also had an excellent run to the Last 4 in the singles:

• Semi-final: lost to Wakana Sonobe (JPN, junior world No 10 / seeded 7, 6-4 6-4
• Quarter-final: d Tyra Caterina Grant (USA, junior world No 4 / seeded 2), 7-5 5-7 6-4
• 3rd-round: d Rositsa Dencheva (BUL, junior world No 12 /  seeded 10), 6-2 6-1
• 2nd-round: d Christasha McNeil (USA, junior world No 57), 4-6 7-5 6-2
• 1st-round: d Lilli Tagger (AUT, junior world No 50), 6-2 4-6 6-1

Girls singles champion Mika Stojsavljevic (R) poses with runner-up Wakana Sonobe during the trophy ceremony

Photo by Manuela Davies/USTA

The youngest of the trio, Stojsavljevic has been training at the National Academy in Loughborough for the past 3 years.

National coach Katie O’Brien, who was a former Top 100 player in the early 2010s, commended Stojsavljevic on her mental strength after her win, which meant she had emulated Watson’s triumph in 2009.

“It was exceptional how well she handled the occasion,” O’Brien said. “Her tennis level has always been there, and every match that’s gone by, she’s just grown and grown.”

Stojsavljevic’s progress in the past 8 months has been striking.

At January’s Australian Open junior event, her well-formed technique was already evident, especially with the silky double-hander that generates easy power on the backhand side, but she became demoralised in her 3rd-round meeting with the Japanese 2nd seed Sara Saito, 2 years older, and lost having sprayed unforced errors in all directions.

In New York, though, Stojsavljevic remained much more composed, particularly when her matches got tight, keeping her strokes flowing and using angles with great effect with great consistency.

She took down both the No 1 and No 3 seeds on her way to the final, and she also proved too much for the left-handed 16-year-old Sonobe to handle.