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NEW YORK - Last week’s U.S. Open Junior Championships faced several challenges: a draw shuffle at the start and two days of rain - one early in the event and one late - which led to the quarterfinals and semifinals being contested on the same day. Two ITF Junior Circuit veterans, Colombia’s Maria Camila Osorio Serrano and Czech Republic’s Jonas Forejtek, lifted the winners’ trophies, taking over the top spot in the ITF world junior rankings with victories over Americans in the finals.

Girls Singles Champion Maria Camila Osorio Serrano
© Zoo Tennis

Osorio’s 6-1, 6-0 win over qualifier Alexandra Yepifanova ended a stretch of close calls at junior slams for the 17-year-old, who had reached the semifinals at both the U.S. Open last year and the French Open this year.

Down 3-0 in the third set of her semifinal against unseeded Oksana Selekhmeteva of Russia, who had upset top seed Emma Navarro in the second round, Osorio returned from a medical timeout with renewed determination. She proceeded to win six of the last seven games after that break to secure a 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-4 victory and a place in her first final.

“I called the physio for my leg and I had the time to stop and think, what I am doing?” said Osorio, the first Colombian to win a junior slam title. “I get on the court and just think, relax, this is your last tournament, just enjoy, and that's what I did. I was so focused on every point.”

Yepifanova was initially disappointed that she had not received a wild card into the main draw, but after winning two qualifying matches, she began to see her path differently.

“But now looking back at it, I feel it was good, because I gained so much confidence after qualifying,” said Yepifanova, who saved a match point in her third round win over Mai Nirundorn of Thailand. “After that, I knew I could win matches at the Open, even knowing I'm playing such a big tournament. I know that my results recently didn't really match up to this, but I knew I was capable of playing very well.”