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36 ITFWORLD WINTER 2017 JUNIOR GRAND SLAMS OPEN J UN I O R SL A M SP O T L I GH T J U N I O R SL A M S P O T L I G H T J UN I O R SL A M S P O T L I GH T US By Sandra Harwitt. WU'S FIRST FOR CHINA W hen the US Open began, China had never had a Grand Slam junior singles champion. In fact, the only Grand Slam singles vanquisher the country could boast was Li Na, who won the women's trophies at 2011 Roland Garros and the 2014 Australia Open. That all changed after 17-year-old Wu Yibing of China, the second seed, scored the US Open boys title with a 64 64 final win over top seed Axel Geller of Argentina. And as it turned out, the singles honour wasn't quite enough for Wu. He also claimed the doubles victory the night before with Yu Hsiou Hsu of Chinese Taipei, over Toru Horie and Yuta Shimizu of Japan 64 57 [11-9]. "Yeah, I think this is showing ourselves, and showing the world, Chinese boys can be better and can be good and Chinese men," Wu said, smiling, after the win. "Actually, I'm a little bit tired from the doubles," he added. "I just wanted to do my best and let's see." Wu arrived at the US Open having never won a match in New York, but he left as the No. 1-ranked junior boy in the world (he ended the season at No. 2 behind Geller). Prior to the Open, Wu put forth a solid season at the Grand Slams, having reached the singles and doubles semifinals in Australia, and the singles quarterfinals at Wimbledon. "It's a dream to play here and you can enjoy a lot, not just tennis," said Wu, about the Open. "I enjoy New York. I enjoy the Big Apple. I go to Times Square to look around, but normally it's like here, the hotel and some restaurants." The final against Geller offered great challenges for Wu, who initially led 5-2 in the second set, but nervously floundered at that point. He watched six match points vanish before being broken on a second break point he faced in that eighth game. "That was tough," he said. "My hand was shaking. Only thing I can do is try to recover after that." Wu held up better on his seventh match point with a little help from Geller, who sent a forehand wide on the final point. Wu splits his time between training in China and in Madrid, and in his mind his junior success is just a stepping stone towards a future career in the pros. "I hope to be doing my best and try to be the first one to get to be in the Top 100 from China," Wu said. "Sooner than later it's going to happen."

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