All-American final in juniors has some Sock

There will be an American boys junior singles champion at the U.S. Open for the first time since Andy Roddick won the title in 2000. That was assured when Jack Sock of Overland Park, Kan., and Denis Kudla of Arlington, Va., won their semifinal final matches Saturday.

Sock beat No. 2 seed Marton Fucsovics of Hungary, 6-3, 6-4, after Kudla beat Agustin Velotti of Argentina, 6-3, 6-2.

"When Denis won, we all wanted an all-American final," said Sock, who lost to Kudla in three sets in the one match they played in the 16s. "He was done before I went on. I congratulated him in the locker room."

Sock earned a wildcard into the Open main draw by winning the Boys 18 Nationals in August. He lost to Marco Chiudinelli in the first round, but his father thinks the experience of being in the big tournament carried over to the junior competition.

"Being able to hit with some of the best players when he got here was big for him," Larry Sock said. "Got him prepared."

Arrangements were made with Sock to hit with Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Sam Querrey, Stanislas Wawrinka and Paul-Henri Mathieu on the weekend before the tournament began.

"I think it gave me a lot of experience and a lot of practice with some of the top guys hitting with the bigger ball [more pace] and then being able to come back and use that to my advantage and kind of try to dictate points myself," Sock said.

Kudla was born in Kiev, Ukraine, but his family moved to the United States on his first birthday. He has graduated from high school and is a professional while Sock is entering his senior year of high school and remains an amateur.

"This is going to be great for the crowd," Sock said. "Hopefully there is a crowd. Hopefully we can put on a good show and a good match."

American Sloane Stevens of San Pedro, Calif., gave girls junior singles No. 1 seed Daria Gavrilova of Russia all she could handle before falling 7-5, 6-1, 7-6 (4) in a semifinal. Stevens got a break in the third set, but gave it back. She lost the first four points of the tiebreak.