site.btaTennis Talents Ivanov, Vasilev Continue to Write History, Both Qualify for US Open Junior Semifinals

This year has been historic for Bulgarian junior tennis and continues to deliver - Ivan Ivanov and Alexander Vasilev won their respective matches at the US Open Junior Championships on Thursday evening and will now play at the semifinals of the event. The dream of an all-Bulgarian final is still alive as they are on opposite sides of the draw. They have encountered this scenario before as Ivanov won Wimbledon earlier in 2025 and Vasilev also reached the final four before suffering a defeat at the semifinals. Ivanov's junior Grand Slam triumph was the first for Bulgaria after Grigor Dimitrov became the first ever representative of the country to lift such a trophy in 2008, collecting both the Wimbledon and US Open honours.

On Thursday, Ivanov, who entered the tournament as the world No. 1 in the World Tennis tour Juniors Rankings, had his most difficult match at US Open 2025. After reaching the quarterfinals without losing a set, he had to fight for a 6-4 0-6 7-6(3) win over eighth seed Max Schoenhaus. The German was victorious in their meeting at the same stage of Roland Garros earlier this year.

In the next round, the 16-year-old Bulgarian will face Kazakhstani Zangar Nurlanuly, who is not seeded at the tournament.

The other Bulgarian, Alexander Vasilev, handed his opponent Andrew Johnson, who was playing his first junior Grand Slam event, a 6-3 7-5 loss. Vasilev, the 5th seed at US Open, will face Brazilian Luis Guto Miguel at the semifinals. That will be their second meeting as they played each other in early July in Roehampton and the Bulgarian won 7-5 6-3 to qualify for the final of the grass court competition.