Archie Watson has been crowned the World Junior Champion in a nail-biting deciding game final at Seacourt on Sunday, defeating the American Jonah Serotta in front of a packed gallery. Meanwhile, Katherine Carney has retained her World Junior Girls Champion title, defeating Riya Bharwad without losing a game.
The girls’ final was fought between the top two seeds: defending champion Katherine Carney and challenger Riya Bharwad. The first game was the tightest, with a tentative Carney hitting several unforced errors as the players battled through seven deuces. Carney walked away the winner, and quickly settled into a more confident game, pushing Bharwad into the corners to rack up the points. Bharwad’s best response was to cut the return of serve deep onto Carney’s forehand, regularly laying short chases. But there were also enough balls onto the penthouse or back wall that gave Carney easy balls to put away, which she did with aplomb. Towards the end of the second set, Carney could sense the finish line approaching, winning two games without losing a point to go to 5/0. Bharwad held off a few championship points, but Carney’s title defence was never in doubt.
After an hour’s break, the boys’ final took to the court: fourth seed Philadelphian Jonah Serotta against fifth seed Oratonian Archie Watson. Again, both had a tentative start in front of a packed Seacourt gallery, with barely a spare seat in the house. Serotta was the first to settle, controlling the play from the service end. His railroads were a good length, either rolling out of the nick or spinning back as the balls finally wore in. He built a three-game lead, but by then it was clear that the crowd were on the side of Watson. Serotta had three set points in the 5/3 game, but by now Watson was seeing it like a beach-ball, picking out volleys with ease and putting Serotta under pressure for the first time. The crowd sensed it too, cheering on Watson as he saved each set point then took the next game to love, without conceding a chase, thereby sending the set into a deciding game.
Watson opened the decider with a grille, before Serotta got on top of the following two serves, earning a stroke and a dedans. However, he put the next return high, giving the advantage back to Watson who manoeuvered the rally until he could hit the base of the tambour. A longer reste followed, before a ball off the penthouse came down tight to the side wall and Watson could do no more than put it into the net. Now on his fourth set point, Serotta defended the tambour until a ball rolled out of the service-side nick, earning a short chase which he defended with a tight railroad.
Even though he was now a set behind, Watson’s comeback through the first set carried on into the second, especially with the crowd forming a helpful tailwind. He gave Serotta’s backhand a real workout, finding that he could always find a better exit to the backhand exchanges than the American. To take the second game of the set, Watson defended the winning gallery with a volley winner that sent him jumping into the centre of the court in celebration. The moment and the crowd spurred him on to win the following two games. The play tightened up for the fifth and sixth games, but Watson was able to deprive Serotta of enough of the service end to push ahead. He reached 5/2, though this time it was Serotta’s turn to mount a comeback. Watson’s shots were loose, giving Serotta plenty of opportunities to put the ball away. The American brought the scoreline back to 4/5, but Watson wasn’t keen for another deciding game. A few crisp volleys later, and Watson had levelled up the match at 1-all.
Into the third set and Watson remained in control of the play, going into the lead for the first time in the match. With the game slipping away from him, Serotta felt aggrieved by two back-to-back chase calls that went against him. He tried to use the frustration to his advantage, but Watson was surging ahead backed by his grille hitting. He went up 4/1 and was within touching distance of the finish line, but Serotta never gave in. He kept fighting hard, never giving away errors and forcing Watson to have to win every point. In the seventh game, Watson went ahead 40-0, but Serotta’s defences held. A few deuces later, Serotta slotted the ball down Watson’s forehand side to stay alive in the match, holding his fist aloft in celebration. The job was not yet done, beating a better-than-2 chase to even the score at 4-all. In the next game, Watson dialled up the pace of his force, picking off a dedans and a volley error to move to 5/4. With pressure still mounting on both players, Serotta threw in a pair of tight serves to go ahead again before again defeating a short chase, this time jumping in the air in celebration as the championship went into a deciding game.
Watson held the serve, but an off-pace force drew an immediate volley error to give the first point to Serotta. His next force was high, ballooning up into the air and giving Watson an opening to hit the main-wall tambour. The following shot was the same, but this time going out of court. The next two restes both ended in last gallery length chases, once off the back wall and once dribbling over the net. Serotta won the first with a ball dying under the grille that Watson couldn’t lift over the net. On the second, Serotta’s second serve bobble was fractionally too long, rolling back up onto the back penthouse and around for a double fault. He dropped to his haunches, letting his racket fall to the floor, as Watson had championship point. Serotta threw in his side-wall serve, with both players having to dig out difficult balls tucked against the wall in the resultant rally. A ball on the penthouse drew Serotta out of position, unable to get his backhand around enough towards the tambour. Watson stood waiting, volleying the ball past a diving Serotta into the dedans. Watson turned to his supporters in the galleries with his hands in the air, letting out an almighty roar before embracing his opponent at the net.
Watson becomes the fourth holder of the World Junior Championships since its reincarnation in 2018, and the second American winner after Freddie Bristowe. Carney’s title makes her the first player in either competition to win multiple World Junior titles. The next edition is expected to be held in 2028 in the United States.
Match results:
12:00 PM: Katherine Carney (1) def Riya Bharwad (2) 6/0 6/0
2:00 PM: Jonah Serotta (4) lost to Archie Watson (5) 6/5 4/6 5/6
Great article… almost like being there😎