PARIS — Two Americans celebrating a title in Paris is not such a common sight.
That scene will take place on Saturday night when Whitney Osuigwe, who became only the fifth U.S. player to win the girls’ title at the French Open on Saturday, takes her losing opponent out for dinner.
The 15-year-old from Florida defeated Claire Liu 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3 in the second ever all-American final at Roland Garros.
"I think actually me and Claire are going to go into the town and we’re going to go to dinner," said Osuigwe, who became the ninth-youngest girls’ champion at the French Open, at 15 years, 1 month, 24 days — just over one month older than Justine Henin when she won in 1997.
"It was one of my goals, but I didn’t really have any expectations," said Osuigwe when asked if she had expected to win a junior Grand Slam at such a young age. "I just kept working hard and knew the results would come."
Osuigwe, who is coached by her father Desmond and lists clay as her favourite surface, is the No. 5-ranked junior in the world and has turned professional.
"It’s a decision I have made. I have been doing well this year, I think it was the right one," she said.
Liu, a 17-year-old from California, defeated Osuigwe 6-1, 6-1 in their only previous meeting at the Easter Bowl in April.
"I mean, I beat her, like, fast at Easter Bowl, but that was on hard," she said. "And I knew she would learn from that match. So I was expecting her to play well, and she did."
Kathy Horvath defeated Kelly Henry in the 1980 girls’ final, the only other all-American girls’ final at Roland Garros. Only three other Americans have won the French Open girls’ singles title: Anne Smith, Bonnie Gadusek and Jennifer Capriati.
The last time two American girls reached the final of the same junior Grand Slam was in 1992, when future U.S. Open champion Lindsay Davenport beat Julie Steven in New York.
Alexei Popyrin of Australia won the boys’ title by defeating Nicola Kuhn of Spain 7-6 (5), 6-3. The 17-year-old player is the first Australian to win the boys’ title at Roland Garros in 49 years.
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