US Open: Hong Kong’s Coleman Wong makes history as city’s first boys’ grand slam champion
- Wong partners with Frenchman Max Westphal to seal the boys’ doubles title in New York
Alongside his playing partner, Max Westphal, 17-year-old Wong defeated the eighth-seeded pairing of Viacheslav Bielinskyi from Ukraine and Bulgarian Petr Nesterov to seal the championship 6-3, 5-7 (10-1).
Wong, who was eliminated in the second round of the boys’ singles at Flushing Meadows, only began competing at junior grand slam events this season.
He and American partner Ethan Quinn were knocked out in the second round of the Roland Garros Junior Championships in June, and he and Spain’s Daniel Merida Aguilar lost out in the opening round of the The Junior Championships at Wimbledon in July.
Wong first partnered with 18-year-old Frenchman Westphal a few weeks ago at the J1 College Park event in the US, a warm-up for the US Open Juniors, where the duo reached the semi-final.
Shortly after his victory, Wong spoke of his thanks for the fans back home who had supported his run to the title in New York, and the Hong Kong Tennis Association.
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History-making Coleman Wong thanks supporters after US Open victory
“I finished five matches this week, and I felt stressed after each one because they all went to a tiebreaker,” Wong said. “Thank you to the Hong Kong Tennis Association, who asigned me a coach for the last three months even though I hadn’t played in over a year and I didn’t play well when I resumed training. But now I feel very happy to win the championship.”
Promising Wong, a five-time ITF junior circuit singles winner, ended the 2020 season ranked 50 in the ITF’s junior singles standings.
