By Tracy Zwick

The fairytale run of an Upper West Sider and the 16-year-old juniors champion he met less than a week ago came to a close last night in a semi-final mixed doubles match at the U.S. Open. Aleksandar Kovacevic and fellow American Tyra Grant fell in two sets (3-6, 5-7) to 2024 Olympic doubles gold medalist Sara Errani of Italy and her compatriot, 29-year-old Andrea Vavassori, the 9th-ranked men’s doubles player in the world.

On a gorgeous September evening in Queens, windless and in the mid-70s, 26-year-old Kovacevic, who grew up on West 97th Street, battled under the lights of the 8,000-seat Grandstand show court at the USTA’S Billie Jean King Tennis Center. Kovacevic’s solid serving, reliable forehand smash, and baseline defense along with moments of brilliance from Grant kept the momentum on the underdog Americans’ side for much of the second set. The critical moment came at 5-5 in the 2nd with Grant serving. Vavasorri and 37-year-old Errani sought to exploit Grant’s youth and relative inexperience all night, leading to forced and unforced errors and wobbly serving in the clutch. When she needed them most, Grant’s serves were slow and safe – easy pickings for the seasoned Italians. They broke her at 40-15, then served out the set to win the match.

Errani-Vavassori will play in the U.S. Open’s mixed doubles final later this week at Arthur Ashe Stadium against the American team of Donald Young and 2024 Wimbledon doubles champ Taylor Townsend.

Earlier in the day yesterday, Grant won her girls’ singles match against Lea Nilsson of Sweden (6-3, 6-4). Grant is the second seed in the U.S. Open’s junior girls’ singles tournament and will continue her campaign later today against Vendula Valdmannova of Czech Republic.

Kovacevic will return to his day job, men’s singles, and head to China for the Asia swing of the ATP tour. Though before the U.S. Open he hadn’t played doubles in years, his mother, Millie, suggested after the semi-final yesterday that the #73-ranked singles player may look for more opportunities to enter doubles competitions now. She said he seemed to have gained confidence. A grand slam semi-final run can do that for a player.

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