After dropping the opening set, top-seeded Clervie Ngounoue (above with Billie Jean King) of Washington, D.C., staged a strong comeback to win the Girls’ 18s singles title at the 2023 USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 16s and 18s National Championships with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over San Diego’s Katherine Hui.
Playing before an estimated capacity crowd of 1,500 on Stadium Court at Barnes Tennis Center, Hui, the 17th-seeded hometown favorite, used an aggressive baseline game to set the tone early in the first set as she broke Ngounoue in the first game.
Hui continued to dominate the top seed and built a commanding 4-0 before Ngounoue held serve in a long fifth game which lasted 13 points and went to deuce four times. With a 4-1 lead, Hui dropped only two points in the next two games to wrap up the first set.
In the second set, Ngounoue, the reigning Wimbledon girls’ singles champion, showed why she was the No. 1 ranked junior in the world earlier this summer as she broke Hui’s serve at 4-4 and then served out the set at 5-4 to send the championship final to a deciding third set.
Ngounoue broke serve in the first game of the third set as Hui double-faulted on break point. That was all the top seed needed as she built a 5-1 lead. At 5-2, Ngounoue served out the match at love to win the Girls’ 18s singles title.
Following the match, Ngounoue was presented with her USTA Gold Ball from tennis legend Billie Jean King. She was also awarded a Main Draw wild card for the US Open.
“Today was a tough match. I expected nothing less. Katherine is a really good player. She definitely brought out a fight,” Ngounoue said. “It didn’t start out the way I wanted to. I tried to play every point as best I could.”
When asked how she turned the match around after losing the first set, Ngounoue responded, “I just trusted myself and trusted the process. I would have been okay with winning or losing today. I’m really learning from the experience regardless. I think that truly enabled me to fight for every point as hard as I could, no matter the outcome.”
Sixth-seeded Valerie Glozman of Bellevue, Wash., was awarded the USTA bronze ball. She received a walkover when her opponent, Eleana Yu of Mason, Ohio, withdrew from their Third-Place match due to an injury.
The Girls’ 18s doubles championship featured an entertaining final between the unseeded Southern California team of Kate Fakih of Pasadena, Calif., and Olivia Center of South Pasadena, Calif., and the fourth-seeded duo of Alanis Hamilton of Bentonville, Ark. and Kayla Chung of Philadelphia.
Hamilton and Chung won the opening set, but Fakih and Center fought back for a thrilling
6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-4 victory to win the Girls’ 18s doubles title and a wild card into the doubles Main Draw at the upcoming US Open.

To view final tournament draws for each division, click aquí.