Bigun streaks past Berkieta for Roland-Garros boys' title

The 18-year-old American is the third US boys’ champ in Paris

Kaylan Bigun / Finale, Roland-Garros 2024©Clément Mahoudeau / FFT
 - Chris Oddo

Rising UCLA freshman Kaylan Bigun is putting the finishing touches on his junior career with a major milestone. 

The American, playing his last summer as a junior before entering the college ranks. rallied for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Poland’s Tomasz Berkieta to win the boys’ title on Saturday, fighting off nine aces and 31 winners from his opponent to become the first American to accomplish the feat since Tommy Paul in 2015. 

"I just want to congratulate Tomasz on a really good match," Bigun said after raising the trophy. "He was serving like a billion miles per hour and I was just trying not to get hit."

On a sunny afternoon on Court Simonne-Mathieu, the pair traded blows in a back-and-forth tussle, with 34th-ranked Berkieta, who saved three match points in his semi-final win over Italy’s Lorenzo Carboni, taking the upper hand early as he played dynamic tennis to clinch a 40-minute opening set on the strength of a single break. 

Bigun had a pair of chances to level in the stanza, but the 17-year-old Pole with the backwards baseball cap and shock of flowing hair was up to the task. With Polish flags lining the tribunes, Warsaw native Berkieta rallied the fans on several occasions during the opener, but he couldn’t keep his momentum in the second set. 

Fifth-seeded Bigun saved all four break points he faced in the opening game of the second set, setting the tone for a shift in power in the contest. He soon broke for 3-1 and never looked back. 

After forcing a decider the Los Angeles resident broke again for 2-1 in the final set and made it stand up the rest of the way despite Berkieta’s best efforts to stage another remarkable comeback. 

The Pole saved a trio of match points with Bigun serving at 5-3, but the American was up to the task on the fourth. He fell to his knees in victory on the clay to soak up the moment before sharing an amiable hug and a few words with Berkieta. 

"It means a lot," Bigun said. "I don't really play on red clay a good amount, and I don't think Americans have been known to specialize in the red clay.

"Obviously if you won a tournament the week before you come in with a good amount of confidence and kind of seasoned in the match play and competing. So I knew what I had to do and how I wanted to play on the court."

Schwaerzler and Budkov Kjaer take doubles

Austria's Joel Schwaerzler, coached by Jurgen Melzer, and Oslo-born Nicolai Budkov Kjaer claimed the doubles title, 6-4, 7-6(3) over Italy's Federico Cina and Japan's Rai Sakamoto.