Osorio enjoying last shot at junior Grand Slam
At 17, Maria Camila Osorio Serrano’s tennis territory is the junior realm.
The Colombian has put in an impressive showing, collecting the girls’ singles bronze medal and mixed doubles silver medal at the 2018 Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games, and reached the singles semi-finals at the 2018 US Open and 2019 Roland Garros.
Now she is hoping to nail down one more special prize at this year’s US Open, where she is playing her final junior tournament.
On Thursday, Osorio, the daughter of two attorneys, secured a quarter-final spot in the US Open girls' draw with a 7-5 7-6(3) win over 13th seed Abigail Forbes of USA.
“I’m so, so happy to be in the quarters as this is my last junior tournament,” Osorio said. “The thing is I’ve never been in a (Grand Slam) final which is why I’m playing this one. I really want to win one Grand Slam.
“But I have no pressure. I just play every point and the result is going to come one day, maybe here in the juniors, if not in the pros,” she added.
While juniors has been her primary playground, Osorio is no stranger to the pros, playing mostly ITF World Tennis Tour events in 2019, and is already is ranked 271 on the WTA Tour.
She’s even made headlines at a WTA International-level tournament - the Clara Open Colsanitas in Bogota - where she turned out to be the star attraction. The Colombian won two rounds, journeying to the quarter-final in front of a home country crowd before losing to eventual champion, fellow teen Amanda Anisimova of USA.
“The club when I played, I played at night, so everybody was there watching and supporting me,” she said of the WTA Bogota event. “They were yelling, ‘Vamos Cami, you can do it.’ I won two matches so everybody was so happy with me and I was so happy because it was a great experience.”
What she learned that week is that the pros are stronger and much more focused opponents than juniors, and are much more adept at keeping their minds from wandering away from the match.
The Bogota quarterfinals came with a big paycheque, and coupled with her winning two smaller pro events, her bank account has grown. Thus far, Osorio managed to curb her enthusiasm for buying herself a big present with the money.
“You’re playing for money so it’s so much fun,” she said. “I’m just saving it. Last year I was thinking when I get money, and turn pro, I would buy like bags, like a Gucci bag. But I told myself, ‘You should save the money to buy yourself one day a car or a house.’”
So there is no Gucci bag draping her arm, at least not yet.
Until a week ago, Osorio was working with former Colombian touring pro Alejandro Falla. Although she credits Falla with improving her game she thought the relationship had reached its conclusion.
“He was so good for me,” she said of Falla. “He taught me so much in a year-and-a-half. He knows everything. He even played Roger (Federer).”
Her whole family is sports-oriented with her mother having played basketball, her father football, and her grandfather represented Colombia on the 1962 World Cup team.
She is in New York with her older brother, Sebastian, a footballer, but his job isn’t to act as her coach. He’s just keeping her company.
“He helps me to get into trouble but he doesn’t say anything (to our parents),” she said, laughing. “I like playing here without a coach because it’s no pressure. I don’t have to worry about coach saying, ‘You need to work on your serve.’”
Fun away from tennis for Osorio is playing the ukelele, which she took up six months ago. “It’s really new for me,” she said. “I like to play Spanish music, Reggaeton. I sing along, but I am so bad at singing it’s better nobody hears me.”
Unseeded American Katrina Scott also advanced to the quarterfinals, outlasting good friend, Robin Montgomery of USA 7-5 6-3.
“I’ve know Robin forever and she’s my best friend,” Scott said. “Going into the match we had to put our friendship aside and just battle it out.”
Later this month, both Scott and Montgomery will be representing the USA in the Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas, which will be hosted at the USTA National campus in Lake Nona, Fla.
“This is my first time playing Junior Fed Cup and I’ve hear it’s amazing,” Scott said. “Some of my friends played it in Budapest last year. We’re on home ground and we’re excited about it. I know Orlando as I’ve trained there many times.”
The day delivered five further upsets, with three seeded girls and two seeded boys being ousted ahead of the quarter-finals.
In the boys’ event, Milan Welte of Germany sent No. 9 Gauthier Onclin of Belgian packing 6-3 6-4, and Cannon Kingsley of USA defeated No. 10 Liam Draxl of Canada 7-6(7) 7-6(6).
In the girls’ draw, Priska Madelyn Nugroho of Indonesia defeated No. 3 Alexa Noel of USA 6-2 6-1; Reese Brantmeier of USA defeated No. 15 Polina Kudermetova of Russia 6-1 6-3; and Oksana Selekhmeteva of Russia continued her charge by beating No. 16 Elsa Jacquemot of France 6-4 6-4.
Girls’ third round seeded winners included No. 5 Zheng Qinwen of China defeated Daria Frayman of Russia 6-4 6-0, and No. 7 Kamila Bartone of Latvia defeated No. 12 Sohyun Park of Korea 6-1 6-3.
Boys’ third round seeded winners included: No. 4 Jonas Forejtek of Czech Republic, who beat No. 16 Peter Makk of Hungary 6-1 3-6 6-2; No. 8 Dmilio Nava of USA defeated Aidan Mayo of USA 7-6(3) 6-2; No. 11 Brandon Nakashima of USA defeated Tristan Schoolkate of Australia 6-1 6-4; No. 14 Valentin Royer of France defeated Alejo Lorenzo Lingua Lavallen of Argentina 6-3 6-4; and No. 15 Jiri Lehecka of Czech Republic defeated Rinky Hijikata of Australia 6-4 6-3.