Sunday’s junior girls' championship match was one that’s been in the works since the quarterfinals. Two rounds ago, Slovakia’s Kristina Kucova took down top seed and defending US Open titlist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets.

One semifinal win later, and Kucova was in the finals of her first Grand Slam, this time facing another top player in No. 2 seed Urszula Radwanska of Poland. On paper, it seemed a daunting and unlikely task for Kucova to defeat the top two seeds en route to a championship, especially given the fact that she’s currently ranked No. 24 in juniors.

But the 17-year-old Kucova did just that with a 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(4) win over Radwanska to claim her first Grand Slam singles championship title.

"I still can't believe it," Kucova said. "It's a wonderful feeling. It's amazing. I can say nothing. It was [a shock] for me, the last ball. I just fell on the court. I don't know what happen then."

Kucova and Radwanska's battle was one between two tough players who showed a lot of heart all the way down to the third-set tiebreaker. Even Martina Navratilova took a seat in the bleachers to watch these two future stars of women’s tennis.

Radwanska, who has taken the 2007 US Open by storm with her older sister Agnieszka (Agnieszka eliminated women’s defending champ Maria Sharapova in round three of the women's draw), got off to a sluggish start against Kucova. Radwanska took a quick 3-0 lead but then immediately began to fall apart with unforced errors. Kucova took advantage and won six straight games to take the first set.

The break between the first and second sets seemed to give Radwanska ample time to gather her thoughts and pull herself together for a fresh start. She got into a rhythm and dominated the second set, giving up only one game to force a decisive third.

Both players stayed neck-and-neck throughout the final set, trading a break each for 2-2 and continuing to hold serve until 6-6. Radwanska wore down Kucova from corner to corner along the baseline, but Kucova fought to stay in and refused to go away easily. She consistently threw in gutsy winning drop shots to change up the pace of the rallies.

In the tiebreak, Radwanska began to unravel, making a string of unforced errors and giving Kucova a 5-1 lead. Though the No. 2 seed fought back, it wasn’t enough to put her back in the game. At 6-4, Kucova watched as her opponent’s shot sailed long, then she let out a high-pitched scream and fell to the court shedding tears of joy.