Gullickson, Couts and Albanese are only U.S. girls to advance in Australian Junior Open

Gullickson, Couts and Albanese are only U.S. girls to advance in Australian Junior Open ~~~
©Colette Lewis 2006
Melbourne--

With ten U.S. girls playing first round matches in Melbourne today, including five who qualified on Saturday, hopes were high for more than the three wins that occurred. The five U.S. girls who drew seeds--Madison Brengle, Ashley Weinhold, Gail Brodsky, Denise Dy and Melanie Oudin couldn't overcome that challenge, and Kristy Frilling and Ellah Nze also bowed out Monday.

Florida's Lauren Albanese took a tough 6-4, 6-4 decision over lucky loser Sanaa Bhambri of India, and qualifier Kimberly Couts continued her run with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Australian wild card Holly Cao.

Chelsey Gullickson scrambled to a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 win over Sandhya Nagaraj of India on a day that produced very few surprises in the girls draw; only two seeds, Nikola Frankova (13) of the Czech Republic and Marritt Boonstra (11) of the Netherlands failed to advance.

For the complete draws, including doubles, please click here to access the Australian Open website.