Australian Open Draws; Five US Men into Final Round of Qualifying; Two Florida Gators Reach Plantation Futures Quarterfinals

The Australian Open draws are out with 16 US women and 10 US men already in, with others still competing in the qualifying.  The first round match-ups for the US women:

Serena Williams[1] vs Camila Giorgi(ITA)
Alison Riske vs Belinda Bencic[12](SUI)
Lauren Davis vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova[26](RUS)
Christina McHale vs Agnieszka Radwanska[4](POL)
Sloane Stephens[24] vs qualifier
Anna Tatishvili vs Irina Falconi
Madison Brengle vs CoCo Vandeweghe
Samantha Crawford vs Danka Kovinic(MNE)
Vicky Duval vs Elina Svitolina[18](UKR)
Vania King vs Mona Barthel(GER)
Venus Williams[8] vs Johanna Konta(GBR)
Bethanie Mattek-Sands vs Denisa Allertova(CZE)
Madison Keys[15] vs Zarina Diyas(KAZ)
Varvara Lepchenko vs Lesia Tsurenko[31](UKR)

The first round match-ups for the men:
Denis Kudla vs Filip Krajinovic(SRB)
Noah Rubin vs Benoit Paire[17](FRA)
Austin Krajicek vs qualifier
Sam Querrey vs Dusan Lajovic(SRB)
Rajeev Ram vs Kevin Anderson[11](RSA)
Jack Sock vs qualifier
Steve Johnson[31] vs Aljaz Bedene(GBR)
John Isner[10] vs Jerzy Janowicz(POL)
Brian Baker vs Simone Bolelli(ITA)
Donald Young vs Santiago Giraldo(COL)

The main draws are available here.

Five US men have advanced to Saturday's final round of qualifying. Bjorn Fratangelo, Tim Smyczek, Taylor Fritz and Dennis Novikov won their second round qualifying matches last night, while Ryan Harrison won his second round match tonight, but both Frances Tiafoe and Tennys Sandgren lost in the second round this evening.  On Saturday, Fratangelo plays Great Britain's Dan Evans, Smyczek faces France's Kenny De Schepper, Fritz plays Mischa Zverev of Germany, Novikov meets Yuichi Sugita of Japan and Harrison plays the winner of the Aleksandr Nedovyesov - Aldin Setkic match.

Nicole Gibbs is through to the final round of qualifying with a win tonight, with Jessica Pegula, Julia Boserup, Sachia Vickery and Maria Sanchez looking to join her. Gibbs will play 18-year-old Ivana Jorovic of Serbia, a former junior world No. 1, for a place in the main draw.

Qualifying draws are here.

The quarterfinals are nearly set in all three USTA Pro Circuit events, despite rain this morning in Plantation, site of the $10,000 men's tournament, with one second round match still not complete.

Two members of the University of Florida team, freshman Alfredo Perez and senior Diego Hidalgo, have advanced to the quarterfinals, with qualifier Perez beating No. 5 seed Wil Spencer 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 6-4 in three hours and 22 minutes.  Hidalgo, from Ecuador, defeated fellow qualifier Juan Benitez Chavarriaga of Colombia 7-6(1), 3-2, ret.  Top seed Tommy Paul and No. 2 seed Adrien Puget of France also are through to the quarterfinals.

The weather has been more cooperative farther north, where the women's $25,000 tournament is taking place in Daytona Beach.  Three Americans remain after today's second round, with No. 5 seed CiCi Bellis scheduled to take on No. 2 seed Grace Min in Friday's quarterfinals.  Bellis defeated wild card Francesca Di Lorenzo 6-3, 6-0 and Min beat Jesika Maleckova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 7-6(3).  Asia Muhammad, the No. 6 seed, defeated Carol Zhao of Canada 6-2, 6-2 and will play Elizaveta Ianchuk of Ukraine in the quarterfinals.  Top seed Shelby Rogers was beaten by 17-year-old Olga Fridman of Ukraine 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

At the $25,000 Futures in Long Beach, results today created two all-American quarterfinals.  No. 7 seed Evan King, who beat Eric Johnson 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, will play No. 3 seed Eric Quigley, who also defeated another American, Raymond Sarmiento, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.  The second all-American quarterfinal will feature two teens, 19-year-old Deiton Baughman and 18-year-old Michael Mmoh.  Baughman, the No. 5 seed, advanced when Ryan Lipman retired trailing 6-1, while Mmoh defeated Clay Thompson 7-5, 6-2.  Mmoh holds a 3-0 advantage over Baughman in their previous meetings.  A third teenager, No. 6 seed Ernesto Escobedo, will play former USC star Yannick Hanfmann of Germany in the bottom quarter, with the top quarter featuring former Pepperdine all-American Sebastian Fanselow of Germany against No. 8 seed Dan Smethurst of Great Britain.