Australian Open Draws Revealed; Four American Men Advance to Final Round of Australian Qualifying, Six US Women Reach Second Round; Three US Juniors Advance in Traralgon Grade 1 Qualifying; Geller Debuts at Sherwood Cup Friday

In the wee hours of the morning here in the United States, the singles draws of the Australian Open were announced, with ten American men and 16 American women included.  The men are John Isner[16], Ryan Harrison, Jack Sock[8], Steve Johnson, Tennys Sandgren, Donald Young, wild card Tim Smyczek, Jared Donaldson, Frances Tiafoe and Sam Querrey[13].  The women are Lauren Davis, Madison Brengle, wild card Kristie Ahn, Varvara Lepchenko, Madison Keys[17], Shelby Rogers, Christina McHale, Venus Williams[5], Sonya Kenin, Sloane Stephens[13], Jennifer Brady, CoCo Vandeweghe[10], Alison Riske, Taylor Townsend, CiCi Bellis and Nicole Gibbs.

American men went 4-1 in the Australian Open second round of qualifying Thursday, with Kevin King, Denis Kudla, Mackenzie McDonald and Stefan Kozlov now in need of just one more win Saturday to join the ten American men in the main draw.

The first round of women's play saw Americans go 6-4, with 2015 NCAA champion Jamie Loeb losing a heartbreaker, having three match points in the second set of her 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 loss to Daniela Seguel of Chile. On the other hand, Caroline Dolehide came back from 5-0 and 6-2 down in the third-set tiebreaker to beat Conny Perrin of Switzerland 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(7).  Top seed Sachia Vickery fell at the first hurdle to Lesley Kerkhove of the Netherlands 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-3.

Fifteen-year-old 2017 Australian Open girls champion Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, a wild card, won her opening round match, beating No. 9 seed Arina Rodionova of Australia 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

The remaining five US men will play their second round qualifying matches Friday(tonight in the US), as will all six women.

Men's second round:

Taylor Fritz[1] v Mathias Bourgue(FRA)

Bjorn Fratangelo[4] v Zsombor Piros[WC](HUN)

Kevin King def.  Zdenek Kolar(CZE) 6-1, 7-6(2)

Denis Kudla def. Tobias Kamke(GER) 6-2, 7-5

Mackenzie McDonald def. Jozef Kovalik(SVK) 6-2, 6-2

Elias Ymer[27](SWE) def. Dennis Novikov 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-3

Stefan Kozlov def. Yannick Hanfmann[10](GER) 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4

Ernesto Escobedo[11] v Alessandro Giannessi(ITA)

Tommy Paul v Bernard Tomic[29](AUS)

Christian Harrison v Peter Polansky[26](CAN)


Women’s first round:

Lesley Kerkhove(NED) def. Sachia Vickery[1] 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-3

Julia Boserup[24] def. Cagla Kuyukakcay(TUR) 6-4, 6-4

Lin Zhu[3](CHN) def. Louisa Chirico 6-2, 4-6, 6-4

Bernarda Pera[14] def. Patty Schnyder(SUI) 6-3, 7-6(4)

Irina Falconi[15] def. Basak Eraydin(TUR) 6-1, 6-0

Danielle Collins def. Irina Khromacheva(RUS) 7-5, 6-3

Elitsa Kostova(BUL) def. Asia Muhammad 6-2, 3-6, 7-5

Caroline Dolehide def. Conny Perrin(SUI) 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(7)

Daniela Seguel(CHI)def. Jamie Loeb 3-6, 7-5, 6-3

Kayla Day def. Katie Boulter(GBR) 6-4, 6-7(1), 5-2 ret.


Women’s second round:

Julia Boserup[24] v Anna Kalinskaya(RUS)

Bernarda Pera[14] v Irina Bara(ROU)

Irina Falconi[15] v Polina Monova(RUS)

Danielle Collins v Danka Kovinic[6](MNE)

Caroline Dolehide v Viktoria Kuzmova[16](SVK)

Kayla Day v Xinyun Han[21](CHN)

The qualifying will be completed Friday for the ITF Grade 1 this week in Traralgon, with three Americans advancing to the final round: Brian Shi[2], William Woodall[12] and Niluka Madurawe[4].  Stanford recruit Madurawe was the subject of this feature recently in the San Jose Mercury News.

While the dual match season is drawing nearer, one of the premier individual tournaments on the West Coast, the Sherwood Cup, will take center stage this week.  ITF 2017 World Junior Champion Axel Geller of Argentina will make his collegiate debut, seeded No. 4 in the 32-player draw.  Baylor's Johannes Schretter is the top seed, with Tom Fawcett of Stanford seeded No. 2.  The Stanford team of Sameer Kumar and Michael Genender is seeded No. 1 in doubles.  The draws are available here.