Hewitt and Gauff Reach Semifinals at Traralgon Grade 1; Seven of Eight US Juniors Advance to Bolton Quarterfinals; Americans End Australian Open First Round 10-21; Pro Circuit Update

The semifinals of the ITF Grade 1 in Traralgon Australia will feature two unseeded Americans: Coco Gauff and Dalayna Hewitt.  Gauff defeated unseeded Violet Apisah of Papua New Guinea 6-2, 6-3, a scoreline that seems deceptive, given that the live scoring showed that nearly every game went to deuce.  Hewitt was up 5-2 in the third set against No. 5 seed Joanna Garland of Taiwan, lost her break, but broke for the 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win.  Gauff will play top seed En Shuo Liang of Taiwan, whom she defeated 6-1, 6-2 at the Grade 1 in College Park this past summer, and Hewitt will face 2016 College Park finalist Xiyu Wang of China, the No. 8 seed.  Both US boys lost in the quarterfinals, with No. 13 seed Andrew Fenty losing to unseeded Clement Tabur of France 6-3, 6-2 and No. 7 seed Sebastian Korda falling to No. 2 seed Marko Miladinovic of Serbia 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-4.  Tabur will face reigning Orange Bowl champion and No. 5 seed Hugo Gaston of France in one semifinal, while Miladinovic meets unseeded Aidan McHugh of Great Britain in the other.

Three US boys and all four US girls on the USTA's 14-and-under team competing in Europe this month have reached the quarterfinals of the Bolton tournament.  No. 4 seed Evan Wen defeated unseeded Yujiro Onuma of Great Britain 6-3, 6-4; No. 11 seed John Kim came back to beat No. 5 seed Dino Prizmic of Croatia 0-6, 6-2, 7-5 and No. 7 seed Victor Lilov defeated British wild card Ben Feltham 6-0, 6-2. No. 14 seed Jonah Braswell lost to top seed Mili Poljicak of Croatia 6-3, 6-3.
Lilov (who is still being shown as competing for Bulgaria in the draws due to an error) and Wen are into the doubles semifinals.

In girls third round action, No. 8 seed Vivian Ovrootsky defeated No. 12 seed Matylda Burylo of Norway 6-1, 6-1; No. 5 seed Katja Wiersholm came back for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 11 seed Kuoka Kubo of Japan; No. 13 seed Robin Montgomery cruised past No. 3 seed Joelle Steur of Germany 6-0, 6-0 and No. 2 seed Katrina Scott downed No. 16 seed Tara Zoppas of France 6-1, 6-3.  Wiersholm and Montgomery have advanced to the doubles semifinals.

Draws can be found at the Tennis Europe tournament website.

Americans competing in the Australian Open had better results Tuesday than those posted by their compatriots on Monday.  Lucky loser Bernarda Pera, Lauren Davis and No. 17 seed Madison Keys have joined Nicole Gibbs in the second round of the women's draw, with Pera picking up her first slam victory in a 6-2, 6-2 defeat of teenage qualifier Anna Blinkova of Russia. 

Tennys Sandgren won his first main draw match at a slam, beating veteran Jeremy Chardy of France, with wild card Tim Smyczek, No. 13 seed Sam Querrey and qualifier Denis Kudla joining Ryan Harrison and Mackenzie McDonald in the second round.  Kudla defeated Steve Johnson in the only first round match featuring two Americans.

Tuesday Results (Monday night in US):

Novak Djokovic[14](SRB) def. Donald Young 6-1, 6-2, 6-4
Juan Martin Del Potro[12](ARG) def. Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 6-4, 6-3
Johanna Konta[9](GBR) def. Madison Brengle 6-3, 6-1
Madison Keys[17] def. Qiang Wang(CHN) 6-1, 7-5
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni[28](CRO) def. Shelby Rogers 7-6(6), 5-7, 6-2
Tennys Sandgren def. Jeremy Chardy(FRA) 6-4, 7-6(2), 6-2
Anastasija Sevastova[14](LAT) def. Varvara Lepchenko 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
Barbora Strycova[20](CZE) def. Kristie Ahn 6-1, 7-5
Tim Smyczek def. Alexei Popyrin(AUS) 6-3, 6-7(14), 6-3, 6-3
Lauren Davis def. Jana Cepelova(SVK) 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-1
Sam Querrey[13] def. Feliciano Lopez(ESP) 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
Denis Kudla def. Steve Johnson 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-2
Aliaksandra Sasnovich(BLR) def. Christina McHale 6-3, 6-2
Albert Ramos-Vinolas[21](ESP) def. Jared Donaldson 6-2, 6-3, 6-4
Bernarda Pera def. Anna Blinkova(RUS) 6-2, 6-2

Wednesday's second round matches (Tuesday night in US)

Mackenzie McDonald v Grigor Dimitrov[3](BUL)
Nicole Gibbs v Kiki Bertens[30](NED)
Ryan Harrison v Pablo Cuevas[31](URU)

This week's USTA Pro Circuit events are both in Florida, with a $15,000 men's Futures in Sunrise and a $25,000 women's tournament in Orlando.   Florida freshmen Duarte Vale and Oliver Crawford advanced to the main draw with four qualifying wins, as did Justin Butsch(LSU) and Michael Redlicki(Arkansas).  Last week's champion in Naples, Javier Marti of Spain, is the top seed this week.

In the very strong Orlando draw, Francesca DiLorenzo and Caitlin Whoriskey are among today's qualifiers, as is 16-year-old Olga Danilovic of Serbia.  As with the men, the top seed is last week's winner, Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine.  Maria Mateas, Sofia Sewing, Jada Robinson and Megan McCray received the main draw wild cards. Although she said she was going to play the Florida events this month, so far ITF World Junior champion Whitney Osuigwe has not appeared in either draw.