Korda Reaches Australian Open Junior Semifinals; Lilov, Wen and Wiersholm Advance to Les Petits As Quarterfinals; Junior Orange Bowl 14s Photos, Videos

No. 7 seed Sebastian Korda has advanced to the semifinals of the  Australian Open Junior Championships, defeating unseeded Ray Ho of Taiwan 6-2, 6-3 in Thursday's quarterfinal.  Korda had ten aces, 28 winners and 18 unforced errors in a dominating performance. The 17-year-old from Bradenton Florida will play No. 2 seed Marko Miladinovic of Serbia, who ended the 15-match winning streak of No. 5 seed Hugo Gaston of France 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.  Korda is the first American boy to advance this far since Stefan Kozlov reached the final in 2014.

Top seed Timofey Skatov of Russia was beaten by No. 6 seed Chun Hsin Tseng of Taiwan 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 and will face unseeded Aidan McHugh of Great Britain, who defeated unseeded wild card Rinky Hijikata of Australia 6-4, 6-2.

Dalayna Hewitt was unable to join Korda in the semifinals, with the 17-year-old from Ohio falling to unseeded Clara Burel of France 7-6(4), 6-2. Hewitt fought back from a break down to force the first set tiebreaker, but Eddie Herr finalist Burel was able to return Hewitt's serve better than previous opponent's had and made few errors down the stretch.  Burel will face top seed Xinyu Wang of China, who won her third consecutive three-setter, beating No. 5 seed Naho Sato of Japan 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.

Unseeded Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy will face No. 2 seed En Shuo Liang of Taiwan in the other girls semifinal. Cocciaretto defeated No. 13 seed Daniela Vismane of Latvia 6-3, 6-4, while Liang defeated Xiyu Wang of China 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

Liang and Xinyu Wang will play in the girls doubles final Friday with the top seeds facing No. 7 seeds Violet Apisah of Papua New Guinea and Lulu Sun of Switzerland.  The boys doubles final will feature No. 7 seeds Gaston and Clement Tabur of France against the unseeded German team of Rudolph Molleker and Henri Squire, who received entry as alternates.

American juniors in quarterfinal action Thursday (Wednesday night in US):

Sebastian Korda[7] def. Ray Ho(TPE) 6-2, 6-3
Clara Burel(FRA) def. Dalayna Hewitt 7-6(4), 6-2

Friday’s American junior match (Thursday night in US):

Sebastian Korda [7] v Marko Miladinovic[2](SRB)


At Les Petits As, three of the four Americans in today's third round action advanced to the quarterfinals, including both Bolton champions: Katja Wiersholm and Victor Lilov.

Wiersholm, seeded fifth, defeated Junior Orange Bowl 12s champion Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5; Lilov, also seeded fifth, beat qualifier Luka Mikrut of Croatia 6-3, 6-3.  No. 8 seed Evan Wen advanced with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over unseeded Patrick Brady. Robin Montgomery fell to top seed Diana Shnaider of Russia 6-3, 7-5.

Wiersholm will face No. 15 seed Maria Sholokhova of Russia in Friday's quarterfinals, with Lilov taking on unseeded Jaden Weekes of Canada and Wen meeting No. 2 seed Konstantin Zhzhenov of Russia.

Wiersholm and Montgomery will play in Friday's girls doubles final against Fruhvirtova and Linda Noskova; Wen and Lilov advanced to the boys doubles semifinals.

Live streaming and live scoring is available at the tournament website.

With Les Petits As winding up, it's beyond time for me to post the last of the photos and videos from the Junior Orange Bowl last month.  Below are the photos of the 14s top finishers and short videos of the the 14s finals.

Neil Schiff Tennis Center, Univ of Miami, site of G14s, B14s quarterfinals and beyond