Americans Filin and Razeghi Reach Bolton Final; Mayot and Jacquemot of France Top Seeds at Australian Open Junior Championships; Bellis's Comeback Continues

After claiming both the girls and boys doubles titles today at the Tennis Europe Teen Tennis International in Bolton England, the United States will earn a third title on Friday, when No. 9 seed Alexander Razeghi and unseeded Nikita Filin face off for the boys singles championship.

Razeghi defeated No. 7 seed Viktor Frydrych of Great Britain 6-1, 6-4, while Filin took out unseeded Jamie Diack, also of Great Britain 7-6(2), 7-5.

Razeghi has already earned one title at Filin's expense, in the doubles final, when he and Mitchell Lee, the No. 8 seeds, beat Filin and Kaylan Bigun, the No. 4 seeds, 6-4, 6-4.

In the girls doubles final, also between two American teams, No. 7 seeds Brooklyn Olson and Mia Slama defeated unseeded Lexington Reed and Maya Joint 6-3, 2-6, 10-7.

While the boys singles final is all-USA, the girls singles final is all-Great Britain, with Mingge Xu and Hephzibah Oluwadare meeting for the title. The unseeded Xu defeated No. 4 seed Sarah Iliev of France 6-4, 6-3 and Oluwadare beat No. 3 seed Anastasiia Firman of Ukraine 6-2, 6-4. Both Xu and Oluwadare played the Junior Orange Bowl 12s last month, so they are younger than many of those in the draw in this 14-and-under event.

The draws for the Australian Open Junior Championships, which begin Saturday (Friday night in the US), have been released, although without the qualifiers. I'm not sure if the qualifying is over and the results haven't been posted on the ITF website, or there was a delay in finishing, but as of now, there are just six Americans in the draws: Martin Damm[2], Dali Blanch, Aidan Mayo, Robin Montgomery[2], Savannah Broadus and Ellie Coleman.

As I pointed out back in December, Alexandra Eala of the Philippines did not enter, but it must have been a mistake on her part, because she was granted a wild card. The seeds:

Australian Open Junior Seeds:

1. Harold Mayot(FRA)
2. Martin Damm(USA)
3. Shunsuke Mitsui(JPN)
4. Jeffrey Von Der Schulenburg(SUI)
5. Arthur Cazaux(FRA)
6. Leandro Riedi(SUI)
7. Dominic Stricker(SUI)
8. Khololwam Montsi(RSA)
9. Flavio Cobolli(ITA)
10. Dalibor Svrcina(CZE)
11. Eliakim Coulibaly(CIV)
12. Karlis Ozolins(LAT)
13. Nicholas David Ionel(ROU)
14. Hanwen Li (CHN)
15. Bu Yunchaokete(CHN)
16. Terence Atmane(FRA)

1. Elsa Jacquemot(FRA)
2. Robin Montgomery(USA)
3. Kamilla Bartone(LAT)
4. Alexandra Eala[WC](PHI)
5. Linda Fruhvirtova(CZE)
6. Maria Bondarenko(RUS)
7. Oksana Selekhmeteva(RUS)
8. Polina Kudermetova(RUS)
9. Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva(AND)
10. Melodie Collard(CAN)
11. Mai Nirundorn(THA)
12. Ane Mintegi Del Olmo(ESP)
13. Zhuoxuan Bai(CHN)
14. Selena Janicijevic(FRA)
15. Priska Nugroho(INA)
16. Hong Yi Cody Wong(HKG)

Americans picked up three second round wins Friday at the Australian Open, with Taylor Fritz coming from two sets down to beat Kevin Anderson and John Isner getting a straight-sets victory. That gives the US five men in the third round of the Australian Open for the first time since 2008. Only four can make it to the round of 16, with Sam Querrey and Tennys Sandgren playing each other tonight.

The third American win Friday was by Cici Bellis, who defeated No. 20 seed Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4. The 20-year-old Bellis, who won her first slam match at age 15, will be playing in a slam third round for the third time, but first since 2017, after two years of injuries and surgery. For more on her long battle to return, see this Associated Press article.

Thursday’s second round singles matches featuring Americans:

Women: 1-3
Elina Svitolina[5](UKR) d. Lauren Davis  6-2, 7-6(6)
Cici Bellis d. Karolina Muchova[20](CZE) 6-4, 6-4
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova[30](RUS) d. Taylor Townsend 7-5, 7-6(1)
Yulia Putintseva(KAZ) d. Danielle Collins[26] 6-4, 2-6, 7-5

Men: 2-0
Taylor Fritz[29] d. Kevin Anderson(RSA) 4-6, 6-7(5), 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-2
John Isner[19] d. Alejandro Tabilo[Q](CHI) 6-4, 6-3, 6-3

Friday’s third round singles matches featuring Americans:

Women:
Serena Williams[8] v Qiang Wang[27](CHN)
Coco Gauff v Naomi Osaka[3](JPN)
Madison Keys[10] v. Maria Sakkari[22](GRE)
Sofia Kenin[14] v. Shuai ZhangCHN)
Alison Riske[18] v Julia Goerges(GER)

Men:
Tommy Paul v Marton Fucsovics(HUN)
Tennys Sandgren v Sam Querrey