Top Seeds Bruno Kuzuhara and Petra Marcinko Claim Australian Open Junior Titles

Bruno Kuzuhara could not have known coming into the Australian boys final with No. 4 seed Jakub Mensik that it would take nearly four hours to earn his second junior slam title of the week, but the 17-year-old from Florida was up to the task. 

With Mensik suffering from cramps that saw him double fault on the last two points of the match and be taken off the court in a wheelchair, the ending of the 7-6(4), 6-7(6), 7-5 marathon was not what anyone would have preferred. Yet there was plenty of riveting tennis in the three hours and forty minutes leading up to that conclusion, with twists and turns galore.

Kuzuhara, the top seed, went down 3-1 in the first set, with his forehand unreliable, but he steadied himself, broke back for 3-all and maintained his level until the tiebreaker. He then elevated it, taking a 5-1 lead in the tiebreaker and closing it out the first set with a forehand winner.

There was no letdown from either player in the second set, with no breaks of serve, although Kuzuhara began to show some frustration when he was unable to convert any of the eight break points he had, including three with Mensik serving at 5-5. Serving at 5-6, Kuzuhara managed to save three set points in a 15-minute, seven-deuce game that included a 36-shot rally.

In the tiebreaker, Kuzuhara fought back from a 5-3 deficit and saved another set point at 6-5, but Mensik won on his fifth opportunity, ending the 96-minute set.

Kuzuhara got the first break since early in the first set to take a 2-0 lead, but gave it right back. The games continued to be closely contested and the rallies often lengthy, but after Kuzuhara took a 5-4 lead, Mensik began to move more gingerly. At the changeover the trainer visited, but he didn't receive treatment and he did manage to hold serve in the next game.

With his leg muscles becoming less cooperative with each passing minute, Mensik managed to hold serve for 5-5, and he even had a look at a break point in the next game, but Kuzuhara saved it and went up 6-5. Another visit from the trainer at the changeover produced some rubbing that did not appear to be any help, with Mensik struggling to get in position to serve.

He did not make a first serve and made two errors for 0-30, but Kuzuhara made an error for 15-30 and Mensik somehow won a 33-shot rally for 30-30. But that was his last gasp. He fell to the ground, received a time violation warning, got up, double faulted, fell again, again got up and again double faulted to end the match.  

As he lay behind the baseline, Kuzuhara went over to offer his condolences, and shortly thereafter the supervisor and medical staff surrounded Mensik, getting him into a wheelchair and off the court for medical treatment. 

Mensik was not present for the trophy ceremony, which saw Kuzuhara receive his trophy from Darren Cahill and address the crowd in English, Portuguese (he was born in Brazil) and Japanese(he is of Japanese heritage).

Kuzuhara, who won the doubles title Friday with Coleman Wong, had the distinction of avenging losses in his last three matches. In the quarterfinals, he beat Edas Butvilas of Lithuania, who had beaten him last week in the semifinals of the J1 in Traralgon. In the semifinals, he took out Adolfo Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay, who had beaten him in the final of the Orange Bowl. And in the final, he got by Mensik, who had beaten him in the second round of the US Open last September.

The girls final that preceded the boys was much less dramatic.

Croatia's Petra Marcinko, who began the Australian Open Junior Championships by losing the first set she played, ended it in style Saturday on Rod Laver Arena, with the top seed defeating No. 8 seed Sofia Costoulas of Belgium 7-5, 6-1.

Marcinko did not play the ITF J1 warmup tournament in Traralgon last week, and in her absence, it was Costoulas, the No. 8 seed this week, who took that title. But Marcinko looked more confident and polished in the final, even after letting her 3-1 lead in the first set slip away.

Marcinko, who turned 16 a week before winning the Orange Bowl last month, didn't look as sharp as she had in her 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 semifinal win over Liv Hovde Friday, with her serve much less effective. Costoulas, also 16, was coming off an easier semifinal, but it appeared nerves, rather than fatigue, was responsible for the patchy play in the first few games. 

From 3-1 down, Costoulas took a 5-4 lead in first set, but Marcinko got the break she needed at 5-all 30-40, when Costoulas hit a backhand well wide. Showing off her all-court game, Marcinko went to the serve and volley on set point, and once that set was secured, she seemed to relax and play freely.

Marcinko broke to start the second set, and when she got a second break to go up 3-0, the result began to look inevitable. Costoulas did manage to hold down 4-0, but Marcinko was too confident and too solid to allow any thought of a comeback.

Marcinko is the first Croatian girl to win the Australian Open title since Ana Konjuh in 2013 and the fourth overall, with Mirjana Lucic(1997) and Jelena Kostanic(1998) the other two. 

With the title, Marcinko solidifies her hold on the No. 1 spot in the ITF junior rankings.