US Open girls champion Mika Stojsavljevic didn't play the ITF J300 Traralgon tournament last week and the 16-year-old from Great Britain may regret that choice now, with the No. 2 seed dropping her first round match at the Australian Open Junior Championships to Anamaria Oana of Romania 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. Oana, ranked 79, only avoided qualifying by reaching the doubles final in Traralgon, and while that might have been a stroke of good fortune, she can't have been happy with her draw in her junior slam debut. But she now has her first victory in a slam and a day to savor it before she plays qualifier Shiho Tsujioka of Japan in the second round.
The top-seeded Americans in action Saturday were both pushed to third set tiebreakers, with No. 4 seed Jack Kennedy saving two match points in his 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) win over Australian wild card Daniel Jovanovski.
Serving at 4-5, 15-30 in the third set, Kennedy stumbled and fell behind the baseline, with Jovanovski's shot whizzing by him to leave the Kalamazoo 18s finalists down two match points. Jovanovski, who was starting to show signs of fatigue two hours into the match, hit a forehand long to squander his first match point, but he played a fine point on the second, with only Kennedy's outstanding defense keeping him in the point and the match. After returning several near-certain Jovanovski winners, Kennedy eventually coaxed the error from Jovanovski, who netted a backhand, his opportunity lost. Kennedy went on to dominate the tiebreaker, leading 4-0 and 8-4, with Jovanovski and the once animated Court 5 crowd looking and sounding much less engaged and optimistic than they had three games earlier.
Kennedy will face Karim Bennani of Morocco in the second round.
No. 6 seed Kristina Penickova was down 6-3, 4-2 to Kamonwan Yodpetch of Thailand, but won the last four games of the second set. With Yodpetch serving at 5-2 in the third set, Penickova had a match point, but Yodpetch held and Penickova couldn't finish out the win serving at 5-3. Penickova had to save a break point at 5-all, while Yodpetch held at love serving at 5-6, but it was Penickova who stepped up in the last game, taking 8-1 and 9-3 leads before closing out the two-hour victory.
She will play Yuhan Wang of China in the second round.
Saturday's results of Americans in first round Australian Open Juniors:
Jack Kennedy[4] d. Daniel Jovanovski[WC](AUS) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4)
Maxwell Exsted[10] d. Cooper Kose[WC](AUS) 6-3, 6-4
Jan Kumstat[1](CZE) d.
Maximus Dussault 6-2, 6-2
Andrea De Marchi[12](ITA) d.
Noah Johnston 7-5, 6-4
Thea Frodin d. Nauhany Vitoria Leme Da Silva(BRA) 6-3, 7-6(1)
Kristina Penickova[6] d. Kamonwan Yodpetch(THA) 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5)
Petra Konjikusic(SRB) d. Maya Iyengar 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(7)
Sunday's Australian Open first round junior matches featuring Americans:
Dominick Mosejczuk d. Nikita Bilozertsev(UKR) 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(8)
Benjamin Willwerth v Alan Wazny[15](POL)
Amir Omarkhanov[2](KAZ) d. Matisse Farzam 7-6(3), 7-6(8)
Jagger Leach[5] v Ivan Iutkin(RUS)
Kanon Swashiro(JPN) d. Aspen Schuman 6-3, 6-2
Mia Pohankova(SVK) d. Annika Penickova 2-6, 7-6(3), 6-2
Daphnee Mpetshi Perricard(FRA) d. Shannon Lam 7-5, 6-2
Sonja Zhenikhova(GER) d. Claire An 6-3, 6-4
Doubles begin
Sunday with eight first round matches in both draws. Traralgon J300 champions Jagger Leach and Great Britain's Oliver Bonding the top seeds and Traralgon finalists Maxwell Exsted and Czech Republic's Jan Kumstat the No. 2 seeds.
Kristina and Annika Penickova, the Traralgon girls doubles champions, are the No. 6 seeds. Stojsavljevic and Japan's Wakana Sonobe are the top seeds in the girls doubles draw.
Three young Americans joined Tommy Paul in the
Australian Open's last 16 with wins Saturday in Melbourne: 19-year-old Learner Tien(USC), 20-year-old Alex Michelsen and 22-year-old Ben Shelton(Florida).
With his 7-6(10), 6-3, 6-3 win over Corentin Moutet of France, Tien becomes the
youngest man to reach the round of 16 at the Australian Open since Rafael Nadal did it in 2005. Michelsen's 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-2 win over No. 19 Karen Khachanov of Russia gave him two Top 20 victories in the first week, and he also joined some
elite names in the "youngest to" category for American men. While Tien and Michelsen are through to a slam second week for the first time, Shelton is trying to return to the AO quarterfinals, which he reached in 2023 as he was beginning his first full year on the ATP Tour. No. 21 seed
Shelton defeated No. 16 seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy for the first time in three meetings 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5).
Saturday's third round Australian Open results of Americans:
Emma Navarro[8] d. Ons Jabeur(TUN) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
Madison Keys[19] d. Danielle Collins[10] 6-4, 6-4
Gael Monfils(FRA) d. Taylor Fritz[4] 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(1), 6-4
Jannik Sinner[1](ITA) d. Marcos Giron 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
Alex Michelsen d. Karen Khachanov[19](RUS) 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-2
Ben Shelton[21] d. Lorenzo Musetti[16](ITA) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5)
Learner Tien[Q] d. Corentin Moutet(FRA) 7-6(10), 6-3, 6-3
Sunday's fourth round Australian Open matches featuring Americans:
Coco Gauff[3] v Belinda Bencic(SUI)
Tommy Paul[12] v Alejandro Davidovich Fokina(ESP)
The finals of the
ITF J300 Coffee Bowl in Costa Rica are tonight, with unseeded Ava Rodriguez playing No. 4 seed Mariella Thamm of Germany for the girls singles title and unseeded Ryan Cozad and Yubel Ubri in an all-US battle for the boys title.
Cozad defeated qualifier Michael Antonius 6-2, 6-4 and Ubri beat No. 8 seed Jack Satterfield 7-5, 6-1 in last night's semifinals. Cozad, who swept the title last week at the J100 warmup in Costa Rica, is also in today's doubles final, with Gavin Goode.
Elli Mandlik, the No. 8 seed, defeated No. 6 seed Whitney Osuigwe 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-3 in the all-USA singles final.
Unseeded Ayana Akli(South Carolina) and Abigail Rencheli(NC State) beat the No. 1 and No. 3 seeds in doubles on their way to the final, but lost to No. 2 seeds Jasmijn Gimbrere and Lisa Zaar(Pepperdine) of Sweden 6-4, 3-6, 10-8 in the final.
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