Eleven Americans Advance at Australian Open; Hance Reaches Semifinals at ITF J300 in Traralgon; Top Six Seeds at J300 in Costa Rica are US Girls; Arora Claims J200 Title in India

Eight US women and three US men reached won their first round matches Monday at the Australian Open, with the last nine of the 40 Americans competing in the singles main draws on Tuesday's schedule(Monday night in the United States).

Monday's first round Australian Open results of Americans:

Coco Gauff[3] d. Kamilla Rakhimova(UZB) 6-2, 6-3

Amanda Anisimova[4] d Simona Waltert(SUI) 6-3, 6-2

Jessica Pegula[6] d. Anastasia Zakharova(RUS) 6-2, 6-1

Magda Linette(POL) d. Emma Navarro[15] 3-6, 6-3, 6-3

Peyton Stearns d. Sofia Kenin[27] 6-3, 6-2

Ann Li d. Camila Osorio(COL) 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-5

Alycia Parks d. Alexandra Eala(PHI) 0-6, 6-3, 6-2

Anna Bondar(HUN) d. Elli Mandlik[WC] 6-0, 6-4

McCartney Kessler d. Emiliana Arango(COL) 6-3, 6-2

Iva Jovic[29] d. Katie Volynets 6-2 ,6-3

Alex de Minaur[6] d. Mackenzie McDonald[LL] 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 

Learner Tien[25] d. Marcos Giron 7-6(2), 4-6, 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-2

Valentin Vacherot[30](MON) d. Martin Damm[Q] 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 

Botic van de Zandschulp(NED) d. Brandon Nakashima[27] 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(1), 7-6(3)

Tommy Paul[19] d. Aleks Kovacevic 6-4, 6-3, 6-3

Reilly Opelka d. Nicolai Budkov Kjaer[Q](NOR) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4

Tuesday's first round Australian Open matches featuring Americans:

Madison Keys[9] v Oleksandra Oliynykova(UKR)

Sloane Stephens[Q] v Karolina Pliskova(CZE)

Ashlyn Krueger v Sara Bejlek(CZE)

Ben Shelton[8] v Ugo Humbert(FRA)

Alex Michelsen v Karen Khachanov[15](RUS)

Taylor Fritz[9] v Valentin Royer(FRA)

Eliot Spizzirri v Joao Fonseca[28](BRA)

Nishesh Basavareddy[Q] v Chris O'Connell[WC](AUS)

Ethan Quinn v Talon Griekspoor[23](NED)

At the ITF J300 in Traralgon, the warmup for the Australian Open Junior Championships, Keaton Hance is through to the semifinals in both singles and doubles.

Hance, the No. 3 seed, will play No. 2 seed Luis Guto Miguel of Brazil, after Hance defeated No 12 seed Tito Chavez of Spain 6-3, 6-0 in the quarterfinals. Guto Miguel beat No. 6 seed Zangar Nurlanuly of Kazakhstan 6-2, 6-2.  Tuesday's semifinal will be the fifth meeting between Guto Miguel and Hance in the past 12 months, with the 16-year-old Brazilian winning the last three, including a 6-1, 6-1 victory in the final of the J500 in Merida Mexico in November. This will be their first meeting on hard courts.

The other boys semifinal will feature qualifier Ntungamili Raguin of Botswana and No. 8 seed Kuan-Shou Chen of Taiwan. Raguin defeated top seed Yannick Alexandrescou of France in the third round and unseeded Valentin Gonzalez-Galino of Spain in the quarterfinals. Chen took out No. 4 seed Jamie Mackenzie of Germany 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

Hance and Alexandrescou, the top seeds in doubles are through to the semifinals, where they will play No. 3 seeds Chen and Flynn Thomas of Switzerland. No. 6 seeds Ryan Cozad and Gavin Goode face No. 2 seeds Guto Miguel and Ziga Sesko of Slovenia in the other boys doubles semifinal.

In the girls singles, top seed Alena Kovackova lost in the quarterfinals to Orange Bowl champion Xinran Sun of China, the No. 5 seed, 6-2, 7-5. In the semifinals, Sun will play unseeded Rada Zolotareva of Russia, while No. 2 seed Ksenia Efremova of France will play No. 10 seed Kanon Sawashiro of Japan.

The qualifying is complete and the first round is underway at the ITF J300 Coffee Bowl in Costa Rica, with American girls at the forefront. Fifteen of the 32 places in the draw and six of the eight seeds belong to girls from the United States.

The girls seeds:

1. Welles Newman

2. Maggie Sohns

3. Jordyn Hazelitt

4. Janae Preston

5. Thara Gowda

6. Yael Saffar

7. Klara Blazkova(CZE)

8. Mariann Angel(MEX)

In contrast to the girls, there is only one boys seed from the US, No. 6 Marcel Latak; ten US boys, including qualifiers Daniel Malacek, William McEwan and Sean Grosman.

1. Alvaro Ariel Frutos Alonso (PAR)

2. Benjamin Azar (CAN)

3. Dan Brand (ISR)

4. Mathys Domenc (FRA)

5. Xavier Massotte (CAN)

6. Marcel Latak (USA)

7. Lenny Petit (MON)

8. Rhys Lawlor (GBR)

One of the US girls in the draw is Allison Wang, who received a wild card as the champion of last week's J60 in Costa Rica. The 14-year-old from Northern California won her first ITF Junior Circuit title without dropping a set, winning her Round Robin group with the loss of just six games and posting straight-sets victories in the knockout phase. She defeated 15-year-old compatriot Aarini Bhattacharya 6-2, 7-5 in the final.

In the boys doubles final, No. 3 seed Robert McAdoo and William McEwan defeated the unseeded Canadian team of Felix Roussel and Brayden Woo 6-4, 6-4.

I took the above photo in the third round of last spring's Easter Bowl, when Wang, the eventual finalist, defeated Anya Arora 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in the third round of the 14s tournament.

Arora, the 14-year-old sister of SMU junior Krish Arora, has spent the last several months competing in ITF tournaments in India, winning a J100 in New Delhi in late November and, last week, a J200 in Gurugram. 

The unseeded Arora defeated the No. 2 seed in the first round, the No. 8 seed in the quarterfinals, and perhaps most impressively, No. 3 seed Ekaterina Dotsenko of Russia 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the semifinals. 2025 Les Petis As champion Dotsenko, also 14, had won the J300 in New Delhi the week before and was 37-5 on the ITF Junior Circuit in 2025.

In the final, Arora defeated No. 7 seed Laura Valentine Pop of France 6-4, 6-1 and with the title moves her ITF junior ranking to a career-high 162.

The other title for US juniors on the ITF Junior Circuit last week was at the J30 in Mexico. Unseeded Christina Li, 13, and Natalia Elena Martinez, 14, won their first ITF Junior Circuit title with a 6-2, 6-3 win over No. 2 seeds Tamara Herman and Maria Ines Leon of Mexico.

At the J200 in Slovakia, Michael Savano lost in the boys doubles final.