Quinn and Spizzirri Join Five Other American Men in Australian Open Third Round; Harding Qualifies for Australian Open Junior Championships; ITA Kickoff Weekend Starts with Loss for Host South Carolina

Of the seven US men who have advanced to the third round of the Australian Open, four of them competed in college, all in the past five years.

While Ben Shelton(Florida) and Learner Tien(USC) are seeded and expected to be in round three, Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) and Ethan Quinn(Georgia) have both eliminated seeds and looked good doing it.

Spizzirri won his first five-set match Thursday, beating the always dangerous Yibing Wu of China 6-2, 6-4, 6-7(4), 4-6, 6-3, while Quinn dispensed with Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-1. Hurkacz, who is returning after a long injury layoff, was in top form at United Cup and was considered one of the most dangerous unseeded players in the men's draw.

Quinn got stuck with the check at the annual US men's pre-tournament dinner, according to this amusing article from Ben Rothenberg for The Second Serve, but his run has certainly softened the financial blow from that bad luck.

Rothenberg also talked with Learner Tien and Michael Chang about their recent partnership in this post on his Substack newsletter Bounces.

Quotes from several other former collegiate men can be found in this article from The Grandstand.

The number of US women in the third round is also seven, with Peyton Stearns(Texas) the only former collegian among them.

Thursday's second round results of Americans:

Jessica Pegula[6] d. McCartney Kessler 6-0, 6-2

Amanda Anisimova[4] d. Katerina Siniakova(CZE) 6-1, 6-4

Madison Keys[9] d. Ashlyn Krueger 6-1, 7-5

Peyton Stearns d. Petra Marcinko(CRO) 6-2, 7-5

Ben Shelton[8] d. Dane Sweeny[Q](AUS) 6-3, 6-2, 6-2

Taylor Fritz[9] d. Vit Kopriva(CZE) 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(4)

Karen Khanchanov[15](RUS) d. Nishesh Basavareddy[Q] 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 

Ethan Quinn d. Hubert Hurkacz(POL) 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-1

Eliot Spizzirri d. Yibing Wu[Q](CHN) 6-2, 6-4, 6-7(4), 4-6, 6-3

Friday's third round matches featuring Americans:

Coco Gauff[3] v Hailey Baptiste

Iva Jovic[29] v Jasmine Paolini[7](ITA)

Frances Tiafoe[29] v Alex de Minaur[6](AUS)

Learner Tien[25] v Nuno Borges(POR)

Tommy Paul[19] v Alejandro Davidovich Fokina[14](ESP)

The Australian Open Junior Championships begin Saturday, with the draws expected to be released overnight here in the United States.

Ciara Harding qualified for the main draw with a win Thursday, beating Australian wild card Georgia Campbell 7-5, 6-1 in the final round of qualifying.

The 16-year-old from Florida, who did not qualify for the J300 in Traralgon, will be making her junior slam debut. She is currently 192 in the ITF junior rankings.

Botswana's Ntungamili Raguin, who reached the Traralgon semifinals as a qualifier was successful in qualifying for the Australian Open Junior Championships, so where he lands in the draw will be interesting.

The annual ITA Kickoff Weekend to determine the participants in the Team Indoor Championships was scheduled to begin Friday, but due to the massive winter storm expected to impact much of the country dates and times are being adjusted in many locations.

Men's host South Carolina moved their regional up to today and tomorrow from Saturday and Sunday, and the Gamecocks lost today to Clemson 4-2.  Harvard beat Michigan State 4-2, so the first men's Team Indoor qualifier will be decided tomorrow between Clemson and Harvard.

The best way to track the results at the 14 men's and 14 women's sites is here.  Cracked Racquets will be providing CrossCourt coverage at several sites at their YouTube channel.