Anisimova, Tiafoe and Fritz Advance to Australian Open Third Round; Damm Ousts No. 2 Seed in Costa Rica; Three Americans Advance in AO Junior Qualifying; Hui, Kang Reach Bolton Semifinals

Wednesday was a big day for young Americans at the Australian Open, with Amanda Anisimova, Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz all advancing to the third round with wins over seeds.  Ranking the wins is tough, but the 20-year-old Tiafoe probably had the best one, overcoming two-time grand slam finalist and No. 5 seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa  4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5.

Tiafoe has made the third round of a slam before, at last year's Wimbledon but it is the first time there for Fritz, 21, and Anisimova, 17. Fritz played brilliantly in his 6-3, 6-7(8), 7-6(6), 7-6(5) win over No. 30 seed Gael Monfils of France, as did Anisimova in her 54-minute shellacking of No. 24 seed Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine.

For more on Tiafoe's win as a part of an American men's tennis resurgence, see this article from the Australian Open website, where he mentions the 12s Junior Orange Bowl. This article from the AO website reports on the match.

Highlights of Anisimova's win over Tsurenko can be viewed here.

Two-time NCAA champion Danielle Collins, who had gone 0-5 in slam first round matches before this tournament, advanced to the third round with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Sachia Vickery.

Wednesday’s round 2 featuring Americans:

Women: 3-1

Sloane Stephens[5] d. Timea Babos[HUN] 6-3, 6-1

Amanda Anisimova  d. Lesia Tsurenko[24](UKR) 6-0, 6-2

Danielle Collins d. Sachia Vickery 6-3, 7-5

Men: 2-3

Marin Cilic[6](CRO) d. Mackenzie McDonald 7-5, 6-7(9), 6-4, 6-4

Taylor Fritz d. Gael Monfils[30(FRA) 6-3, 6-7(8), 7-6(6), 7-6(5)

Frances Tiafoe d. Kevin Anderson[5](RSA) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5

Thomas Fabbiano(ITA) d. Reilly Opelka 6-7(15), 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(10-5)

Diego Schwartzman[18](ARG) d. Denis Kudla 6-4, 7-5, 3-6, 6-7(6), 6-4

Thursday’s round 2 featuring Americans:

Sonya Kenin v Simona Halep[1](ROU)

Eugenie Bouchard(CAN) v Serena Williams[16]

Alize Cornet(FRA) v Venus Williams

Madison Brengle v Karolina Pliskova[7](CZE)

Anastasia Potapova(RUS) v Madison Keys[17]

Ryan Harrison v Daniil Medvedev[15](RUS)

The second round is complete at the Grade 1 Coffee Bowl in Costa Rica, with reigning Kalamazoo 16s champion Martin Damm ending Tuesday's long day with a 6-2, 7-5 win over No. 2 seed Pierre Malan of South Africa. With the bottom quarter now all Americans--Spencer Brachman, Alex Lee, Alex Bernard and Damm--an American boys semifinalist is assured.

The same is true of the girls draw, with the third quarter all Americans: Abigail Forbes, Hina Inoue, Jenna DeFalco and Charlotte Chavatipon. Chavatipon advanced to the round of 16 with a 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 3 seed Anna Geller of Argentina. 

The first Grade 1 of the year has concluded in Traralgon Australia, with No. 11 seed Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic defeating unseeded Zane Khan 6-3, 6-2 in the boys final.  Top seed Clara Tauson of Denmark won the girls title, beating No. 4 seed Leylah Fernandez of Canada 6-2, 6-3. Unseeded Olivia Gadeck and Megan Smith of Australia won the girls doubles, beating No. 3 seeds Natsumi Kawaguchi of Japan and Adrienn Nagy of Hungary 7-5, 3-6, 10-6 in the final. The boys doubles champions are top seeds Rinky Hijikata of Australian and Otto Virtanen of Finland, who beat the unseeded team of Lehecka and Wojciech Marek of Poland 6-0, 6-3 in the final.

The first round of Australian Open Junior qualifying, also held in Traralgon, is complete, with Americans Skyler Grishuk, Sasha Wood and Blaise Bicknell advancing to Thursday's final round. Live scoring is available via Tennis Ticker.

At the Tennis Europe Category 1 in Bolton England, unseeded Kyle Kang and Katherine Hui have advanced to the semifinals with wins today.  Kang defeated No. 3 seed Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez of Mexico 7-5, 6-1 and will play top seed Alexander Blockx of Belgium in the semifinals. Hui defeated No. 7 seed Stella Remander of Finland 6-1, 7-6 and will face No. 5 seed Cadence Brace of Canada, who beat top seed Victoria Jimenex Kasintseva of Andorra 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.  No. 8 seed Clervie Ngounoue lost in the third round Tuesday. Live scoring is available via Tennis Ticker.