Khan Reaches Grade 1 Final in Tralragon; Five US Players in AO Junior Qualifying; Top Seed Noel Out in Costa Rica Grade 1 First Round; Americans Close Out Australian Open Round 1 Tuesday with Six Wins

Orange Bowl finalist Zane Khan has advanced to the final of the ITF Grade 1 in Traralgon Australia, beating No. 15 seed Liam Draxl of Canada 7-6(1), 6-7(6), 6-2 in Tuesday's semifinals.  After nearly three hours of play Draxl earned the split and at that time play was suspended, no doubt to conform to the ITF's heat rule. Cannon Kingsley, the No. 9 seed, had already dropped his semifinal to No. 11 seed Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 when play was suspended.

The girls semifinals were also finished before the heat rule took effect, with top seed Clara Tauson of Denmark defeating No. 9 seed Emma Raducanu of Great Britain 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 and No. 4 seed Leylah Fernandez of Canada beating unseeded Yasmine Mansouri of France 6-3, 6-1.

In order to avoid the heat, and also with the Australian Open Junior Championships qualifying beginning Wednesday, the finals of the Grade 1 are scheduled for late afternoon in Traralgon. Live scoring is available here.

For some reason, the qualifying draws for the Australian Open Junior Championships have not been posted on the ITF Junior site, but the pairings are showing on the Tennis Ticker live scoring and PDFs of the draws can be found here: boys, girls. Five Americans are in the qualifying: Adam Neff, Blaise Bicknell[12], Dakota Fordham, Sasha Wood[13] and Skyler Grishuk. Grishuk, who won a Grade 3 in Japan last week, is the top seed in qualifying.

Alexa Noel elected not to go to Australia this year (she went last year), opting instead for the Grade 1 in Costa Rica, but she lost in the first round yesterday, to 15-year-old Melodie Collard of Canada, 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-2. For more on this and other upsets in the girls draw Monday, see this article from the tournament website. There are seven US vs US second round girls matches today, with the most interesting that of friends and training partners Madison Sieg and Elaine Chervinsky, who meet again for the third time in two months. Chervinsky won the 16s Eddie Herr final and the following week Sieg beat Chervinsky in the 16s Orange Bowl quarterfinals.

Top seed Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan (the 2017 Junior Orange Bowl champion) and No. 2 seed Pierre Malan of South Africa advanced in the boys draw with straight-sets wins.

The second round of the Australian Open begins Wednesday with American men going 6-10 and American women going 9-6 in the first round.

Nine Americans are in action in Wednesday's second round, including the all-US women's match between Danielle Collins and Sachia Vickery.

Tuesday’s round 1 matches featuring Americans:

Men: 1-5
Ryan Harrison d. Jiri Vesely(CZE) 6-0, 7-5, 6-3
Alex Bolt[WC](AUS) d. Jack Sock[WC] 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
Hyeon Chung[24](KOR) d. Bradley Klahn 6-7(5), 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2, 6-4
Pierre-Hugues Herbert(FRA) d. Sam Querrey 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-3, 6-1
Novak Djokovic[1](SRB) d. Mitchell Krueger[Q] 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
Gilles Simon[29](FRA) d. Bjorn Fratangelo[Q] 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-2

Women: 5-2
Sonya Kenin d. Veronika Kudermetova[Q](RUS) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5
Venus Williams d. Mihaela Buzarnescu[25](ROU) 6-7(3), 7-6(3), 6-2
Serena Williams[16] d. Tatjana Maria(GER) 6-0, 6-2
Natalia Vikhlyantseva[Q](RUS) d. Varvara Lepchenko[Q] 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-4
Madison Brengle d. Misaki Doi[Q](JPN) 6-4, 6-0
Bianca Andreescu[Q](CAN) d. Whitney Osuigwe[WC] 7-6(1), 6-7(0), 6-3
Madison Keys[17] d. Destanee Aiava[WC](AUS) 6-2, 6-2

Wednesday's second round matches featuring Americans:

Sloane Stephens[5] v Timea Babos[HUN]
Lesia Tsurenko[24](UKR) v Amanda Anisimova
Danielle Collins v Sachia Vickery

Marin Cilic[6](CRO) v Mackenzie McDonald
Gael Monfils[30(FRA) v Taylor Fritz
Kevin Anderson[5](RSA) v Frances Tiafoe
Thomas Fabbiano(ITA) v Reilly Opelka
Denis Kudla v Diego Schwartzman[18](ARG)