Ten Americans Advance in Australian Open Qualifying; Winter Nationals Recaps; Jenkins Takes USTA Coaching Job; Kenin Beats Top Seed in Hobart

Day Two of qualifying for the 2019 Australian Open is Wednesday (tonight in the United States), with nine Americans in first round action after the US players went 10-4 in Tuesday's matches.  JC Aragone(Virginia), who was not originally in the qualifying draw, received entry as an alternate, putting the total of Americans in qualifying this week at 23.  Tuesday's results:

Jennifer Brady[16] d. Karman Thandi(IND) 6-0, 7-5

Beatriz Haddad Maia(BRA) d. Lauren Davis 6-3, 6-3

Varvara Lepchenko[23] d. Viktoriya Tomova(BUL) 4-6 ,6-2, 7-6 (10-6)

Christina McHale d. Jaimee Fourlis(AUS) 6-4 6-2

Kristie Ahn d. Gabriella Taylor(GBR) 6-1, 6-1

Nicole Gibbs[18] d. Elistsa Kostova 6-4, 6-2

Danielle Lao d. Jia-Jing Lu(CHN) 6-2, 6-2

Caroline Dolehide[19] d. Rebecca Marino(CAN) 6-2, 6-2

Xiyu Wang(CHN) d. Claire Liu[27] 6-3, 6-2

Asia Muhammad d. Sesil Karatantcheva(BUL) 3-6, 6-1, 6-4

Christopher Eubanks d. Corentin Moutet(FRA) 2-6, 6-1, 6-4

Tim Smyczek d. Lukas Lacko(SVK) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (11-9)

Peter Polansky[10](CAN) d. Ernesto Escobedo 6-4, 3-6, 6-4

Maxime Janvier(FRA) d. JC Aragone[ALT] 5-7, 6-0, 6-4

Jamie Loeb and Allie Kiick are the two US women playing first round matches Wednesday. Bjorn Fratangelo[24], Tommy Paul, Donald Young, Sebastian Korda[WC], Mitchell Krueger, Christian Harrison and Noah Rubin[28] are the US men playing first round matches Wednesday

The Tennis Recruiting Network is featuring recaps of the finals of the USTA Winter Nationals last week throughout this week. Yesterday, the 12s titles by Mason Nguyen and Amber Yin were reviewed and today the focus was on the 14s titles by Sebastian Gorzny and Ria Bhakta. Look for the 16s and 18s recaps on Wednesday and Thursday.

The USTA announced yesterday that former Clemson star Jermaine Jenkins has been added to Player Development's national coaching staff. Release is below:

Jermaine Jenkins Hired as USTA National Coach for Women's Tennis ORLANDO, Fla., January 7, 2019 -- The USTA today announced that Jermaine Jenkins, former collegiate All-American and recent hitting coach for Venus Williams, has been hired by USTA Player Development as a National Coach for Women's Tennis. He begins today and will be coaching out of the USTA National Campus in Orlando, reporting to Head of Women's Tennis Kathy Rinaldi. Jenkins, 34, has served as Venus Williams' hitting coach since July 2015, a timeframe in which she reached the Australian Open and Wimbledon singles finals and ranked as high as No. 5 in the world. He has also spent time coaching Americans Gonzales Austin and Jarmere Jenkins, his younger brother who currently serves as a hitting partner for Serena Williams.  Jermaine starred at Clemson from 2003-07, where he was a team MVP and captain and earned doubles All-America honors in 2004.

Sonya Kenin had the misfortune of drawing the top seed at the WTA International tournament in Hobart, but, as she had done last week in Auckland, she handled first round the seed she drew with no problem, beating Caroline Garcia of France 6-3, 6-2. Kenin, who turned 20 in November of last year, had beaten Garcia previously at the WTA tournament in Mallorca last summer.  For more on her win, see this article from the WTA website.