Ten Americans Advance at Australian Open, 18 More Play First Round Matches Tuesday; Kang Reaches Final at J300 in Traralgon; ITF Junior Circuit Titles for Leach and Bittner; Florida State and Texas Men Win Top 20 Battles

The Australian Open began Monday in Melbourne, with few upsets and ten of the 15 Americans in action advancing to the second round. Below are the results from Monday and the matchups for Tuesday(tonight in the United States), with both Elli Mandlik and Denis Kudla receiving entry as lucky losers, putting the US count at 33.

Monday's first round results of Americans:
Daniil Medvedev[7](RUS) d. Marcos Giron 6-0, 6-1, 6-2
Frances Tiafoe[16] d. Daniel Altmaier(GER) 6-3. 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-6(6)
Sebastian Korda[29] d. Cristian Garin(CHI) 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2
Christopher Eubanks[WC] d. Soonwoo Kwon(KOR) 6-3, 6-7(1), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
Mackenzie McDonald d. Brandon Nakashima 7-6(5), 7-6(1), 1-6, 6-7(10), 6-4

Coco Gauff[7] d. Katerina Siniakova(CZE) 6-1, 6-4

Jessica Pegula[3] v Jaqueline Cristian(ROU) 6-0, 6-1

Victoria Azarenka[24](BLR) d. Sofia Kenin 6-4, 7-6(3)

Madison Keys[10] d. Anna Blinkova(RUS) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2

Danielle Collins[13] d. Anna Kalinskaya(RUS) 7-5, 5-7, 6-4

Caty McNally d. Laura Pigossi[LL](BRA) 7-5, 6-1

Anhelina Kalinina(UKR) d. CoCo Vandeweghe[Q]  6-3, 6-1 

Marta Kostyuk(UKR) d. Amanda Anisimova[28] 6-3, 6-4 

Bernarda Pera d. Moyuka Uchijima[WC](JPN) 2-6, 6-3, 6-1

Tuesday's first round matches featuring Americans:

Taylor Fritz[8] v Nikoloz Basilashvili(GEO)

JJ Wolf v Jordan Thompson(AUS)

Tommy Paul v Jan-Lennard Struff[Q](GER)

Jenson Brooksby v Christopher O’Connell(AUS)

Brandon Holt[Q] v Aleks Vukic[Q]

Maxime Cressy v Albert Ramos-Vinolas(ESP)

Ben Shelton v Zhizhen Zhang(CHN)

John Isner v Adrian Mannarino(FRA)

Denis Kudla[LL] v Roman Safiullin(RUS)

Shelby Rogers v Arianne Hartono[Q](NED)

Katie Volynets[Q] v Evgeniya Rodina(RUS)

Alison Riske-Amritraj v Marketa Vondrousova(CZE)

Sloane Stephens v Anastasia Potapova(RUS)

Claire Liu v Madison Brengle

Taylor Townsend[WC] v Diane Parry[WC](FRA)

Lauren Davis v Danka Kovinic(MNE)

Elli Mandlik[LL] v Irina-Camelia Begu[27](ROU)

Kyle Kang avenged his loss to Learner Tien last March in the final of the J300 in San Diego in Tuesday's semifinals of the ITF J300 in Traralgon Australia. The 17-year-old Stanford recruit prevailed 6-3, 6-3 in the match between unseeded Southern Californians to reach his first final at the J300 (former J1) level. Kang made the semifinals of the Easter Bowl last spring.

Kang's opponent in the final will be unseeded 15-year-old Federico Cina of Italy, who beat No. 5 seed Cooper Williams 7-6(5), 6-2. Cina will also be competing in his first J300-level final.  

The ITF Junior Circuit got back in full swing last week, with two singles and three doubles titles for Americans.

Jagger Leach and Allie Bittner won their first ITF Junior Circuit titles last week at the J60 (formerly Grade 4) in New Zealand. The only two Americans in the draw, and two of just a handful of players not from Australian and New Zealand, the 15-year-old Leach and and 16-year-old Bittner both had byes in the first round as seeds. Leach, the No. 2 seed, didn't drop a set in his five victories, beating unseeded Diordan Macababbad of Australia 6-1, 6-2 in the final. Bittner, the No. 10 seed, lost her only set in the final, where she defeated No. 13 seed I Wen Wan of Taiwan 4-6, 6-1, 6-1.

Ashton Bowers, who is still entered in the Australian Open Junior Championships, played the J200(formerly Grade 2) in India last week and reached the final. Seeded No. 1, the Auburn recruit lost to No. 6 seed Vlada Mincheva of Russia 6-3, 6-2 in the final. Alexia Harmon, the No. 4 seed, lost to Mincheva in the semifinals. Adhithya Ganesan, the top seed in the boys singles, lost in the semifinals.

The No. 1 seeds in the doubles, Aayush Bhat and Uzbekistan's Amir Milushev, won the title, beating No. 2 seeds Jangjun Kim of Korea and Amirkhamza Nasridinov of Russia 6-2, 6-4 in the final. Bhat, an SMU recruit, now has seven ITF Junior Circuit doubles titles. 

At the J60 in Germany, 16-year-old Amina Salibayeva claimed her first ITF Junior Circuit title, taking the doubles championship with Sofiia Mykhailets of Ukraine. The No. 3 seeds beat top seeds Anastasiia Firman of Ukraine and Nadia Kulbiej of Poland 6-2, 7-6(4) in the final. 

The third doubles title for Americans came at the J60 in Costa Rica, with unseeded Kenna Erickson and Linda Ziets Segura taking the championship with a 6-0, 7-5 win over No. 2 seeds Addison Yang Comiskey and Anastasia Kavounov of Canada. It's the first ITF Junior Circuit title for the 15-year-old Erickson, while Ziets Segura now has five doubles titles. 

One other note from the ITF Junior Circuit last week, with unseeded 14-year-old Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands taking the title at the J200 in Slovakia. Boogaard, the reigning Les Petits As champion, has won five consecutive ITF Junior Circuit singles titles and now has a 25-match winning streak. He has now made his way into the ITF Junior Circuit Top 100, at 98.

The two big Division I men's matches Sunday went to Texas and Florida State.  No. 8 Texas went to Gainesville and defeated No. 13 Florida 5-2. Eliot Spizzirri is back at the No. 1 position for Texas and he defeated Florida's No. 1, Axel Nefve, 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-2.  Texas played what is likely their lineup throughout the spring; Florida's two freshmen from Poland, announced in November and on the roster, did not play.

No. 7 Georgia went to Tallahassee to face the No. 16 Seminoles, and Florida State came away with a 5-2 victory. All-American champion and ITA No. 1 Ethan Quinn took his third loss in his last four matches, with Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc avenging his All-American loss to Quinn 6-1, 7-5. This is Florida State's second win in a row over Georgia, with the Seminoles beating the Bulldogs last year in Athens in the NCAA tournament.