Tien Reaches Australian Open Junior Quarterfinals; Paul Defeats Shelton to Reach Men's Semifinals; Americans Abound in Costa Rica ITF J300 Quarterfinals; Three Americans Reach Les Petits As Third Round; Virginia Men, Texas Women Remain No. 1
2022 USTA National 18s champion Learner Tien is the last American in singles at the Australian Open Junior Championships, with the 17-year-old USC freshman defeating unseeded Jakub Filip of the Czech Republic 6-0, 6-2 in Wednesday's third round. Tien, also unseeded, was never challenged in the match, with Filip struggling on serve and with unforced errors.
Tien, who also reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon last year in his first junior slam, faces No. 2 seed Ilyan Radulov of Bulgaria in Thursday's quarterfinals. Radulov, also 17, is playing in his first junior slam.
The other two American boys in the third round were not as fortunate, with No. 8 seed Cooper Williams beaten by No. 11 seed Yi Zhou of China 6-1, 6-4, and Kyle Kang losing a heartbreaker to top seed Kilian Feldbausch of Switzerland 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-4. Kang appeared to be cramping throughout much of the third set, and at times hit underhand serves, but his ground strokes held up and he had three break points with Feldbausch serving at 4-all in the third. Feldbausch held for a 5-4 lead, and Kang managed to save two match points in the final game, even getting a game point after the second deuce, but succumbed on his third.
Williams and Tien have advanced to the quarterfinals in doubles, as has Alexander Frusina, with his partner Jan Hrazdil of the Czech Republic. Both the quarterfinals and semifinals of doubles are on the schedule for Thursday(tonight in the US) after rain Tuesday pushed the second round to Wednesday.
In the all-American men's singles quarterfinal, Tommy Paul defeated Florida's 2022 NCAA champion Ben Shelton 7-6(6), 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 to advanced to a semifinal meeting with Novak Djokovic Friday. Shelton will move into the ATP Top 50 after this week, and will be one of 10 Americans there when the new rankings are release Monday; Paul will reach the Top 20 for the first time. For more on Shelton's assessment of his quarterfinal run, see this article from the ATP website. For more on Paul's win, see this article from the ATP website.
The top half of the girls draw at the ITF J300 in Costa Rica has four US girls, assuring an American finalist before Thursday's quarterfinals even begin. Alanis Hamilton will face No. 6 seed Valeria Ray and No. 3 seed Iva Jovic will take on her doubles partner, qualifier Tyra Grant. No. 2 seed Kaitlin Quevedo, the only American in the bottom half, also has advanced to the quarterfinals.
The US boys reaching the quarterfinals are No. 5 seed Roy Horovitz, No. 4 seed Alexander Razeghi and qualifier Max Exsted. Nikita Filin, who defeated the top seed on Monday, is playing his second round match late tonight. All four are in separate quarters of the draw.
Three Americans are through to the round of 16 at Les Petits As: No. 7 seed Kristina Penickova, No. 8 seed Julieta Pareja and No. 7 seed Marcel Latak. No. 8 seed Jordan Lee lost to qualifier Motoharu Abe of Japan 6-3, 6-4. Zaire Clarke and Annika Penickova also lost their second round matches today.
A new set of Division I team rankings were released today, in advance of the ITA Kickoff Weekend, which begins Friday. See Slam Tennis for all the matchups for the 15 regionals being held around the country. Cracked Racquets will be providing live coverage at its YouTube Channel and John Parsons and Alex Gruskin previewed the women's Kickoff Weekend in this Deciding Point.
The Virginia men remain the unanimous No. 1 from the 12 coaches who vote in the ITA's poll; the Texas women are No. 1 with eight first place votes and North Carolina getting the other four.
Although it's still very early in the season, there have been some notable moves, up and down, after the past three weeks of action. The Tennessee men, No. 6 in the preseason poll at the beginning of the month, have fallen to No. 11 after losses last week to Michigan and Wake Forest. Georgia, No. 7 in the preseason rankings, has lost to Florida State and Texas and is now at No. 15. Florida State and Wake Forest move into the Top 10 with the two SEC teams dropping out.
The Oklahoma women, No. 4 in the preseason rankings, lost to Michigan and Ohio State over the weekend and have now fallen to No. 17. Miami moves into the Top 10 with the Sooners dropping out.
The complete rankings of all 25 teams can be found by clicking on the headings.
Division I Men's Team Top Ten:1. Virginia (12)
2. Ohio State
3. TCU
4. Michigan
5. Kentucky
6. Texas
7. Southern California
8. South Carolina
9. Florida State
10. Wake Forest
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