Bigun and Woestendick Reach Australian Open Juniors Singles Quarterfinals, Doubles Semifinals; Five US Boys, Two US Girls Advance to Les Petits As Third Round; Americans Plentiful in ITF J300 Coffee Bowl Quarterfinals; Ohio State Men Move to Top Spot in Latest Rankings

The last three US girls in the draw at the Australian Open Junior Championships lost in Wednesday's third round, but two of the four US boys in action did advance to Thursday's quarterfinals with three-set victories. 

No. 5 seed Kaylan Bigun, who also reached the quarterfinals at the Wimbledon Junior Championship last summer, came back to defeat 11 seed Petr Brunclik of the Czech Republic 6-7(7), 6-3, 7-6(8) after trailing 3-1 in the third set. Bigun will face No. 2 seed Nikolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway, whom he defeated in the quarterfinals of the Orange Bowl last month.

Unseeded Cooper Woestendick defeated Atakan Karahan of Turkey 7-6(2), 1-6, 7-5, his third consecutive three-set victory and once again the 17-year-old from Kansas broke his opponent in the final game, with a double fault ending the match. Woestendick will play No. 4 seed Rei Sakamoto of Japan in the quarterfinals; if both Americans win, they will meet in the semifinals. 

Both Bigun and Woestendick are also playing in the doubles semifinals Thursday, Bigun with Jagger Leach and Woestendick with Max Exsted. Iva Jovic and Tyra Grant are through to the girls doubles semifinals.

Wednesday's third round Australian Open junior matches featuring Americans:

Kaylan Bigun[5] d. Petr Brunclik[11](CZE) 6-7(7), 6-3, 7-6(8)

Mees Rottgering(NED) d. Roy Horovitz[10] 6-4, 6-4

Jan Kumstat(CZE) d. Alex Razeghi[6] 7-6(4), 6-2

Cooper Woestendick d. Atakan Karahan(TUR) 7-6(2), 1-6, 7-5

Ksenia Efremova[WC](FRA) d. Mia Slama 6-4, 6-2

Emerson Jones[6](AUS) d. Tyra Grant[9] 7-5, 6-3 

Iva Ivanova[16](BUL) d. Aspen Schuman[Q] 7-5, 4-6, 6-4

Thursday's Australian Open junior matches featuring Americans:

Singles:

Cooper Woestendick v Rei Sakamoto[4](JPN)

Kaylan Bigun[5] v Nikolai Budkov Kjaer[2](NOR)

Doubles:

Kaylan Bigun and Jagger Leach v Petr Brunclik(CZE) and Viktor Frydrych(GBR)[5]

Cooper Woestendick and Max Exsted v Federico Cina(ITA) and Rei Sakamoto(JPN)[1]

Tyra Grant and Iva Jovic[3] v Ena Koike(JPN) and Sara Saito(JPN)[1]

The boys top seed at Les Petits As was beaten in today's second round in Tarbes France, with Pavel Dufek of the Czech Republic losing to Rafael Thao-Keuang of France 6-4, 7-6(5).  That leaves Michael Antonius, at No. 2, the favorite now, and the Eddie Herr champion looked the part in his 6-1, 6-1 win over Luka Kostic of Serbia. Antonius is one of five seeded Americans, and they have all reached the third round. 

The two US girls who won their first round matches, Maggie Sohns[15] and Lani Chang, also advanced to Thursday's round of 16.  Sohns faces top seed Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic, Chang plays unseeded Xinran Sun of China.

Second round results of Americans at Les Petits As:

Michael Antonius[2] d. Luka Kostic(SRB) 6-1, 6-1

Jordan Lee[3] d. Daniel Turcan(MDA) 6-1, 6-0

Izyan Ahmad[8] d. Alex Tuomolin(FIN) 6-0, 6-0

Teodor Davidov[12] d. Istvan Damjan Mokan(HUN) 6-3, 6-3

Tabb Tuck[16] d. Luca Iliescu[WC](FRA) 6-0, 6-4

Erikas Maskolaitis[Q](LTU) d. Jason Eigbedion 6-4, 6-4

Maggie Sohns[15] d. Darina Matvejeva[WC](LAT) 6-3, 6-4

Lani Chang[WC] d. Viktoria Novakova(SVK) 6-7(2), 6-4, 7-5

Draws can be found here; live streaming and live scoring links are here.

The singles quarterfinals will be played Thursday at the ITF J300 Coffee Bowl in Costa Rica, with at least five US boys and four US girls still competing. There are three third round singles matches being played tonight, all involving Americans, including the all-USA match between top seed Nikita Filin and qualifier Ian Mayew. No. 3 seed Monika Ekstrand and unseeded Yubel Ubri are the other two Americans with an opportunity to reach the quarterfinals.

Orange Bowl 16s champion Dominick Mosejczuk, who received a wild card, defeated No. 3 seed Rafael Segado of Spain 7-5, 6-1 and will play Max Dussault for a place in the semifinals. Kase Schinnerer will face the Filin-Mayew winner in another all-US quarterfinal. Matisse Farzam defeated qualifier Meecah Bigun in an all-US second round to reach the final eight.

The US girls are spread out in the draw, with the only possible all-US quarterfinal Ekstrand versus Kristina Penickova. Orange Bowl 16s finalist Thea Frodin, No. 7 seed Shannon Lam and top seed Katie Rolls will have international opponents in their quarterfinals. Draws that are updated throughout the day can be found at the tournament's website. 

South Carolina's 4-3 win over No. 1 and defending NCAA champion Virginia over the weekend caused a shakeup in this week's men's poll, with Ohio State taking over the No. 1 position. But unlike the previous polls, that wasn't unanimous, with votes also going to Virginia and South Carolina.

The wins over Michigan and Ohio State over the weekend boosted the Oklahoma State women to No. 3; Texas fell from 6 to 10 after a loss to UCLA. The lists of the Top 25 teams this week can be found by clicking on the headings.

Women's Division I Team Rankings Top Ten January 24, 2024

Brackets are number of 1st place votes; parentheses are previous rankings

1. North Carolina[13] (1)

2. Stanford(2)

3. Oklahoma State(5)

4. Georgia(3)

5. Michigan(4)

6. Pepperdine(7)

7. NC State(8)

8. Florida(9)

9. Texas A&M(10)

10. Texas(6)

Men's Division I Team Rankings Top Ten January 24, 2024

1. Ohio State[6](2)

2. South Carolina[4](5)

3. Virginia[3](1)

4. Texas(3)

5. TCU(4)

6. Tennessee(6)

7. Southern Cal(7)

8. Duke(8)

9. Stanford(9)

10. Kentucky(10)