Penickova, Kennedy Advance to Australian Juniors Third Round; Shelton, Navarro and Keys Reach AO Quarterfinals; Preston Wins ITF J100 in New Zealand; Four US Juniors Advance at Les Petits As

No. 4 seed Jack Kennedy and No. 6 seed Kristina Penickova earned victories Monday on day three of the Australian Open Junior Championships, reaching the round of 16 by decidedly different routes. Kennedy, who is featured in the ITF Junior website's recap of boys matches, got late breaks in both sets to earn a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Karim Bennani of Morocco. 

Penickova, who won her first round match in a third-set tiebreaker took that path again Monday, but needed a massive second set comeback over Yuhan Wang of China just to get into a third. Penickova, who served for the first set but lost four straight games, trailed 7-5, 5-0, yet somehow managed to win seven consecutive games without allowing Wang a singles match point.

Down 5-2 in the third set, Penickova won four straight games, serving at 6-5, 40-0, but she couldn't convert any of those three match points, with the sequence of an unforced error, a winner by Wang and a double fault getting Wang to deuce. Wang got another error and came up with another winner to claim her fifth consecutive point, sending it to the 10-point tiebreaker.

Neither player could get more than a two-point lead, but when Penickova made an unforced error serving at 7-all, Wang had the match on her racquet. She picked the worse possible time to lose control of her forehand however, committing three straight unforced errors from that side to allow Penickova to claim the win.

Thea Frodin, the only other US girl to reach the second round, took the first set from top seed and ITF Junior No. 1 Emerson Jones of Australia, but her serving was too erratic, with 14 aces and 21 double faults, to hold off the 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-3 comeback by Jones. It was officially announced by the ITF today that Jones and Norway's Nicolai Budkov Kjaer are the 2024 ITF World Junior Champions.

Monday's Australian Open second round junior results of Americans:

Emerson Jones[1](AUS) d. Thea Frodin 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-3
Kristinia Penickova[6] d. Yuhan Wang(CHN) 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(8)
Jack Kennedy[4] d. Karim Bennani(MAR) 7-5, 7-5
Ognjen Milic(SRB) d. Max Exsted[10] 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-2

Tuesday's Australian Open second round junior matches featuring Americans:
Jagger Leach[5] v Gabriele Crivellaro[Q](ITA)
Benjamin Willwerth v Nikola Djosic(SUI)
Dominick Mosejczuk v Kuan-Shou Chen(TPE)

A total of five Americans have advanced to the men's and women's singles quarterfinals in Melbourne, with Ben Shelton(Florida) joining Tommy Paul with a win Monday, and Emma Navarro(Virginia) and Madison Keys joining Coco Gauff in the final eight with their wins Monday.

Monday's fourth round Australian Open matches featuring Americans:

Madison Keys[19] d. Elena Rybankina[6](KAZ) 6-3, 1-6, 6-3

Emma Navarro[8] d. Daria Kasatkins[9](RUS) 6-4, 5-7, 7-5

Alex de Minaur[6](AUS) d. Alex Michelsen 6-0, 7-6(5), 6-3 

Ben Shelton[21] d. Gael Monfils(FRA) 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 7-6(2), 1-0 ret.

Lorenzo Sonego(ITA) d. Learner Tien[Q] 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1

Tuesday's quarterfinal Australian Open matches featuring Americans:

Coco Gauff[3] v Paula Badosa[11](ESP)

Tommy Paul[12] v Alexander Zverev[2](GER)

While US juniors were winning J300 titles,  two in doubles in Traralgon Australia, and a singles and a doubles title in San Jose Costa Rica, two other Americans picked up ITF Junior Circuit titles at the J100 in Christchurch New Zealand. Fourteen-year-old Janae Preston won her second and biggest ITF Junior Circuit title, adding to the J30 title she won last year. Seeded No. 15, Preston defeated 14-year-old compatriot Lani Chang, the No. 8 seed, 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinals, then took out No. 6 seed Lisa Anzai 6-2, 6-3 in the final. Preston did not drop a set in her five victories.

The second title in Christchurch was in boys doubles, with Aidan Lam Meng Bart, like Preston, earning his second and biggest title a year after winning his first at a J30. Bart and partner Kaigaoge Kang of China, the No. 4 seeds, defeated No. 7 seeds Dan Milburnand Liam Youn of New Zealand 6-3, 6-3 in the final. Bart and Kang did not need a third-set match tiebreaker in any of their five wins.

The first day of main draw competition at Les Petits As had eight of the 10 Americans in the girls and boys draws in action, with both the girls and the boys picking up two wins. Wild card Isabella Gonzalez Alvarez will play top seed Megan Knight of Great Britain, and the highest US boys seed, No. 8 Tristan Ascenzo, will face qualifier Erik Meolic of Slovenia in Tuesday's conclusion of the first round singles matches.

Daniel Gardality d. Talha Bulut(TUR) 6-1, 6-1

Smyan Thuta[16] d. Maxence Destappe(FRA) 7-5, 6-4

Evan Giurescu(FRA) d. Anthony Kirchner 4-6, 6-4, 6-4

Allison Wang[16] d. Ameliia Kononenko(RUS) 6-3, 6-4

Emery Combs[8] d. Laura Masarykova 6-4, 6-7(10), 6-4

Amy Shen(CAN) d. Daniela Del Mastro 6-3, 6-4

Violetta Skryp(UKR) d. Khadija Adeniran 6-7(8), 6-4, 6-1

Liv Zingg(GBR) d. Tanvi Pandey 6-1, 6-2

Updated draws and the order of play can be found at the Tennis Europe tournament page; links to live streams and live scoring is available at the tournament website.