Strong Showing by American Juniors at 2018 Australian Open

Both the American boys and girls had stronger than usual showings at the 2018 Australian Open. Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come at upcoming Grand Slams in 2018.

For the American boys, #7 seed Sebastian Korda, son of former Czech tennis star Petr Korda, won the championship.  He defeated the #2 and #6 seeds (Miladinovic and Tseng) on his way to the title, and ended the tournament 6-0.

Both Andrew Fenty and Sangeet Sridhar dropped their first round matches. Fenty was the #13 seed.

Jaycer Lyeons and Tristan Boyer were 1-1, Lyeons lost to an unseeded player and Boyer was ousted by the #2 seed, Miladinovic.

Drew Baird had a solid tournament, reaching the round of 16 and finishing 2-1.

In 2017, only 4 American boys participated and they finished with a disappoint total of 3 wins and 4 losses. The 2018 Australian Open results were much stronger. The 6 American boys finished 10-5 this year.

The American girls also had a strong showing. In 2017, the 7 American girls won 4 matches and lost 7. In 2018, the  8 American girls were 9-8. FUN FACT: The combined total of wins for the 7 American girls was the same as the combined total for the 18 American women who competed in the main draw.

Three of the girls lost in the first round: Con Gauff, Niluka Madurawe, and Hurricane Tyra Black. Gauff and Black lost to unseeded players and Madurawe was ousted by the #13 seed Vismane.

Peyton Stearns and Nicole Mossmer were 1-1, as they bowed out in the round of 32 to seeded players.  Stearns fell to #1 seed Wang and Mossmer lost to #10 seed Sun.

Elysia Bolton and Alexa Noel posted 2 wins and 1 loss.  Bolton was the #12 seed. She was defeated in the round of 16 by finalist Burel.  Noel was the #7 seed. She lost to #9 seed Wang in the round of 16.

Finally, Dalayna Hewitt finished the tournament 3-1. She had an upset victory over #4 seed Carle in the first round,  followed by wins over two unseeded players. Hewitt lost to finalist Burel in the quarterfinals.

Typically, very few Americans play the Australian Junior Open and their performance is usually lackluster. The results were different in 2018. Based on what happened in Melbourne, look for a strong showing at the French Open and Wimbledon junior tournaments in a couple of months.