Another junior slam title for an American boy, more success in Europe for USA’s 14-and-under team and big Challenger titles for a couple of former college standouts lead the list of January’s top performances. All 14 of the players highlighted below will head into February with optimism after starting 2018 with such positive results.
The 17-year-old from Bradenton, Florida had never reached the quarterfinals of a junior slam in his previous four appearances. But the son of 1998 Australian Open men’s champion Petr Korda made it an anniversary to remember for his father, taking the boys title with a 7-6 (6), 6-4 decision over No. 6 seed Chun Hsin Tseng of Taiwan. Korda, seeded seventh, is the third American to win an Australian boys singles title in the Open Era, joining Andy Roddick and Donald Young. The title also moved Korda to No. 1 in the ITF Junior rankings for the first time.
En Shuo Liang
Saving match points during the tournament was a theme for Australian Open women’s champion Caroline Wozniacki, and also for Taiwan’s Liang, the girls champion, who saved a match point in the first round and two in the semifinals during the junior event in Melbourne. The 17-year-old, who also won the doubles title with Xinyu Wang of China, defeated unseeded Clara Burel 6-3, 6-4 to become the first girl from Taiwan to claim a junior slam title. The No. 2 seed, who moved to No. 2 in the ITF junior rankings, has now won 18 straight ITF junior matches after taking the title last month at the Grade 1 in Traralgon and at the Asia Oceania Grade B1 Closed back in November.
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