The 2023 Australian Open Junior competition begins on Saturday, January 21, and runs through January 28. The world’s best junior players will be gathered in Melbourne to take home the first Grand Slam of the year.
As expected, Florida will be represented overseas through three players. Cooper Williams (Boca Raton) who is currently ranked 18 in the Junior International Tennis Federation (ITF) Rankings, is the lone boy from Florida. He is seeking his first Junior Grand Slam title ever.
Over in the girls’ side, Ava Krug (Lakewood Ranch) is making her first appearance at the Junior Australian Open Championship. From Seminole, Ahmani Guichard (Seminole) will play in her third Junior Grand Slam, with hopes of winning her first title.
Competition for the Juniors begins on the morning of January 21, you can view the full draw here.
PRO UPDATE
January 16 kicked off the Main Draw for the 2023 Australian Open, where seven Florida tennis players fielded the pool of players in the tournament.
So far, both men, Sebastian Korda (Bradenton) and Ben Shelton (Gainesville) remain in the tournament. On the Womens’ side, just Coco Gauff (Delray Beach) remains as the Florida athlete in the tournament.
Korda hasn’t faced a task too tall for him, handling his first two matches in just seven sets. His third round match, was against current world No. 8 Daniil Medvedev. Korda didn’t back down from the challenge and pulled off a massive upset, taking down the former Grand Slam champ in straight sets.
Shelton on the other hand has been tested. His first match against Zhang Zhizhen (China) went to a fifth-set tiebreaker. Shelton was able to edge out a 10-4 win and he would carry that momentum to a straight set win in his second match. He takes the court around 3 A.M. on Saturday, January 21 for his third round match.
Gauff has picked up where she left off in 2022 and has dominated her opponents so far. Three matches in, the 18-year-old has yet to drop a set in the Grand Slam.
Another woman, Danielle Collins (St. Petersburg) made it into the third round of action. Each of her first two matches went the distance, where her second one reaching a final tiebreaker game that she took 10-6. However, in the third round she fell short in the third set against 2022 Wimbledon winner, Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan).
With week one in the books, three pro players remain for USTA Florida in Melbourne. For further updates, check out our social media accounts and track Florida’s best.
