Žiga Šeško became the first Slovakian boy to become a Junior Grand Slam champion. In a come-from-behind win, 7th seed Šeško’s 32 winners and ability to convert break points greatly assisted his win over 4th seed American Keaton Hance, 4-6 6-3 6-4.
Thirty boys contested the Juniors’ tournament. Prior to the final, which was held at Rod Laver Arena, the players could be seen on the outside courts trying to get there.
Unseeded players Hyu Kawanishi (Japan) and Mustafa Ege Şık (Turkey) met in the first round. Kawanishi won in close straight sets before bowing out in second round to 9th seed Savva Rybkin (Russia), 6-3, 5-7, 2-6.
In an unusual first round match in Melbourne, Indian-born Vihaan Reddy played Arnav Vijay Paparkar of India. Reddy lived in his home country till the age of four, when his family migrated to the US. The meeting of the two unseeded players resulted in a 6-4, 7-5 win to Reddy. He then lost in second round to Ukrainian 6th seed Nikita Bilozertsev, 6-4, 1-6, 4-6.
Australia’s Jake Dembo was unseeded and took on wild card Ren Matsumura of Japan in the opening round. Dembo won 7-6(4), 6-2 but couldn’t get over Chen Kuan-shou (Taiwan), 2-6, 3-6.
Unseeded Carel Aubriel Ngounoue (USA) defeated qualifier Kaan Işık Koşaner (Turkey) in straight sets before going down to 12th seed Flynn Thomas (Switzerland), 1-6, 7-5, 4-6.
Australian Daniel Jovanovski defeated qualifier Kang Kaigaoge of China in straight sets. Unseeded Jovanovski then faced Brazil’s Luís Guto Miguel, the 2nd seed, and was beaten 6-4, 7-6(3).
Savva Rybkin (Russia) was the 9th seed of the tournament. He got past unseeded rivals Jan Chłodnicki (Poland) 7-5, 7-6(11) and Hyu Kawanishi (Japan), 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. But in the third round he fell to 8th seed Zangar Nurlanuly (Kazakhstan), 1-6, 4-6.
Nikita Bilozertsev (Ukraine), the 6th seed, made it to round 3. On his way, he won in straight sets against qualifier Aaron Gabet (France) followed by a three-set victory over unseeded Vihaan Reddy (USA). He was defeated by 11th seed Chen Kuan-shou of Taiwan, 1-6, 3-6.
Swiss player Flynn Thomas was the tournament’s 12th seed. He beat unseeded players Daniel Tazabekov (Kazakhstan) in two sets and Carel Aubriel Ngounoue (USA) in three. Next round he fell to the German player with a Scottish name who originally hails from New Zealand, Jamie Mackenzie, who as fifth seed won 7-5, 6-4.
No. 11 seed Chen Kuan-Shou (Taiwan) reached the quarterfinals. His pathway involved defeating Leonardo Storck França (Brazil), Jake Dembo (Australia) and Nikita Bilozertsev (Ukraine) – all in straight sets. But he couldn’t get past eventual finalist Keaton Hance (USA) who won 7-6(7), 6-4.
No. 2 seed Luís Miguel (Brazil) got past unseeded players Kanta Watanabe (Japan) and Daniel Jovanovski (Australia) and qualifier Ntungamili Raguin (Botswana) in straight sets. Raguin was the first player from Botswana to play in any grand slam main draw.
In his quarterfinal, Miguel was bettered by eventual champion Žiga Šeško, 2-6, 6-7(5).
Title photo of Žiga Šeško by Tennis Australia