Gibson, Walker, Preston into 16/u quarterfinals
Top seed Talia Gibson, third seed Lara Walker and 14/u champion Taylah Preston win through to the quarterfinals of the 16/u Australian Championships in Melbourne,
Melbourne, VIC, 12 December 2019 | tennis.com.au
A straight sets win to Talia Gibson on Thursday has sent the top seed into the quarterfinals at the 16/u Australian Championships.
Gibson’s 6-1 7-6 win over wildcard Ashleigh Simes sets up a meeting in the last eight with Elena Micic, a 6-4 6-3 winner of 14/u runner-up Jessie Culley.
This is the third event Gibson is contesting at this year’s December Showdown; the 15-year-old from Western Australia won two matches in the group stage of the 18/u championships, and pushed Destanee Aiava in the second set of their first-round match at the AO Play-off.
DRAW: 16/u Australian Championships girls’ singles
The player who defeated Culley in that 14/u final, Taylah Preston, motored into the quarterfinals of the 16/u tournament following a 6-2 6-1 win over lucky loser Madison Schwartz.
Preston, a wildcard into the event, will next face another lucky loser in Ella Nurkic, who beat Jessica Glavas by an identical scoreline.
Third seed Lara Walker helped restore some order to a draw rife with upsets when she beat qualifier Mia Tsoukalas 6-2 6-3.
Yet second seed Meeka Marshall was eliminated in the second round, going down 6-4 6-3 to qualifier Roisin Toireasa Gilheany.
Walker will next face qualifier Catherine Aulia, while Gilheany takes on sixth seed Lauren Nikoloski.
In the boys’ event, seven of the top eight seeds advanced to the quarterfinal stage.
Leading the way was James McCabe, the No.1 seed who saw off qualifier Doni Gashi 6-0 7-5.
He’ll next face Casey Hoole, after the sixth seed came through two tiebreaks to defeat Matthew Burton.
No.2 seed Cooper White eased to a 6-3 6-1 win over Jeremy Jin while No.3 seed Philip Sekulic was dominant in a 6-0 6-1 win over Lachlan Brain.
Sekulic next plays eighth seed Ethan Dunn — a 6-4 6-2 winner over Leon Hemmings — while White takes on Ethan Cook, the only unseeded player remaining in the draw.
Meanwhile, fourth seed Edward Winter and No.5 seed Derek Pham set up a quarterfinal clash following straight-sets wins on Thursday.
DRAW: 16/u Australian championships boys’ singles
In the 12/u championships, No.2 seed Jamie Mackenzie is the highest seed left in the boys’ event after top seed Gautham Santhosh was upset in the third round on Thursday.
Santhosh fell 6-3 5-7 6-4 to Japanese 13th seed Ryuto Suzuki, while Mackenzie advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-0 6-1 win over Nicholas Baker.
In the girls’ 12/u tournament, top three seeds Alana Subasic, Emily Glavas and Rianna Alame all progressed to the last eight at Melbourne Park.