The day after Cruz Hewitt and Emerson Jones kicked off their junior singles campaigns, 16-year-old Queenslander Tahlia Kokkinis was one of three Australian junior winners on day 8 at the Australian Open as round one play concluded.
Kokkinis, who gained professional experience on the Australian Pro Tour last year, opened proceedings on 1573 Arena under the watchful eye of Australian tennis royalty Sam Stosur and Nicole Pratt against Bulgarian 10th seed Rositsa Dencheva.
Despite being ranked over 100 places below her opponent in the junior rankings, Kokkinis, a highly-touted junior who has represented Australia at junior Billie Jean King Cup level, overpowered her older opponent 6-3, 6-2 in an efficient business-like performance.
On the boy’s side, 15-year-old Ymerali Ibraimi was undaunted by his first appearance at junior Grand Slam level as the Australian upset Brazillian Pedro Albuquerque Dietrich 7-5, 6-3 in 98 minutes on court 8.
Ibraimi, a product of the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club, won his way into the draw after clinching the Australian under-16’s December Showdown event.
With a junior ranking of No.482, Ibraimi will be a clear underdog in his second-round clash with 17-year-old and second-seed Amir Omarkhanov, who required two tiebreak sets to progress to the second round.
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Joining Ibraimi in the second round is Cruz Hewitt’s doubles partner Duje Markovina, who recently naturalised from Croatia to Australia this summer.
Markovina, whose mother is Australian, has held an Australian passport since birth and made the move to benefit from the support and opportunities that being under the Tennis Australia umbrella can provide.
Ranked No.61 in the junior rankings, which acts as a combined singles and doubles ranking, Markovina was forced to come from behind to defeat Japanese qualifier 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 on court 13 earlier today.
Markovina will face Russian 9th seed Timofei Derepaskpo in the second round.
Fellow Australians Alana Subasic, Tori Russell, Koharu Nishikawa, Emilie Chen, Sarah Mildren, Ty Host, Jeffrey Strydom and Jake Dembo all failed to progress beyond the first round.
Three further Aussies will contest their second-round encounters on Monday, with Cruz Hewitt, Emerson Jones, and Renee Alame all in singles action.
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