ITF

As a child he would often accompany his dad to tennis tournaments, and that's how his love of the game began. Although the elder Korda is his main coach, Sebastian was in Melbourne working with USTA coach, Dean Goldfine. While the younger Korda hadn't been to the Australia Open before, he was quite familiar with the Rod Laver Arena from constant viewing of one particular match. "I've seen his match on YouTube a lot," he said, of Petr's championship win over Marcelo Rios in 1998. "I watch it at least, maybe, once a month (smiling). A little bit of motivation… He knows I've watched it multiple times." Korda played two seeds en route to his victory, including Tseng in the final. In the semifinals he ousted second-seeded Marko Miladinovic of Serbia 7-5 5-7 6-4. "It's just kind of how I am on court," said Korda, of his hard-fought victories. "I mean, I never give up on anything. I always try my best." Tseng's journey to the final included a quarterfinal upset of top-seeded Timofey Skatov of Russia 2-6 6-3 6-2. Liang's path to the title also featured two wins over fellow seeded players. She ousted 16th-seeded Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia in the round of 16, and ninth-seeded Wang Xiyu in the quarterfinals. It was Burel who created the biggest stir in the girls' draw by upsetting top-seeded Wang Xinyu 2-6 6-1 6-0 in the semifinals to advance to her first Grand Slam singles final. The Grand Slam junior singles tournaments have not seen any player become a repeat Grand Slam champion in more than three years. That's exciting news for the sport, as it should indicate there are quite a number of future champions in the pipeline. So everyone will be watching carefully at Roland Garros to see which players will become the next junior Grand Slam champions. ■ Men's singles Roger Federer (SUI) Women's singles Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) Men's doubles Oliver Marach (AUT) Mate Pavic (CRO) Women's doubles Timea Babos (HUN) Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) Mixed doubles Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN) Mate Pavic (CRO) Boys' singles Sebastian Korda (USA) Girls' singles Liang En Shuo (TPE) Boys' doubles Hugo Gaston (FRA) Clement Tabur (FRA) Girls' doubles Liang En Shuo (TPE) Wang Xinyu (CHN) Men's wheelchair singles Shingo Kunieda (JPN) Women's wheelchair singles Diede de Groot (NED) Men's wheelchair doubles Stephane Houdet (FRA) Nicolas Peifer (FRA) Women's wheelchair doubles Marjolein Buis (NED) Yui Kamiji (JPN) Quad singles Dylan Alcott (AUS) Quad doubles Dylan Alcott (AUS) Heath Davidson (AUS) AUSTRALIAN OPEN champions S E B A S T I A N K O R D A "My dad won his only Grand Slam title here, so it's very special" Boys' singles runner-up Tseng Chun Hsin Clara Burel reached the girls' final unseeded Wheelchair winner Diede de Groot captured her first Australian Open title ITFWorld // SPRING 2018 3 5

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