It was a topsy-turvy day for the Australian juniors at Melbourne Park as two progressed while three fell.
Australian wildcard Ty Host was the first winner of the day defeating Diego Eduardo Munoz Navia of Columbia 6-3, 6-3 in the first match on court 8.
American-born and recently naturalised as an Australian, Host has never lived in Australia however his mother, Salecia, was born and raised in Australia.
Host, despite being only 16 years old, who possesses a booming first serve, was never really troubled in his first-round match as he controlled the baseline and generated fifteen break points opportunities on his opponent's serve.
In his first-ever visit to Melbourne Park, Host will, however, face a tougher test with South Korean 14th seed Jangjun Kim awaiting in the second round.
Host, who will be relatively unknown to the Australian public, is yet another example of top junior players switching national allegiances for greater opportunity.
Only four weeks ago it was revealed that top Australian junior and Canberra resident Charlie Camus, seeded 9th in the boys singles, had abandoned Australia and defected to France as a representative of the French Tennis Federation.
Similarly, Tennis Australia has also welcomed former Americans Ty Host and Maya Joint, who made the third round of qualifying and will also appear in the girl’s juniors, as freshly minted Australians.
In the next match on court 8, fellow Australian and boys 16th seed Hayden Jones also progressed defeating Italian Daniele Rapagnetta 7-5, 6-4. Stepping up in the key moments, Jones was more dominant behind first serve and simply generated more opportunities on return.
Appearing in his third Australian Open junior championships, Jones, older brother of fellow junior star Emerson, will face the son of Lindsay Davenport, Jagger Leach in the second round.
Notwithstanding the success of Host and Jones, it was not to be for wildcard Hugh Winter, brother of Edward, who fell in a closely fought battle to Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands 6-2, 7-6(4) with Lleyton Hewitt and John Millman watching courtside.
In the girl's event, wildcards Renee Alame and Giselle Isabella Guillen fell to seeded Japanese opponents, tenth seed Ena Koike and second seed Sara Saito respectively, in largely one-sided affairs.
15-year old Cruz Hewitt, Maya Joint, and girls sixth seed Emerson Jones, who won the J300 event in Traralgon last week, are yet to commence their singles campaigns.
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