Six Indian players will take part at the 2023 junior Australian Open scheduled to be held from January 21 to 28 in Melbourne.
The 2022 edition, in which USA’s Bruno Kuzuhara and Croatia’s Petra Marcinko clinched the boy’s and girl’s singles titles respectively, did not have a single Indian player in the draw.
India’s Yuki Bhambri had won the boy’s singles title in 2009.
Here is the list of Indian players taking part at this year’s junior Australian Open
Girl’s Singles
Shruti Ahlawat
FILE PHOTO: Shruti Ahlawat | Photo Credit: THE HINDU
World No. 84 Shruti Ahlawat is the top-ranked Indian junior in girl’s singles. The 16-year-old had her first taste of junior Grand Slam tennis at last year’s Wimbledon where she lost in the first round of qualifying. However, Shruti, who won the junior Asia/Oceania Championships in Pune in September last year, the biggest of her six ITF titles, has qualified for the main draw of the junior Australian Open.
Boy’s Singles
Aryan Shah
FILE PHOTO: Aryan Shah | Photo Credit: Kamesh Srinivasan
World No. 44 Aryan Shah is the top-ranked Indian junior in boy’s singles. The 17-year-old right-hander will make his junior Grand Slam debut in Melbourne, just two months after clinching her first ITF title at a J3 event in Sarawak, Malaysia.
Yuvan Nandal
FILE PHOTO: Yuvan Nandal | Photo Credit: THE HINDU
Just five places below Aryan in the world rankings is Yuvan Nandal. The 17-year-old right-hander clinched his first ITF title at a J3 event in Chandigarh and followed it up with another in Tashkent. Yuvan, too, will play in a junior Grand Slam for the first time in his career.
Manas Dhamne
FILE PHOTO: Manas Dhamne | Photo Credit: PTI
While just 15 years old, Manas Dhamne has already made his ATP Tour debut at the Tata Open Maharashtra, an ATP 250 event held in Pune earlier this month where he was awarded a main draw wildcard. Ranked 76th in the ITF World Junior Rankings, Manas is the reigning junior Asia/Oceania champion. He was also the U-12 winner of the prestigious Eddie Herr International Championship in 2019.
Right-handed Manas, who trains at the Piatti Tennis Centre in Bordighera, Italy, will make his junior Grand Slam main draw debut in Melbourne.
READ: Tata Open Maharashtra - Teenager Manas Dhamne impresses despite loss on ATP Tour debut
Kriish Tyagi
FILE PHOTO: Kriish Tyagi | Photo Credit: B JOTHI RAMALINGAM/THE HINDU
Kriish Tyagi clinched four ITF titles on the junior circuit in 2022. The 15-year-old, who trains at the Harsha Lingappa Tennis Academy in Bengaluru, is World No. 141. Kriish also won the National U-18 Clay Court Championship in Chennai last year, thus completing a unique treble of the U-14, U-16 and U-18 national titles within the space of a year and a half. Right-handed Kriish, who represented India at 2022 Junior Davis Cup Finals, will begin his campaign in Melbourne in the qualifying round.
Daksh Prasad
FILE PHOTO: Daksh Prasad | Photo Credit: B JOTHI RAMALINGAM/THE HINDU
Daksh Prasad, like Kriish, will have to go through the qualifying round in Melbourne. The 17-year-old Daksh is ranked 202 in the world. Last year, right-handed Daksh reached his first ITF final at a J5 event in Nepal.
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