The top seed and tournament favourite is the German,
Alexander Zverev. The younger brother of former world number 44, Mischa Zverev,
he won the title in Traralgon last week, so comes into this tournament in good
form. He reached the final at Roland Garros last year and the semi-final at the
US Open, so with the likes of Nick Kyrgios, Borna Coric and Christian Garin
moving up to the senior tour, he will fancy his chances of winning his first junior
title. One worry is that the Traralgon champion has rarely completed the double
by lifting the Australian Open title, although fatigue should have been kept to
a minimum as he won all six matches there in straight sets.
His fiercest challenger is likely to be the American, Stefan
Kozlov. The junior #4 suffered a surprise early defeat in Traralgon, but will
fancy his chances of a good run this week. He has an excellent 3-0 H2H record
against Zverev were they to meet in the final, particularly having dropped just
two games in their previous encounter on a hard court. He came through an epic
battle against the Australian, Blake Mott, in the first round when the home
player was forced to retire at 6-5 down in the deciding set with a nasty
looking ankle injury. The only worry is that he has yet to perform on the big
stage, having never progressed beyond the quarter-final of a Grand Slam, but
this will be his best chance.
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| Stefan Kozlov has a great chance to win his first Grand Slam title |
The third and fourth seeds, Johan Sebastien Tatlot and Roman
Safiullin, both crashed out in the first round losing to Martin Blasko and Alex
Molcan respectively.
With the exit of Tatlot, the second quarter has opened up
nicely for the 16-year old American, Michael Mmoh. This is his first Grand
Slam, but he lifted a Grade A title in Osaka last year and warmed up with a
quarter-final in Traralgon last week before losing to Lucas Miedler. Whether he
can cope with the pressure of being one of the favourites in his first ever
Grand Slam remains to be seen, but he should reach the semi-final if he lives
up to his seeding.
The sixth seed, Filippo Baldi, was another shock first round
exit, but the seventh seed, Quentin Halys, came through comfortably and will be
eyeing a good run here. A couple of matches in Traralgon will have warmed up
him nicely and he will have been encouraged by his run to the quarter-final at
the US Open at the end of last year. He has also enjoyed some decent results in
senior futures tournaments, so will certainly be one to watch.
However, he finds himself in a tough quarter. The 15-year
old, Duck Hee Lee, reached the quarter-final in Traralgon last week, and would
be a potential third round opponent, while he will likely face either Lucas
Miedler, who was a semi-finalist in Traralgon last week, or the 16-year old
Australian, Omar Jasika, who came from nowhere to reach the final in Traralgon.
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| Omar Jasika might be Australia's best chance of a good run in this tournament |
The other player to keep a close watch on is the eleventh
seed, Hyeon Chung. He came closest to taking a set off Zverev last week and has
proven his quality having enjoyed a wonderful run to the Wimbledon final last
year, beating the likes of Nick Kyrgios and Borna Coric. He showed plenty of
potential in that run and it would be no surprise to see him going well here.
Predicted 1/4
Finals
Alex Zverev v Hyeon Chung
Bradley Mousley v Michael Mmoh
Quentin Halys v Lucas Miedler
Jaume Antoni Munar Clar v Stefan Kozlov
Predicted 1/2 Final
Alex Zverev v Michael Mmoh
Quentin Halys v Stefan Kozlov
Predicted Final
Alex Zverev v Stefan Kozlov
Champion
Stefan Kozlov
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