For Tennis Parents by a Tennis Parent

SPOILER ALERT: Australian Open results below!

We are down to two men and three women left in the Australian Open Singles Draws as we enter Round 3 tonight.

College Tennis ruled the day in Melbourne as University of Tennessee’s Tennys Sandgren took out former Australian Open Champ and 9 seed Stan Wawrinka in straight sets.

When I woke up and turned on my tv this morning, I couldn’t believe the score line. Tennys was up 2 sets to love and up a break in the 3rd. I watched as Wawrinka struggled to hold serve to stay in the match and force Tennys to serve it out. During the side change at 4-5 in the 3rd set, commentators were speculating about how Sandgren would handle the pressure. But handle it he did! Yes, Stan is just coming back from knee surgery, and no, he definitely didn’t look to be 100% health-wise, but it still takes enormous belief and focus to beat a guy who has won this tournament and two other Slams in his career. Well done, Tennys! And good luck versus Max Marterer in Round 3!

And Croatia-born American Bernarda Pera continues to maximize her Lucky Loser opportunity this week. She was definitely the underdog in her matchup against Great Britain’s Jo Konta, the 9 seed. Pera stayed focus, played her game, and came away with a straight set victory and a spot in the 3rd round. She faces 20-seed Barbora Strycova next.

Here’s the rundown from Day 4:

Men’s Singles (American players in bold red, Collegians in bold blue)

Dominic Thiem d. Denis Kudla 6-7 3-6 6-3 6-2 6-3
Tennys Sandgren (Tennessee) d. Stan Wawrinka 6-2 6-1 6-4
Marton Fucsovics d. Sam Querrey 6-4 7-6 4-6 6-2

Women’s Singles (American players in bold red, Collegians in bold blue)

Madison Keys d. Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-0 6-1
Bernarda Pera d. Jo Konta 6-4 7-5
Lauren Davis d. Andrea Petkovic 4-6 6-0 6-0

Here’s what’s on the schedule for Friday (Thursday night in the US):

Ryan Harrison v. 6 seed Marin Cilic

Round 1 of the Mixed Doubles gets underway today as both Men’s and Women’s Doubles play Round 2. The Americans/Collegians in these two draws include: Vania King, JP Smith (Tennessee), Nick Monroe (UNC), Nicole Melichar, Ellen Perez (UGA), Varvara Lepchenko, Raquel Atawo, Abigail Spears (UCLA), Mike Bryan (Stanford), Bob Bryan (Stanford), Steve Johnson (USC), Sam Querrey, Robert Farah (USC), Michael Venus (LSU), Dom Inglot (UVA), Ben McLachlan (Cal), and Rajeev Ram (Illinois). You can see the full draws here as well as on the Australian Open App. Matches are being aired live in the US on both the Tennis Channel and ESPN2. Enjoy!