Tennis - Russian Roman Safiullin has won the boys’ singles at the Australian Open with a straight sets win over South Korean Seong-chan Hong 7-5 7-6(2) on Saturday. The 17-year-oldfrom Moscow, who was seeded No. 1 in the draw, towered over his diminutive opponent and did now show any signs of nerves on his first outing on the Rod Laver Arena.
After the match, Safiullin said that this would be his last tournament in the juniors and that he would not focus on transitioning to the professional circuit and play the ITF Futures circuit and ATP Challenger circuit. Also on Saturday, Slovak Republic's Tereza Mihalikova won the girls’ singles title with a win over the 15-year-old British girl Katie Swan 6-1 6-4.
Mihalikova came in as a rank outsider in the event, with her ranking lying outside the Top 50 among the juniors.Mihalikova is the first player from her country to win a junior Australian Open title.
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