The 2025 Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the calendar year, showcased the exceptional talent hailing from Southern California. Over the course of the two-week tournament, 27 Team SoCal players made their presence felt on the global stage, competing across a wide range of events, including the qualifying and main draws of singles, gender and mixed doubles, junior girls’ singles and doubles, boys’ wheelchair singles and doubles, and quad wheelchair events.

SINGLES QUALIFYING

Two SoCal standouts highlighted the singles qualifying draw, in the form of Tristan Boyer (Altadena) and Learner Tien (Irvine). Both earned spots in the main draw after three hard-fought victories. Stanford alum, Boyer (No. 134) triumphed over Rei Sakamoto (No. 365), Tomas Barrios Vera (No. 153), and Christopher Eubanks (No. 103), a 2024 Olympian. Meanwhile, the former USC Trojan, Tien (No. 120) defeated Gregoire Barrere (No. 145), Juan Pablo Ficovich (No. 126), and Jozef Kovalik (No. 129).

In addition to Boyer and Tien, SoCal players Ena Shibahara (Rancho Palos Verdes), Hanna Chang (Fontana), Claire Liu (Thousand Oaks), August Holmgren (USD), Brandon Holt (Rolling Hills Estates, USC), Mackie McDonald (UCLA), Emilio Nava (Woodland Hills), and Zach Svajda (El Segundo) also competed in the singles qualifying draw. McDonald, Svajda, and Boyer each earned two victories, while Holmgren and Holt picked up one win apiece.

SINGLES MAIN DRAW

Team SoCal made a powerful statement at the Australian Open, with rising stars Learner Tien and Alex Michelsen (Aliso Viejo) delivering breakout performances alongside Grand Slam veterans Taylor Fritz (Rancho Santa Fe) and Marcos Giron (Thousand Oaks). From thrilling upsets to deep runs, SoCal’s finest left their mark on Melbourne’s biggest stage.

The singles main draw, Learner Tien emerged as one of the tournament’s most electrifying stories. Fresh off his 19th birthday and entering the tournament as a qualifier, Learner secured his first Grand Slam singles victory after a thrilling hard-fought first-round win over world No. 95 Camilo Ugo Carabelli. He then made history as he stunned the tennis world with an unforgettable second-round upset over No. 5 Daniil Medvedev—one of the biggest shocks in recent Australian Open history. In a grueling 4-hour, 49-minute battle that stretched into the early morning hours, Tien edged out the 2021 finalist in a dramatic 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-7(8), 1-6, 7-6(10-7) victory, becoming the youngest player to defeat a top-5 seed at the Australian Open since 2005.

Not stopping there, the world No. 121 continued his dream run with a commanding 7-6(10), 6-3, 6-3 win over No. 69 Corentin Moutet at Kia Arena, securing a spot in the fourth round. That victory made him the youngest man to reach the Round of 16 in Melbourne since an 18-year-old Rafa Nadal, a fellow left-hander, in 2005. 

“Honeslty, it feels pretty crazy to be in the second week,” Tien told reports. “Going through Qs (qualifiers) I’ve been here for a couple weeks already.”

Though his run ended in the fourth round against Lorenzo Sonego (No. 55) in four sets, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 1-6, Tien’s breakout performance propelled him into the ATP Top 100 for the first time, soaring to No. 80. His victory over Medvedev also marked the first time in 19 years that a qualifier defeated a top-5 opponent at the Australian Open. With his fearless shot-making and composure on the big stage, Tien announced himself as a rising star on the ATP Tour—one to watch in the months ahead.

Tien and his close friend and fellow Southern Californian, 20-year-old Alex Michelsen, made the most of their downtime in Melbourne by playing Fortnite together—before making their own mark on the Australian Open. Michelsen, who trained alongside Tien throughout the offseason, jokingly took “1%” of the credit for his friend’s upset over Medvedev. For the duo, the tournament was nothing short of historic, marking the first time since 1990 that two American men under the age of 20 advanced to the third round in Melbourne.

Michelsen, ranked No. 41, delivered a breakthrough performance of his own. He opened his campaign with an impressive upset over the No. 11 seed and 2023 finalist, Stefanos Tsitsipas, winning 7-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. 

“I just tried to stay super composed out there,” Michelsen said after his victory over Tsitsipas. “I knew it was going to be a battle in the end. The serve sort of let me down a little in the fourth (set) but I’m super happy I could get through it.” 

He backed up that win with a convincing 7-5, 6-3, 7-6(4) victory over world No. 258 James McCabe (No. 258) before outlasting No. 19 Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-2 to reach the fourth round. 

“A couple of years ago, [I] never thought I’d be a pro,” Michelsen told reporters after setting up a fourth-round clash against Australian number one Alex De Minaur. “But at the same time I feel like I’ve put in so much work the last three, four years. I’ve been grinding every single day… My whole childhood, I’d always watch tennis and think, ‘Oh, that’s sick, these guys are playing in the best stadiums around the world. I never really considered that an option for that to be me.”

Although he fell to de Minaur in straight sets (0-6, 6-7(5), 3-6), Michelsen’s incredible run earned him a new career-high ranking of No. 36. His victories over Tsitsipas and Khachanov also marked the first time in his young career that he had beaten a top-20 player at a Grand Slam.

For Tien and Michelsen, the Australian Open was nothing short of extraordinary, proving that the future of American men’s tennis is in great hands.

Taylor Fritz proved again why he’s climbed to a career-high ranking of No. 4 in recent months as he cruised past fellow American Jenson Brooksby (No. 466), 6-2, 6-0, 6-3 before he blasted his way past Chilean qualifier Cristian Garin (No. 150) for the loss of just three games. The American’s 6-2, 6-1, 6-0 beatdown at Margaret Court Arena means he dropped only eight games in two matches since he arrived in Melbourne. Since 1988, only Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have dropped fewer games en route to the third round of the Australian Open men’s singles.

Fritz let slip just eight points on his first serve, broke Garin seven times and afterwards the California native donated his first round prize money of $A132,000 to help those affected by the Los Angeles wild fires back where he grew up.

“Southern California has been my home forever,” said Fritz, who reached his first Grand Slam final on home soil last year. “I spent a lot of time, I still spend a lot of time in LA, but I lived in LA for quite a while.

“I have friends impacted. Family, not so much. I had some family have to evacuate. The house that my brothers grew up in burnt down. Obviously they’re not living there anymore.

“A lot of people are affected by it. I feel like if you’re in a place to help, then you should.”

Fritz’s two wins set up a blockbuster with Gaël Monfils (No. 41), who continued his march through the draw at the ripe old age of 38. The Frenchman beat the Southern Californian, 6-3, 5-7, 6-7(1), 4-6.

Other SoCal players in the main draw included Marcos Giron (Thousand Oaks), Boyer, Iva Jovic (Torrance), Yannick Hanfmann (USC), Brandon Nakashima (San Diego), and Mayar Sherif (Pepperdine). 

Among them, UCLA alum, Giron (No. 45) made a strong run, defeating Yannick Hanfmann (No. 98) 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 7-5 and Tomas Martin Etcheverry (No. 46) 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 before falling to world No. 1 Jannik Sinner 3-6, 4-6, 2-6 in the third round. 

Boyer’s victory over Federico Coria (No. 97) 6-3, 6-7(3), 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 was another highlight, seeing him capture his first ever main draw win in a Grand Slam.

“I’m just happy to have got it done today,” Boyer shared following his win over Coria. “Yeah, first five-set match. It was a battle. Coria is a fighter. Just happy to be through it.”

17-year-old Iva Jovic, last year’s Australian Open junior girls’ doubles champ, made her mark with a commanding 6-2, 6-1 win over Nuria Parrizas-Diaz. Like Boyer, this was her first ever main draw win in a Grand Slam.

DOUBLES MAIN DRAW

The doubles main draw saw multiple SoCal players making significant waves. Asia Muhammad (Long Beach) and partner Demi Schuurs impressed with two solid wins before falling to Miyu Kato (No. 34) and Renata Zarazua (No. 88) 6-4, 5-7, 1-6. Muhammad (No. 13) and Schuurs (No. 26) first defeated Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (No. 1,202) and Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers (No. 86) 6-3, 6-2, then overcame Anna Blinkova (No. 98) and Fang-Hsien Wu (No. 47) 6-7(5), 7-6(4), 6-3.

Luisa Stefani (Pepperdine) teamed with Payton Stearns to beat Irina-Camelia Begu (No. 1,033) and Ingrid Martins (No. 81) 6-2, 7-6(3), before falling to Kristina Mladenovic (No. 27) and Shuai Zhang (No. 24) 2-6, 2-6.

Former USC Trojan, Sabrina Santamaria (Los Angeles) paired with Bernarda Pera (No. 136) to defeat Julia Grabher (No. 801) and Tara Moore (No. 228) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 but were later edged by Hanyu Guo (No. 32) and Alexandra Panova (No. 28) 7-5, 6-7(1), 5-7.

UCLA’s Ena Shibahara (No. 52) and Veronika Kudermetova (No. 16) secured a strong first-round win over Peangtarn Pilpuech (No. 125) and Chia Yi Tsao (No. 129) 6-3, 6-1, before falling to Xiyu Wang (No. 103) and Saisai Zheng (No. 60) 1-6, 5-7.

Other SoCal competitors in doubles included Giron, Ryan Seggerman (San Diego), Giuliana Olmos (USC), and Desirae Krawczyk (Palm Desert).

MIXED DOUBLES

In mixed doubles, Muhammad again made her mark, this time partnering with Andres Molteni. The duo, seeded No. 8, defeated Kateřina Siniaková and Zhang Zhizhen 6-3, 7-6(2), and Anna Danilina and Harri Heliövaara 6-1, 4-6, 11-9 before falling to No. 2 seeds Erin Routliffe and Michael Venus 7-6(2), 1-6, 5-10.

Also representing SoCal in Mixed Doubles were Olmos, who partnered with Maximo Gonzalez, and Krawczyk, who teamed with Neal Skupski.

JUNIORS

Thea Frodin (Woodland Hills) was the sole Junior representative from SoCal. In Junior Girls’ Singles, Frodin claimed a victory over Nauhany Vitoria Leme Da Silva 6-3, 7-6(1), before falling to top-seeded Emerson Jones 7-6(3), 2-6. Frodin also teamed up with Diana-Ioana Simionescu in junior girls’ doubles, but they were narrowly defeated in the first round in a tiebreaker.

WHEELCHAIR

The most successful SoCal player across all events, in terms of titles, was Charlie Cooper (La Quinta), who delivered a standout performance by capturing both the boys’ wheelchair singles and boys’ wheelchair doubles titles. After being named the ITF Junior Boys’ Wheelchair Player of the Year for 2024, Cooper picked up right where he left off in the new year, dominating the competition. As the top seed in the singles and No. 1 Junior in the U.S., he lived up to the expectations, securing straight-set victories over Luiz Calixto (6-0, 6-4), Benjamin Wenzel (6-2, 6-4), and Alexander Lantermann (6-1, 6-1) to claim the championship.

“I’m really happy to be the first ever junior wheelchair champion here at the Australian Open,” Cooper said, according to ausopen.com.

“Getting those three wins under my belt in the round robin really helped with my confidence going into this one.”

In doubles, Cooper partnered with Calixto to clinch the title, defeating Wenzel and Lantermann in the final 6-3, 6-0.

QUAD WHEELCHAIR

Also representing SoCal was David Wagner (Fullerton), who competed in both the quad wheelchair singles and quad wheelchair doubles alongside his partner Diego Perez.