Anderson into junior Aust Open final

Australia could have a new tennis star on the rise after Oliver Anderson qualified for the junior boys final at Melbourne Park.

Queensland teen Anderson will make his Rod Laver Arena debut on Saturday after dismissing Korean Yunseong Chung 6-3 7-5 in the Australian Open boys championship semi-finals.

“It’s pretty scary actually,” he said of playing on the big court.

“I get caught sometimes with the big crowd and get pretty nervous.

“I’ll enjoy the moment for sure.”

Anderson could add his name to an illustrious list of former Australian winners of the Open, including Rod Laver, John Newcombe and Ken Rosewall.

The 17-year-old will face Jurabek Karimov after the Uzbek seventh seed defeated fellow Australian Alex De Minaur 3-6 6-4 6-3.

Sara Tomic will shoot for a ranking inside the world’s top 200 players after being denied an Australian Open junior crown.

Tomic’s last and best Australian Open girls’ campaign ended in a 6-2 6-3 semi-final loss to fifth seed Vera Lapko from Belarus.

She’s missed the chance to emulate her older brother Bernard’s achievement of winning a junior slam – as he did at the 2008 Australian Open and 2009 US Open – but leaves Melbourne full of positives.

“I played my best. I’ve enjoyed myself here and I’m really happy,” she said.

While Tomic is eligible to play the remaining majors as a junior, she said her mind was already on the senior circuits.

“I’m definitely playing pro tournaments,” she said.

“I’ve only played five, six months of tournaments and I’m already 450 in the world.

“So hopefully top 200 by the end of the year.”

Tomic’s first priority is celebrating her birthday – she turns 18 on February 5 – then she will attend an ITF event in Perth.

Lapko will play No.2 seed Tereza Mihalikova from Slovakia in the girls’ final.

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