Aussie Santillan loses boys’ semi at Open

Akira Santillan hopes a boys’ semi-final loss at the Australian Open is the start of bigger and better things, as he seeks to emulate the feats of compatriot Nick Kyrgios.

Santillan, the last remaining local singles hope at Melbourne Park, was beaten 6-2 7-6 (7-2) by South Korean Seong-chan Hong on Friday.

Hong took a 3-1 lead in the first set when he broke the 16th seed’s serve and never looked back, wrapping up victory in one hour and 15 minutes on showcourt three.

Santillan, who lives in Brisbane, failed to follow in the footsteps of friend Kyrgios by becoming the fifth Australian in the past nine years to win the boys’ title at Melbourne Park.

But the 17-year-old, watched on by Lleyton Hewitt, saved three match points late in the second set to force a tiebreaker and suggested he would take a lot of positives from the tournament.

“I’m pretty happy to make semis,” Santillan said, added he “struggled” to get the ball past his opponent.

“I’ll definitely take some confidence out of this week.

“It’s been a great week. Hopefully I can back it up in the next grand slam and next tournament I play.”

Santillan was able to study the likes of Kyrgios, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at Melbourne Park.

Kyrgios, who has demonstrated how seamless the transition from the boys’ draw to men’s draw at a grand slam can be, was a source of motivation for Tokyo-born Santillan.

“It’s an inspiration what he’s doing right now. He’s only 19 and now in the top 40,” he said.

“It’s pretty extraordinary.”

No Australian made it through to the last eight of the girls’ singles at this year’s Australian Open.

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