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Australian Sean Berman was the only local to advance to the semi-finals of the Australian Open junior boys’ tournament, winning in straight sets on Thursday.

In the girls’ tournament, the two top seeds were knocked out, while unseeded British sensation Laura Robson blasted her way into the final four.

Berman was one of three Australian boys playing quarter-final matches, but was the only one to advance as Benjamin Mitchell and James Duckworth both fell in straight sets.
 
Melbournian Berman comprehensively defeated 10th seed Guilherme Clezar of Brazil 6-4 6-2 in just over an hour.

Seventeen-year-old Berman dominated from the outset, breaking the Brazilian in the first set at 4-4 before serving out the set.

In the second, Berman kept the pressure on Clezar, and earned an opportunity to break when the Brazilian didn’t attempt to play a shot from the Australian, obviously thinking it was out.

Clezar was visibly upset at the line call, and then served a double fault to hand Berman the first break of the second set. Berman later broke again, and despite some nerves in his final game, which saw Clezar save two match points, the Australian closed out the set 6-2 and took the match.
 
Berman has punched above his weight in this tournament, defeating No. 3 seed and fellow Australian Jason Kubler yesterday and 16th-seeded Slovakian Jozef Kovalik in round two. He will face sixth seed Marton Fucsovics in the semi-final after the Hungarian defeated Mitchell earlier in the day.
 
Queenslander Mitchell was unable to continue the form which saw him knock out No.1 seed Daniel Berta of Sweden on Wednesday, falling in straight sets to Fucsovics 6-1 6-2.

Mitchell was never in the hunt after being broken to love in his first service game, and Fucsovics earned two further breaks and closed out the set 6-1. It was a similar story in the second as Fucsovics ran way with the match.

Duckworth was also beaten in straight sets 6-2 6-4 by second seed Gianni Mina of France, who had the game and the look of a young Gael Monfils.

Duckworth started well when he broke Mina in consecutive games, but neither player could hold their serve until the fifth game. Mina consolidated a break at 3-2 then dominated to win the next three games and take the set.

Mina gained a triple break on Duckworth in the second, and looked like closing out the match when he served for the set at 5-0 lead.

Staring down the barrel of a bagel scoreline in the second set, Duckworth rallied and attacked Mina’s serve, hustling the net to convert his first break of the set and get on the board at 5-1.

Duckworth’s comeback continued as he won the next three games to be within one break of leveling the set at 5-4, but Mina was not about to be denied. On the Frenchman’s third chance to serve out the set, he made no mistake and took the match.
 
In the girls’ tournament, top seed Timea Babos of Hungary was knocked out along with No. 3 seed Daria Gavrilova, but the 24th-ranked Robson stormed into the semi-finals.

Babos was defeated by Czech qualifier Kristyna Pliskova 6-4 4-6 7-5 in an epic girls’ match which lasted close to three hours.

Pliskova will meet an in-form Robson, who showed no ill-effects after her senior doubles loss last night to cruise past American Ester Goldfeld 6-1 6-0 in just 41 minutes.

Gavrilova of Russia was eliminated by another Czech, sixth-seeded Karolina Pliskova, who won in straight sets, 6-1 7-5.

The other quarter-final was won by unseeded Hao Chen Tang of China, who came from behind to defeat fifth seed Silvia Njiric of Croatia in three tough sets, 3-6 6-4 6-3. She will now meet Pliskova for a place in the final.