Tennis: NZ well represented in Australian Open juniors

New Zealand has good representation in the Australian Open junior draws after Aucklanders Rubin Statham (17) and Martin Colenbrander (16) qualified for the boys' singles.

Statham will face Australian wildcard Nick Lindahl in the first round and Colenbrander plays another qualifier, Jurgens Strydom of Namibia.

Marina Erakovic, 16, will be the ninth seed in girls' singles where she is up against American Elizabeth Plotkin in the first round.

Erakovic made the second round of the singles and the doubles semifinals at Melbourne last year.

Joining Erakovic, who is at No 8 in the combined ITF junior rankings, are Canterbury's Ellen Barry, 15, and Shona Lee 16.

Barry takes on 16th seed Pichittra Thongdach of Thailand, who is ranked 24th on the ITF juniors rankings.

Lee plays Hsuan Hwang of Taipei.