Max Exsted of Savage wins junior doubles title at Australian Open

Over two matches and five tense hours on Friday in Melbourne, Max Exsted of Savage and his teammate Cooper Woestendick held their nerve time and again to win the junior boys doubles title at the Australian Open.

For Exsted, 16, it announced his arrival on the international stage with his first junior Grand Slam trophy. He is ranked as the No. 39 junior tennis player in the world and No. 9 for his age, according to the International Tennis Federation. This was his fourth appearance at a junior Grand Slam in the last year and first visit to Australia.

Exsted and Woestendick defeated Petr Brunclik and Viktor Frydrych 6-3, 7-5 in the final. They combined for 20 winners to three unforced errors, converted three of six break-point opportunities and won 82% of their first serves.

There was tension in the second set as Brunclik and Frydrych raced to a 3-0 lead and had a break-point chance to go up 4-0, but Exsted and Woestendick weathered that and broke back in the next game.

The winning point came on Exsted’s serve, a rocket down the middle that created a weak return, which Woestendick crushed with an overhead volley.

The championship match started just a few hours after Exsted and Woestendick took down the No. 1 seed of Federico Cina and Rei Sakamoto 6-1, 6-7 (5), (10-8) in the semifinals — winning a decisive back-and-forth 10-point tiebreak when Exsted threaded a passing shot that landed just inside the baseline.

It capped a fantastic month for Exsted and Woestendick in Australia. They also won the Traralgon Junior International in boys doubles last week.