POLISH teenager Tomasz Berkieta blasted his way into the record books with a hard-fought three-set win over Brazilian Enzo Kohlmann De Frietas to reach the third round of the Australian Open Junior Boys’ Singles.

The third seeded serving machine – who reached the semi-finals at Melbourne Park 12 months ago – recorded a whopping 233 kmh serve in the match. While many statisticians might not look to the juniors for potential record-breaking achievements, Berkieta did just that, recording the fastest ever serve at the event, one-upping American Ben Shelton‘s 228 kmh bomb.

“Yesterday I was joking about this with some players, saying I want to go one more than Shelton,” Berkieta said post-match.

“I did so it’s great but nobody is going to remember that because it’s the juniors. I would love to see myself on the top of the list but I don’t think they will do it.”

Despite his 7-6 3-6 6-2 victory becoming known for his record-breaking serve, the Polish third seed admitted he was not happy with that part of his game earlier in the match.

“In the first set we broke each other, something like five times in a row. I didn’t expect that,” Berkieta said. 

“Normally when I am breaking, I am winning a set pretty much all the time so I am just waiting for one break. In my head I am winning the set so today was different and I am glad I found my serve. I don’t know what happened here I didn’t feel easy.”

Perhaps the most intriguing and heartfelt moment of the contest came post-match when Berkieta handed over his cap and wristbands to the ballkids.

“I was a ballboy in the past so I know how it feels to get a cap or something. I promised myself back then that if I played in such a tournament then I would have a lot of respect,” Berkieta said.

“I worked at a WTA tournament in Poland for five years. I know how hard it is when let’s say the weather is not nice. It’s perfect for a holiday but for playing and standing there for two hours it’s not nice and I appreciate it more because I know how hard the work is.”

Berkieta averaged 200 kmh serves in the victory, with a second serve average of 173 kmh. He hit 24 winners – including six aces – to Kohlmann De Freitas’ 20, but also hit 39-30 unforced errors. His win saw him advance through to take on Australian 16th seed Hayden Jones in the third round, after the brother of Emerson – who won her first round match the day before – defeated Jagger Leach, who is the son of Grand Slam champion Lindsay Davenport, 6-4 6-0.

Berkieta is the highest seed remaining in the top half of the draw, with sixth seeded Alexander Razeghi winning through in straight sets, as did 14th seed Jangjun Kim, but seventh seed Czech Maxim Mrva bowed out at the hands of Dutchman Mees Rottgering, 6-1 6-3. Kazakhstan’s Amir Omarkhanov – who stunned the top seed in Round 1 – continued his winning streak with a three-set victory over Brit Viktor Frydrych, 3-6 7-6 6-3. American 10th seed Roy Horovitz and unseeded Czech Jan Kumstat were the other winners.

In the Junior Girls’ Singles, top two seeds Renata Jamrichova and Sara Saito from Slovakia and Japan respectively both advanced through to the third round. It was a good day for the seeded players, as fourth seed Brit Hannah Klugman – a highly touted 14-year-old talent – also advanced with compatriot and 12th seed, Mingge Xu, while 10th seed Ena Koike and 15th seed Vlada Mincheva also won. Another Brit, Mika Stojsavljevic, and French wildcard Ksenia Efremova won through to the next stage with dominant victories.