Australian juniors Li Tu (Adelaide, SA), Thanasi Kokkinakis (Seacombe Heights, SA), Brad Mousley (Wynn Vale, SA) and Isabella Beischer (Melbourne, Vic) have begun the BNP Paribas Cup Stade Francais tournament in Paris in winning style, recording first round victories overnight.

The group, who are in France as part of the European Young Stars Tour, have just completed a training camp at Roland Garros in preparation for a month of tournaments culminating with the ITF World Team Finals in the Czech Republic.

Tu was the first Australian in action recording a solid 6-1 6-2 win over local junior Hugo Schott.

“It was great to get off on a winning start for this tour in Europe.  I was happy with how I played today and I’m looking forward to the rest of the week,” Tu said.

Kokkinakis, the No.15 seed for the tournament, won a tough match against Arkadijis Slobodkins (LAT) 6-3 6-3.

“He was a very big 14-year-old and he tried to use his size to intimidate me; however, once I got him moving and I was able to use my big forehand I knew I had him in trouble,” Kokkinakis explained.

The third South Australian of the group, Mousley had to play through qualifying to reach the main draw of the tournament. He proved the match play had been good practice when he defeated Sri Lanka’s top junior Sharmal Dissanayake 6-2 6-2.

“After winning three matches I knew I had some good form on my side and I felt very comfortable with this match.  I’m very happy to win and not expend too much energy,” Mousley said.

Isabella Beischer, the only Australian girl playing at the tournament, played a marathon match against Moroccan Rita Atik, finally winning 7-6 (score) 2-6 6-2 in just under three hours.

“It was challenging playing a real claycourt grinder who chased down every ball but it was fun being out there and putting my skills to the test,” Beischer said.

With only doubles to be played on day two the team will have a good chance to recover before their second round matches.