Ziga Sesko of Slovenia wins the boys' final at the Australian Open; Ksenia Efremova wins the girls

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Slovenian Ziga Sesko lifted his game after a shaky first set to beat favored American Keaton Hanse 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday in the junior boys final at the Australian Open.

Sesko had little time to savor his victory, other than to lift the trophy over his head at the after-match presentation. He was due to board a flight home hours after the final to join the Slovenian team for a Davis Cup tie against Turkey, starting Friday.

The seventh-seeded 17-year-old started a slight underdog against fourth-seeded Hanse, from Torrance, California.

Hanse looked the stronger and more steady player in the first set, breaking for a 3-2 lead in the fifth game and comfortably holding to take the set in 38 minutes.

Sesko lifted strongly in the second set, gaining more purchase on serve and beginning to crush his forehand while also mixing in a difficult backhand slice. He broke Hanse in the sixth game and took the set in 37 minutes.

The Slovenian dominated the final set, breaking Hanse in the third game. While he was broken in the sixth game for 3-3, he broke back immediately to lead 4-3. Sesko had two championship points on Hanse's serve in the ninth game and conceded only one point in his last service game to take the final on his third match point.

Hanse and Sesko are close friends on tour and have warmed up together all week. Both were playing for the first time on the Rod Laver Arena, the roof of which was closed against the possibility of rain.

“I'd like to congratulate Ziga on an amazing tournament and really well-deserved win,” Hanse said. “I hope I can get revenge on him somewhere in the future.”

Sesko is the third Slovenian to reach a Grand Slam junior singles final and the first since Katarina Srebotnik won the Wimbledon and US Open titles in 1998.

“Keaton is an amazing man, an amazing tennis player,” Sesko said. “I hope we will play many more times and I hope you don't get the revenge.”

Ksenia Efremova of France beat Ekaterina Tupitsyna of Russia 6-3, 7-5 in the junior girls final, which was the first meeting of the pair.

She’s a very, very good player,” said Efremova, who is the first French girl to reach a Junior Grand Slam final since Elsa Jacquemot won the Roland Garros girls’ title in 2020.

“You maybe don’t hear a lot from her but I know that she’s practicing a lot in Russia and she’s competing there. She doesn’t really travel much," Efremova said ahead of the final. “It’s going to be a very great and interesting match between us because she’s an aggressive player."

Tupitsyna showed that aggression in hitting 21 winners agaisnt 45 unforced errors in the final. But Efremova was steadier, put 72% of first serves in play and won 58% of first serve points.

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Ksenia Efremova of France holds her trophy after defeating Ekaterina Tupitsyna of Russia in the girl's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Keaton Hance of the U.S. plays a forehand return to Ziga Sesko of Slovenia during the boy's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Ziga Sesko of Slovenia plays a forehand return to Keaton Hance of the U.S. during the boy's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Ziga Sesko of Slovenia celebrates after defeating Keaton Hance of the U.S. in the boy's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Ziga Sesko, left, of Slovenia poses with his trophy after defeating Keaton Hance, right, of the U.S. in the boy's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The speaker of Iran's parliament said Sunday that the Islamic Republic now considers all European Union militaries to be terrorist groups, lashing out after the bloc declared the country's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard a terror group over its bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.

The announcement by Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a former Guard commander, of the terror designation will likely be mostly symbolic. Iran has used a 2019 law to reciprocally declare other nations' militaries terror groups following the United States declaring the Guard a terror group that year.

However, it comes as tensions are high in the Mideast as U.S. President Donald Trump weighs a possible military strike against Iran. The Islamic Republic also planned a live fire military drill for Sunday and Monday in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes.

Qalibaf made the announcement as he and others in parliament wore Guard uniforms in support of the force. The Guard, which also controls Iran's ballistic missile arsenal and has vast economic interests in Iran, answers only to Iran's 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“By seeking to strike at the (Guard), which itself has been the greatest barrier to the spread of terrorism to Europe, Europeans have in fact shot themselves in the foot and, once again through blind obedience to the Americans, decided against the interests of their own people," Qalibaf said.

Lawmakers at the session later chanted: “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!” at the session.

Trump has laid out two red lines for military action: the killing of peaceful protesters or the possible mass execution of those detained in a major crackdown over the demonstrations. He's increasingly begun discussing Iran's nuclear program as well, which the U.S. negotiated over with Tehran in multiple sessions before Israel launched a 12-day war with Iran back in June.

The U.S. bombed three Iranian nuclear sites during the war. Activity at two of the sites suggest Iran may be trying to obscure the view of satellites as it tries to salvage what remains there.

Trump on Saturday night declined to say whether he’d made a decision on what he wanted to do regarding Iran.

Speaking to reporters as he flew to Florida, Trump sidestepped a question about whether Tehran would be emboldened if the U.S. backed away from launching strikes on Iran, saying, “Some people think that. Some people don’t.”

Trump said Iran should negotiate a “satisfactory” deal to prevent the Middle Eastern country from getting any nuclear weapons but said, “I don’t know that they will. But they are talking to us. Seriously talking to us.”

Ali Larijani, a top security official in Iran, wrote on X late Saturday that “structural arrangements for negotiations are progressing.” However, there is no public sign of any direct talks with the United States, something Khamenei has repeatedly ruled out.

Associated Press writer Will Weissert aboard Air Force One contributed to this report.

People walk through the Tajrish bazaar market in northern Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

This handout image from the U.S. Navy shows an EA-18G Growler landing on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Indian Ocean on Jan. 23, 2026. (Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Daniel Kimmelman/U.S. Navy via AP)

A woman walks through the Shiite Saints Abdulazim and Taher shrine in Shahr-e-Ray, south of Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)