While most hopes for an American champion Down Under lie in the hands of Serena Williams, the other two Americans left at the Australian Open produced contrasting results as the first week ended.

First, 13th seed Sloane Stephens joined Serena in the second week with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Elina Svitolina of Ukraine. It was a business-like effort by Stephens, who was the aggressor throughout the match as evidenced by her 24 winners to go with 32 unforced errors. Her attacking style never allowed Svitolina to launch a serious threat, and there was never a hint that the match was in jeopardy.

Stephens is looking to equal or surpass her 2013 effort in Melbourne, which took her to the semifinals. After the match, the American credited newly appointed coach Paul Annacone with helping her court awareness and shot selection. She certainly dictated play throughout the match. However, If the Florida native is to achieve a result as successful as last year, she will have to avenge last year’s loss here to world No. 2 and two-time defending champion Victoria Azarenka next.

On the other hand, Donald Young faced 16th seed Kei Nishikori with a spot in the second week of the tournament at stake. The last Americanman left in the draw was looking to continue his resurgence after upsetting Andreas Seppi in the previous round. However, two different versions of Young surfaced in the match. In the first set appeared the Donald Young who has made a recent run while keeping his emotions in check and his game sharp. The Chicago native gave every indication that he not only had the tools to compete with the higher ranked Nishikori, but could win the match as he made impressively aggressive shots early. Young appeared to be coasting but was broken as he served for the set. Nishikori rallied to take the set, and the wheels proceeded to come off for the American.

In the second and third sets, Young's frustration grew as errors and poor play piled up, inducing a racket slam and verbal volleys. The result was an ugly loss, 7-5 6-1 6-0. Clearly, the frustration of losing the lead and first set weighed on Young, who was never able to overcome it in the following sets. Despite the loss, he still could build off his success in the early rounds and impressive start in this match, something that grabbed Nishikori's attention afterwards.

“He was playing unbelievable,” said the Japanese star of Young’s fast start. “He was coming in all the time and hitting deep. Everything was working well for him.”

If Young can bottle his first-set effort, while adding a layer of mental toughness, he is capable of climbing back up the rankings this season.  Meanwhile, though, no American men will join Williams and Stephens in the second week of the Australian Open