Kostyuk's play in Oz shows promise of Les Petits As—streaming live now

When you watched Marta Kostyuk last week at the Australian Open, you saw great potential. The 15-year-old from Ukraine won two main-draw matches before falling to her much more experienced compatriot, Elina Svitolina.

You also saw validation. Because while Kostyuk has a long way to go before her pro career is said and done, she is but the latest example of a former Les Petits As champion using the world-class junior tournament as a stepping stone to much greater things.

Previous Les Petits As champions include Rafael Nadal, Richard Gasquet, Donald Young, Frances Tiafoe, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Michael Chang. There are also runners-up that went on to do great things in pros: Andy Murray, for one, who beat Novak Djokovic in the event in 2000. On the women's side, former champions include Martina Hingis, Anna Kournikova, Kim Clijsters, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Timea Bacsinszky, CiCi Bellis and Jelena Ostapenko. Lindsay Davenport and Justine Henin were former runners-up.

While the name Les Petits As suggests a French event, it is a worldwide competition that recently ventured into the United States for the first time. Back in November, 16 of the best American junior boys and girls competed at the Les Petits As - USA Playoffs Lacoste to try and qualify for the Les Petits As - Le Mondial Lacoste world championships. The USA Playoffs featured the 12 best American players based on their USTA rankings, along with four players selected by USTA coaches.

The finalists in both the boys' and girls' tournaments earned direct entry into the main draw of the main event, taking place this week in Tarbes, France. The winners of the third-place matches were given a wild card into the International Qualifiers. Those took place earlier this week; check out some of the highlights here:

After all of the preliminary matches, the main draw of Les Petits As - Le Mondial Lacoste is underway, featuring the world's best junior players ages 12 to 14. The exclusive and acclaimed junior tournament runs until January 28th, and it is streaming live on http://www.lespetitsas.com/en/.

Keep Kostyuk's play from Melbourne in mind when you watch the players in Tarbes—some of them could be in Australian Opens not long from now. If you want to see just how good some of these players are, here's a look at the best shots from the second round of the main draw:

Who are some of the most likely prospects that could one day make it in the pros? The boys that you'll want to keep an eye on this year are Russians Mikhail Gorokhov and Konstantin Zhzhenov. Both players are 13 years old, with Gorokhov being the top seed in the entire tournament and Zhzhenov holding the No. 2 seed. Gorokhov won his round-of-16 match by a score of 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Zhzhenov also advanced to the quarterfinals, winning his round-of-16 match, 7-6 (3), 6-1.

For the girls, Russian Diana Shnaider, who is featured in the top shots video above, is considered the favorite to win the tournament. Shnaider is 13 years old and is already through to the quarterfinals of this event. She most recently won her second-round match, 6-3, 7-5.

From an American perspective, Evan Wen and Katka Wiersholm remain in the boys' and girls' tournaments, respectively.

It's also worth noting that Gael Monfils' sister, Maelle Monfils, played in the event this year. She was eliminated in the second round, but not before she was able to answer a few fun questions:

La Monf, Part Deux? All the more reason to follow Les Petits As - Le Mondial Lacoste on Facebook for more video updates.