Olivia Gadecki, who recorded her career-best grass-court result, was among the most outstanding Australian players in the past week.
Surbiton, Great Britain, 10 June 2024 | Leigh Rogers
There’s been so shortage of exciting news to celebrate this week in Australian tennis.
From Alex de Minaur becoming the first Australian to progress to a men’s singles quarterfinal at Roland Garros in 20 years, to Matt Ebden advancing to his career-first Roland Garros men’s doubles semifinal.
Rising stars of the sport have shone too. Emerson Jones became the first Australian in 10 years to feature in a Roland Garros girls’ doubles semifinals, while Yassin Hill made his Grand Slam debut in the inaugural Roland Garros wheelchair boys’ singles event.
Away from Paris, Australian players recorded impressive results across multiple surfaces and continents too.
This week’s most outstanding performers include:
Aleksandar Vukic: The 28-year-old made an encouraging start to the grass-court season, beating former world No.10 and Wimbledon 2021 semifinalist Denis Shapovalov in the opening round at the ATP Challenger tournament in Surbiton (Great Britain).
Alexei Popyrin: The 24-year-old teamed with Estonian Mark Lajal to reach the doubles semifinals at an ATP Challenger grass tournament in Surbiton.
Maya Joint: The 18-year-old posted the first top-100 singles win of her career, beating world No.54 Anna Karolina Schmiedlova to reach the quarterfinals at a WTA 125 clay-court tournament in Makarska (Croatia).
Olivia Gadecki: The 22-year-old recorded her career-best grass-court singles result, advancing to the semifinals at an ITF 100 tournament in Surbiton (Great Britain). Gadecki tallied five wins to reach that stage after coming through qualifying.
Ajla Tomljanovic: The 31-year-old won four consecutive matches for the first time since November 2023 to reach the singles quarterfinals as a qualifier at the ITF 100 tournament in Surbiton. Tomljanovic’s winning run eventually ended against Olivia Gadecki in an all-Australian quarterfinal.
Kimberly Birrell: The 26-year-old also advanced to the singles quarterfinals as a qualifier at the ITF 100 tournament in Surbiton, beating Wimbledon 2022 quarterfinalist Jule Niemeier along the way to notch her career-first top-100 on grass. The in-form Birrell has now won 12 of her 15 past matches.
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