Alana Subasic, a 16-year-old from Sydney, scored a breakthrough victory today in the Australian Open Junior Championships.
Melbourne, Australia, 21 January 2024 | Leigh Rogers
Dreams can come true, as Alana Subasic is discovering at Australian Open 2024.
The 16-year-old Aussie scored her first Grand Slam main-draw win today in the girls’ singles competition, edging out Italian Noemi Basiletti in a three-set thriller at Melbourne Park.
“I’ve been coming (to the Australian Open) every year since I started playing tennis at the age of six. I was dreaming of playing here and now it’s finally a reality,” Subasic said after recording a hard-fought 5-7 6-2 7-5 victory.
The Sydney talent, who won two qualifying rounds to earn her spot in the draw, stepped up under pressure when world No.43 Basiletti served for the match in the 10th game of the deciding set.
Subasic had just lost three consecutive games and looked in serious trouble.
“‘It’s not over until the end. Take it point by point, you can catch up’, that’s what I was telling myself to stay calm,” the world No.293 said.
That mindset helped Subasic reel off three straight games, including two service breaks, to clinch an impressive victory.
“It’s the biggest win of my career,” she beamed.
“All the emotions are going through my brain right now. I’m just glad I pushed through.”
Making the victory even sweeter is the fact that the resilient Subasic is returning from a broken wrist, which she suffered during a fall at a clay-court tournament in the Netherlands in July.
“It was a really tough time, but I had an amazing team around me,” she said.
“I missed five months last year, so this is definitely a well-deserved win.”
Subasic names Novak Djokovic and Ajla Tomljanovic as her biggest inspirations.
“Djokovic is amazing and I love how Ajla plays. I feel like I play very similar to her, so I try to watch a lot of her,” she explained.
Determined to emulate her heroes at Melbourne Park this week, Subasic is excited to meet fourth seed Hannah Klugman in the second round.
Although the 14-year-old Brit is one of the world’s most promising juniors and won the prestigious 18/u Orange Bowl tournament in America late last year, Subasic is not intimidated.
“I love playing seeded players, because it’s just another opportunity and anyone is beatable,” she said.
Subasic was among four Aussies to score opening-round wins today in the…
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