For only the third time in the past 15 years, an Australian player has advanced to the girls’ singles final at the Traralgon Junior International.
Traralgon, Australia, 16 January 2024 | Leigh Rogers
Emerson Jones has charged into the girls’ singles final at the 2024 Traralgon Junior International.
The 15-year-old from the Gold Coast becomes only the third Australian to reach a girls’ singles final at the tournament in the past 15 years, following in the footsteps of Kimberly Birrell (a runner-up in 2015) and Melisa Ercan (the 2023 champion).
The second-seeded Jones sealed her progression with a hard-fought
Jones is currently Australia’s top-ranked junior, sitting at a career-high world No.9 in the ITF World Tennis Tour junior rankings.
The National Tennis Academy athlete has blitzed through the field this week, conceding only a single set across her five matches.
This sets up a final clash with American Iva Jovic, a 16-year-old ranked No.11.
The annual ITF J300 event is one of the biggest junior events held in Australia and attracts many of the world’s top-ranked players ahead of the Australian Open Junior Championships.
Past champions include Roger Federer, Ash Barty, Alexander Zverev, Nick Kyrgios and Iga Swiatek.
Pavle Marinkov, a 17-year-old from Sydney, was hoping to join that illustrious honour roll. However, his quest ended with a three-set semifinal loss to Norway’s
Lily Taylor and Gabrielle Villegas’ winning run in the girls’ doubles competition also came to an end, losing a thriller against the top seeds in the semifinals.
> READ: Wildcards announced for Australian Open 2024 Junior Championships
Aussies in action – Traralgon
TODAY’S RESULTS
Girls’ singles, semifinals
[2] Emerson Jones (AUS) d
Boys’ singles, semifinals
Girls’ doubles, semifinals
[1] Hannah Klugman (GBR)/Mingge Xu (GBR) d Lily Taylor (AUS)/Gabrielle Villegas (AUS) 3-6 6-4 [14-12]
> VIEW: AGL Loy Yang Traralgon Junior International draws
COMING UP
Girls’ singles, final
[2] Emerson Jones (AUS) v [4] Iva Jovic (USA)
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