Rising teen Maya Joint records her first Grand Slam singles main-draw win at US Open 2024.
New York, USA, 27 August 2024 | Leigh Rogers
Maya Joint achieved a major career milestone at the US Open today, scoring her first Grand Slam main-draw singles win.
The 18-year-old Australian qualifier outclassed German Laura Siegemund, an experienced player double her age, to record a stunning 6-4 7-5 victory in opening-round action at Flushing Meadows.
“It’s incredible. I didn’t expect to come this far, I’m lost for words,” Joint told Stan Sport after the match. “I don’t know what to say, it feels great.”
From four-all in the opening set, Joint reeled off seven consecutive games to take control of the match. However, her emotional maturity was tested when Siegemund came charging back late in the second set.
“I got very nervous. I felt like my feet weren’t working. I felt like my legs were full of sand,” Joint said.
After squandering a 5-0 advantage, and a match point on the two-time US Open doubles champion’s serve at 5-4, Joint impressively found a way to close out the biggest win of her burgeoning Grand Slam career.
She steadied to hold and then broke Siegemund’s serve in the 12th game, clinching victory on her fourth match point.
“She definitely made me work for it,” said Joint, describing the match as “a battle”.
🇦🇺 Maya Joint, the third-youngest woman in the draw, wins her Grand Slam debut! pic.twitter.com/pnORDC6FKl
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 26, 2024
It continues a remarkable rise for Joint, who had a WTA Tour singles ranking of world No.1390 this time last year.
Now sitting at a career-high No.135, Joint is the highest-ranked 18-year-old in the world.
The promising athlete, who was born and raised in the American state of Michigan, switched allegiance to Australia, her father’s homeland, in mid-2023.
Joint relocated to Brisbane to train at Tennis Australia’s National Tennis Academy, where she has been guided by Chris Mahony.
She demonstrated her potential during the Australian summer earlier this year. As a wildcard she tallied four top-200 wins to reach a quarterfinal at a WTA 125 tournament in Canberra and then progressed to the final qualifying round at the Australian Open, where she extended eventual semifinalist Dayana Yastremska to three sets.
Since then, Joint has gone from strength-to-strength. She has recorded 53 wins on the professional tour and won two…
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