Aussie teen targets top 100 after Brisbane breakthrough

Joel Gould and Darren Walton | January 7, 2026

Emerson Jones is targeting the world’s top 100 as the teenage sensation prepares for the Australian Open full of confidence after an eye-catching Brisbane International showing.

The 17-year-old lost her second-round match to world No.17 Liudmila Samsonova 6-4 6-1 after stunning 2022 Wimbledon semi-finalist Tatjana Maria in the opening round.

Australian tennis’s most exciting young talent had only played one top-20 player before, Kazakhstan’s world No.5 and 2023 Open champion Elena Rybakina, last year on her Melbourne Park main-draw debut as a wildcard.

“It is going to give me more confidence to be honest,” Jones said of her Brisbane breakthrough.

“That (round-one victory) is the second top-50 win of my life and this is my second time against a top-20 player. 

“These experiences and knowing that I have played these women before at this level, I can definitely come into the match knowing how they play and it gives me confidence.

“By the end of last year, my coach and I wanted to crack the top 150 and it was great that I got to do that right at the end. Definitely, trying to make the top 100 (this year) is a goal we’d love to crack.”

In 2024, Jones rose to become Australia’s first junior girls world No.1 since Jelena Dokic in 1998.

Tennis legend Ash Barty recently hailed Jones as one of the best young players she had seen. The teenager admires Barty but hopes to forge her own path.

“I’ve had that (comparison) for a while, since last year. It doesn’t really put any pressure on me,” Jones said.

“Everyone compares me to Ash but Ash has her own journey and I think she did absolutely amazing. It would be amazing to achieve what she did. I focus on myself and that definitely works for me.”

Jones will juggle her final year of high school with tennis but is comfortable making sport the priority.

“Hopefully I am going to get given a lot of opportunities this summer … and in the middle of the year,” she said.

“School is there. It’s not my priority but I am going to finish school and hopefully that is the end of it for me. I don’t want to touch books after that.

“I am just going to focus on my tennis. I am doing a pretty good job of it all, handling myself.”

Jones had a great start to Wednesday’s match with an immediate break of Samsonova to lead 3-0. 

The turning point came in the eighth game when Jones had a break point to take what would have been a 5-3 lead, but was unable to convert.

Jones was among three Queensland talents to bow out with gallant second-round defeats on Wednesday.

Olivia Gadecki’s highly touted conqueror, sixth seed Mirra Andreeva,  only had kind words for the 23-year-old prodigy who has also had to endure endless talk of being the so-called “Next Ash Barty”.

“All I can say is that Olivia is a very tough opponent to play the first match (of the season) against,” Andreeva, an Australian and French Open semi-finalist in 2025, said after a 4-6 6-1 6-2 comeback win over Gadecki.

“I played against her once, two years ago, and I remember it was a three-set battle again, so I knew that this match would not be easy and she played well, especially in the first set.

“She was very aggressive and was pushing me to the limits.”

Fellow Gold Coaster and Australian teammate Kim Birrell also succumbed to a seed, 6-1 6-3, world No.3 and 2025 Wimbledon and US Open runner-up Amanda Anisimova.