VIDEO. Who is Emerson Jones? How a 16-year-old shocked the 37th racket of the world

On January 6, a 16-year-old Australian tennis player Emerson Jones (WTA 371) made her debut at the level of WTA tournaments.

In the 1st round of the 500 in Adelaide, Emerson beat the Chinese woman in two sets Wang Xinyu (WTA 37) in 1 hour and 13 minutes, serving twice in the 1st game. The coefficient for the victory of Jones before the start of the confrontation was 5.05.

WTA 500 Adelaide. Hard. Round of 16

Wang Xinyu (China) [Q] – Emerson Jones (Australia) [WC] – 4:6, 0:6

For Emerson, this is the first victory over a representative of the top 50 of the WTA ranking.

“At the beginning of the match, as I have never played against a top 50 tennis player before, I was a bit doubtful about her strength, so I was not completely confident. But during the match, I thought: “I’ll be fine – if I really play well, I’ll have a chance,” Emerson commented on the victory over Wang Xinyu.

In 2024, Jones became the first representative of Australia to finish the year at the top of the junior world rankings. Emerson also played in the finals of the junior Australian Open and Wimbledon last season, and won the ITF Junior Final at the end of the year.

In addition, on November 3, 2024, she became the champion of the 75,000 in Sydney, taking the first trophy at the pro level. And for the 2025 Australian Open, the organizers gave Emerson a wild card into the main draw.

“Psychologically, I have improved significantly compared to last year. I don’t have any expectations going into these high level tournaments, so I just play every game as hard as I can. I just need to prepare well… Play more matches and try to tell myself before each match that I need to be in good mental shape. I guess that’s what tennis is all about: whoever is the most stubborn is likely to be the most successful,” Jones said.

In the second round of the WTA 500 competition in Adelaide, Emerson will play against the world’s 9th ranked Daria Kasatkina. It is interesting, but the bookmakers already estimate the Australian’s chances of success more than in the game with Wang Xinyu – the odds are 4.23 for Jones’ victory.

Video review of the match Wang Xinyu – Emerson Jones