London, Great Britain, 10 July 2023 | Leigh Rogers

For the first time in 15 years, two Australians have progressed to the third round in the Wimbledon girls’ singles competition.

Taylah Preston and Emerson Jones both posted hard-fought second-round victories at the All England Club on Monday to continue their bold runs.

Preston, a 17-year-old from Perth, triumphed 4-6 6-3 6-3 against 10th seed Tereza Valentova.

Valentova, a 16-year-old Czech, has been one of the world’s top-performing juniors this season. She was an Australian Open girls’ singles quarterfinalist and made the final at an ITF J300 tournament in Roehampton last week, where she scored a straight-sets victory against Preston in the quarterfinals.

However, Preston had the upper hand in this rematch, capitalising on her opponent’s 39 unforced errors. The Australian played a much cleaner match, recording only 19 unforced errors of her own.

This equals Preston’s career-best singles result at a junior Grand Slam, having also made third-round appearances at Roland Garros and the US Open last year.

Preston, who broke into the world’s top 10 junior rankings last season, has been predominantly playing at the professional level this season. She claimed her first ITF singles title in May and achieved a career-high ranking of world No.414 last month.

Jones demonstrated her grit in a second-round clash with American Tatum Evans, fighting back from the brink of defeat.

The 15-year-old from the Gold Coast recovered from a 3-5 deficit in the deciding set, reeling off four consecutive games to clinch a 4-6 6-1 7-5 victory.

This propels No.13 seed Jones into her second consecutive Grand Slam third round, having also reached this stage at Roland Garros last month.

> READ: Emerson Jones – A rising star of Australian tennis

In boys’ doubles action, Australian hopes Charlie Camus and Hayden Jones were both eliminated in the opening round.

Aussies in action – Wimbledon

RESULTS
Girls’ singles, second round
[13] Emerson Jones (AUS) d Tatum Evans (USA) 4-6 6-1 7-5
[WC] Taylah Preston (AUS) d [10] Tereza Valentova (CZE) 4-6 6-3 6-3

Boys’ doubles, first round
[7] Darwin Blanch (USA)/Roy Horovitz (USA) d Charlie Camus (AUS)/Oliver Bonding (GBR) 7-6(4) 7-5
Jakub Filip (CZE)/Gabriele Vulpitta (ITA) d Hayden Jones (AUS)/Alexander Razeghi (USA) 7-6(3) 6-7(3) [11-9]

COMING UP
Girls’ singles, third round
[13] Emerson Jones (AUS) v [WC] Mika Stojsavljevic (GBR)
[WC] Taylah Preston (AUS) v [8] Ena Koike (JPN)

> VIEW: Wimbledon 2023 girls’ singles draw

Girls’ doubles, first round
Roisin Gilheany (AUS)/Daniela Piani (GBR) v [1] Lucciana Perez Alarcon (PER)/Kaitlin Quevedo (USA)
Emerson Jones (AUS)/Ela Milic (SLO) v Hannah Klugman (GBR)/Isabelle Lacy (GBR)
Lily Taylor (AUS)/Zuzanna Pawlikowska (POL) v Darja Suvirdjonkova (SRB)/Vendula Valdmannova (CZE)
[Alt] Taylah Preston (AUS)/Alina Korneeva v Wakana Sonobe (JPN)/Tereza Valentova (CZE)

> VIEW: Wimbledon 2023 girls’ doubles draw

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