Maya Joint and Ajla Tomljanović into quarterfinals of WTA Tour events
Australian teenager Maya Joint has caused a massive boilover at the WTA tournament in Akron, Mexico, toppling world number 20 Donna Vekic to reach the quarterfinals.
The 18-year-old swatted aside the tournament’s fifth seed 6-1 6-2 on Wednesday to register the biggest win of her career.
Joint, the world number 103, was set to rise to number 87 after her impressive 6-3 6-2 win over Julia Grabher in the opening round, but her latest conquest will see her soar even higher in the standings.
The rising star of Australian tennis set herself the goal of cracking the top 100 in 2025, but has accomplished that just two months into the year.
Joint will now meet Elina Avanesyan for a place in the last four after the Armenian defeated Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-1 6-4.
Joining them in the quarterfinals will be Daria Saville, the Australian overcoming Anhelina Kalinina 4-6 6-2 6-2.
In the US, Ajla Tomljanović advanced into the quarterfinals of the WTA Tour event in Austin, Texas, defeating Britain’s Jodie Anna Burrage in three sets.
The Australian dropped the opening set, to then surge in the back end of the match to claim a 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 win.
Tomljanović defeated American seventh-seed Katie Volynets the day before.
She will now face Japan’s Ena Shibahara after she defeated Australian Kim Birrell 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
Aussies dumped out of Dubai Championship
Australian world number 27 Alexei Popyrin has been knocked out of the Dubai Championships by a resurgent Marin Cilic.
Popyrin went down in the round of 32 clash after taking the first set, ultimately falling to the 2014 US Open champion 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.
This was the second consecutive match in Dubai where Cilic defeated a high-ranked Aussie, after beating world number eight Alex de Minaur in three sets on Tuesday.
On what proved a rather chastening day for the Australian challenge, the last man standing, Sydney’s Chris O’Connell, who’d done well just to qualify, also got beaten later on 7-6(2), 6-2 by Matteo Berrettini.
Popyrin had gone into his match hoping for a confidence-boosting run at an ATP tournament after he had failed to win a match in any of his first four events of an injury and illness-hit early-season campaign.
After defeating Lebanese player Hady Habib in his opening round, things looked to be going smoothly enough when he broke Cilic’s serve at the end of their first set to take early control.
But just as de Minaur had discovered 24 hours earlier, a rejuvenated Cilic produced some of his best tennis despite now being ranked 186 in the world.
The Croat, who underwent knee surgery in May last year and returned four months later as the world number 777 to win the Hangzhou Open, becoming the lowest-ranked champion in ATP Tour history, continues to roll back the years.
He hit back in the second set against Popyrin, having survived a couple of break points at 2-2 and then breaking the big-serving Aussie in the sixth game.
In the decider, his serve was unchallenged throughout the stanza while he relentlessly picked off Popyrin to break in the fifth game, which was to prove decisive.
It set Cilic up with a quarterfinal against Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, who had earlier defeated Portugal’s Nuno Borges 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Top seed Daniil Medvedev swore he did not have a moment to even think about how to return Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard’s monstrous serves — yet he still managed to come through this trial by aces 6-4, 6-4.
“You don’t have any time, so it’s pure reflexes and sometimes it makes life even easier because you don’t think much,” Medvedev said of his 21-year-old opponent’s weapons.
“If you don’t return it, you’re not even disappointed! You just try to do your best — and I managed pretty well today.”
Medvedev will next face Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor, who advanced by knocking out the defending champion Ugo Humbert 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.