Maya Joint has continued her extraordinary rise, reaching the final of the WTA 250 tournament in Eastbourne.
Eastbourne, United Kingdom, 28 June 2025 | Ian Chadband, AAP
Australian teenager Maya Joint has reached another WTA final at the age of just 19, giving herself the perfect pre-Wimbledon boost by powering into the championship match in the traditional Eastbourne International curtain-raiser.
The Queenslander, competing in just her second senior grasscourt event, took another illustrious scalp on Friday following her wins over Ons Jabeur and Emma Raducanu as she defeated former Roland Garros finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5 6-4 in the semifinal.
Joint now has the chance to go into next week’s main draw at Wimbledon, where she’ll face 19th seed Liudmila Samsonova, with a maiden grasscourt title under her belt.
The teenager, who was 5-3 down in the first set before taking control against the 33-year-old with her crisp hitting and sharp movement, was left astonished by her achievement.
“Super exciting. I think if you told me at the beginning of the week that I’d be in the final, I wouldn’t believe you,” said Joint.
“I’ve definitely learned to love grass this week.
She will face another rising star when she takes on 20-year-old Alexandra Eala, who became the first player from the Philippines to reach a WTA Tour final as she beat fellow qualifier Varvara Gracheva 7-5 2-6 6-3 in the other semifinal.
It will be the youngest final at the event since two American teens, Tracy Austin and Andrea Jaeger, did battle in the 1981 showdown at Devonshire Park.
For Joint, there are echoes of her run to her first WTA title on clay at the Morocco Open in May when her victory came just a couple of days before she was due to play in her first Roland Garros outing.
If she wins the title in Eastbourne on Saturday she will become the first Australian women’s winner in the event’s 50-year history.
Joint will then dash straight to London 120km up the road from the seaside venue to prepare for her maiden Wimbledon, where she’ll be ranked for the first time in the world’s top 50.
“I can take confidence that I won it last time (in Rabat), and maybe I’ll be a little bit less nervous this time, but I’m just really excited to come out here and play another final,” she said.
“I’m super excited to play Alex, we’re gonna have a great match. She’s a really nice girl, and, yeah, we’re looking forward to it.”
Projected to rise to world No.41 if she wins her second title in five weeks, Joint’s rise has been quite astonishing since starting the year at No.116.
In just 18 months since deciding to base herself back in Queensland, where she works with coach Chris Mahony, Joint his climbed from No.1384.
