Ajla Tomljanovic’s winning week in Austin continues, with the Aussie winning a thrilling quarterfinal and boosting her live ranking well inside the WTA top 100.
Austin, TX, United States, 28 February 2025 | Matt Trollope
Ajla Tomljanovic stands just two wins from her first career WTA title after winning a dramatic quarterfinal in Austin, Texas.
Tomljanovic led 5-2 in the third set and required eight match points to eventually subdue relentless Japanese qualifier Ena Shibahara.
Shibahara, who upset Australian Kimberly Birrell in the previous round, pushed Tomljanovic to a final-set tiebreak before Tomljanovic closed out a 7-5 3-6 7-6(8) victory after more than two-and-a-half hours.
Triumphant in Texas ☀️@Ajlatom delivers a 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(8) win over Shibahara to reach the final 4 in Austin!#ATXOpen pic.twitter.com/pMcn8PVZsW
— wta (@WTA) February 28, 2025
She next faces No.1 seed Jessica Pegula, who won a comparatively one-sided quarterfinal over Anna Blinkova, dropping just four games.
Tomljanovic, a wildcard, earlier in the event upset No.7 seed Katie Volynets before a fast-finishing three-set win over Jodie Burrage, who ended Petra Kvitova’s comeback in the first round.
Tomljanovic, 31, is through to her first WTA semifinal since Birmingham in June last year, a week she went on to make the final.
The result in Austin boosts her ranking to a provisional position of world No.93.
This means that, according to the live rankings, Australia now has four women inside the world’s top 100.
Should Olivia Gadecki – current live ranking of 98th – remain there when the new rankings are officially released on Monday, Australia would have the highest representation inside the WTA top 100 since October 2019.
Back then, Ash Barty was the world No.1, Tomljanovic was ranked No.51, and Sam Stosur and Astra Sharma were 91st and 96th respectively.
The next Australian player outside that bracket, world No.121 Daria Saville, plays her quarterfinal at the WTA 500 tournament in Merida later on Saturday (AEDT).
She takes on second seed Paula Badosa, and should she upstage the Spaniard, she could boost her ranking back inside the top 110.
Fellow Australian qualifier Maya Joint, who also progressed to the quarterfinals in Merida, came within a set of the semifinals before falling in three to Elina Avanesyan.
