Emerson Jones has progressed in leaps and bounds since she reached the girls’ singles final at Australian Open 2024.
In the 12 months since, the Australian prodigy has improved her WTA ranking from world No.797 to No.293, after excellent performances at the pro level belying her 16 years.
She won the ITF 75K title in Sydney in November, then won her first WTA-level main draw match in Adelaide, results helping propel her inside the top 300. As a wildcard, she competed in the main draw of the women’s singles, where she was stopped by No.6 seed Elena Rybakina.
And in between, she continued to thrive on the junior circuit, reaching the Wimbledon final, winning the ITF Junior Finals, and finishing the year as the junior world No.1.
She heads the AO 2025 girls’ singles draw as the top seed, where she opens against qualifier Anastasia Lizunova, and is joined by an impressive field set to compete at Melbourne Park from Saturday.
MORE: AO 2025 junior girls’ singles draw
No.2 seed Mika Stojsavljevic, of Great Britain, enters as the reigning US Open girls’ singles champion, while another Brit, 14th seed Hannah Klugman, impressed at professional level at Wimbledon, reaching the final round of qualifying before falling to Alycia Parks.
Third seed Jeline Vandromme arrives as winner of the prestigious J300 lead-up event in Traralgon, while Czech seventh seed Tereza Krejcova triumphed at last month’s Orange Bowl in Florida.
Daphne Mpetshi Perricard, younger sister of ATP top-30 player Giovanni, is also in the draw; the junior world No.59 drew American Shannon Lam.
It’s a tough path to her home tournament title for Jones, who is joined in the draw by nine other Aussies: Ava Beck, Emilie Chen, Tori Russell, Tahlia Kokkinis, Sarah Mildren, Alana Subasic, Koharu Nishikawa, Renee Alame and Jizelle Sibai.
There are also 10 Australians competing in the boys’ singles event, including Cruz Hewitt, who drew Korean qualifier MooBeen Kim.
Should he win, he could meet No.1 seed Jan Kumstat, the junior singles finalist at AO 2024 who fell to Rei Sakamoto.
MORE: AO 2025 junior boys’ singles draw
Hewitt is joined by compatriots Cooper Cose, Daniel Jovanovski, Nikolas Baker, Ethan Domingo, Duje Markovina, Jake Dembo, Ty Host, Jeffrey Strydom and Ymerali Ibraimi in the 64-player field.
Rounding out the top four seeds are No.2 seed Amir Omarkhanov, third seed Andres Santamarta Roig – the Spaniard who won the Orange Bowl in December – and fourth seed Jack Kennedy of the United States.
Kennedy’s fellow American, No.5 seed Jagger Leach, is the son of Australian Open 2000 women’s champion Lindsay Davenport, a three-time major winner and former world No.1.
Another American, 10th seed Maxwell Exsted, returns to Melbourne after winning the AO 2024 junior boys’ doubles title.