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 US-born Queenslander, competing in just her second senior grass-court event, took another illustrious scalp on Friday following her wins over Ons Jabeur and Emma Raducanu as she defeated Russia’s former French Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5 6-4 in the semi-final.
Joint now has the chance to go into next week’s main draw at Wimbledon, whereshe’ll face another Russian, 19th seed Liudmila Samsonova, with a maiden grass-court 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.”
In Saturday’s final, she will face another of the game’s rising stars, 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 semi.
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 herfirst WTA title on the clay at the Morocco Openin May when her victory came just a couple of days before she was due to play in her first French Open outing.
If she wins the title in Eastbourne on Saturday, becoming the first ever Australian women’s winner in the event’s 50-year history, she 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.
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“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.”
Up to 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 after leaving the US and choosing to work with her Australian coach, Chris Mahony, she’s shot up from No 1384.
Left-hander Eala, now a national figure in the Philippines after her own extraordinary breakthrough season in which she beat Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek en route to the Miami Open semis, was left almost lost for words about her success.