Seventeen-year-old Emerson Jones has claimed her fourth professional title on home soil at the Queensland Tennis Centre in Tennyson, defeating former world No.31 Zhu Lin in straight sets to reach a career-best world ranking of No.144 and place herself firmly on course for a top-100 breakthrough in 2026.
Jones won the W75 Brisbane 2 final 6-4 7-5 on 15 February, producing her best performance of the week on the courts where she trains daily with coach David Taylor. The win delivered 18 ranking places in a single afternoon, carrying her back inside the top 150 after she had slipped out of it in the weeks prior. For a teenager who began the 2026 season by defeating a top-50 opponent at the Brisbane International on the same complex, the title confirmed that her performances at the highest level are no longer occasional upsets but a pattern building toward something substantial.
A Week That Required Everything She Had
The path to the W75 Brisbane 2 title tested Emerson Jones at every stage. In the quarterfinals she needed three sets to see off Japan’s Miho Kuramochi, a patient baseline grinder who pushed her well beyond the hour mark. The semifinal proved even more demanding, when Australian compatriot and top seed Talia Gibson served for the second set before Jones reeled off the games she needed to advance in three. By the time she faced Zhu Lin in the final, she had already banked more competitive hours than most players manage across an entire fortnight.
Against Zhu Lin, a player who reached a career-high of No.31 in 2023 and carries the kind of experience that overwhelms younger opponents, Emerson Jones played with the composure of someone entirely at home on the surface. She was: she was on her own training courts, in her own city, in front of family and supporters who have watched her develop since she first picked up a racquet at the Coomera Waters Recreation Club on the Gold Coast at the age of four. The 6-4 7-5 scoreline reflected a controlled, composed performance rather than a scrambling survival.
From the Gold Coast to the Top 150
Emerson Jones grew up on the Gold Coast, attending Coomera Anglican College, and began playing tennis at four years of age. Her mother, Loretta Harrop, won a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics as a triathlete, and her father, Brad Jones, was a prominent Queensland rules footballer who won the Grogan Medal in 1999. Sport is not a departure from family tradition for Emerson Jones; it is the family tradition.
After joining the National Academy in 2023, Jones stormed to the top of the ITF junior rankings in September 2024, becoming the first Aussie girl to hold the world No. 1 spot since Jelena Dokic in 1998. Her rise was fueled by a stellar Grand Slam run, where she broke a 16-year drought for local girls at the 2024 Australian Open final before backing it up with a runner-up finish on the hallowed grass of Wimbledon.
The transition from junior dominance to professional results is one tennis produces with far less consistency than it promises, but Emerson Jones has navigated it with unusual efficiency. She made her Grand Slam main draw debut at the 2025 Australian Open on a wildcard, after earning her place through her ITF title at Playford. She is coached by David Taylor, who has previously worked with former world No.1 players Martina Hingis and Ana Ivanovic, and US Open champion Sam Stosur.
Four Titles, One Clear Direction
The W75 Brisbane 2 title is Emerson Jones’s fourth professional title overall, joining Sydney in 2024 and Fukuoka and Playford in 2025. Each has come on a surface and in conditions she handles well, and each has arrived at a moment when her ranking needed the points most. That instinct for winning the right tournaments at the right time is itself a skill that separates developing players from ones ready to compete consistently at a higher level.
Her ranking goal for 2026 is unambiguous: top 100. At No.144 and climbing with the season still young, the target is well within range if the results at Brisbane continue into the clay and grass seasons ahead. The Queensland Tennis Centre at 190 King Arthur Terrace, Tennyson, where she trains and now holds an ITF title, sits as a fitting backdrop for whatever comes next.
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Published 27-February-2026.
