On a day Alex de Minaur allayed concerns about the severity of a hip injury while clocking another significant milestone, emerging star Maya Joint clinched Australia’s top ranking for the first time in her career.
The teenager, who celebrated her ascension to Australian No.1 with an opening round triumph in Tokyo, jumped to No.32 in the world while overtaking Daria Kasatkina, who dropped 13 spots to 35 after ending her season earlier this month.
Only 13 months after making her grand slam debut at the 2024 US Open, Joint is within reach of securing a seeding in a major for the first time in next January’s Australian Open with minimal ranking points to defend for the rest of the season.
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The 19-year-old, who clinched WTA titles on clay in Rabat in May and on grass at Eastbourne in June in what has been a breakthrough season, will spearhead Australia in Billie Jean King Cup qualifying ties in Hobart next month.
Joint, who overcame a 6-1 4-2 deficit against Viktorija Golubic to prevail in the first round in Tokyo, can further her claims to a seeding when she faces former Roland Garros finalist Karolina Muchova in the second round of the Pan Pacific Open.
Kasatkina, who was granted Australian nationality in March, will be unseeded at a grand slam for the first time since 2020 after a mixed season in which she performed well in the majors but struggled for her best in regular tour events.
The 28-year-old said earlier this month she was struggling for motivation given the stresses associated with her life upheaval earlier this year, among other factors.
De Minaur, meanwhile, posted the 300th victory of his career in the Austrian Open when outpointing local hopeful Jurij Rodionov 6-4 6-1 in an encouraging outing after the deflating revelation a week ago he was struggling with a hip problem.
The Sydneysider is just the second man behind dual-Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner to reach the milestone for players who were born in 1999 or later, which is indicative of both his quality and also his outstanding consistency.
“It’s pretty cool. You go through this sport, through your career, and you don’t really get time or many options to really let something sink in. This is one of those things that is a pretty cool moment, to get to 300,” he said.
“Obviously it’s been what seems to be a long career and I’ve enjoyed these 300 wins. It’s been pretty tough on my body but I’m extremely proud of my efforts and hopefully (there are) many more to come.”
The 26-year-old, who recently became only the fourth Australian man to post at least 50 ATP Tour wins in a season, is seeking to lock in a second consecutive appearance in the ATP Tour Finals in Turin next month.
Title runs last week by Felix Auger-Aliassime, Casper Ruud and Daniil Medvedev have compressed the race for the eight man field in Turin, but de Minaur remains in seventh position and relatively safe with a couple of events left in the regular season.
But Holger Rune, who returned to the top 10 this week, will not feature after rupturing his Achilles tendon in distressing scenes last week in Stockholm.
That de Minuar is playing at all is encouraging given the world No.7 said last week he would undergo scans to determine the extent of a hip problem that surfaced during a recent run to the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Masters.
A hip injury forced him to withdraw from a Wimbledon quarterfinal last July and troubled him throughout the rest of the 2025 season, with de Minaur concerned last week the problem might end his season prematurely.
The Australian will play either Argentinian Camilo Ugo Carabelli or Austrian wildcard Filip Misolic for a spot in the quarterfinals in Vienna as he seeks to further his hopes of contesting the prestigious end-of-season championships.
Demon goes down to Medvedev in Shangai | 01:12
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