Rising West Australian star Talia Gibson will look to win her third consecutive ITF title when the Australian Professional Tour returns to Cairns this week.
Cairns, QLD, Australia, 30 September 2024 | Jackson Mansell
Australian No.6 Talia Gibson will look to win her third consecutive ITF title when the Australian Professional Tour returns to Cairns this week.
Ranked a career-best world No.129, Gibson would be the high seed for the primary time on the event. But to succeed in the ultimate in her 4 earlier appearances in Cairns, the 20-year-old is primed to lastly breakthrough.
Final month, Gibson gained the most important titles of her profession in Perth, taking out each ITF 75 tournaments. Her spectacular fortnight means the West Australian has gained a number of ITF titles in a calendar yr for the third yr working.
She additionally reached the ultimate spherical of qualifying on the US Open.
Ought to Gibson attain the Cairns last, she may play off for the silverware towards a well-known opponent in second-seed Maddison Inglis. This may be the third match-up between the pair prior to now month, with Gibson and Inglis doing battle twice in Perth. Competing towards one another within the last and semifinal respectively, each matches went the gap as Gibson gained each encounters.
Junior world No.1 Emerson Jones will characteristic on the Cairns event for the primary time. The 16-year-old has rewritten historical past in 2024, changing into the primary Australian lady to succeed in world No.1 since Jelena Dokic in 1998. She can be the primary Aussie since Luke Saville in 2012 to succeed in two junior Grand Slam finals in the identical yr.
“It’s nice to see the Australian Professional Tour return to Cairns for one more yr and we’re thrilled to welcome a powerful calibre of gamers,” Tennis Australia Head of Aggressive Play & Skilled Occasion Francis Soyer mentioned. “This yr’s event guarantees to have one of many strongest attracts we’ve seen.”
For the primary time, the ladies’s occasion will likely be categorised as an ITF 35 occasion, upgraded from its ITF 25 stage of earlier years.
“The change to a W35 class is a milestone for the ladies’s occasion, providing gamers not solely further rating factors but in addition the expertise of competing at a excessive worldwide commonplace,” Soyer mentioned.
Singles competitors will start on the Cairns Worldwide Tennis Centre on Tuesday 1 October, and can end on Sunday 6 October.
