'Great group': Seed Maya Joint falls but little known Aussies sizzle to set new mark for 21st century

Despite No.30 seed Maya Joint bowing out on day four, Australian women's tennis is experiencing quite the boom.

More Aussie women have advanced through to the second round of the Australian Open than any other year in the 21st century, a fact that may have slipped under the radar.

It's something worth focusing on, given none advanced to the second round at all in both 2025 and 2023, in the wake of Ash Barty's shock retirement.

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Talia Gibson, Ajla Tomljanovic, Storm Hunter, Priscilla Hon and Taylah Preston have all made it through so far.

Kimberly Birrell, Maddison Inglis and Daria Kasatkina have the chance to add to that account before the conclusion of the first round. All three of those players are in their prime and established on the scene.

We are guaranteed at least one more, with Birrell and Inglis drawn against each other.

Throw in teenage sensations Joint and Emerson Jones, who were both bounced in the first round, and you have a core of players across multiple age ranges that bodes well for the future.

That pair, plus Gibson and Preston, represent emerging faces on the scene, while Hunter, Hon and Tomljanovic serve as the more established veterans.

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This year's results will likely have Tennis Australia taking a bit of a deep breath, given the disaster that was 2025.

Speaking after her first round win over Chinese veteran Zhang Shuai, Preston said the young Aussie core is growing up together, training together and cheering each other on.

"On the younger side is probably me, Talia, Maya, Emerson - we all get along really well, we all train together in Brisbane as well," she told reporters.

"It's a really nice environment up there and we're all really good friends and we want each other to do well.

"If we have a result, we always send each other a message or go say well done.

"It's a really great group of girls, also with the older girls as well who can give us someone to look up to and guide us. It's a great group."

Joint, the breakout star of the group in 2025, echoed that sentiment.

"I think there's a ton of amazing women coming right now at the moment," she told reporters.

"We all know each other really well, we all train together, we're a tight knit group and we all support each other."

For Preston, it was her first grand slam victory after spending some time in lower ranked tournaments to find some form towards the end of 2025.

"First grand slam win at any grand slam is special, but especially in Australia, and it takes a lot of hard work and I've been working really, really hard, so it's nice to see it pay off," she said.

Australian tennis has lacked a true star on the women's side since Barty's shock retirement and fingers are crossed that one of this group emerges over the next few years.

But the evolution of this core of players will certainly be intriguing over the next few years, with this year's Australian Open setting the foundation.