Australia's Emerson Jones has marched through to the French Open girls singles semi-finals. -AAP Image
Emerson Jones has stepped up her mission to win the girls singles at the French Open and regain her junior world No.1 ranking by reaching the last four at Roland Garros.
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Australia's No.1 seed proved too strong for American opponent Julieta Pareja, the No.9 seed, on court 14, winning 7-5 6-4.
The Gold Coast 16-year-old will now take on Austria's Lilli Tagger in Friday's semi-final. Tagger reached the last four by overpowering Germany's 12-seeded Julia Stusek 6-0 6-4.
Jones is attempting to become the first Australian since West Australian Lesley Hunt, 57 years ago, to win a girls' singles tournament at Roland Garros.
Her victims this week have included Capucine Jauffret, of the US, and Czechia's Vendula Valdmannova, a Wimbledon semi-finalist last year.
She needed three sets to progress from those matches but delivered a straight-sets victory over Spain's Charo Esquiva Banuls on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals.
The Gold Coast local is also chasing a return to the junior world No.1 ranking at Roland Garros having recently been replaced at the top by Japan's Australian Open 2025 girls' singles champion, Wakana Sonobe.
Victory today could pave the way to a final showdown with her doubles partner, Hannah Klugman. The British starlet beat Sarah Melany Fajmonova in three sets and now faces Bulgaria's Rositsa Dencheva.
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