Emerson Jones vs. Lilli Tagger score, result as world no.1 gets through Australian Open junior semis

Kieran Francis

Emerson Jones vs. Lilli Tagger score, result as world no.1 gets through Australian Open junior semis image

World no.1 Emerson Jones is through to the Australian Open junior semi-finals with a come-from-behind win against Austria's Lilli Tagger.

The 16-year-old fought back from a first set deficit to win 4-6 6-2 6-2 in just under two hours against the impressive Austrian.

Jones is aiming to win her first junior grand slam after losing in last year's Australian Open and Wimbledon finals to Renata Jamrichova in both.

She will now play the winner of Australian wildcard Tahlia Kokkinis and Japan's fourth seed Wakana Sonobe.

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It was an eye-catching first set between two evenly matched players - Jones with power and Tagger with precision.

Jones had her only break point for the set in the fourth game, but an elegant one-handed backhand winner from Tagger crushed that opportunity.

Tagger only managed to create one break point herself, but took that chance in the ninth game to go 5-4 up before serving the set out.

Jones changed her outfit for the second set in hope of a fresh start and immediately started playing with renewed vigour.

Tagger missed a crucial forehand to hold serve in the fourth game, with Jones eventually breaking and then consolidating the advantage.

The Australian broke Tagger's serve to win the second set, meaning she would serve first in the all-important deciding set.

After holding her serve, Jones immediately broke Tagger with a huge forehand winner giving her an early 2-0 advantage.

Jones had a chance to go 4-0 up at 0-30 on Tagger's serve, but the Austrian played some huge points to secure her serve.

Tagger got herself to 30-30 on Jones' serve the following the game but a booming unreturned serve and forehand winner from the Australian kept the match on her racquet.

However, Jones managed to break Tagger to win the match, with the Austrian's fitness appearing to flag in the third set.

Kieran Francis

Kieran Francis is a senior editor at The Sporting News based in Melbourne, Australia. He started at Sportal.com.au before being a part of the transition to Sporting News in 2015. Just prior to the 2018 World Cup, he was appointed chief editor of Goal.com in Australia. He has now returned to The Sporting News where his passions lay in football, AFL, poker and cricket - when he is not on holiday.