Taylah Preston has launched her 2026 season in blazing fashion.
The 20-year-old carried the momentum from last week’s Hobart International semifinals run to Melbourne Park, winning her first Grand Slam main-draw singles match on Tuesday.
Overturning her Brisbane International qualifying loss to China’s Zhang Shuai from a fortnight ago, Preston registered 26 winners to progress to the AO 2026 second round with a 6-3 2-6 6-3 victory.
“I think it makes it more special having done it here at home in Australia,” Preston said of her Grand Slam breakthrough. “It takes a lot of hard work, and I’ve been working really hard. So, it’s nice to see it somewhat pay off.”
Preston’s hard work to thrive at WTA level consisted of two steps back to move one step forward.
During the first seven months of 2025, the West Australian had an underwhelming 13-16 record. However, a decision to spend the second half of the season on the Australian Pro Tour paid dividends. Preston won 31 of her last 37 matches, including four titles, to finish the year.
“Towards the end of last year, I played a lot of matches. I dropped down a couple of levels just to get my match count up because I wasn’t playing a lot, and I think that really helped,” she said.
“It’s a little bit of a grind to get through the two weeks at those tournaments, but I think it set me up really well. I did put in a lot of hard work throughout those tournaments.”
A coaching change also primed Preston for a return to the WTA Tour. Preston is now coached by Brett Hunter at the National Tennis Academy in Brisbane, with some assistance from Ash Barty’s former coach, Craig Tyzzer.
“Craig Tyzzer helped me out a lot at the end of last year, and he was still helping me out where he could, kind of him and Brett together,” she said. “It’s a really good team. We have a lot of fun on and off the court, and just a nice environment to be in.”
Preston will next face No.13 seed Linda Noskova as she aims to continue her fairytale run. While the pair have never met at tour level, the duo battled it out in the first round of the AO 2020 girls’ tournament.
Although Noskova secured a 6-3 6-1 victory that day, Preston knows it will have no bearing on Thursday’s result.
“Honestly, I haven’t really thought about it,” the world No.161 said. “I played her here six years ago, actually, in juniors, but I don’t think that means much anymore. I’ll go over it with my team at some point and see.”
Joint falls at first hurdle
Top-ranked Australian woman Maya Joint exited in the first round of AO 2026, with Czechia's Tereza Valentova emerging a 6-4 6-4 winner in their first tour-level match.
It was Joint’s second main draw appearance at the Australian Open, and her first time being seeded at a Grand Slam. While that also made her the first Australian to be seeded in Melbourne since world No.1 (and eventual champion) Ash Barty in 2022, the 19-year-old Joint refused to blame any home-Slam pressure for the loss.
"I wanted to do really well here. I thought I had a good chance.," said Joint, who was cheered on by a suppportive crowed at John Cain Arena. "So it's definitely a bit disappointing after today, but I'll just try and get back at it next week" .