Despite losing her second-round match in a tough three-set battle to Czech 13th seed Linda Noskova
2-6 6-4 2-6 on Thursday, there were plenty of positives for Taylah Preston.
“Yeah, I can take a lot from today’s match. I feel like I’m improving with every match that I’ve played this year,” she said.
“I’m feeling really good about my game. I think there’s a lot of positives that I can take away and hope I can keep improving on little things to help change the outcome of those matches.”
Down a set and a break, Preston fought back and then found a purple patch, breaking the Noskova serve twice to take the match to a deciding set.
While the 13th seed weathered the storm and won the last four games of the match, Preston said she was pleased at how she was able to turn the match around.
“For me it was just keep fighting and make it difficult for her, try and make her feel a bit uncomfortable. And yeah just not giving into it. I had a lot of support from my team just telling me to trust myself. I think once I was able to do that, that helped shift it.”
The 20-year-old has made great inroads in 2026.
After a semifinal run at the Hobart International last week, she won her maiden Grand Slam match at AO 2026.
Reflecting on her strong start to the 2026 season, Preston explained that a greater match output in 2025 has been a key factor to her recent run of form.
“Yeah, I mean, towards the end of last year I played a lot of matches. I dropped down a couple levels just to get my match count up because I wasn't playing a lot, and I think that really helped,” she said.
“I had a really good pre-season in Brisbane. Then, yeah, starting the year off in Brisbane, as well, and then last week in Hobart, to be able to get a couple of really good wins under my belt I think really helped with my confidence leading into this week.”
Part of an impressive young Aussie contingent including Talia Gibson, Maya Joint and Emerson Jones, Preston shares not only a strong bond but also the same training facilities as her compatriots.
“We all get along really well. We all train together up in Brisbane, as well, so it's a really nice environment up there,” she said.
“Yeah, we're all really good friends. We want each other to do well. If we have a result, we always send each other a message or, you know, go say, ‘Well done.’”
“It's a really great group of girls. Also with the older girls, as well. It's someone to look up to, as well, and they can kind of guide us. They have probably had more experience. So yeah, it's a great group.”
With AO 2026 seeing the most Aussie women through to the second round since 1992, Preston thinks a breakthrough is just around the corner for this strong crop of players.
“I think there’s a lot of us that are really pushing and getting super close at having really good results at these tournaments,” she said
“I’m so happy for all the girls and that we were all able to do that, but I think it just makes us want to keep pushing and break through to that next level as well.”
With the run she’s had at Melbourne Park — winning her first singles Grand Slam match and then pushing a top 20 player in Noskova — Preston knows there’s both positives and things to work on in equal measure.
“There’s a lot to build on knowing that I can play good tennis and to take it up to a 13th seed at a Slam is really promising for me,” she said.
“But I think it also shows that there’s still room for me to build physically, mostly improve my serve and be able to get a few more free points from that. But yeah, I think it’s really exciting.”