Same city, same court, new year.

History has a funny way of repeating itself, and for the second tournament in a row, Talia Gibson and Emerson Jones will face off at the business end of the Perpetual NSW Open.

On a day of wildly contrasting semi-finals, Gibson had to survive a brutal match to knock out No.1 seed Kim Birrell in a contest which took almost two hours longer than Jones’ final four romp against Storm Hunter on Ken Rosewall Arena on Saturday.

But after clashing in a tight semi-final last year, two of Australia’s brightest prospects will meet again in the decider on Sunday.

“It’s been a while since my last final,” Gibson said as she eyes a third ITF title this year.

“I’m very happy with this week and especially after the last few tournaments, I’ve felt I’ve played at a pretty good level and some of my best tennis. I really wanted to finish this year off well.

“It’s going to be a rematch, this time in the final. (Jones) is a great player and definitely one of the up and coming younger girls. It will be another tough match. I’ll just do my best and enjoy being in the final.”

Gibson opened up a decisive break early in the third set before eventually battling past Birrell 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 under the roof at Sydney Olympic Park, with the match stretching to two hours and 46 minutes.

Gibson’s powers of recovery will be tested before Sunday morning’s final given Jones swept past Hunter 6-3, 6-1 in just 53 minutes.

It was a big difference to her lengthy quarter-final win on Friday over Elena Micic, which suffered a weather delay of more than three hours as the only women’s final eight match not played on Ken Rosewall Arena during Sydney’s inclement weather.

Jones, this year’s fifth seed who was only 16 when she won last year’s title, will be favoured to defend her title, but Gibson is a much more complete player than the one who was in Sydney in 2024.

She won her first main draw match at a grand slam in the Australian Open this year and was pitted against Naomi Osaka in the first round at Wimbledon after saving a match point in the final round of qualifying.

Gibson, 21, is on the cusp of breaking the world’s top 100 for the first time.

“It’s been a while since my last final,” Gibson said. “There’s been a lot of learning opportunities for me this year and being able to play big matches, when you play a match like that today, it allows you to put things in perspective.

“Every match is just another match, whether you’re playing in a grand slam final or first match of an ITF 75. You have to treat it all the same way and that’s something I’ve been able to learn this year.”