4 February 2026 | Tennis West

The 2026 edition of the Australian Open proved to be one of the best in terms of WA player success with above average performances and big improvements in rankings.

The standout performances came from Maddison Inglis, who made the fourth round of the women’s singles for the first time in her career and John Peers, who defended his mixed doubles crown with another grand slam final win with fellow Aussie Olivia Gadecki.

See how each West Aussie fared:

Maddison Inglis

Inglis’ run to the fourth round was a fairytale, after falling at the last hurdle the past two years of women’s singles qualifying, it was third time lucky as Inglis came from a set down in her first round of qualifying, then won in three sets in the second round before winning in straight sets to make the main draw. Inglis would then defeat fellow Aussie Kim Birrell in a tough three set battle on John Cain Arena before showing her fight to win another three-set battle against Lara Siegemund. In the third round, Naomi Osaka pulled out which meant Inglis would advance to the fourth round and come up against world No. 2 Iga Swiatek.

An irrepressible Iga Swiatek brushed aside Australian qualifier Maddison Inglis 6-0 6-3. The Pole banished any murmurs of rustiness to advance to the final eight for the third time at Melbourne Park.

There was to be no fairytale quarterfinal singles appearance for Aussie underdog Inglis, ranked 164 places below her opponent. But the whirlwind run to the fourth round was a career-best at any major for the 28-year-old, who will take enormous pride in being the only women’s qualifier to reach the last 16.

For Inglis, the Australian will take a beat before deciding on what’s next.

“I think it’s going to take a little bit of time to look back on this AO and be pretty proud of what I’ve accomplished,” she said.

“From being down match points in the first round to play on Rod Laver [Arena] today, it was a pretty crazy couple of weeks.”

Maddison Inglis also enjoyed a ranking spike after becoming the first Australian qualifier to advance to the round of 16 at the Australian Open since Amanda Tobin Dingwall in 1985.

Following her best Grand Slam campaign to date, Inglis improved to world No.113, a rise of 55 places. She nears her career-best ranking of world No.112, which she set in March 2020.

Inglis also played in the women’s doubles with Destanee Aiava and with fiancé Jason Kubler in the mixed doubles but could not advance past the first round.

Taylah Preston

It was another successful campaign for Taylah Preston who received a wildcard into the main draw of the women’s singles. Preston moved into the top 150 as she recorded her first Grand Slam main-draw victory at AO 2026. The West Australian wildcard defeated Zhang Shuai in three sets, building on her form from the Hobart International.

Preston also played in the mixed doubles with upcoming star Cruz Hewitt but could not get past the first roound. In the women’s doubles, Preston teamed up with Lizette Cabrera and made it to the second round.

Talia Gibson

It was another successful AO campaign for Gibson, making the second round of the women’s singles and being one point away from a third-round feature, nearly causing a massive upset against 23rd seed Diana Shnaider. Her singles ranking remains the same at 118.

A quarterfinals run at AO 2026 helped Talia Gibson and Kimberly Birrell close in on top-100 rankings. Their campaign included coming from a set down to defeat the No.2 seeds Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in the second round.

Gibson was the biggest riser of the pair, moving to a career-high ranking. The 21-year-old climbed to world No.105 following the first major of 2026, boosting her ranking by 158 places.

Gibson also teamed up with fellow West Aussie Matt Ebden in the mixed doubles but went down in the first round in a third-set tie-break.

Astra Sharma

Sharma played in the women’s singles qualifying but couldn’t get past the first round, going down in three sets to Canadian Carson Branstine. Sharma played with Emerson Jones in the women’s doubles but could not advance past the first round.

John Peers

John Peers broke a 37-year drought when they became the first pairing to defend their Australian Open mixed doubles crown in thrilling fashion.

Buoyed by a parochial Melbourne Park audience on Friday, the Victorian born Peers, who now resides in WA and Gadecki played catch-up for most of their final against French duo Kristina Mladenovic and Manuel Guinard, before finishing with a flourish to prevail 4-6 3-6 [10-8].

Gadecki and Peers looked in trouble when they fell behind 5-7 in the match tiebreak before they peeled off five of the last six points.

Gadecki was particularly strong from the ground in the clutch, while the French pair tightened with the finish line in sight.

The Aussies moved ahead 8-7 when Mladenovic sprayed a long return, before Peers’ crushing return made it 9-7 for two championship points.

The French duo saved one of them, before the back-to-back triumph was sealed when first-time Grand Slam finalist Guinard’s return of Peers’ second serve crashed into the net.

Gadecki and Peers became the first duo to win consecutive AO mixed doubles titles since Jana Novotna and Jim Pugh in 1988-89.

They also became the first Australians to go back-to-back at their home Slam since Margaret Court and Ken Fletcher achieved the feat in 1963-64.

Peers won the AO 2017 men’s doubles with Finland’s Henri Kontinen, and collected a gold medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, partnering Matthew Ebden.

Tristan Schoolkate

Schoolkate couldn’t capture the performance of last year’s Australian Open. Schoolkate was hit by a hard first round clash against seeded opponent Corentin Moutet (32nd seed). Schoolkate went down in three sets. He also paired up with Rinky Hijikata in the men’s doubles but could not go past the first round.

Matt Ebden

Doubles specialist Ebden teamed up with American Rajeev Ram in the men’s doubles and made it as far as the second round. In the mixed doubles, it was WA delight with Ebden playing with Talia Gibson, the pair however would not advance past the first round.

Jake Dembo

Dembo had an impressive junior singles and doubles AO campaign. Dembo won his first main draw singles match and spoke after it:

Dembo vividly remembers the Australian Open 2012 men’s final. At five years of age, growing up in Western Australia, Dembo tuned into the near-six-hour epic between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, a match that quickly became one of tennis’ ‘Where were you when…?’ moments.

“I remember that match was on Australia Day. I remember really clearly, five hours, 53 minutes,” he recalled.

“I remember we had a barbecue at my house, with friends and family over, and we were just watching it on the couch at my house back in Perth.”

One half of that incredible match, Nadal is one of Dembo’s biggest inspirations. While their on-court archetypes differ, their qualities are similar.

“We have very different game styles, but I’d say the physicality he brings, I like to bring, and the competitiveness and the fight every point, the never-give-up attitude, I feel kind of came naturally to me,” he said.

“He’s a great role model for every young kid to have.”

You only had to watch the match point of his boys’ singles first-round match against Japan’s Ren Matsumura to see Dembo’s Nadal-esque fighting spirit on full display.

After taking a return from the ‘Melbourne’ sign, a sharp drop shot saw Dembo hustle at full speed to retrieve the ball, leading to an unforced error at the net from Matsumara.

A passionate reaction from the 17-year-old told the story. Dembo claimed his maiden victory at a major, defeating Matsumura 7-6(4) 6-2. While claiming the win provided an unreal feeling, it meant more to Dembo to achieve the feat in front of his family on home soil.

“Doing it in Australia with my family here, I think definitely made it more special,” he said. “It was a great match from start to finish, and it was a great atmosphere out there. I loved every minute of it.

“It felt unbelievable [to play in front of the crowd]. Growing up, you always see on TV after crazy points, the crowd goes crazy, and you’re just dreaming of being the one playing while the crowd’s really getting up and about, so it really feels special.”

When it comes to Grand Slams, Dembo has more experience than most Australians at his age. The Perth-based youngster has travelled to Wimbledon twice: first as Australia’s maiden representative at the boys’ 14/u invitational in 2022, before competing in qualifying of the junior event last year.

Those experiences have helped Dembo prepare himself to play against the best junior players from around the world.

“Playing Wimbledon at such a young age, it kind of gets you around the other good tennis players in the world,” he said.

“I feel like being from Australia, so far away, sometimes we don’t get to see the level that some of the Europeans and Americans have. I think going and travelling all the way to London really showed what some of these other kids can do, and that it’s going to be a tough battle to get [to the top level].

“Some of those kids I was at Wimbledon with are mainly here playing this tournament too, so we’ve kind of grown up together, and it was good to get around them early.”

Dembo joined top-ranked Aussie Daniel Jovanovski in the boy’s doubles, advancing to the quarterfinals.