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Melissa Woods

Aussie Emerson Jones charges into girls' Open final

Queensland teenager Emerson Jones has booked her spot in the Australian Open girls' singles decider. (HANDOUT/TENNIS AUSTRALIA)

Emerson Jones has the chance to join greats including Evonne Goolagong Cawley on the Australian Open junior honour roll after storming into the girls' final at Melbourne Park.

The 15-year-old Queenslander, whose mother is Olympic medal-winning triathlete Loretta Harrop, crushed her semi-final opponent Iva Ivanova from Bulgaria 6-4 6-1 on Friday.

Sixth seed Jones will take on Slovakia's top-ranked Renata Jamrichova, who had a tougher time in her final-four clash with Japan's Ena Koike before triumphing 6-4 2-6 6-3.

Jones faced a gruelling mission on Friday, forced to play two matches, also downing second seed Sara Saito of Japan in the quarter-finals 3-6 6-1 6-1.

She said she was surprised by her title run in her fifth grand slam, with her previous best a third-round showing in the girls' at the French Open and Wimbledon last year.

"It's great as I didn't expect this at all coming into it but it's a great feeling, especially in my home slam," said Jones, who is currently ranked world No.8.

"I feel confident in my game - I feel like I'm playing pretty well right now and mentally I'm a lot better than I was a few months ago."

Emerson Jones.
Emerson Jones reacts after making it through to the girls' singles final at Melbourne Park. (HANDOUT/TENNIS AUSTRALIA)

Jones's mother won a silver medal at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and the youngster said she helped her with recovery more than her tennis game.

She is the younger sister of 17-year-old Hayden, who fell in the quarter-finals of the boys' singles tournament.

He was looking to follow in the footsteps of Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic as Australians to win the junior title.

Then known as Evonne Goolagong, the Indigenous great won the girls' title in 1970, going on to make the final of the women's tournament the following year before winning the first of her four Australian Open titles in 1974.

Other Open champions to claim the double include Victoria Azarenka, who won the girls' title in 2005 and the women's in 2012 and 2013.

The most recent local to win the girls' was West Australian Siobhan Drake-Brockman in 1995 while Ash Barty was the last Australian to win a girls' grand slam title, taking out Wimbledon in 2011.

"That would be amazing, anyone would want to do that," said Jones when asked about emulating Barty.

"I wouldn't say I'm a favourite to win this tomorrow but obviously I'm going to give it my all out there."

In the boys' final Japan's fourth seed Rei Sakamoto will take on Czech world No.42 Jan Kumstat, who eliminated Jones in the last eight.

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