Sam Stosur is thrilled by the form she’s seen from Australia’s women during the Summer of Tennis, excitement shared by Nicole Pratt and Jelena Dokic.

Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 12 January 2025 | Matt Trollope

Destanee Aiava also qualified for the year’s first Grand Slam event, boosting the number of Aussie women in the AO main draw to eight.

Kim Possible! 🇦🇺

An emotional Kimberly Birrell qualifies for the #AO2025 main draw after a resilient performance to defeat Oksana Selekhmeteva 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4 👏 pic.twitter.com/8OCH3GrnJ7

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 9, 2025

Talia Gibson and Maya Joint pushed far-more-experienced opponents (Maria Bouzkova and Victoria Azarenka respectively) to the limit in their Brisbane main-draw debuts, before Joint powered into the Hobart International semifinals, beating AO 2020 champion Sofia Kenin along the way.

At the Adelaide International, 16-year-old phenom Emerson Jones scored her first tour-level win, over 37th-ranked Wang Xinyu, no less. She then gave top-10 star Daria Kasatkina plenty to think about in a 7-5 6-3 loss.

MORE: Teenaged Aussies face challenging AO debuts

There appears to be a positivity and momentum around Australian women’s tennis that hasn’t been seen in previous years. And Sam Stosur agrees.

“I think the fact that in the rankings they’re all like this close [gesturing with hands],” said Stosur, a former world No.4 who now serves as Australia’s Billie Jean King Cup captain.

“So they’re all vying to be, first, the best they can be, and then you can’t tell me they don’t see each other having these results and think: ‘Oh well, why can’t I do that? We practise all the time together, and I just beat her, and hang on a second, if she’s doing it, I can do it.’

“And it’s fantastic because I think you do strive for more when you’re in that situation. If you’ve got an [Australian] player at the top, again it makes it more possible. We haven’t had someone super high in the rankings now since Ash [Barty] – I mean, Ajla [Tomljanovic] was there at 30, but obviously then her injuries and stuff.

“I think success breeds success, and winning’s a habit, and playing well every day’s a habit. I think that all of those players are doing that, and seeing that they get rewarded for doing it.

“They’re all pushing each other along, which is awesome.”

When Stosur talks about the Aussie girls being bunched closely in the rankings, she means it.

While there are currently no women inside the top 100 – Birrell fell two places this week, to No.101 – there are seven ranked between 100 and 150. Three of them – Birrell, Joint and Olivia Gadecki – are ranked between 101 and 106.

RELATED: Upbeat Birrell looks ahead to Australian Open

They’re trending up, and all it takes is one big result from any of them, and suddenly, Australia’s top-100 presence could be transformed.

Nicole Pratt, Australia’s Billie Jean King Cup coach, is as buoyed as Stosur with what she’s seen during January.

“I think there’s a whole bunch of them that are just outside the top 100 … and I think that breakthrough is going to come from Maya Joint,” Pratt declared.

Semifinalist status ✅🔓 pic.twitter.com/gnZ4qTZh5i

— Hobart International (@HobartTennis) January 9, 2025

“We saw week one Kim Birrell having a breakthrough, beating [top-10 player] Emma Navarro, that’s huge, and got her back inside the top 100 at 99. [She] just qualified [at AO], and her confidence is high.

“Maya reached the semifinals at Hobart and has an AO match-up against Jess Pegula, and it’s an interesting match-up. The reason I say that is because if someone asks me how Maya Joint plays, she plays a little like Jess Pegula.

“It’s exciting to see for women’s tennis that there is a 16-year-old [in Jones] going out there in Adelaide, playing her pretty much first ever WTA event main draw and beating a top-40 player in the world. That’s huge.”

Another former world No.4, Jelena Dokic, was commentating at the Brisbane International and was impressed by Birrell as she carved her way through the draw, supported by Stosur from the stands.

Now in Melbourne where she reached the Australian Open 2009 quarterfinals, Dokic said she was excited to see what the Aussie women could do on an even grander stage.

“How about Kim Birrell? I called a couple matches in Brisbane, I love how she plays, I love her mentality and her attitude around it,” Dokic said.

“Emerson Jones, I can’t wait to see what she does; 16 years old, junior world No.1, beats a top 50 player in Adelaide.

THE FUTURE IS NOW ⭐

Emerson Jones scores a massive breakthrough in her @AdelaideTennis debut against the world No.37!#GoAussies

— TennisAustralia (@TennisAustralia) January 6, 2025

“Looking at Australian tennis in general – incredible depth. I think they have a great camaraderie as well.

“I always love to see what ex-players can bring to the table like Sam and Lleyton [Hewitt on the men’s side]. I think it’s a build-up of the last five to 10 years, where you create this culture and camaraderie. Where yes, we focus on the summer tennis in Australia, but they also support each other outside of that, because it can get tough out on the tour.

“I think we have a good system and that’s why we’ve got doubles and mixed doubles Grand Slam champions, Olympic gold medallists, and we’re doing well in singles as well.”

On Monday at Melbourne Park, there are 12 Aussies in singles action, including four women.

The stage is set for them to keep their momentum going.