Australian Open 2025's Grand Slam debuts: Lamens, Jones, Wei, Erjavec

Four players will break new ground at the 2025 Australian Open by competing in the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time. Get to know them here.

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Veronika Erjavec (SLO)

The Australian Open will be not just Veronika Erjavec's first Grand Slam main draw, but the first time she will contest the main draw of any tour-level event. Despite her inexperience at this level, though, the 25-year-old Slovenian put together the most dominant run in qualifying this week. She conceded no sets and just 13 games in total, fewer than any other qualifier, culminating in a 6-2, 6-1 rout of former No.14 Petra Martic.

No.171-ranked Erjavec has demonstrated consistent improvement over the past two seasons to get here. In 2023, she cut her year-end ranking from No.392 to No.183 after winning four ITF titles -- meaning that in 2024, she was able to compete in all four Grand Slam qualifying draws for the first time. Erjavec ended last season with two of the best results of her career: a run to her first WTA 125 final in Cali, Colombia, followed by a second Top 100 victory over Arantxa Rus in Billie Jean King Cup action.

Erjavec will open against another player contesting her first major main draw, Osaka champion Suzan Lamens.

Emerson Jones (AUS)

In 2024, Emerson Jones rose to the junior No.1 spot off the back of a phenomenal season in which she was the girls' runner-up at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon, then the ITF Junior Masters Chengdu champion in October. The 16-year-old Queenslander wasted no time in using that as a springboard to pro success. Two weeks after winning in Chengdu, Jones collected her first pro title at the Playford ITF W75.

Highlights: Jones d. Wang Xinyu, 2025 Adelaide R1 | Kasatkina d. Jones, 2025 Adelaide R2

This week, ranked No.371, Jones delivered an even more eye-catching performance as a wild card making her WTA main-draw debut in Adelaide. She routed Wang Xinyu in the first round 6-4, 6-0 to notch her first career Top 50 win. Her second round against Daria Kasatkina was Jones's first meeting with a Top 10 player. Unfazed, she rattled off the first 10 points of the match in a flurry of breathtaking winners that showcased her immaculate timing.

Though Jones ultimately fell 7-5, 6-3, the teenager made an impression on Kasatkina, who said afterward, "She's got really good tennis, so I'm already a bit scared, to be honest."

Jones will face a second straight Top 10 player as she takes on No.6 seed and former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the first round.

Suzan Lamens (NED)

Though Suzan Lamens made her WTA debut back at Bogota 2022, where she reached the second round, and played Grand Slam qualifying for the first time at Roland Garros in the same year, the Dutchwoman had not finished inside the Top 200 before last season.

Read: Suzan Lamens finds her stride after years of near misses

But in 2024, the milestones kept coming for Lamens. In April, she scored her first Top 10 win, stunning Jelena Ostapenko 7-6(7), 6-4 in Billie Jean King Cup Group I action. She immediately followed that by capturing her first WTA 125 title on the clay of Oeiras. And in October, there was further glory on the hard courts of Osaka as Lamens -- as a qualifier in just her eighth tour-level main draw -- went all the way to her maiden WTA trophy. With that result, she roared into the Top 100 for the first time.

Lamens, who boasts an enviably heavy forehand and attributes her breakthrough to a more offensive mindset, continued her momentum in 2025 with an upset of Magdalena Frech to reach the Brisbane last 16 and a new career high of No.80.

Grand Slam qualifying has not been a happy hunting ground over the years -- Lamens' record in those competitions is just 2-8 -- but this time, she gets to bypass it completely, making her main-draw debut as a direct entrant. She'll face fellow first-timer Veronika Erjavec in the first round; Lamens won their only previous encounter 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in Billie Jean King Cup action at the end of last year.

Wei Sijia (CHN)

At the start of 2022, China's Wei Sijia was unranked, having not competed professionally for over two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. She based herself in Monastir, where she played in 32 ITF events that year, compiling a 78-28 record and finishing the season at No.434. In 2023, Wei rose to No.271, making her main-draw debut after qualifying for Nanchang.

Last year, Wei continued her trajectory. She competed in all four Grand Slam qualifying events for the first time, making the final round at the Australian Open. A 13-match mid-season winning streak included her biggest title to date at the Lexington ITF W75. And Wei thrived during the Asian swing, delighting crowds with her shot-making and finesse as she notched her first tour-level wins in Beijing, Guangzhou and Jiujiang.

Highlights: Wei d. Ruse, 2024 Beijing R1 | Wei d. Sramkova, 2024 Guangzhou R1 | Wang Xiyu d. Wei, Guangzhou R2 | Wei d. Hontama, 2024 Jiujiang R1

The 21-year-old began 2025 with another milestone, reaching her first WTA 125 final in Canberra two weeks ago and rising to a career high of No.119. Wei took that form into her first successful Grand Slam qualifying campaign, in which she defeated three former Top 100 players in Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Tamara Korpatsch and Nina Stojanovic, the last of whom she edged in a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6[9] barnburner.

Wei's reward is a first career meeting with a Top 10 player in the first round as she takes on two-time major finalist and No.4 seed Jasmine Paolini.