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<\/p>\n
After a proactive first set, the 20-year-old was forced to deal with a slight speed bump in the second before coming home strong with a home crowd heavily in her corner.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a handy payday for Preston, who earns an AU$225,000 cheque as part of progressing to the Open\u2019s second round which will see her take on No.13 seed Linda Noskova on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe atmosphere (on KIA Arena) was unbelievable. Obviously it\u2019s so nice playing in front of a home crowd, and having the majority of the support. It was crazy, and I had a lot of fun,\u201d Preston told reporters in the hours after her win.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes it more special having done it here at home, but obviously a first grand slam at any grand slam is special. It takes a lot of hard work, and I\u2019ve been working really, really hard, so it\u2019s nice to see it somewhat pay off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Preston\u2019s road to this year\u2019s Australian Open is arguably the most irregular of any Aussie this summer though. In a bid to spend more time on-court and gain confidence, the right-hander dropped down to ITF 35s \u2014 a lower-level tournament that is held far from the spotlights seen on the big stage.<\/p>\n
Preston reacts after her victory against China’s Zhang Shuai during their Women’s Singles match on Day 3 of the Australian Open on January 20, 2026 (Photo by Paul Crock\/AFP)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
For reference as to just how little winnings can come from a move like Preston\u2019s, the prize money for winning an ITF tournament can be less than five grand $USD.<\/p>\n
Winner:<\/b> ~$4,000 – $5,000+
Runner-Up:<\/b> ~$2,000 – $2,500+
Semi-Finalists:<\/b> ~$1,000 – $1,200+ each
Quarter-Finalists:<\/b> ~$600 – $800+ each
Round of 16:<\/b> ~$300 – $400+ each<\/p>\n
\u201cI dropped down to 35s and went to some tournaments where there is not really that much going on. There\u2019s no crowds (and) it\u2019s kind of a little bit of a grind to get through the two weeks at those tournaments, but I think it set me up really well,\u201d Preston explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did put in a lot of hard work throughout those tournaments.<\/p>\n
\u201cTowards the end of last year, I played a lot of matches. I dropped down a couple levels just to get my match count up because I wasn\u2019t playing a lot, and I think that really helped.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a really good pre-season in Brisbane. .. and then last week in Hobart, to be able to get a couple of really good wins under my belt I think really helped with my confidence leading into this week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amid her winning streak that saw her reach the semi-final of the Hobart International last week, was a straight sets win over World No.29 Emma Raducanu in the quarter final.<\/p>\n
Taylah Preston of Australia shakes hands after defeating Emma Raducanu of Great Britain during Day 4 of the 2026 Hobart International at Domain Tennis Centre on January 15, 2026 (Photo by Steve Bell\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Preston received her wildcard a few weeks before her hot run in Hobart, though admits she was far from expecting the Australian Open entry handed to fellow Aussies Rinky Hijikata, Talia Gibson and Priscilla Hon.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously I\u2019m extremely grateful for the wildcard. To be honest with you, I wasn\u2019t really expecting it, because I have had kind of a rough last 12 months,\u201d Preston said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, I was just super grateful. And obviously, to be given the opportunity, (it) means that they believe in me and what I can do. I\u2019m just really happy that so far I have used the opportunity as best I can, and I plan to keep going.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taylah Preston\u2019s road to a first grand slam victory has been more unconventional than most at her young…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":529296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[210631,3774,234730,4740,33383,10934,234737,74,234733,234738,210637,23166,3166,234732,234735,234734,18929,33378,234736,4798,62,54518,15677,3155,1464,234731,234739,67,132,68,8515,234729,234728,188596,131486],"class_list":{"0":"post-529295","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-agence-france-presse","9":"tag-asia","10":"tag-aussie-wildcard","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","13":"tag-brisbane","14":"tag-brutal-low-level-reality","15":"tag-china","16":"tag-eastern-asia","17":"tag-gain-confidence","18":"tag-getty-images-inc","19":"tag-grand-slam","20":"tag-hobart","21":"tag-home-crowd","22":"tag-lower-level-tournament","23":"tag-match-count","24":"tag-melbourne","25":"tag-oceania","26":"tag-quarter-final","27":"tag-queensland","28":"tag-sports","29":"tag-steve-bell","30":"tag-talia-gibson","31":"tag-tasmania","32":"tag-tennis","33":"tag-tennis-tournament","34":"tag-time-on-court","35":"tag-united-states","36":"tag-unitedstates","37":"tag-us","38":"tag-victoria","39":"tag-wildcard-entrant","40":"tag-wildcard-taylah-preston","41":"tag-young-age","42":"tag-zhang-shuai"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}