Jones, Diyas, Mandlik win Australian Open wild cards

The first three wild cards for the 2026 Australian Open have been awarded. Emerson Jones, Zarina Diyas and Elizabeth Mandlik will all contest the first Grand Slam of next year after winning their respective competitions for spots in the main draw.

Former junior No. 1 Jones, 17, won Tennis Australia's wild card points race, based on results over the past three weeks of Australian ITF tournaments -- the Brisbane W50, Sydney W75 and Playford W75. Jones compiled a 12-2 record, improving her results each week -- after reaching the Brisbane semifinals and Sydney final, the teenager successfully defended her Playford title to claim her second ITF W75 trophy. Jones did not drop a set in Playford, including a 6-4, 6-4 semifinal win over compatriot Talia Gibson -- her closest rival in the wild card race, and her conqueror in the previous week's Sydney final. Jones went on to defeat Maddison Inglis 6-4, 6-4 in the title match, and has risen to a new career high of No. 151 this week.

Jones will be competing in her second Grand Slam main draw. She made her debut as a wild card at the Australian Open this year, falling to Elena Rybakina in the first round, a week after notching her first tour-level victory over Wang Xinyu in Adelaide.

"No one really knew who was going to win [the wild card], it was a bit up and down," Jones told Tennis Australia. "I was just trying to win the tournament, but this is definitely a nice bonus."

Former No. 31 Diyas won last week's Asia-Pacific Wild Card Playoff in Chengdu, defeating 2018 Australian Open junior champion Liang En-Shuo 6-3, 6-4 in the final to wrap up a tournament in which she did not drop a set. The 32-year-old Kazakh has previously made the third round in Melbourne on four occasions -- on her 2014 debut, then again in 2015, 2020 and 2021 -- as well as the fourth round of Wimbledon twice.

Diyas, who has battled injuries for the past two-and-a-half years -- even planning to retire in 2024 -- and whose ranking has fallen to No. 284, will return to a Grand Slam main draw for the first time since the 2022 Australian Open. It will be her 28th Grand Slam main draw overall.

"Honestly, this is unbelievable," said Diyas afterwards. "I've been injured for two-and-a-half years, almost, and I came back last year. So for me, this feels extra special, to be back on the Slam main draw, so yeah, I'm just really happy and grateful."

Mandlik, 24, won the USTA's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge, based on her points total from a maximum of three hard-court tournaments in the five-week window between October 3 and November 6. The American -- who is the daughter of two-time Australian Open champion Hana Mandlikova -- won the Edmond ITF W100 before reaching the Irapuato ITF W100 semifinals and Austin WTA 125 quarterfinals, earning 166 points to second-placed Claire Liu's 138 points.

Mandlik, who reached her career high of No. 97 in 2023 and who is ranked No. 182 this week, returns to a Grand Slam main draw for the first time since Roland Garros. It will be her second Australian Open main draw and fourth overall at a Grand Slam; she has reached the second round once before, at the 2022 US Open.

Five main-draw wild cards for the Australian Open are yet to be awarded.