Australian Talia Gibson entered the BNP Paribas Open ranked 112. The official WTA website does not have a profile picture for her. After two upset victories, over world No. 11 Ekaterina Alexandrova and No. 17 Clara Tauson, she beat No. 7 Jasmine Paolini 7-5 2-6 6-1 for a spot in the quarterfinal. En route, she jumped up to No. 67 in the live rankings and became the third ranked Australian after Maya Joint and Daria Kasatkina.
The 21-year-old was still stunned when she went to her press conference following her first Top 10 win, which was also her first Top 10 match. Sitting under bright lights and facing a dozen cameras, an unfamiliar setting for her, she said, “Gosh, I still haven’t processed it all. I think just super proud what I have been able to achieve over these last two weeks. Honestly, still pretty speechless that I made it this far.”
Four aces and 44 winners propelled the Aussie to victory. She said: “I know that with my aggressive game, often I am able to create a lot of opportunities for myself in points, but that being said, I think I have surprised myself a little bit with how well I have been able to play for quite a few matches in a row. And being able to beat such high-quality players, for sure, wasn’t expecting to have done that at all.”
Smiling ear to ear, the player, who came into the season with only two main draw WTA match wins said, “There is not enough words to describe how I’m feeling, really. I mean, I think just going out in that match today, I felt extremely calm and felt like I was just able to go out there free-swinging and just really enjoy the experience and enjoy the moment playing a Top-10 player.”
The Perth native is feeling the love across time zones: “I have been getting so much support from back home. I think that Australians do such an amazing job of supporting each other. I have definitely been feeling so much love from back home, which has been a massive help for me.”
That support is a big factor in her rise, she said, “I think it just allowed me to be even more confident that I have so many people behind me supporting me, but especially my team and Tennis Australia. I’m just really excited to be able to go home and see everyone and kind of enjoy this moment a little bit more with family and friends.”
The unseeded player will face 14th seed Linda Noskova in the quarterfinal Thursday.
