Ajla Tomljanovic through to first grass court final at Birmingham Classic, Jordan Thompson beaten and injured at Queen's ClubIt will be the first grass court final of Tomljanovic's WTA career and represents a significant milestone in her career renaissance.Ajla Tomljanovic's brilliant return to tennis has hit a new peak as the Australian ace reached her first WTA grass court final in the Birmingham Classic to stand on the verge of the biggest triumph of her 15-year career.
But Tomljanovic, the Australian number 10, stands to shoot back to number three while soaring back to number 116 in the world should she defeat old Kazakh rival Yulia Putintseva in Sunday's unexpected match-up between two non-seeds. After missing most of 2023 with a knee injury and requiring surgery this year to remove uterine fibroids, it would represent an extraordinary achievement if Tomljanovic was to lift a WTA crown in her 180th main draw.ABC Sport Daily is your daily sports conversation. We dive into the biggest story of the day and get you up to speed with everything else that's making headlines.
Tomljanovic was broken when serving for the set at 5-4, yet held her nerve better in the subsequent tiebreak as the often erratic Potapova made two backhand errors to gift the stanza to the Australian. Worse still, Thompson's big day ended with him having to leave Queen's to get treated for the back injury that he suffered early in the second set.