RISING young Aussie star Emerson Jones has won one of the biggest matches of her career to date, defeating world number 37 Wang Xinyu in straight sets at the Adelaide International.

In her main draw debut, Jones powered past the Chinese star 6-4, 6-0 in a stellar display.

She was 2-3 down in the first set but then went on to win 10 of the next 11 games to take the win.

“As the match went on, I was kind of like, I’ve got this. Even at 5-love, I was still, I just have to keep focusing on every point,” Jones said post match.

The teen also credited improvement in her mental strength as the main factor behind her win.

“I think mentally I’ve improved a lot from last year and this year,” she said. “I just think if I try to be mentally good, as best as I can, just play the way I want to play, then I think I’ll be pretty proud of myself.”

Although Wang’s first serve percentage was slightly better than Jones’, the Aussie won significantly more points off the first serve than her more fancied opponent did. Jones won 75.9 per cent of the points off her successful first serves compared to her opponent’s tally of just 41.2 per cent.

Jones’ next opponent is less easy than her last one, with Daria Kasatkina waiting for her in the next round. Kaskatina was too strong for another Aussie in Olivia Gadecki, winning in straight sets as Gadecki at time struggled to change direction and her ground strokes were at times chaotic.

Among the other winners in Adelaide yesterday was Yulia Putintseva, who easily accounted for Donna Vekic. Paula Badosa, Ekaterina Alexandrova and Marketa Vondrousova also all picked up wins, but their matches all went the distance.

ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL WTA RESULTS: JANUARY 6

P. Badosa (5) defeated P. Stearns 6-7, 6-3, 7-5

M. Vondrousova defeated A. Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-7, 6-2

D. Kasatkina (3) defeated O. Gadecki 6-2, 6-3

E. Alexandrova defeated L. Fernandez 6-4, 3-6, 6-2

E. Jones defeated X. Wang 6-4, 6-0

Y. Putintseva defeated D. Vekic 6-2, 6-3