Sonobe through to Aussie Open semis as she hunts maiden Grand Slam

Chatting to Japan’s Wakana Sonobe just after she reached the Australian Open girls’ semi-finals is very much a learning experience.

Turning up at the appointed time on the interview terrace at Melbourne Park, Sonobe has already been captured by a Japanese television crew and has her country’s print media lined up to follow before we can speak. They are not short interviews.

It is both impressive and marginally overwhelming but, at 17 years old, this is already Sonobe’s ninth Junior Grand Slam. It is though, by some considerable margin, her most productive year at the Australian Open. Prior to this year, she has only ever recorded one previous match-win at the Happy Slam and that was back in 2023.

Sonobe did, however, reached the final at the 2024 US Open Junior Championships in September when she lost to Great Britain's Mika Stojsavljevic. 

Her coach of three years, Ryuji, joins us on the interview sofa. Wakana’s English is not her strong point and acts as translator. They are both upbeat.

Sonobe has just beaten the Australian Tahlia Kokkinis 6-2 6-4, playing on Margaret Court Arena for the first time. An enjoyable affair.

The AO is her first tournament anywhere in 2025. Leaving it late or inspired?

“I have two more tournaments after this one, I was just practising before (this month),” she said.

Home favourite and No. 1 seed Emerson Jones is next up in Friday’s semi-final.

How many times have you played her?

Once says Sonobe. No, two says Ryuji. They count up and think it might be three. Sonobe beat Jones in Turkey, she says, and knows what to do.

Ryuki also confirms that Sonobe will be ok with the strong support for Jones, although he feels the hard and fast courts are ideally suited to Jones’ game.

“She knows it is going to be difficult,” he says.

What about the media attention back home then?

“In the tennis world it is kind of big news, but on the general news it is maybe two seconds,” says the grounded Ryuji.

Jones may be the top seed but Sonobe is the fourth. It may be a lot closer contest than some may think.

Jones, meanwhile, took a little time to get going in her last eight clash today, dropping the first set but overcming Austria’s Lilli Tagger 4-6 6-2 6-2.

Elsewhere, Slovakia’s Mia Pohankova defeated Belgium’s Jeline Vandromme 6-2 6-1 and will now face Kristina Penickova of the United States in the other semi-final. Penickova dispatched Japan’s Shiho Tsujioka 7-5 6-3.

A full list of results from the 2025 Australian Open Junior Championships is available here