Priscilla said she could be a top 30 player. Now she’s proving it

Before the US Open began in earnest, Priscilla Hon made a bold declaration: “I can definitely be top 30.” It only took her two rounds at Flushing Meadows to prove it was more than just pre-campaign hot talk.

Many had tipped Hon’s early US Open success — she picked apart French star Leolia Jeanjean in two on Sunday — to come to an abrupt halt in the second round when she was matched up against No.20 Liudmila Samsonova.

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Instead, Hon gave the tennis world a shock, overcoming a 4–6 first set loss to take the next two stanzas 6–3, 6–2. And it wasn’t just some of that Aussie luck and pluck we’ve seen sprinkled throughout our cohort in the last twenty years either; Hon dominated the seeded star on a packed Court No.10 right from the go in the second set and never let up.

It’s the first time the 27-year-old tour battler has ever competed in the last 32 at the US Open, let alone any of the tennis majors in general, and she was quick to admit that she’d “dreamed” of the moment for as long as her career had run.

“Honestly, I have no words,” she said after the victory. “It’s something that I’ve dreamed of…”

Priscilla can already expect a +130-rank jump after the U.S. Open.

And yet – it feels like it was pure determination that got her over the line in her boilover triumph. Hon kept the pressure up as Samsonova collapsed (the Olenegorsk representative kept adding errors to her stat sheet, most notably an incredible seven double faults as she looked to claw back the advantage Priscilla had pinched early in the second.

The 27-year-old Aussie on the other end of the court never looked flustered, playing like she had the right to go through. It was already new ground for her, but Hon looked like she’d always been there.

In the end, Priscilla conceded just three points on her first serve.

And then finally, she ended things with aces 17 and 18.

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That all lines up with Hon’s bold statement: “I can definitely be top 30,” she’d declared before the tournament.

Hon next faces world No.49 Ann Li, who upset 16th seed Belinda Bencic, in the third round.