Maria Kirilenko

Maria Yuryevna Kirilenko, or Makiri as she is called by close friends, is one of the rising stars of tennis at present. She is born in January 25, 1987 in Moscow. She won her first WTA Tour Title in the China Open by beating Anna-Lena Groenefeld in the finals. Along with her friend of Maria Sharapova, she represents the new generation of pretty yet skillful female tennis players. She loves to listen to classical music from Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi and Beethoven. She loves reading and watching movies. If she has some free time, she spends it fishing.

She started to show inclination to tennis when she was 5 years old. Her father made her take tennis lessons and this led to her winning several tournaments. When she was 12 years old, she was noticed by Elena Brioukovets and offered to help with her training. A special three year program was made and a team of trainers was called in. In no time, she became number one in her age group. She became the youngest player ever to win the US Open Junior tournament and the Canadian Open Junior Tournament as well. The year was 2002.

After 2002, she began competing in WTA sanctioned tournaments. She made progress in her career but was setback by an injury in 2004. In 2005, she came back and won her first WTA title in Beijing. In 2006, she broke into the top 20 of the WTA world ranking for the first time in her young career. It was also in 2006 that she saw action for Russia in the Fed Cup tournament. She also competed in the 2006 US Open where she reached the third round.

She started the 2007 season by advancing to the third round of the Australian Open only to be defeated by the third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. Then she went to Tokyo to compete in the Toray Pan Pacific Open where she reached the second round before being ousted by Ai Sugiyama. She also made it to the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships where she lost a closely fought match against Daniela Hantuchova. She competed in the Acura Classic was defeated in the quarterfinals by Elena Dementieva. She also reached the quarterfinals in the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles, California. She competed in the US Open and managed to advance to the third round. After the US Open, she won her second WTA Tour singles title in the Sunfeast Open. She next competed in a tournament in Korea and faced Venus Williams in the finals. She lost in three sets.

In the beginning of 2008, she went to the Australian Open and was ousted in the fourth round by Daniela Hantuchova. This is a milestone in her career because it’s her first time to reach fourth round in any Grand Slam Tournament. She competed in a Tier I event in Doha, Qatar and lost in the second round. After that, she lost four straight matches in tournaments in Dubai, Bangalore, Indian Wells and Miami. She broke her losing streak by winning a Tier IV event in Estoril. She won her fourth WTA title in Barcelona where she face Martinez-Sanchez in the finals.