Tennis

The Russian tennis player was officially recognized as the best in the world. Alina left no choice!

Published

2 years ago

December 13, 2023

Gary

The Russian tennis player was officially recognized as the best in the world. Alina left no choice!

Alina Korneeva / Photo: © Clive Mason / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

The International Tennis Federation made an absolutely logical and correct decision.

The Russian school of tennis has once again proven its strength. At the junior level, its representatives have no equal in the world. And this is once again recognized at the highest international level!

Better than the American by a thousand points

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has published a list of world champions, according to its own version. Since there is no tournament called the “World Championship,” performances in the calendar year are taken into account, and preference is given to the leaders of the ITF rankings.

Russian Alina Korneeva was recognized as the world champion among juniors. Over the year, she has seriously grown in skill and experience, resulting in a confident first place in the junior rankings. The 16-year-old girl has 3659.25 points, and according to this indicator she is ahead of Clervie Nguna from the USA by almost a thousand points!

Among juniors, Brazilian Joao Fonseca was named the best. The 17-year-old tennis player scored 2902.25 points in the ITF rankings. This year, the guy made a lot of noise at the junior Grand Slam tournaments, winning the US Open and reaching the quarterfinals at all other majors.

Phenomenal results at Grand Slam tournaments

The Brazilian tennis player is certainly talented. But even his achievements pale in comparison to Korneeva. The Moscow native had a phenomenal season!

It all started with a bright January victory at the junior Australian Open – then Alina beat compatriot Mirra Andreeva in the final. In June, Korneeva made a golden double, becoming the Roland Garros champion among her peers. The winning hat-trick did not work out, as the Russian lost in the semi-finals of Wimbledon, and American bureaucrats did not allow her to attend the US Open. But even two Grand Slam titles in one season is an achievement that few achieve.

Alina Korneeva and Lussiana Perez-Alarcon / Photo: © Robert Prange / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

But there were also two victories at adult ITF tournaments in South Africa and Portugal and a worthy debut at the WTA level. The pinnacle of Alina’s triumphant season was her success at the Final Junior Tournament in October. In total, Korneeva won six titles in the past year.

Korneeva will challenge Andreeva

The tennis player herself, of course, was pleased with the awarding of the champion title. But she already has plans for the new season.

“I’m happy to become number one at the end of the year.” I don’t want to stop there. I can’t wait for the next season and I hope that it will bring something new,” the ITF official website quotes Alina.

In theory, Mirra Andreeva could also have competed for the title of world champion among juniors, but she chose an adult career and made the right decision, deservedly becoming the WTA Rookie of the Year. The 16-year-old native of Krasnoyarsk practically did not take part in junior tournaments and took only 21st place in the ITF rankings.

But her friend Alina Korneeva concentrated on tournaments among her peers. But there is no doubt that next season the young Muscovite will impose serious competition on her older rivals. She has all the data for this.

Source: Sportbox

Gary

I am a sports journalist who has written for a number of Sportish. I have a background in journalism and have been writing since I was young. My main focus is sports news, but I also write about general news. I am currently working as an author at Sportish.

Tennis

Semi-final matches of WTA 500 in Adelaide and WTA 250 in Hobart have been announced

Published

3 hours ago

January 15, 2026

Nancy

Semi-final matches of WTA 500 in Adelaide and WTA 250 in Hobart have been announced

Quarter-final matches were held in challenging tournaments on January 15 WTA 500 in Adelaide And WTA 250 in Hobart.

Last year’s champion Madison Keys, who placed second in the 500 meters race in Adelaide, lost to Victoria MBoko, who will compete with Kimberly Birrell in her next race. The Australian eliminated Jacqueline Christian.

In another semi-final match, “neutrals” Mirra Andreeva and Diana Schneider will compete. Unfortunately, Maya Joynt and Emma Navarro lost their matches.

WTA 500 Adelaide. 1/4 final

topnet

🏳️Mirra Andreeva [3] – Ayla Tomljanovic [WC] – 6:2, 6:0
🏳️Diana Schneider [9] – Emma Navarro [6] – 6:3, 6:3

bottom of the network

Kimberly Birrell- Jacqueline Christian [Q] – 5:7, 6:1, 7:5
Victoria Mboko [8] – Madison Keys [2] – 6:4, 4:6, 6:2

WTA 500 Adelaide. Semi-final matches

🏳️Mirra Andreeva [3] – 🏳️Diana Schneider [9]
Kimberly Birrell- Victoria Mboko [8]

Video review of match day in Adelaide

First seed Emma Raducanu lost to Tayla Preston in the 1/4 final stage in Hobart. The Australian representative will face third-seeded Iva Jovic in the semi-finals – the American eliminated Magda Linett.

Elisabetta Cocciaretto defeated Anna Bondar and Antonija Ruzic defeated Olga Danilovic. Anna and Antonia will meet in the lower group in the semi-finals.

WTA 250 Hobart. 1/4 final

topnet

Emma Raducanu [1] – Talia Preston [WC] – 2:6, 4:6
Iva Jovic [3] – Magda Linette [8] – 6:3, 6:7 (5:7), 6:2

bottom of the network

Anna Bondar- Elisabetta Cocciaretto [Q] – 2:6, 2:6
Antonia Ruzic – Olga Danilovich – 6:3, 6:3

Video review of match day in Hobart

Source: Sport UA

Nancy

I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.

Tennis

Adelaide tournament Victoria Mboko advances to semi-final

Published

6 hours ago

January 15, 2026

Nancy

Adelaide tournament Victoria Mboko advances to semi-final

(Adelaide) Canadian Victoria Mboko scored her second career victory against a player from top 10Thursday, winning 6-4, 4-6 and 6-2 against the American Madison Keys to reach the semi-finals of the Adelaide tournament.

Mboko (17^e), who is looking for a third WTA title, will cross swords with Australian Kimberly Birrell (107^e). Mboko defeated Birrell in Montreal, en route to the National Bank Open title last summer, in their only other duel on the circuit.

Mboko had previously defeated the Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia (59^e) and the Russian Anna Kalinskaya (33^e) in Adelaide. This is her first tournament since Hong Kong, which she won in November 2025.

Keys (ninth) had won his last 11 matches in this tournament, winning the title last year. She also triumphed there in 2022. Last year, she then continued her momentum to lift the Australian Open trophy.

After suffering three breaks in the second set, Mboko was solid in the third set with balls in hand, giving Keys no break opportunities. In particular, she won 73% of the rallies with her second ball during the third round.

Mboko won 93 of 180 points (52%) in this match.

Source: lapresse

Nancy

I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.

Tennis

Australian Open Marina Stakusic and Liam Draxl qualified

Published

6 hours ago

January 15, 2026

Nancy

Australian Open Marina Stakusic and Liam Draxl qualified

(Melbourne) Marina Stakusic and Liam Draxl won their respective qualifying matches on Thursday to secure their tickets to the main draw of the Australian Open tennis tournament.

Stakušić (127^e) joins Leylah Annie Fernandez and Victoria Mboko in the Canadian women’s delegation, while Draxl, who will participate in a major tournament for the first time, joins Félix Auger-Aliassime, Gabriel Diallo and Denis Shapovalov on the men’s side.

Stakusic took advantage of the troubles in the service of Lin Zhu (163^e) to win 7-5 and 6-4.

The Canadian, who defeated the Spaniard Nuria Parrizas-Diaz (261^e) and the Serbian Teodora Kostovic (176^e) during the first two rounds of qualifying, will be making his first appearance in the main draw of this major tournament. This will be her second Grand Slam appearance after being eliminated in the first round at Wimbledon in 2024.

To achieve this, Stakusic managed four breaks in the first set and two more in the second set. She gave herself eight break points. Zhu only won 49% of rallies when she had the balls in hand.

Stakusic herself lost her serve four times. She called a timeout to bring in a therapist after Zhu made it 3-2 in the first set.

After letting a first match point slip away, Stakusic ended the match in the next game. The duel lasted one hour 42 minutes.

Aged 32, Zhu occupied number 31^e WTA rank in September 2023, but injuries to her elbow and hips caused her to miss several months of activities over the past two years. She was 493^e in the world when she reached the fourth round of the National Bank Open last summer in Montreal.

Later, Draxl (145^e) came from behind to defeat the American Mackenzie McDonald (113^e) 3-6, 7-6 (2) and 6-2.

Draxl had previously had the ascendancy over the Australian Moerani Bouzige (467^e) and the Ukrainian Vitaliy Sachko (166^e).

He hit nine aces and took advantage of five of his eight break points.

Source: lapresse

Nancy

I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.