Maria Kirilenko Bio
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Maria Kirilenko BioThis Maria Kirilenko biography contains information believed to be accurate as extracted from sources around the internet including Wikipedia. If you believe there are errors or omissions in this Maria Kirilenko bio, please let us know so that we can correct any inaccuracies.
Infobox last updated on: December 31, 2007. Maria Yuryevna Kirilenko (Russian: Мари́я Ю́рьевна Кириле́нко; born January 25, 1987) is a Russian professional tennis player. Born in Moscow, she won her first WTA Tour title in 2005, defeating Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-3, 6-4 in the China Open. Kirilenko reached #20, her career-high singles ranking, on the WTA tour in June 2006. She is a good friend of Maria Sharapova. She is affectionately called Makiri. Maria Kirilenko won the junior event at the 2002 Canadian Open, as well as the 2002 US Open junior tournament. In December 2004 she played in a tennis exhibition in Tampa, Florida to raise money for the Florida Hurricane Relief Fund. In 2006, she was selected to be the face of Adidas by Stella McCartney tennis range, designed by noted British fashion designer Stella McCartney. Since the 2006 Australian Open, Kirilenko has played in adidas clothing and footwear designed by Stella McCartney at all upcoming tournaments. Maria Kirilenko: Tennis careerMaria Kirilenko started showing a passion towards tennis at age 5, but it was difficult to get the practice in while she was attending school. Her father enrolled her in a tennis school, and hours of fierce training started to pay off as she won several tournaments. When Kirilenko was twelve years old, an Honored Master of sports, Elena Brioukhovets, saw her while training. All the next year Elena watched Maria making progress and then offered to work together with her. A three-year program was made and a special team was selected. In less than three years Maria became the number one in her age group and the number two in the group under eighteen. The well-known tennis-players Yevgeni Kafelnikov, Andrei Olhovskiy and Max Mirnyi, who had created an organization supporting young tennis-players, helped Kirilenko to arrange her training-process and to attend tournaments. In 2002 Kirilenko became one of the youngest winners of the Canadian Open and the US Open Junior Tournaments. Since September 2002 Kirilenko started participating in WTA events. She made a lot of progress in WTA events but was setback by injury in 2004 and dropped down the rankings, whilst missing out on valuable experience. At the end of 2005 she had climbed right up the rankings and won her first title in Beijing. She has been recognized as one of the up and coming players of 2006 and, despite being off her best form during the Summer, she has broken into the top 20 for the first time on June 12th, 2006. Kirilenko made her debut for Russia at the nation-based Fed Cup tournament on 22/23 April 2006 on the World Group Quarter-Final tie against Belgium. Maria lost a singles rubber against '05 US Open champion Kim Clijsters and won her doubles rubber against multiple major champion Justine Henin-Hardenne and the same Kim Clijsters partnering Dinara Safina. Russia ended up losing 3-2. At the 2006 US Open, Kirilenko received the 20th seed of the tournament and reached the 3rd Round, eventually being defeated by Aravane Rezai. In January 2007, she advanced to the third round of the 2007 Australian Open, before being defeated by third-seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, immediately after which she competed in the 2007 Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, where she advanced to the second round upsetting #15 Shahar Peer of Israel, before being defeated by Ai Sugiyama. She then competed in the Dubai Tennis Championships in Dubai, where she reached the second round, before losing in a close match to Daniela Hantuchova 6-2 4-6 6-7 (4/7). Kirilenko at Wimbledon 2007At the Acura Classic in San Diego, California, Kirilenko upset second seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia with a score of 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 to advance to the quarter-finals, before losing to fellow Russian Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-4. At the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles, California she also reached the quarters, upsetting #6 seed Marion Bartoli in straight sets, 7-6(2), 6-3, along the way. Unseeded at the U.S. Open, she faced Martina Muller of Germany, defeating her in straight sets 6-3, 6-1. She then beat #22 seed Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia in straight sets too, 6-4, 6-3. She then lost to the unseeded Julia Vakulenko of Ukraine in easy straight sets, 6-2, 6-4. After the U.S. Open, she appeared in the Sunfeast Open. There, Kirilenko won her second WTA Tour singles title, defeating unseeded Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine in straight sets 6-0,6-2. En route to the finals, she had beaten some very in form players namely Daniela Hantuchova, Flavia Pennetta, up and coming Ekaterina Ivanova and Indian qualifier Neha Uberoi. The next week at a tournament in Seoul, Kirilenko, as the #4 seed has also reached the finals but lost to #1 seed and current Wimbledon champion Venus Williams of the USA in three sets 3-6, 6-1, 4-6. Maria Kirilenko - 2008At the Australian Open, Kirilenko reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her career, by beating No. 6 seed Anna Chakvetadze in three sets (6-7, 6-1, 6-2). Her next opponent was Daniela Hantuchova, to whom she lost in the fourth round 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, after leading 6-1, 3-1. Maria Kirilenko: WTA Tour titles (5)Maria Kirilenko - Singles (2)Maria Kirilenko - Doubles (3)Grand Slam performance (singles) |
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