Alina Korneeva caught the attention of the tennis world in 2023, when she won two junior Grand Slam titles in succession, at the Australian Open and Roland Garros. The rising talent was the first woman to win back-to-back girls’ singles titles at the majors since Belinda Bencic in 2013, and the first to win the first two girls’ singles Slams of a season since Magdalena Maleeva in 1990.
Three years later the 19-year-old is finally making her presence felt on the WTA Tour.
Her best year on tour
Korneeva, who’s entering this year’s US Open with a career-high ranking of No. 67, reached her first tour-level semifinal this summer on the hard courts of Athens, then followed up that performance with an eye-catching run to the Round of 16 in Toronto.
Putting her physicality on display and producing a grinding baseline game that rests on a bedrock of plus movement, Korneeva edged out Americans Emma Navarro and Iva Jovic for the two biggest wins of her career.
“I felt like she's a pretty good mover, she can get to a lot of balls,” two-time major champion Coco Gauff said after ending Korneeva’s run in Toronto.
Gauff, who defeated Korneeva, 6-3, 6-1, gave a glowing assessment of her diverse skillset.
“She has good hands. She likes to come forward. So I think there's a lot of things she does well on the court, and she will definitely be someone that would be a threat to me and other players in the future,” she said.
Goodbye injury cloud?
For those wondering why it has taken so long for a player ticketed for success to find her balance on tour, look no further than a wrist injury that sent Korneeva off the tour in 2024.
She finished 2023 as the No.1 junior in the world, and started her 2024 season by winning her first Grand Slam match at the Australian Open. But things soon took a turn for the worse for Korneeva when a wrist surgery sidelined her for seven months. That setback was followed by a significant adductor injury in 2025.
A top teen, and still ahead of schedule
She was outside the Top 250 last summer when her fortunes slowly started to change.
Korneeva, who trains at the Nadal Academy in Mallorca and is coached by former world No. 16 Anabel Medina Garrigues, can take comfort in the fact that she is still very much ahead of the game at the age of 19. One of six teenagers in the Top 100, she won’t turn 20 until next June.
Though still relatively green, Korneeva has more experience under her belt than most teenagers on tour. Her trials and tribulations have helped her cultivate a steely resolve that fuels her electric tennis.
“She doesn't get upset,” Gauff remarked after her win over Korneeva in Toronto. “Even when she wasn't playing great at some moments. She's young, and it’s one of her first times on this stage, so I'm sure we'll see each other more in the future.”
