SYNOPSIS
Maria Yuryevna Kirilenko-Stepanova, simply known as Maria Kirilenko, is a professional Russian tennis player. She was born on 25 January 1987 in Moscow, Russia. She is the winner of 2002 U.S. Open Girls’ Singles and 2005 WTA Tour title. She has reached three Grand Slam singles quarterfinals - the 2010 Australian Open, the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, and the 2013 French Open.
Maria Kirilenko is also a bronze medalist at the 2012 London Olympics and has reached her career high, ranking of World no. 10 in June 2013.
EARLY LIFE AND CAREER
Maria Kirilenko was coached by her father Yuri Kirilenko. She started playing at age 7 when father introduced her to game at Dinamo Moscow Central Stadium. Her professional career started in 2002 when she became one of the youngest winners of the Canadian Open and US Open junior tournaments. After that, she started participating in WTA events.
At the 2004 French Open, Maria Kirilenko took the first set off Serena Williams before losing in three sets. She won her first title in Beijing in 2005 and broke into world’s top 20 on June 12, 2006, for the first time. At the 2006 US Open, Kirilenko was seeded 20th and reached the third round, before losing to Aravane Rezaï.
In 2007, Maria Kirilenko participated in the 2007 Australian Open, 2007 Toray Pan Pacific Open and Dubai Tennis Championship where she advanced to the third round, second round, and again second round respectively. At the Acura Cla s sic in San Diego, she advanced to the quarterfinals before losing to fellow Russian Elena Dementieva and at the East West Bank Cla s sic in Los Angeles, she lost to Ana Ivanovic in the quarterfinals.
In 2009, she participated in the Australian Open and lost to Sara Errani in the first round. In the Dubai doubles tournament, Maria Kirilenko partnered with Agnieszka Radwanska and reached the finals, where they lost to Liezel Huber and Cara Black, the world no. 1 doubles pairing at that time. In 2010 Australian open, she beat Maria Sharapova and advanced to quarterfinals, before losing to Zheng Jie.
She reached her second grand slam quarterfinals in the 2012 Wimbledon Championships and her third in the 2013 French Open. The same year, she made it to World No. 10 and suffered a knee injury. In 2014, she missed the Australian Open due to the injury, but after recovery, she participated in a number of events.
PERSONAL LIFE
On January 24, 2015, she got married to Alexei Stepanov, the Head of the Committee of Public Services in Moscow. Her husband’s name wasn’t revealed immediately, but only a few days after the wedding. Before that, she had been engaged to Russian ice hockey player Alexander Ovechkin.
Following an unexplained long absence from professional tennis, it was reported that Kirilenko had given birth to a baby boy. More information on her children is currently unavailable. As for her salary, her career prize money amounts to $6,855,919. Her net worth is $12.5 million.
by Bchrome, 16 Oct, 2016
