With a new court: how Russian tennis players started the season

While many people were just getting ready to leave the New Year vacations, tennis players were in full swing on the courts in Australia and Asian countries. The first days of 2025 were marked by several important successes for the Russian representatives of the aristocratic sport. "Izvestia" highlights the main events on the eve of the first Grand Slam tournament of the year - the Australian Open.

Kudermetova's breakthrough

Polina Kudermetova made a major breakthrough in the first week of the season. The younger sister of former top-10 women's singles player Veronika Kudermetova had an unexpectedly strong performance at the WTA 500 tournament in Brisbane. Polina started the tournament as the 107th ranked player in the world with qualification, where she had no problems. Among other things, she calmly dealt with Zeynep Senmez of Turkey (6:2, 6:3), who had the number one seed at this stage.

Next, the 21-year-old Russian had more powerful opponents. Among them were compatriots Lyudmila Samsonova and Daria Kasatkina. Both games ended in three sets. The third round meeting with Kasatkina was particularly tense. Kudermetova lost to the country's top-ranked player in the third set 0:4, but managed to turn the game around - 1:6, 6:2, 7:5. This victory allowed Polina to debut in the top-100 ranking.

But that was not all of her personal records in Brisbane. After defeating American Ashlyn Kruger, the Russian reached the semifinals of the WTA 500 for the first time. At this stage on the tour, she had only played at the WTA 250 level and below. Kudermetova made it to the final with confidence, defeating Ukraine's Angelina Kalinina 6-4, 6-3.

The match against Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sobolenko became the first title match in her career. She failed to beat the world number one, but she gave a fight - 4:6, 6:3, 6:2.

"There were a lot of emotions inside. In the first set Pauline had a lot of things going for her, but in the second set I noticed that I was running out of strength. It was the strength that was not enough to press. It's hard to play the eighth match in ten days. Even Arina said at the awards ceremony that not everyone can make it from the quals to the final. Sobolenko always plays great in Australia, so to take a set from her is already not bad," Ravshan Sultanov, the tennis player's coach, explained to GoTennis.

In the first days of 2025, Polina Kudermetova rose in the ranking by 50 lines (57th place) and overtook her older sister Veronika (77th).

Mirra entered the top 15

The Russian women eventually took the title in Brisbane, but in doubles. The duo of Mirra Andreeva and Diana Schneider, who took silver together at the Olympics in Paris, again performed well.

In the final our girls met with the Australian-Russian pair - Priscilla Hong and Anna Kalinskaya. In the first set Schneider and Andreeva led 5:2, but lost the advantage. Everything was decided on a tie-break, where Mirra and Diana were more reliable. In the second game, the two Russians had to make a comeback. They were losing 1:4, but still managed to overcome their opponent - 7:6 (8:6), 7:5. For both girls it is the first doubles title at the WTA level.

Mirra showed herself well in Brisbane and in singles. In the third round, the Russian took revenge on Linda Noskova. A year ago, the Czech defeated Andreeva in two sets at this tournament, and in 2025 Andreeva beat Noskova 6:3, 6:0. In the quarterfinals, Mirra was stronger than Ons Jaber of Tunisia, whom she calls one of her idols. Only Arina Sobolenko stopped the Russian's campaign, keeping her out of the final.

The victories in Australia helped Andreeva climb into the top 15 of the WTA rankings, which she now closes. The Russian says her goal for 2025 is to reach the top 10. With each new tournament, she is getting closer.

Karatsev's title

In men's tennis our successes are more modest, but there is something to be happy about. At the ATP 250 doubles tournament in Hong Kong Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov distinguished themselves. They reached this stage together for the fourth time in their careers. However, the 2023 Madrid Masters champions failed to cope with the British-Dutch duo of Luke Johnson and Sander Arends in Hong Kong. The title was played on a championship tie-break in which Johnson and Arends were 10-7 stronger.

Another Russian, Aslan Karatsev, started this season at No. 287 in the ATP rankings. The Australian Open 2021 semi-finalist is still unable to find his game after injuries and is now playing mostly Challengers. One of them in Thailand brought him a trophy. At the tournament in Nonthaburi, he won five out of five matches, and almost all of them were over opponents ranked higher than him. This is Karatsev's fourth Challenger title and his first at any level since 2022.

Waiting for the Slam

The main draw of the main draw of the main tournament of the beginning of the season starts on January 12. At least 17 Russian tennis players will play at the Australian Open. The men's main draw will feature five players: Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov, Roman Safiullin and Pavel Kotov. The women's singles will feature Daria Kasatkina, Mirra Andreeva, Lyudmila Samsonova, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Anastasia Potapova, Kamilla Rakhimova, Anna Blinkova, Veronika Kudermetova and Erika Andreeva.

Our girls from the qualification can still be added to them. Two Russians reached the final matches at this stage. Both of them will have to play against the home team. Polina Kudermetova will face Jelena Micic, and Oksana Selekhmetieva - Kimberly Birrell.