Quick Facts
Aquarius
Biography
Maria Yuryevna Kirilenko-Stepanova (Russian: Мари́я Ю́рьевна Кириле́нко; IPA: [mɐˈrʲijə ˈjʉrʲjɪvnə kʲɪpʲɪˈlʲɛnkə]; born 25 January 1987) is a Russian tennis player. Kirilenko won the 2002 U.S. Open Girls' Singles and won her first WTA Tour title in 2005, defeating Anna-Lena Grönefeld in the China Open. She has reached three Grand Slam singles quarterfinals, at the 2010 Australian Open the 2012 Wimbledon Championships and the 2013 French Open. In doubles, she has reached two Grand Slam doubles finals, at the 2011 Australian Open and the 2012 French Open, won the 2012 WTA Tour Championships and was a bronze medalist at the 2012 London Olympics. In June 2013, Kirilenko reached her career high ranking of World No. 10.
Tennis career
Junior career
In 2002, Kirilenko became one of the youngest winners of the Canadian Open and US Open junior tournaments.
Professional career
2003–2006
In 2002, Kirilenko started participating in WTA events. She began moving up the rankings in 2004, but was set back by an injury. At the 2004 French Open, Kirilenko took the first set off Serena Williams before losing in three sets.
At the end of 2005, she climbed back up the rankings and won her first title in Beijing. On 12 June 2006, she broke into the world's top 20 for the first time. Kirilenko was also the runner-up to Nicole Pratt at the 2004 AP Tourism Hyderabad Open.
Kirilenko made her debut for Russia at the Fed Cup tournament in April 2006. In the World Group quarterfinal tie against Belgium, Kirilenko lost her singles match against 2005 US Open champion Kim Clijsters, but partnering with Dinara Safina, won her doubles match against Justine Henin and Clijsters. However, Russia ended up losing, 3–2.
At the 2006 US Open, Kirilenko was seeded 20th and reached the third round, before losing to Aravane Rezaï.
2007
In January 2007, she advanced to the third round of the 2007 Australian Open, before being defeated by third-seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. She then competed in the 2007 Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, where she advanced to the second round, upsetting world no. 15 Shahar Pe'er of Israel, before being defeated by Ai Sugiyama. She then competed in the Dubai Tennis Championships, where she reached the second round, before losing in a close match to Daniela Hantuchová.
At the Acura Classic in San Diego, California, Kirilenko upset second seeded Jelena Janković of Serbia to advance to the quarterfinals, before losing to fellow Russian Elena Dementieva. At the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles, she upset sixth seed Marion Bartoli in straight sets before losing to eventual champion Ana Ivanovic in the quarter-finals.
Unseeded at the US Open, she defeated Martina Müller of Germany, and then 22nd seed Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia. She then lost to unseeded Julia Vakulenko of Ukraine. After the US 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. The next week at a tournament in Seoul, Kirilenko, as the fourth seed also reached the finals, but lost to top seed Venus Williams.
2008
At the Australian Open, Kirilenko reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her career, beating sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze. Her next opponent was Daniela Hantuchová, to whom she lost, 6–1, 4–6, 4–6, after leading 6–1, 3–1.
Kirilenko then reached the second round of a Tier I event in Doha, beating Ekaterina Makarova, before losing to Anabel Medina Garrigues in three sets. Kirilenko then lost four matches in a row at Dubai, Bangalore, Indian Wells, and Miami. However, as the second seed, she reached the final of a Tier IV event at Estoril, where she defeated Iveta Benešová in straight sets. She also won the doubles title there, partnering with Flavia Pennetta. Kirilenko also won in Barcelona, defeating Martinez-Sanchez for her fourth career WTA title and the second of the year.
Kirilenko played at the Tier III tournament in Cincinnati in August, where she was third seed. She reached the semifinals, where she lost to eventual champion Nadia Petrova. She partnered with Petrova as the second seed doubles team and beat the top seed pair of Hsieh Su-wei and Yaroslava Shvedova in the finals.
2009
Kirilenko was seeded 27th at the Australian Open, but lost to future top five player Sara Errani of Italy in the first round.
In the Dubai doubles tournament, Kirilenko partnered with Agnieszka Radwańska, and even though they were unseeded, they reached the final, eventually losing to Liezel Huber and Cara Black, the world no. 1 doubles pairing at that time.
At the 2009 French Open, Kirilenko was unseeded in the singles tournament, and lost to Olivia Rogowska of Australia in the first round. In the doubles tournament, Kirilenko and doubles partner Flavia Pennetta of Italy were seeded eighth. They made it to the third round, before losing to 11th seeded Anna-Lena Grönefeld of Germany and Patty Schnyder of Switzerland.
Kirilenko was unseeded at the 2009 Wimbledon Championships and made it to the second round, before losing to ninth seeded Caroline Wozniacki.
At the US Open, she made it to the third round, defeating her doubles partner Radwańska before losing to Li Na. She then competed in the 2009 Hansol Korea Open in Seoul, where she was the defending champion, but lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Kimiko Date-Krumm.
2010 : First Grand Slam quarterfinal
Kirilenko began the year by competing in the 2010 ASB Classic, where she reached the quarterfinals, before losing to Shahar Pe'er. With a world ranking at that time of 58, Kirilenko was unseeded at the 2010 Australian Open, where in the first round she upset her friend, former doubles partner, 2008 champion and 14th seed Maria Sharapova, 7–6(4), 3–6, 6–4, in a 3-hour, 22-minute marathon. It was the second-longest women's match in Australian Open history (only behind the 2011 fourth-round match between Francesca Schiavone and Svetlana Kuznetsova). She advanced to the quarterfinals, before losing to Zheng Jie, who was also unseeded for this tournament. In the doubles portion, she and her partner, Agnieszka Radwańska, were seeded 15th and advanced to the semifinals, before losing to the world no. 1 pairing of Cara Black and Liezel Huber in three sets.
Kirilenko entered as 32nd seed at the 2010 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. She made it to the third round, before losing to second seeded Caroline Wozniacki.
Kirilenko participated in the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida as 32nd seed. Like Indian Wells, she advanced to the third round, before again losing to Caroline Wozniacki.
Kirilenko played in Rome in the 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, where she was unseeded. She advanced to the quarterfinals, before losing to world no. 1 Serena Williams.
Kirilenko's entered the French Open as 30th seed. She advanced to the round of 16 here for the first time in her career, before losing to 17th seed and eventual champion Francesca Schiavone, having defeated defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova en route. In the doubles draw of the French Open, Kirilenko and Agnieszka Radwańska were seeded 11th. They reached the quarterfinals, before losing to the eventual champions Serena and Venus Williams in straight sets.
At Wimbledon, she was 27th seed in the singles draw. She advanced to the third round, before losing to eighth seed Kim Clijsters. Kirilenko also paired up with Agnieszka Radwańska in the doubles draw, where they were seeded tenth.
Kirilenko made the quarterfinals of the 2010 Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California. before losing to Agnieszka Radwańska. She entered the doubles tournament with Victoria Azarenka, but they lost in the semifinals.
She then reached the second rounds of 2010 Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open and the 2010 Rogers Cup, losing to Vera Zvonareva and Victoria Azarenka, respectively. Then at the 2010 Pilot Pen Tennis, she reached the semifinals, before losing to Nadia Petrova.
She reached the third round of the 2010 US Open, losing to 11th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.
She then reached the second rounds of 2010 Hansol Korea Open, losing to former world no. 1 Dinara Safina, and 2010 Toray Pan Pacific Open, losing to Flavia Pennetta. At the last Premier Mandatory event of the year, the 2010 China Open, she lost in the third round to eventual finalist and compatriot Vera Zvonareva. In the 2010 HP Open, she retired in the second round due to a left hip injury against Chang Kai-chen after losing the first set 4–6. Kirilenko reached the final of the 2010 Kremlin Cup, where she fell to Victoria Azarenka.
Kirilenko ended the 2010 season ranked no. 20 in the world.
2011 : Steady ranking
She competed at the Hong Kong Tennis Classic and won the Gold Group Championship with her compatriots Vera Zvonareva and Yevgeny Kafelnikov. At the Australian Open, she failed to defend her quarterfinal points by being knocked out in the second round. However, in the doubles competition, she reached the final, partnered with Victoria Azarenka, but lost to Pennetta and Dulko. She then fell early in the 2011 PTT Pattaya Open and 2011 Dubai Tennis Championships. She then reached the third round of both 2011 BNP Paribas Open and 2011 Sony Ericsson Open losing to Agnieszka Radwańska on both occasions. She then suffered three losses in a row in the second round of 2011 Family Circle Cup, and the first rounds of 2011 Mutua Madrid Open and 2011 Internazionali BNL d'Italia. However, she won doubles at the Mutua Madrid Open with Victoria Azarenka. At the 2011 French Open, she reached the fourth round losing to Andrea Petkovic, 6–2, 2–6, 6–4.
She then fell in the first round of 2011 UNICEF Open to Kimiko Date-Krumm, However she rebounded by reaching the third round of the 2011 Wimbledon, eventually being stopped by the seventh-seeded Serena Williams. She then failed to win back-to-back matches falling in the second rounds of 2011 Bank of the West Classic, 2011 Mercury Insurance Open, first round of 2011 Rogers Cup, and the second rounds of 2011 Western & Southern Open and 2011 Bank of the West Classic. She then rebounded at the 2011 US Open, losing to eventual champion Samantha Stosur 6–2, 6–715–17, 6–3 in the fourth round. The second set tie-break score of 15–17 was the longest in any major in the history of women's tennis.
She reached her first semifinal of the year at the 2011 Guangzhou International Women's Open to Chanelle Scheepers 7–5, 5–7, 6–4. She then played at the 2011 Toray Pan Pacific Open and the 2011 China Open, where she defeated Samantha Stosur in three sets in both occasions in the second round; she also fell in the quarterfinals on both events losing to Vera Zvonareva and Monica Niculescu, respectively. She played her last tournament of the year at the 2011 BGL Luxembourg Open, where she had to withdrew in the second round due to an ankle injury.
2012 : 4th place at 2012 Olympics
Kirilenko began her 2012 season in Sydney where she didn't reach the main draw after losing against Sofia Arvidsson in the second round of qualifications. After that she reached the third round of the Australian Open by defeating Gajdosiva in the first and Wozniak in the second. Then Kvitová stopped her run with a 6–0 1–0 ret'. Later in the year she reached the final of Pattaya Open and then lost to Hantuchová. After second round losses in both 2012 Dubai Tennis Championships and Doha, she reached the quarter finals of Indian Wells as the 20th seed, losing to Maria Sharapova 3–6, 7–5, 6–2. She then went on to the round of 16 of Miami as the 22nd seed losing to Marion Bartoli 6–1, 6–2.
She then continued her year from Estoril to 'S-Hertogenbosch with a losing record of 3–6. She then played the 2012 Wimbledon Championships as the 17th seed, where she had sudden success reaching the round of 16 for the first time with easy wins over Alexandra Cadanțu, Lourdes Domínguez Lino and Sorana Cîrstea. She had officially reached the second week of all 4 majors. She then defeated Peng Shuai 6–1, 6–7(8), 6–3 to reach her second grand slam quarter final and her first at Wimbledon. After almost 3 hours of play, 3 rain delays and switching courts – she eventually lost in a very close and tough quarter final to the Polish no. 3 seed Agnieszka Radwańska 7–5, 4–6. 7–5.
At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Kirilenko reached the semi finals after defeating 6th seed Petra Kvitová 7–6, 6–3. She lost in the semifinals to silver medalist Maria Sharapova 6–2, 6–3. She then lost in the bronze medal match to Victoria Azarenka 6–3, 6–4. She then won a bronze medal in Women's Doubles with Nadia Petrova after beating the no. 1 ranked team of Lisa Raymond and Liezel Huber in the bronze medal match 4–6, 6–4, 6–1.
Maria returned at the 2012 Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati and lost to Venus Williams 6–3, 6–7, 6–2 in the first round. She bounced back into form at the premier level New Haven open. She scored a top 10 victory over Caroline Wozniacki 7–5 (ret.) en route to her second final of the season. She was defeated by Kvitová 7–6, 7–5 in the final. Kirilenko ended the summer with a third round loss to Andrea Hlaváčková 5–7, 6–4, 6–4 at the 2012 US Open (tennis). Kirilenko and Petrova defeated the Williams sisters in doubles 6–1, 6–4, but lost in the quarterfinal round to Martinez Sanchez and Llagostera Vives 7–5, 3–6, 7–6 (5).
Maria was injured for most of the fall season, but she did reach the quarterfinals of the 2012 Kremlin Cup in October losing again to Arvidsson. In doubles, Maria and Nadia defeated Kops-Jones and Spears to qualify for the year end championship in Istanbul.
2013 : World no. 10 & injuries
At the 2013 Australian Open, Kirilenko made it to the round of 16 where she lost to Serena Williams in straight sets. On February 3 she won the 2013 PTT Pattaya Open, beating Sabine Lisicki 5–7, 6–1, 7–6(1) in the final. She then won her first singles match in Fed Cup when Russia beat Japan in the 1st round in straight sets against Kimiko Date-Krumm. Maria's next tournament was the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. After receiving a bye into the second round, she beat Christina McHale and Mallory Burdette before upsetting the third seed Agnieszka Radwańska in the fourth round; that was followed by another upset victory over Petra Kvitová in the quarter-finals. However, her run came to an end in the semi-finals with a straight sets defeat by eventual champion Maria Sharapova.
She followed it up with a semifinal run at the Monterrey Open losing to Angelique Kerber in the semifinals. She reached back to back third rounds at the Mutua Madrid Open and Internazionali BNL d'Italia losing to Serena Williams and Sara Errani, respectively. At the 2013 French Open, Kirilenko defeated Nina Bratchikova, Ashleigh Barty in the first and second round respectively to advance to the third round where she defeated Stefanie Vögele. Then, in the fourth round, she defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands (who had upset Li Na in the second round) to advance to her first quarter-final at the French Open, where she subsequently lost to her former doubles partner, World No. 3 Victoria Azarenka. Her run in Paris catapulted her into the WTA's Top 10 for the first time.
She then suffered with a knee injury at the Aegon International but still made it through the quarterfinals losing to Yanina Wickmayer. At Wimbledon, Kirilenko was beaten in the first round by British player Laura Robson in straight sets. As a result, Kirilenko dropped to No. 12 in the world rankings, as she was defending a quarter-final appearance from 2012. Despite being a seed, Kirilenko was upset by Alizé Cornet and Mona Barthel at the second rounds of Rogers Cup and Western & Southern Open. At the US Open, Kirilenko fell to Simona Halep.
Kirilenko started an Asian swing with a 3-6, 1-6 loss to Kimiko Date-Krumm in the second round at Seoul. After losing a third-round match against Serena Williams in Beijing, Kirilenko lost to Pavyluchenkova, 3-6, 3-6 in Moscow. Injury ended her season in Sofia with a 0-5 retirement loss to Alizé Cornet.
2014
Kirilenko was not listed on any entry lists for 2014 tournaments, still recovering from the knee injury suffered in the Tournament of Champions in Sofia. She missed the Australian Open due to the injury.
After missing the pair of Premier Mandatory events at Indian Wells and Miami, Kirilenko made her injury comeback at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, but was upset in her first match by Swiss qualifier Belinda Bencic, who eventually reached her first WTA semi-final.
Kirilenko conceded a walkover to Caroline Garcia before her second-round match at the 2014 Mutua Madrid Open. She defeated Kristina Mladenovic in the previous round and recorded her first victory of 2014. At the Rome Masters, she lost to compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova in the first round. She exited in the first round at Roland Garros, winning three games against Swede Johanna Larsson. As a result, her ranking plunged 44 places down to 88th after failing to defend quarterfinal points.
Kirilenko played the pre-Wimbledon tournament at s'Hertogenbosch but lost to Mona Barthel in the first round. Kirilenko entered Wimbledon ranked 109th, her lowest ranking in five years but she caused an upset by defeating 18th seed and the previous year's quarter-finalist Sloane Stephens in the first round. She subsequently lost to Chinese Peng Shuai in the second round, winning three games in her straight-sets defeat.
After a month-long break, Kirilenko entered the 2014 US Open unseeded and drew Maria Sharapova in the first round. She lost the match in straight sets. At Seoul, Kirilenko participated as a wildcard. She reached her first quarterfinal in 15 months by defeating Donna Vekić and 3rd-seed Klára Koukalová in her first two matches. She then defeated 6th-seed Kaia Kanepi for a place in the semis. Her dream run came to an end in the hands of 2nd seed and eventual champion Karolína Plíšková.
Fashion
In 2006, Kirilenko was selected to be the face of Adidas by Stella McCartney tennis range, designed by noted British fashion designer Stella McCartney and has played exclusively in the gear since the 2006 Australian Open. In 2009, she was replaced by Caroline Wozniacki following the 2009 US Open.
She appeared in the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition alongside Daniela Hantuchová and Tatiana Golovin in a pictorial entitled "Volley of the Dolls".
According to some members of the United States Army, Kirilenko wears “Obsession” perfume, manufactured by Calvin Klein. In his best-selling book Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor, U.S. Medal of Honor winner Clinton Romesha claims that members of his platoon, while serving in Afghanistan, communicated via social media with Kirilenko. After several exchanges, that they believed were genuine, she sent them an autographed photo and a pair of perfumed women’s panties that they subsequently kept in the aid station of Combat Outpost Keating. Based on the package’s London return address and the nature and origin of the e-mail correspondence, Romesha and his platoon members believed that the communication and women’s panties were Kirilenko’s and not a hoax. Several years later during the White House ceremony where Romesha was awarded the Medal of Honor for valor during the Battle of Kamdesh, one of his platoon members recognized the fragrance worn by one of the women in attendance.
”When Courville approached the woman and politely inquired what type of perfume she was wearing, we finally learned that before Kirilenko, the Russian tennis star, had mailed her panties off to Afghanistan, she’s misted them with a spritz of Obsession.”
Personal life
In November 2011, Russian ice-hockey player Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals identified Kirilenko as his girlfriend on his Twitter account. On 31 December 2012, Ovechkin confirmed the rumors that he and Kirilenko were engaged. In July 2014, she called off her planned wedding to Ovechkin saying in comments distributed by the Russian Tennis Federation that there were "a lot of reasons" behind her decision. Ovechkin had faced questions from Russian media about the relationship when he did not accompany Kirilenko to Wimbledon in June 2014.
On 24 January 2015, Kirilenko got married, but the name of her husband was not revealed until a few days later when it was announced she had married Alexei Stepanov, reported to be the head of the Committee of Public Services in Moscow.
In July 2015, following an unexplained long absence from professional tennis, it was reported that Kirilenko had given birth to a baby boy.
Career statistics
Grand Slam tournaments
Singles
| Tournament | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | SR | W–L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | A | A | A | 2R | 3R | 3R | 4R | 1R | QF | 2R | 3R | 4R | A | 0 / 9 | 18–9 |
| French Open | A | A | 2R | 1R | 3R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 4R | 4R | 2R | QF | 1R | 0 / 10 | 16–10 |
| Wimbledon | A | A | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 3R | 3R | QF | 1R | 2R | 0 / 10 | 11–11 |
| US Open | A | 3R | 2R | 2R | 3R | 3R | 1R | 3R | 3R | 4R | 3R | 3R | 1R | 0 / 11 | 19–11 |
| Win–Loss | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 3–4 | 6–4 | 5–4 | 4–4 | 3–4 | 11–4 | 9–4 | 9–4 | 9–4 | 1–3 | 0 / 40 | 64-42 |
Doubles
| Tournament | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | SR | W–L | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Slam tournaments | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Australian Open | A | A | A | A | 1R | QF | 3R | 1R | 3R | SF | F | 3R | 2R | A | 0 / 9 | 19–9 | |||||||||||||
| French Open | A | A | A | A | 2R | 3R | 1R | 2R | 3R | QF | QF | F | A | 0 / 8 | 17–8 | ||||||||||||||
| Wimbledon | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | 3R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 0 / 8 | 6–8 | ||||||||||||||
| US Open | A | A | A | A | 3R | 3R | 1R | 1R | QF | 3R | SF | QF | A | 0 / 8 | 15–8 | ||||||||||||||
| Win-Loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 3–3 | 7–4 | 4–4 | 2–4 | 7–3 | 10–4 | 11–4 | 11–4 | 2–2 | 0 / 33 | 57–33 | ||||||||||||||
Equipment
Kirilenko is using the yonex ezone AI 98 racket. She wears the adidas by Stella McCartney barricade line of shoes and clothes which she was once the ambassador of. She is using Yonex Poly Tour Pro 1.25 typically strung around 57/53.