Top five female youngsters who impressed at Australian Open 2024

Published at :January 29, 2024 at 4:37 PM

Modified at :February 14, 2024 at 1:55 PM

(Courtesy : WTA Tour/ AFP)

The list includes a trio of 16-year-olds to won their 1st round matches since 2005.

In 2005, a trio of 16-year-olds, Nicole Vaidisova, Michaella Krajicek, and Tatiana Golovin, won their first-round singles matches in the same tournament. Vaidisova advanced to the third round but lost to World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport. Australian Open 2024 saw another 16-year-old trio who performed well: Mirra Andreeva, Alina Korneeva, and Brenda Fruhvirtova.

Another teenager who impressed was Coco Gauff, but she is already a familiar name. The 19-year-old was a strong contender to win the tournament after her amazing run last year. She aimed to be the seventh teenager to win back-to-back Grand Slam titles in the Open Era but fell to Aryna Sabalenka, who retained her title without losing a set throughout the tournament. These are some of the top players in women’s singles who impressed at the Australian Open 2024.

Qinwen Zheng (21)

The young Qinwen Zheng had a remarkable fortnight, cracking the top 10 and reaching her first Grand Slam final. But she met a formidable opponent in Sabalenka, who was on fire throughout the event and beat the Chinese 6-3, 6-2 to retain her Australian Open crown in the women’s singles on Saturday at the Rod Laver Arena.

Zheng had three chances to break Sabalenka’s serve in the first set, but failed to take any of them. She also fought off four match points, but Sabalenka sealed the victory. Zheng became the first Chinese player to make a Grand Slam final since Li Na in 2014.

Mirra Andreeva (16)

The young Mirra Andreeva, who was playing in her maiden Australian Open main draw, fought her way to the fourth round, staging a stunning comeback. She crushed her idol, three-time major finalist Ons Jabuer, in just 54 minutes, winning 6-0, 6-2 with total dominance. Andreeva defeated a top-10 player who is a former World No. 1 for the first time in her fourth major main draw appearance.

She climbed from 405 to 46 in the rankings in 2023, but her dream run was stopped by Czech Barbora Krejcikova after she thrashed Diane Parry.

Linda Noskova (19)

The teenage player ranked 50th in the world played her first match at Rod Laver Arena and made her Australian Open debut this week. She was calm throughout the match, firing 35 winners past World No. 1 Iga Swiatek, a big favourite at the event, and snapped her 18-match winning streak.

The 19-year-old outplayed the four-time major champion in the second set and moved to the fourth round 3-6 6-3 6-4 with her brave tennis display.

Alina Korneeva (16)

The 16-year-old Russian, who was the junior girls singles champion in Melbourne last year, needed to win three matches in qualifying to make it to this year’s Grand Slam. Korneeva made it to the main draw of the 2024 Australian Open by beating Anna Bondar in two sets in the final qualifying round. She defeated Sara Sorribes Tormo to advance to the second round but was stopped by Beatriz Haddad Maia.

Brenda Fruhvirtova (16)

Similar to Alina Korneeva, Brenda Fruhvirtova won her maiden Grand Slam main draw match in the Australian Open. Fruhvirtova overcame a set deficit to win her maiden Grand Slam main draw match by defeating Romanian Ana Bogdan, ranked 66th, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. The triumph marked the 16-year-old Czech’s maiden main draw win in a major, adding to her Top 50 win recently at Auckland.

After trailing 4-4 in the second set and winning eight of nine games, the 110th-ranked qualifier tied the match and took the third set 5-1. Bogdan retreated, saving four match points to close the third set at 5-3, but the following game Fruhvirtova delivered the greatest match of her career before losing to World No. 2 Sabalenka in the second round. She broke the record for the youngest player to win an Australian Open main draw match since 2020’s Coco Gauff.

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