Korneeva looking right at home in first visit to Australia
Alina Korneeva, a 15-year-old from Moscow who had never been to Australia before this month, put out No. 2 seed Tereza Valentova on the 7,500 capacity Margaret Court Arena to move into Friday’s semi-finals at the Australian Open Junior Championships.
Valentova will rue the missed opportunity and was laid low for much of the final set with an injury to her left thigh which led to a medical time out - when a large bandage was applied - at 0-5. Whoever was in charge of the on-court music at this point might rethink their song selection as Pharrell Williams’ ‘Happy’ blasted out around the arena.
Korneeva however, as engaging in person as she is on court, was in the best of moods afterwards.
“It's been a good tournament for me,” she said. “I was a bit nervous before the match but I felt comfortable on MCA. There weren’t many people - when there is nobody there it’s good, if there is a lot of people you can get nervous. If I’m missing [in that situation] I am thinking ‘oh my God’…”
Korneeva faces Sayaka Ishii next after the Japanese player overcame Alevtina Ibragimova, who Korneeva has been friendly with since they began playing tennis as six-year-olds in Russia.
"It’s very easy to play someone you have known for a long time, you know how to play them,” said Korneeva. “It’s much more difficult after the match when it can be very difficult to talk.”
It has been all tennis so far for Korneeva who has been in Australia for three weeks - and is travelling with her mum - but she is looking forward to some time off in a few days' time and a trip to Melbourne Zoo.
Her tennis heroes are instructive. Serena Williams is proffered immediately as a favourite - for her longevity as much as her ability and achievement - but it is the male favourite who perhaps stands out.
“Rafael Nadal,” she says straight away. Mum is impressed too, Alina met Nadal last year and she was bowled over, with a few tears of joy thrown in. She is still just 15 of course and the Spaniard is the most impressive of role models.
Her compatriot, seventh seed Mirra Andreeva, beat Slovakia's Renata Jamrichova 6-4 6-4 and will now play Britain’s Ranah Akua Stoiber, who put out Weronika Ewald, from Poland, 6-3 6-3.
Andreeva, a 15-year-old who has already notched a pro WTA ranking of 299, reached the singles final at the 64-player Traralgon warm-up junior tournament last week and will be the strong favourite to reach the singles final on Saturday.