Maria Yuryevna Kirilenko (born in Moscow on 25 January 1987) is a Russian professional tennis player. Kirilenko won her first WTA Tour title in 2005, defeating Anna-Lena Grönefeld in the China Open. Kirilenko reached 18, her career-high singles ranking, on the WTA tour in July 2008. She won the junior event at the 2002 Canadian Open, as well as the 2002 US Open junior tournament. She has reached one Grand Slam quarterfinal at the 2010 Australian Open. As of 20 September 2010, Kirilenko is ranked World No. 24.
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.
Like her good friend Maria Sharapova, she likes connecting athletics and fashion, and when she spoke to Teen Vogue in August 2006, she said of being dressed by McCartney for a banquet, "I felt so glamorous!" She appeared in the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition alongside Daniela Hantuchova and Tatiana Golovin in a pictoral entitled Volley of the Dolls.
Maria Kirilenko started showing a passion towards tennis at age 5, but it was difficult to get the practice in while she was attending school. Her father enrolled her in a tennis school, and hours of fierce training started to pay off as she won several tournaments. In 2002 Kirilenko became one of the youngest winners of the Canadian Open and the US Open Junior Tournaments.
In 2002, Kirilenko started participating in WTA events. She began moving up in the rankings but was then setback by an injury in 2004. 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.In January 2007, she advanced to the third round of the 2007 Australian Open, before being defeated by third-seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. Kirilenko began the year by competing in the 2010 ASB Classic were she reached the Quarterfinals, defeating Tatjana Malek and Kaia Kanepi in straight sets before losing to Shahar Pe'er 6-0, 3-6, 6-1. A world no. 58, Kirilenko was unseeded at the 2010 Australian Open where in the first round she upset her friend, and former doubles partner, number 14 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.
At Wimbledon she was the No. 27 seed in the singles draw. She faced Stefanie Vögele in the first round and won 2-6 6-4 7-5, after being down 5-3 in the third set. She then defeated Shenay Perry in the second round before losing to 8th seed Kim Clijsters in the third. Kirilenko was also paired up with Agnieszka Radwanska in the doubles draw where they were seeded No. 10, but they lost.
Data Source Wikipedia.org
