“I’m very proud of myself” – Shnaider adds more milestones with Gauff win in ‘wonderful season’
The 20-year-old Russian has won 3 WTA singles titles – all on different surfaces – and an Olympic silver medal in women’s doubles in her breakout season on the tour
Diana Shnaider, Toronto 2024
Russia’s Diana Shnaider has been earmarked as one of the young players to watch out for ever since she finished college and decided to go pro in the middle of last season. At this time last year, the Russian was ranked 87th in the world. 12 months on, the left-hander has claimed her first three titles on tour and has risen to No 24 in the rankings.
On Friday, the 20-year-old added a few more milestones to her burgeoning resume with a scalp of top seed Coco Gauff in the third round of the WTA National Bank in Toronto.
The win over world No 2 Gauff was Shnaider’s career-best win in terms of ranking. In fact, it was also her first win over a top 10 ranked player and it also put her into the quarter-finals of a WTA 1000 Series event for the first time in her career.
“I think my first top-5 win is like one of the milestones. I had a few matches that I lost in three sets, but they were close, so it was very important for me today. For sure making the quarters of a 1000 event is also a milestone for me. I’m very happy with this season and how the game was today going for me. Coco is a very experienced player, she had a very good season last year on hard court events, so, just great win for me, and I hope I will just keep it up,” Shnaider told the media after her win.
It’s been a wonderful season and I’m very excited for the upcoming tournaments.
Diana Shnaider on her 2024 season
The Russian left-hander was a silver medallist at the recent Paris Olympics in the women’s doubles event. She has also won three titles this year, all of which have come on different surfaces; Budapest on clay, Bad Homburg on grass and Hua Hin on hardcourts. That made her the youngest to do so since former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki did the same as a 19-year-old in the 2009 season.
“I’s amazing (laughing). It’s been a wonderful season and I’m very excited for the upcoming tournaments. After my first title I was like, Okay, I won, like, my goal is to have a second title this year. I already achieved it, but, for sure I’m hungry for more. I’ve been playing one of the greatest seasons so far, and it’s a nice feeling, but I think it’s a lot of things that I still can improve, and I will be working on them with the coaches, with my team. It’s definitely a long road to go, but I feel like I’m on the right way and I will push it forward,” she added.
“It’s like a puzzle, it’s coming all together” – Shnaider on her recent success
Shnaider knows she still has a long way to go before becoming one of the top players in the game. But she believes the pieces of her game and her experience are coming together to bring her more success.
“I think it’s all coming just from a bit of experience. I missed a couple high-level tournaments last year because I was in college, but this year I’m playing a full year in professional tour, so, it’s coming with all of the experience to playing against players like Coco and competing more in events like here and Grand Slams. I think for sure it’s, as I said, like a puzzle, it’s coming all together, and then you actually will not notice it, but then it clicks and you’re just like, Okay, I’m here and we can go for more.”
Next up for her is a quarter-final clash against sixth seed Liudmila Samsonova, who reached the final of this tournament last year. Shnaider already has a win over her higher-ranked countrywoman – winning their round of 64 clash in Rome earlier this year in straight sets. With 15 wins in her last 17 singles matches, Shnaider will be among those to watch out for heading into the final Grand Slam of the season in New York.
