World No 1 junior Korneeva creates history by winning ITF W100 title

The Russian won the Australian and French Open girls singles titles this year

Alina Korneeva at the 2023 Australian Open junior event

Alina Korneeva at the Australian Open Tennis 2023 Image Credit: Imago / Panorami

July 31, 2023

Alina Korneeva, the 16-year-old Russian who is the current top-ranked junior in the world, created history over the weekend by becoming the youngest player to win an ITF W100 event.

Korneeva, who won the Australian Open (beating Mirra Andreeva in the final) and French Open junior singles titles this year, defeated Carole Monnet 6-0 6-0 in just 49 minutes in the final of the W100 Figueira da Foz to claim the title. This was her seventh win in the tournament, having come through the qualifying draw where she won two matches to make the main draw.

At 16 years and one month, Korneeva beats the record earlier held by American Caty McNally, who won the ITF W100 Midland title in 2019 as a 17-year-old.

Oh my goodness: Alina Korneeva, who turned 16 last month, plays a *flawless* 49-minute match to defeat Carole Monnet 6-0, 6-0 and win the #ITFWorldTennisTour Figueira da Foz Ladies Open W100 in what is only her 14th professional tournament.

She’ll be a top 220 on Monday, making… pic.twitter.com/vfIRPIfwwt
— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) July 30, 2023

This is Korneeva’s third ITF title – she also won an ITF W60 title in Pretoria in March and an ITF W15 title in Casablanca last September- and takes her more than 100 spots higher to No 220 in the world rankings.

“I am so happy about this tournament, about the result and about the final because I played really well and concentrated from the first to the last ball,” said Korneeva as quoted by the ITF website. “I felt that if I missed three balls in a row, she (Monnet) started to play better and better, so the key was to play every ball without any emotion and not miss a lot. I have never beaten such a good player 6-0 6-0 before.”

“I think I am so competitive firstly because of my family because I come from a sports family and that has really helped me, but also because I want to play tennis all my life and win a lot. To win tournaments and Grand Slams, I have to play at a high level.”