Lesia Tsurenko was born on May 30, 1989, in Kyiv, Ukraine, to Viktor Tsurenko and Larysa Tsurenko. In the early stages of her career, she won ten singles titles on the ITF Circuit, which eventually got her onto the WTA Tour.
Tsurenko got her first Grand Slam win at the 2011 Australian Open, where she beat Patty Schnyder. Her most notable achievement by the end of 2014 was making the third round of the 2013 Australian Open. She defeated future Grand Slam finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova before being knocked out by Caroline Wozniacki.
The Ukrainian made a bigger breakthrough in 2015. Tsurenko claimed her first WTA title at the Istanbul Cup in July. That was achieved with victories against Daria Saville, Daniela Hantuchova, Kateryna Bondarenko, Kirsten Flipkens, and Urszula Radwanska.
Tsurenko also had success at the WTA 1000 level in 2015. She reached the quarterfinal at the Indian Wells Open, beating former Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard along the way. This was followed by another quarterfinal appearance at the Canadian Open, where she beat future Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza.
The Ukrainian player had two notable achievements in 2016. Tsurenko won her second WTA title at the Guangzhou Open by beating the 2008 US Open runner-up Jelena Jankovic in the final. She also made a Grand Slam fourth round for the first time at the US Open.
Tsurenko then obtained consecutive titles at the Abierto Mexicano in March 2017 and 2018. The 2017 final was won against Kristina Mladenovic, while the 2018 final saw her beat Stefanie Vogele in three sets. The 2018 US Open was the scene of Tsurenko’s best run at a Grand Slam to date.
She impressively defeated Grand Slam champions Samantha Stosur and Caroline Wozniacki and then future Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova on the way to the quarterfinal. Unfortunately for her, Tsurenko was then overwhelmed, losing 1-6, 1-6 to Naomi Osaka.
After being the runner-up at the 2019 Brisbane International, the following few years were harder for Tsurenko. She finished 2020, 2021, and 2022 outside the Top 100, and it seemed like her career was starting to peter out.
However, the Ukrainian had a major return to form in 2023. She reached her 6th WTA final at the Thailand Open in Hua Hin but lost to Zhu Lin. This was followed by fourth-round appearances at the French Open and Wimbledon. Tsurenko ended 2023 ranked at No. 31, having been No. 130 at the end of 2022.
