The 2024 Australian Open is a tournament of 16-year-old prodigies, as Alina Korneeva also recorded her first-eve Grand Slam win.
After a very long time, the first major of the season was entered by three 16-year-old players. Two of them went through the qualifying, while one of them, Mirra Andreeva, is already an established player on the WTA Tour.
On the first day of action in Melbourne, the first of the three teenagers played a match, and it was Brenda Fruhvirtova, who won in three sets to advance. Soon after her, another 16-year-old took to the court, this time Alina Korneeva.
The Russian won the junior Australian Open last year, and in the first round of her professional main draw debut, she took on Sara Sorribes Tormo from Spain, who was looking to end a three-match losing streak.
Like fellow 16-year-old Fruhvirtova, Korneeva also started the match on the back foot, as the Spanish opponent was able to break each of her first three serves, while the Russian was able to respond only twice.
That resulted in a one-break advantage for Sorribes Tormo, who controlled the first set after that to win it 6-4 and gain an early advantage in the match.
But the teenager never gave up. Despite an eight-point streak of her opponent in the second set, thanks to which she got a break and 3-2 lead, Korneeva kept fighting, and it was worth it, because she dominated the remainder of the second set, winning it 6-3.
The third set started nervously for both players, as in the first five games, none of them was able to hold their serve. While the Russian player managed to change that, Sorribes Tormo won only four points on her serve in the third set, and that proved to be detrimental.
On top of that, the 16-year-old won 11 consecutive rallies from 3-2, 15-30, and thanks to that, she was able to win the match 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the second round of the 2024 Australian Open.
Joining fellow 16-year-old Brenda Fruhvirtova in the second round, the 2024 Australian Open marks first tournament since Wimbledon 2007, when two 16-year-olds won their first round matches. Back then, the two names were Caroline Wozniacki and Tamira Paszek, out of which one later reached the world no. 1 spot.
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