The New Year has come and gone, but the Snow Maiden remains.
In recent years, qualifying for the Australian Open has brought us exclusively positive emotions. For the fifth consecutive time, one of its winners is a representative from Ukraine.
In the AO-2025 qualifiers, Ukraine was represented by only two tennis players: Melbourne debutant Anastasia Soboleva (who was eliminated in the first round) and Daria Snihur, who won a mini-tournament with the main prize being a ticket to the main draw. By the way, this is Snihur's second time at the AO and her fourth at the majors.
We should also note the unfortunate visit to Australia by Kateryna Zavaitska. Remaining the first alternate for a long time to get into the qualifying round, she ended up just a centimeter away from entering the tournament. Unfortunately, French player Clara Burel withdrew after the start of the qualifiers, so her spot was taken not by Katya, but by a "lucky loser," the experienced Petra Martic.
Interestingly, Yuliia Starodubtseva also made it into the main draw as the second-to-last entrant. Otherwise, she would have had the chance to win the Grand Slam qualifying round for the fifth time in a row. Let’s recall that last year, Yuliia achieved a unique milestone, not only in the Ukrainian context but in the entire history of the majors. She successfully passed four GS qualifications in a row, and she did this within a single season! According to the information we have, no one has accomplished this before.
Thus, Ukrainians have passed the AO qualification for the 23rd time, tying with the American major in this regard. The clear leader here is the peak of the clay season.
The breakdown of Ukrainian players advancing from qualifiers to the GS main draw is as follows:
17 - Wimbledon;
23 - Australian Open;
23 - US Open;
27 - Roland Garros.
Ukrainians by the number of victories in Grand Slam qualifying tournaments
(after the AT-2025 qualifiers)
- Yuliia Beigelzimer – 38;
- Sergiy Stakhovsky – 36;
- Ilya Marchenko – 36;
- Lesya Tsurenko – 36;
- Olha Savchuk – 30;
- Olena Tatarkova – 26;
- Marina Zanevska – 23;
- Tetiana Perebiynis – 22;
- Yuliia Vakulenko – 21;
- Kateryna Baindl (Kozlova) – 20;
- Viktoriya Kutuzova – 17;
- Daria Snihur – 17;
- Yuliana Fedak – 17;
- Yuliia Starodubtseva – 12.
Number of main draw entries through qualifying:
1. Lesya Tsurenko – 10;
2. Ilya Marchenko – 8;
3. Yuliia Beigelzimer – 6;
3. Sergiy Stakhovsky – 6;
5. Yuliia Vakulenko – 5;
5. Tetiana Perebiynis – 5;
7. Yuliia Starodubtseva – 4;
7. Daria Snihur - 4.
Thus, six representatives from Ukraine will compete in the main draw: Marta Kostyuk, Elina Svitolina, Daria Yastremska, Angelina Kalinina, Yuliia Starodubtseva, and Daria Snihur.
