Czech teenager Brenda Fruhvirtova is set to make her Grand Slam main draw debut at the 2023 Australian Open.
The 15-year-old Brenda beat Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 in two hours and 54 minutes in the final round of qualifying on Thursday.
World No. 135 Brenda beat Serbian Natalija Stevanovic 6-0, 7-6 quite comfortably in the opening round of qualifying. However, in the next round against Ukraine’s Daria Snigur, she trailed by a set and 1-5 and was two points away from defeat on four occasions before pulling off a stunning comeback to win 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-3 victor after 2 hours and 14 minutes.
The Czech teenager became the fifth-youngest qualifier in Australian Open history and the youngest since Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in 2018.
Brenda, a former junior World No. 3, made her WTA Tour main draw debut against 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens in Guadalajara in February last year.
Brenda won eight ITF singles titles (the most of any player in 2022) and at one point, won 27 matches in a row at W25 tournaments across Switzerland, Sweden, Hungary, Germany and Italy. At 14 years, 10 months and four days, she became the youngest player in more than six years to win an ITF title after claiming her first title at the W25 Tucuman in Argentina.
Brenda’s elder sister, 17-year-old Linda, won the Chennai Open title last year and has direct entry into the main draw of this year’s Australian Open.
There will be another sister act in the main draw as 18-year-old Russian Polina Kudermetova, younger sister of World No. 9 Veronika, also won her final qualifying round match.
Three more teenagers - Czech Republic’s Sara Bejlek (Age: 16 years), and Russia’s Diana Shnaider (Age: 18 years) and Oksana Selekhmeteva (Age: 19 years) qualified for the main draw.
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