The career and life of Russian tennis sensation Maria Kirilenko

Maria Kirilenko is a former Russian tennis star who made a name for herself with her excellent tennis skills and elegant looks. But how did she become famous, and what is she doing now? Join us for a look at her life, career and trajectory after the sport.

Kirilenko was born in Moscow on 25 January 1987.

She showed great promise at a young age, winning the Canadian Open and the US Open as a junior.

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Kirilenko turned pro in 2001 and made her WTA debut in 2002.

The Russian fought her way up the rankings and won her first title in 2005, beating Anna-Lena Grönefeld in the China Open final.

The following year, Kirilenko reached a milestone when she made the top 20 in the world for the first time in her career. The future looked bright for the Muscovite.

In 2007, she would bag her second career WTA singles title, claiming the Sunfeast Open in Kolkata, India.

In total, Kirilenko would claim six WTA singles titles in her career, amongst which the prestigious Barcelona tournament.

Kirilenko never won a Grand Slam, but competed in the majors for many years. Her best result was a quarter-final at the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon. At the US Open, she never made it past the fourth round.

Kirilenko also focused on doubles during her career. In fact, she was more successful in doubles than in singles.

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As a doubles player, she won no fewer than twelve titles and reached the final at both the Australian Open and French Open.

Moreover, she impressed at the 2012 London Olympics, where she won the bronze medal in doubles alongside Nadia Petrova. In singles, she finished fourth, losing to Victoria Azarenka in the bronze medal match.

That same year, Kirilenko and Petrova also won the WTA Tour Championships in doubles, taking the trophy in the Turkish capital of Istanbul.

In singles and doubles, Kirilenko competed against the best of her generation and achieved solid results. This helped her achieve the best rankings in her career, reaching No. 10 in the world in singles and No. 5 in the world in doubles.

After an injury-plagued 2013, Kirilenko played her final season in 2014, competing in every Grand Slam except the Australian Open. She retired that same year, after a successful singles and doubles career.

In her private life, Kirilenko had a relationship with former tennis player Igor Andreev, before getting engaged with ice hockey player Alexander Ovechkin.

Kirilenko and Ovechkin got engaged, but ultimately did not marry for undisclosed reasons.

But Kirilenko did find love later in life, when she married Alexei Stepanov, the head of the Moscow Committee of Public Services, in January 2015.

Kirilenko and Stepanov welcomed their first child, a boy, in July 2015, and a second child, a girl, in July 2017.

Besides her tennis and love life, Kirilenko also enjoyed spells as a fashion icon and model. For several years, she was one of the faces of Stella McCartney's Adidas collection.

In 2009, she also featured in the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition together with former tennis colleagues Daniela Hantuchova and Tatiana Golovin.

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Kirilenko now reportedly resides in Moscow, where she enjoys life after tennis with her husband and two children.