She came to Redmond at 10 to chase a tennis dream. Now she’s headed to the U.S. Open

On a tennis court in Redmond, Washington, a 16-year-old from Moscow, Russia, is making history one swing at a time.

Kristina Liutova came to the Pacific Northwest in 2020 to chase a dream. Six years later, it’s coming true. She’s about to compete at the U.S. Open in New York.

“Just excited, pumped up,” Liutova said. “We’ve been preparing in the past couple of weeks, very hard, and it’s exciting.”

Liutova’s talent was so striking that it caught the eye of Dmitry Tursunov, a former top-20 Russian pro who has gone on to coach some of the biggest names in the sport, including current world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. Tursunov connected the family to the Gorin Tennis Academy, where she’s been training since 2021 and racking up junior titles, including the Orange Bowl and multiple national championships.

Ilya Osintsev was her coach when she first got to America.

“I was genuinely surprised, pleasantly surprised, and shocked to see how an 11-year-old girl can play at such a high level already. I’ve never seen that before,” Osintsev said. “And then when we started working together, when I realized how competitive she is — the same thing. I’ve never seen any player being that competitive. Every single point, every single game, and every single match. She’s just such an amazing competitor.”

Her breakthrough came at the Memphis Classic this summer

Earlier this summer, Liutova entered the Memphis Classic. She was ranked 229th in the world. She fought through qualifying and then ended up winning the entire tournament, becoming the youngest active WTA champion and the first person born in the 2010s to win a tour-level event. It was the first tour-level event she’d ever played.

Kristina’s mother, Elena Morozova, said her daughter has been competitive since birth.

“Even when she played hide-and-seek, she wanted to win every time. Even when she played chess with her dad, she wanted to win every time,” Morozova said. “In everything she was doing, she was trying to win.”

But on the court, Liutova doesn’t focus on the results. Her mentality is to put in the work, and the scoreboard will take care of itself — the same mentality as her tennis hero.

“My favorite tennis player has always been Rafael Nadal, for his composure, for his hardworking character,” Liutova said. “He’s been through a lot of injuries, and the character is just shown in everything. He is just a great human as well, off the court. Always humble. Just an incredibly inspiring person and player.”

Liutova is keeping her overall tennis goals and dreams private for now, but she does reveal that she wants to inspire others — and she wants to take care of her mom, who has sacrificed so much to get her where she is today.

“I want to make sure that she’s happy, and in the future she has an easy life — a house, a cat — and just watch my matches with no worries and no pressure,” Liutova said.

Kristina Liutova plays Round 1 of qualifying at the U.S. Open on Tuesday.

Frank Lenzi is the News Director for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here.

Follow @FrankLenziKIRO