On a tennis court in Redmond, Washington, a 16-year-old from Moscow, Russia, is making history one swing at a time.<\/p>\n
Kristina Liutova came to the Pacific Northwest in 2020 to chase a dream. Six years later, it\u2019s coming true. She\u2019s about to compete at the U.S. Open<\/a> in New York.<\/p>\n \u201cJust excited, pumped up,\u201d Liutova said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been preparing in the past couple of weeks, very hard, and it\u2019s exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n Liutova\u2019s 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<\/a>, where she\u2019s been training since 2021 and racking up junior titles, including the Orange Bowl and multiple national championships.<\/p>\n Ilya Osintsev was her coach when she first got to America.<\/p>\n \u201cI was genuinely surprised, pleasantly surprised, and shocked to see how an 11-year-old girl can play at such a high level already. I\u2019ve never seen that before,\u201d Osintsev said. \u201cAnd then when we started working together, when I realized how competitive she is \u2014 the same thing. I\u2019ve never seen any player being that competitive. Every single point, every single game, and every single match. She\u2019s just such an amazing competitor.\u201d<\/p>\n Her breakthrough came at the Memphis Classic this summer<\/p>\n Earlier this summer, Liutova entered the Memphis Classic<\/a>. 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\u2019d ever played.<\/p>\n Kristina\u2019s mother, Elena Morozova, said her daughter has been competitive since birth.<\/p>\n \u201cEven 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,\u201d Morozova said. \u201cIn everything she was doing, she was trying to win.\u201d<\/p>\n But on the court, Liutova doesn\u2019t focus on the results. Her mentality is to put in the work, and the scoreboard will take care of itself \u2014 the same mentality as her tennis hero.<\/p>\n \u201cMy favorite tennis player has always been Rafael Nadal, for his composure, for his hardworking character,\u201d Liutova said. \u201cHe\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Liutova is keeping her overall tennis goals and dreams private for now, but she does reveal that she wants to inspire others \u2014 and she wants to take care of her mom, who has sacrificed so much to get her where she is today.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to make sure that she\u2019s happy, and in the future she has an easy life \u2014 a house, a cat \u2014 and just watch my matches with no worries and no pressure,\u201d Liutova said.<\/p>\n Kristina Liutova plays Round 1 of qualifying at the U.S. Open on Monday.<\/p>\n This story was originally posted on MyNorthwest.com<\/a><\/p>\n