French teen Ksenia Efremova has delivered on her promise by taking out the junior girls’ Australian Open title, defeating Ekaterina Tupitsyna 6-3 7-5 in cool conditions at Rod Laver Arena.
In doing so she has etched her name in history to become the first French junior girls' AO champion since 1999, when Virginie Razzano won the title here.
Collapsing to the ground after a Tupitsyna backhand sailed long, Efremova was straight on the phone to her mum in France.
“It's always kind of a tradition when I'm winning a tournament, every time I call her, or even semis even. Even if she sleeps, doesn't matter,” the 16-year-old said.
“I wanted to wake her up with the good news.”
The match provided plenty of drama, with lots of swings of momentum and a 10-minute medical timeout from Tupitsyna in the middle of the second set.
Efremova raced out of the blocks, taking a double break lead and was seemingly cruising, before Tupitsyna settled and found her range. While her opponent started to settle, the third seed dug her heels in and held on to take the opening set.
Resetting in the second set, Tupitsyna started dictating play with her aggressive and pinpoint groundstrokes.
After leading 3-0, Tupitsyna suddenly called for her trainer, who took her off court for a medical timeout.
Returning heavily strapped, Tupitsyna was visibly grimacing and even in tears at one stage as Efremova took full advantage of her ailing opponent.
Struggling to load on her back leg, Tupitsyna started playing higher risk, higher reward tennis, which initially worked in the third seed’s favour.
Playing through the pain, Tupitsyna put in a late fight to break back and keep the match close but Efremova remained laser focused until the last point.
Playing at Rod Laver Arena was a change for Efremova, who, in addition to receiving some advice from a top-10 player before the final, also drew from her experience playing on centre court at Roland Garros.
“The court was different. It was slower, for sure, because I was playing yesterday on Margaret Court. It was much faster,” she explained.
“I know that [Alexander] Bublik also said it was slower, and I was kind of already prepared that it's going to be different, but it's huge.”
“But I'm also happy that I had the opportunities, you know, like in the past six months, I'm practising in [the] French Federation in Paris, Chatrier, the court, which is also huge. I got used to that, because I was practising on clay every time.”
“When I came to Rod Laver, I was a bit ready for that, you know, for the huge stadium.”
While she was booked on a flight later Sunday night, Efremova still had time to enjoy one key aspect of Melbourne culture.
“So I had already time to visit Melbourne Zoo. It was very nice. I saw a lot of gorillas, which I made some good video. I was happy with that,” she revealed.
The junior AO champion now has her sights set on the WTA Tour but knows she has to pick her tournaments wisely because of age restrictions on juniors.
“Yeah, for sure, definitely I would play some pro tournaments more. The thing is … they have limitation of playing unlimited tournaments,” she said.
“So for sure I'm going to continue to play Grand Slam juniors, some big tournaments, and more focus on the pros. Now I'm going to, for example, play 125K [tournament] in Paris, WTA, which is going to be a good tournament.”
Currently ranked No. 583 on the WTA tour, Efremova already has huge ambitions for 2026 and beyond.
“To be ready for the next year, my goal is to become top 200 to enter the [qualifications], you know, of the Grand Slams and, of course, of all other tournaments,” she said.
The daughter of former professional tennis player Julia Efremova and former amateur player Alexey Efremov, she has been in the spotlight from an early age.
Training at the world famous Mouratoglou Academy since 2019, Efremova was competing in the 14-year-old age group as an 11-year-old, winning the Tim Essonne Cup, one of the most prestigious trophies in the under 14 circuit, in 2022.
Now a junior AO champion and having won 27 of her last 29 matches, Efremova is a player on the rise and one to earmark as a future star of the game.