Maria Kirilenko

Between 2015 and 2017, Kirilenko gave birth to two children, and has since not returned to professional tennis; it is not known for certain whether or not Kirilenko will return to the game, as she has not competed professionally since 2014, and at present she is not ranked by the WTA.

On 24 January 2015, Kirilenko got married but the name of her husband was not revealed until a few days later: she married Alexei Stepanov, reported to be the head of the Committee of Public Services in Moscow.

In July 2015, following a ten-month absence from professional tennis, it was reported that Kirilenko had given birth to a baby boy. In July 2017, Kirilenko gave birth to a baby girl.

Kirilenko was not listed on any entry lists for 2014 tournaments, still recovering from the knee injury suffered in the Tournament of Champions in Sofia. She also missed the Australian Open due to the injury.

At the Australian Open, Kirilenko reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her career, beating sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze. Her next opponent was Daniela Hantuchová, to whom she lost, 6–1, 4–6, 4–6, after leading 6–1, 3–1.

She then reached the second rounds of Korea Open, losing to former world No. 1 Dinara Safina, and Toray Pan Pacific Open, losing to Flavia Pennetta. At the last Premier-Mandatory event of the year, the China Open, she lost in the third round to eventual finalist and compatriot Vera Zvonareva. In the HP Open, she retired in the second round due to a hip injury against Chang Kai-chen, after losing the first set 4–6. Kirilenko reached the final of the Kremlin Cup where she fell to Victoria Azarenka.

She then fell in the first round of UNICEF Open to Kimiko Date-Krumm, However, she rebounded by reaching the third round of the Wimbledon Championships, eventually being stopped by the seventh-seeded Serena Williams. She then failed to win back-to-back matches falling in the second rounds of Bank of the West Classic, Mercury Insurance Open, first round of Rogers Cup, and the second rounds of Western & Southern Open and Bank of the West Classic. She then rebounded at the US Open, losing to eventual champion Samantha Stosur 2–6, 7–6, 3–6 in the fourth round. The second set tie-break score of 15–17 was the longest in any major in the history of women's tennis.

She reached her first semifinal of the year at the Guangzhou International Women's Open, losing to Chanelle Scheepers 5–7, 7–5, 4–6. She then played at the Pan Pacific Open and the China Open, where she defeated Samantha Stosur in three sets in both occasions in the second round; she also fell in the quarterfinals on both events losing to Vera Zvonareva and Monica Niculescu, respectively. She played her last tournament of the year at the BGL Luxembourg Open, where she had to withdrew in the second round due to an ankle injury.

Kirilenko started the Asian swing at the Korea Open. Seeded second, she was defeated in the second round by Kimiko Date-Krumm. In Beijing at the China Open, Kirilenko lost in the third round to top seed and eventual champion Serena Williams. Seeded third at the Kremlin Cup, Kirilenko was defeated in the second round by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Injury ended her season at the Garanti Koza WTA Tournament of Champions in Sofia with a 0–5 retirement loss to Alizé Cornet.

Kirilenko began her 2012 season at the Apia International Sydney in Sydney. She lost in the second round of qualifying to Sofia Arvidsson. Seeded twenty-seventh at the Australian Open, Kirilenko retired during her third-round match against second seed Petra Kvitová due to an upper left leg injury.

Seeded sixth at the Aegon International, Kirilenko was suffering from a knee injury, but she still made it through to the quarterfinal where she was defeated by Yanina Wickmayer. Seeded tenth at the Wimbledon Championships, Kirilenko suffered a first-round upset at the hands of home crowd favorite Laura Robson. As a result, Kirilenko dropped to No. 12 in the world rankings due to the fact that she was defending a quarterfinal appearance from 2012.

In November 2011, Russian ice-hockey player Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals identified Kirilenko as his girlfriend on his Twitter account. On 31 December 2012, Ovechkin confirmed the rumors that he and Kirilenko were engaged. In July 2014, she called off her planned wedding saying in comments distributed by the Russian Tennis Federation that there were "a lot of reasons" behind her decision. Ovechkin had faced questions from Russian media about the relationship when he did not accompany Kirilenko to Wimbledon in June.

She reached the third round of the US Open losing to 11th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Kirilenko dated fellow Russian tennis player Igor Andreev for several years. They split in 2011.

Kirilenko ended the 2010 season ranked No. 20 in the world.

At the 2009 French Open, Kirilenko was unseeded in the singles tournament, and lost to Olivia Rogowska of Australia in the first round. In the doubles tournament, Kirilenko and doubles partner Flavia Pennetta of Italy were seeded eighth. They made it to the third round, before losing to 11th seeded Anna-Lena Grönefeld of Germany and Patty Schnyder of Switzerland.

She appeared in the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition alongside Daniela Hantuchová and Tatiana Golovin in a pictorial entitled "Volley of the Dolls".

Kirilenko began the year by competing in the ASB Classic, where she reached the quarterfinals but lost to Shahar Pe'er. With a ranking at that time of No. 58, Kirilenko was unseeded at the Australian Open, where in the first round she upset her friend, former doubles partner, 2008 champion and 14th seed Maria Sharapova, 7–6, 3–6, 6–4, in a 3-hour 22-minute marathon. It was the second-longest women's match in Australian Open history (only behind the 2011 fourth-round match between Francesca Schiavone and Svetlana Kuznetsova). She advanced to the quarterfinals, losing to Zheng Jie, who was also unseeded for this tournament. In the doubles portion, she and her partner, Agnieszka Radwańska, were seeded 15th and advanced to the semifinals, losing there to the world No. 1 pairing of Cara Black and Liezel Huber in three sets.

In January 2007, she advanced to the third round of the Australian Open, before being defeated by third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. She then competed in the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, where she advanced to the second round, upsetting world No. 15 Shahar Pe'er of Israel, before being defeated by Ai Sugiyama. She then competed in the Dubai Tennis Championships, where she reached the second round, before losing in a close match to Daniela Hantuchová.

At the end of 2005, she climbed back up the rankings and won her first title in Beijing. On 12 June 2006, she broke into the world's top 20 for the first time. At the US Open, Kirilenko was seeded 20th and reached the third round, before losing to Aravane Rezaï.

Kirilenko made her debut for Russia at the Fed Cup tournament in April 2006. In the World Group quarterfinal tie against Belgium, she lost her singles match against 2005 US Open champion Kim Clijsters, but partnering with Dinara Safina, won her doubles match against Justine Henin and Clijsters. However, Russia ended up losing, 2–3.

After a month-long break, Kirilenko entered the US Open unseeded and drew fifth seed and 2006 champion Maria Sharapova in the first round. She lost the match in straight sets.

In 2006, Kirilenko was selected to be the face of Adidas by Stella McCartney tennis range, designed by noted British fashion designer Stella McCartney and has played exclusively in the gear since the Australian Open. In 2009, she was replaced by Caroline Wozniacki following the US Open.

In 2002, Kirilenko became one of the youngest winners of the junior tournaments at the Canadian Open and US Open.

In 2002, Kirilenko started participating in WTA events. She began moving up the rankings in 2004, but was set back by an injury. At the 2004 French Open, Kirilenko took the first set off Serena Williams before losing in three sets. She was the runner-up to Nicole Pratt at the Hyderabad Open.

Maria Yuryevna Kirilenko-Stepanova (Russian: Мари́я Ю́рьевна Кириле́нко , IPA: [mɐˈrʲijə ˈjʉrʲjɪvnə kʲɪrʲɪˈlʲɛnkə] ; born 25 January 1987) is a former professional tennis player from Russia. She won the 2002 US Open Girls' Singles, and won her first title on the WTA Tour in 2005, defeating Anna-Lena Grönefeld in the China Open. She reached three Grand Slam singles quarterfinals, at the 2010 Australian Open, the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, and the 2013 French Open. In women's doubles, she reached two Grand Slam finals, at the 2011 Australian Open and the 2012 French Open, won the 2012 WTA Tour Championships and was a bronze medalist at the 2012 London Olympics. In June 2013, Kirilenko reached her career-high ranking of world No. 10. In September 2014, she played her last WTA event in Beijing.

Kirilenko entered as 32nd seed at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. She made it to the third round, losing there to second seeded Caroline Wozniacki. Kirilenko participated in the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami as 32nd seed. Like Indian Wells, she advanced to the third round, again losing to Wozniacki.

Kirilenko entered the French Open as 30th seed where she advanced to the round of 16 for the first time in her career, before losing to 17th seed and eventual champion Francesca Schiavone, having defeated defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova en route. In the doubles draw, Kirilenko and Radwańska were seeded 11th. They reached the quarterfinals, before losing to the eventual champions Serena and Venus Williams in straight sets.

Kirilenko was seeded 27th at the Australian Open, but lost to future top five player Sara Errani in the first round.

At Wimbledon, she was 27th seed in the singles draw. She advanced to the third round, losing to eighth seed Kim Clijsters. Kirilenko also paired up with Agnieszka Radwańska in the doubles draw, where they were seeded 10th.

Unseeded at the US Open, she defeated Martina Müller and 22nd seed Katarina Srebotnik. She then lost to unseeded Julia Vakulenko. After the US Open, she appeared in the Sunfeast Open. There, Kirilenko won her second WTA Tour singles title, defeating unseeded Mariya Koryttseva in straight sets. The next week at a tournament in Seoul, Kirilenko, as the fourth seed also reached the finals, but lost to top seed Venus Williams.