The 21st century
Russia · born Olenegorsk, 1998 · raised in Italy · right-handed · Berlin 2021 and 's-Hertogenbosch 2024 champion
All playersBack to the rankings
2
Grass titles, Berlin 2021 and 's-Hertogenbosch 2024
QF
Best Wimbledon result, 2025
7
Matches won as a qualifier, Berlin 2021
1-6, 6-1, 6-3
Berlin final against Belinda Bencic
Born in Olenegorsk, in Russia's Murmansk region, on 11 November 1998, Samsonova moved to Italy with her family at the age of one and took up tennis at six. She represented Italy from 2014 to 2018 before switching to Russia. Her first WTA title came on grass in Berlin in 2021, and that November she won all five of her matches as Russia took the Billie Jean King Cup. She won three titles in 2022, at Washington, Cleveland and Tokyo, reached a career-high No. 12 in February 2023 and played WTA 1000 finals in Montreal and Beijing that year. She added 's-Hertogenbosch in 2024 and a first major quarter-final at Wimbledon in 2025. In the 2026 grass season she beat Diana Shnaider at Wimbledon before losing to Marie Bouzková in the third round.
| Wimbledon singles | Quarter-final 2025; fourth round 2021; third round 2024 and 2026; first round 2023. Did not play in 2022, when Russian and Belarusian players were barred |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon 2025 | Beat Maya Joint, Yuliia Starodubtseva, Daria Kasatkina and Jéssica Bouzas Maneiro, 7-5, 7-5, for her first major quarter-final, then lost to Iga Świątek 2-6, 5-7 |
| Berlin 2021 | Champion as a qualifier, beating Markéta Vondroušová, Veronika Kudermetova, Madison Keys, Victoria Azarenka and Belinda Bencic 1-6, 6-1, 6-3. The first qualifier to win an event at that level since Tsvetana Pironkova in 2014 |
| 's-Hertogenbosch 2024 | Champion as second seed. Finished her rain-suspended semi-final against the two-time defending champion Ekaterina Alexandrova, 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-1, and beat Bianca Andreescu 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the final on the same day |
| Other grass events | Berlin semi-final 2025, saving match point against the defending champion Jessica Pegula, 6-7 (8), 7-5, 7-6 (5), before losing to Wang Xinyu. 's-Hertogenbosch doubles runner-up 2025 with Nicole Melichar-Martinez |
| Berlin | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Women's singles | |
| 's-Hertogenbosch (Rosmalen) | ||
| 2024 | Women's singles Rosmalen Grass Court Championships | |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"Boom boom! I am boom boom!"
The person behind the player.
Berlin 2021
A qualifier chasing a top 100 debut, she won seven matches to take the title. Straight after the final she learned she had a Wimbledon main-draw wildcard: "I found out five minutes ago. It's too much." At Wimbledon she beat Kaia Kanepi, Jessica Pegula and Sloane Stephens before losing to KarolÃna PlÃÅ¡ková.
Source: WTAItaly, childhood
Her family moved from Russia to Italy when she was one, after her father, a table tennis player, joined a club there. Her mother found a tennis club online when she was six. At ten she chose tennis over ballet, having also tried figure skating. She has said that if her parents had stayed in Russia she would have chosen skating.
Source: WTAPrague 2021
She played for Italy as a junior and switched to Russia in 2018: "When I started to play for Russia, a lot of pressure came off." At the Billie Jean King Cup finals she won all five of her matches, beating Sloane Stephens and Belinda Bencic from a set down and winning every set she played in doubles with Veronika Kudermetova, as Russia took the title.
Source: Wikipedia's-Hertogenbosch 2024
Rain stopped her semi-final against Ekaterina Alexandrova, the two-time defending champion, on the Saturday night after Alexandrova had saved match points. Samsonova finished it in 32 minutes on Sunday, then beat Bianca Andreescu in a final of two hours and 34 minutes, hitting 36 winners to 18. "I'm a little bit tired, honestly," she said.
Source: WTAWimbledon 2025
After reaching her first major quarter-final she asked the press room not to tell her who she was playing next. It was Iga ÅšwiÄ…tek. She has kept the habit for years: "Don't think about [the match] too early because I'm starting to burn my mind, overthink." She added that social media was no risk, because "they don't care about me".
Source: WTAFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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