'This means a lot': Efremova surges into Australian Open girls' final
After waltzing through the first set of her semi-final 6-0, Ksenia Efremova of France could be forgiven for thinking she had one foot in Sunday’s Australian Open girls' singles final.
Her opponent on Margaret Court Arena, Rada Zolotareva, was not about to leave the scene without a scrap, however, and duly came out for the second set all guns blazing. The 16-year-old Efremova, now living and training in Paris, saw Zolotareva's renaissance coming.
“It was an amazing first set," said Efremova. "I was playing great tennis and she was not in the rhythm but was getting there slowly by slowly. In the last game, she started to make less errors.
“In the second set, I was hitting a lot and she was just countering. That's when my coach said, ‘slow down the rhythm, slow down the speed’.”
Efremova did exactly that and eventually prevailed 6-0 4-6 6-4, a result which set up a winner-takes-all showdown with Ekaterina Tupitsyna, who saw off Thea Frodin of the United States 6-3 6-4 in the other semi-final.
Efremova and Tupitsyna have not played each other before while, prior to this week, Tupitsyna had not won a Junior Grand Slam singles match anywhere.
“She's a very, very good player," added Efremova, who is the first French girl to reach a Junior Grand Slam final since Elsa Jacquemot won the Roland Garros girls' title in 2020.
"You maybe don't hear a lot from her but I know that she's practising a lot in Russia and she's competing there. She doesn't really travel much.
"It's going to be a very great and interesting match between us because she's an aggressive player. She's a little bit like today’s opponent, it's going to be a similar battle.”
Efremova is perhaps one of the most energetic junior players competing at Melbourne Park this year. Not content with her one-hour-and-43-minute semi-final workout, she was about to head back on court for some more practice following her media duties.
“It's my routine every day," she said. "More practice, ice bath, stretching and then I’ll watch Aryna Sabalenka in tonight’s women’s final.”
Incidentally, she will watch the final on TV rather than paying a visit to Rod Laver Arena, the scene of Sunday's girls' final. Efremova has been studying Sabalenka’s evolution as a player over the past year or so and is taking note.
“She has started to develop a lot of different shots," she added. "Before, she was just hitting and now she hits with much more spin, a very heavy ball and does a lot of slices, mixing it up.
"It's impressive because not every player can develop this at her age. Usually you start to develop that at a younger age.”
In the 10 minutes between Efremova leaving court and talking to the media, she had managed to call her mother who lives in the south of France.
“She congratulated me, she was very happy," confirmed Efremova. "This means a lot, even in juniors, because it's the final of the Australia Open.”
That is most certainly is.
A full list of results from the 2026 Australian Open Junior Championships is available here.