Linda Nosková

Linda Nosková (; born 17 November 2004) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of No. 25 by the WTA, achieved on 26 August 2024, and a doubles ranking of No. 60, set on 19 August 2024. She won her first WTA Tour title at the 2024 Monterrey Open. Her best Grand Slam tournament performance is reaching the quarterfinals at the 2024 Australian Open by defeating world No. 1, Iga Świątek.

In August 2022, she became the youngest player ranked in the world's top 100 and in February 2023 the youngest in the top 50. On the ITF Circuit, she has collected six singles titles and one doubles title. Her biggest title win so far came at the $100k Reinert Open in Versmold in 2022.

From an early age, Nosková showed signs of becoming a promising tennis player. As a junior, she peaked at world No. 5 in the rankings, achieved on 14 June 2021. She won the 2021 French Open in the girls' singles event and made the semifinals of the girls' doubles event, as well as the girls' doubles quarterfinals of the 2020 Australian Open.

Early life

Nosková grew up in the village of Bystřička in the Vsetín region. Her first touch with tennis was at the age of seven, when she started training in Valašské Meziříčí. Three years later, she became a player for TK Na Dolina in Trojanovice near Frenštát pod Radhoštěm. In 2018, she moved to Přerov because of tennis.

Career

Juniors

Nosková won the 2021 French Open girls' singles title. On 14 June 2021, she reached world No. 5 in the combined ITF junior rankings.

Grand Slam performance

– Singles:
* Australian Open: 2R (2020)
* French Open: W (2021)
* Wimbledon: –
* US Open: –

– Doubles:
* Australian Open: QF (2020)
* French Open: SF (2021)
* Wimbledon: –
* US Open: –

2019–21: Professional debut, ITF Circuit titles

Nosková made her ITF Circuit debut in July 2019 at the $25k Torino tournament in qualifying. Despite failing to reach the main-draw, she got to the quarterfinal in the doubles event. In October of the same year, she made her singles main-draw debut at the $15k Lousada tournament and also won her first match as a senior. The following week, in the same city, she reached her first semifinal. A month later, she reached another semifinal, this time at the $15k Milovice event in her home country.

Her new season started in August 2020 with the qualifying draw of the Prague Open, but she lost to Laura Ioana Paar. Three weeks later, she made her debut at the WTA Challenger Tour, playing at the Sparta Prague Open. Getting there after receiving a wildcard, she lost to Mayar Sherif in the first round. She finished her season with the $25k Přerov event where she lost to Barbora Krejčíková in the first round. It was only her third tournament of the year as well as her only tournament in doubles. In doubles, she also lost in the first round.

Nosková started the 2021 season in the middle of February at the $15k Sharm El Sheikh event where she reached her first ITF final. After losing to Shalimar Talbi in the final, she reached another semifinal there the following week. In March 2021, she won her first senior ITF title at a $15k event in Bratislava, defeating fellow Czech Tereza Smitková in the final. Right after that, she won another $15k event in Bratislava (back-to-back titles), this time defeating Iva Primorac in the final. In June 2021, she advanced to the semifinals of the Macha Lake Open in Staré Splavy in both events, losing to Zheng Qinwen in singles. It was her first semifinal of a $60k event, but in August, she won her first $60k title at the Zubr Cup in Přerov. In the final, she defeated Alexandra Cadanțu-Ignatik. In October, she advanced to her first ITF final in doubles. A month later, she finished the year at the $25k Milove tournament where she won her fourth title in singles and finished as a runner-up in doubles.

2022: Major & top 100 debuts

She made her major main-draw debut at the French Open as a qualifier, making her the youngest Czech player to compete at a major since Nicole Vaidišová (17 years 127 days) at the 2006 US Open and the youngest player to qualify for the tournament since 16-year-old Michelle Larcher de Brito in 2009. In the first round of the main draw, she faced US Open champion Emma Raducanu and lost, after winning the first set. The following week, she reached the semifinals of the WTA 125 Makarska International Championships.

In July, she won her first $100k title, at the Reinert Open defeating Ysaline Bonaventure in the final. Three weeks later, she entered her first WTA Tour semifinal at the Prague Open but lost to compatriot and later champion, Marie Bouzková. However, she marked her first top 50 win defeating Alizé Cornet, in the second round. This result led her into the top 100 for the first time, at world No. 94 becoming the youngest woman in the top 100, a distinction Coco Gauff had held since October 2019. By reaching the semifinals, she became the youngest Czech woman to reach a tour-level semifinal since Vaidišová (17 years, 189 days) in Linz in 2006.

At the US Open, she competed in her second qualifying for a major and advanced to the main draw with three qualifying wins. In the second round, she defeated former top-10 player Eugenie Bouchard. However, was beaten in the first round of the main draw by Bouzková in a three-set match.

2023: Two top-10 wins & WTA tournament final, top 40

Ranked No. 102 at the start of the Adelaide International 1, she came through qualifying beating Anna Kalinskaya and Anastasia Potapova to make the main draw. In the first round, she beat world No. 8, Daria Kasatkina, to get her first top 10 win, and in the second, she beat fellow qualifier Claire Liu to make her first WTA 500 quarterfinal. She defeated two-time major champion and former world No. 1, Victoria Azarenka, in a three-set thriller in the quarterfinals, winning the final set tiebreak 8–6, after saving one match point. She then beat top seed and world No. 2, Ons Jabeur, to reach her first ever WTA Tour final which she lost to second seed Aryna Sabalenka, in straight sets. As a result, she moved close to 50 positions up in the rankings to No. 56. Despite being ranked well inside the top 100 by the start of the Australian Open, Nosková needed to play qualifying due to the sudden nature of her rise up the rankings. However, she lost in the first round of qualifying to world No. 192, Katherine Sebov. Nevertheless, she reached No. 50 in the rankings on 6 February 2023 becoming the youngest player in the top 50.

At the Indian Wells Open, she reached the third round of a WTA 1000 for the first time in her debut at this level, defeating 31st seed Amanda Anisimova.

At the Cincinnati Open, she also reached the third round defeating ninth seed Petra Kvitová.

2024: Major quarterfinal, win over world No. 1, WTA 500 title, top 25

On her debut at the Australian Open, she recorded her first wins there over 31st seed and compatriot, Marie Bouzková, and wildcard McCartney Kessler to reach the third round. She then stunned world No. 1, Iga Świątek, to move to the fourth round of a major event for the first time in her career. She became the first teenager to defeat a world No. 1 at this major since 1999, when Amélie Mauresmo shocked Lindsay Davenport. She advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time, after the retirement of 19th seed Elina Svitolina in the fourth round. As a result, she reached the top 30 in the singles rankings on 29 January 2024.

At the WTA 500 Monterrey Open, she defeated Wang Xiyu and fifth seed and former champion, Elina Svitolina, to reach her third semifinal for the season, following Brisbane and Prague. She defeated second seed Emma Navarro in straight sets to reach her first final of the season. She won her maiden WTA Tour title with another straight-sets victory over Lulu Sun.

2025: Abu Dhabi semifinal

In February, Nosková reached the semifinals at the Abu Dhabi Open with wins over Magdalena Fręch, second seed Paula Badosa and Magda Linette, before losing in the last four to Ashlyn Krueger.

Two weeks later, at the Dubai Tennis Championships, she defeated Yulia Putintseva, 11th seed Diana Shnaider and fifth seed Jessica Pegula to make it through to the quarterfinals, where she lost to Clara Tauson.

Partnering Irina Khromacheva, Nosková reached the doubles final at the Rouen Open in April, losing to Aleksandra Krunić and Sabrina Santamaria in straight sets.

Performance timelines

''Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.''

Singles

''Current through the 2025 Australian Open.''

Doubles

''Current through the 2023 China Open.''

Significant finals

Olympic medal matches

Doubles: 1 (4th place)

WTA Tour finals

Singles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

Doubles: 2 (runner-ups)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 7 (6 titles, 1 runner-up)

Doubles: 5 (1 title, 4 runner-ups)

Junior finals

Grand Slam tournaments

Singles: 1 (title)

ITF Junior Circuit

Singles: 5 (4 titles, 1 runner–up)

Doubles: 6 (3 titles, 3 runner–ups)

Wins over top 10 players

* She has a 8–9 record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.

Notes

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Noskova, Linda
2004 births
Living people
Czech female tennis players
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles
French Open junior champions
Sportspeople from Přerov
Tennis players from the Olomouc Region
21st-century Czech sportswomen
Tennis players at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Olympic tennis players for the Czech Republic