Slovak tennis talent Tereza Mihalikova

Simona Petrova

November 21, 2024

Tereza Mihalikova is a Slovak tennis player who has achieved a career-high doubles ranking of world No 41 by the WTA, reached on October 28, 2024. She has won one doubles title on the WTA Tour and three WTA Challenger doubles titles, along with eight singles and 19 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit.

Tereza Mihalikova was born on June 2, 1998, in Topolcany, Slovakia. As a junior, she was highly successful, reaching a career-high ranking of No 4. In 2015, she won the Australian Open girls’ singles title, defeating Katie Swan in the final. The following year, she won the Australian Open girls’ doubles title, partnering with Anna Kalinskaya. Tereza Mihalikova has also reached three Grand Slam doubles finals: the 2014 US Open, 2015 Australian Open, and 2015 Wimbledon.

While still primarily competing in ITF Circuit singles events, Tereza Mihalikova had a breakthrough in doubles in 2021, winning her first career title and cracking the WTA top 100 rankings.

Together with Vera Lapko, Tereza Mihalikova advanced to the US Open’s girls’ doubles championship final in 2014. She played for the Slovak Junior Fed Cup team (U16) as well. She advanced to the 2014 final with Viktoria Kuzmova and Tamara Kupkova, but they were defeated by the US squad (CiCi Bellis, Tornado Alicia Black, Sofia Kenin).

At the 2015 Australian Open, Tereza Mihalikova again competed in doubles with Vera Lapko. Miriam Kolodziejova and Marketa Vondrousova, the eventual champions, defeated them in their quarterfinal encounter. Tereza Mihalikova finished second in the girls’ singles competition at the 2016 Australian Open, losing to Vera Lapko in the final, and won the girls’ doubles competition with Anna Kalinskaya.

Tereza Mihalikova made her breakthrough in her doubles career following a series of strong performances during the 2021 season. Early in the season, she secured the title at the $25,000 Hamburg tournament while teaming up with Anna Bondar. Two months later, they made it to another final but ended as runners-up at the $25,000 event in Manacor. In June, her upward trend continued as she reached her first WTA 125 Challenger final at the Bol Ladies Open, where she and partner Ekaterine Gorgodze were defeated by Aliona Bolsova and Katarzyna Kawa. The next month, she again reached a Challenger final, this time at the Swedish Open with Kamilla Rakhimova, but similarly lost in three sets, just as in her previous final.

In September, her performance significantly improved as she reached her inaugural WTA Tour doubles final. Teaming up with Anna Kalinskaya, they triumphed over the duo of Aleksandra Krunic and Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove in a closely contested three-set match. The following month, Tereza Mihalikova achieved remarkable success by clinching two $60,000 tournament titles, first at the Henderson Open in Las Vegas and subsequently at the Rancho Santa Fe Open. By early December, she finally secured victory in her third attempt at a WTA Challenger final, winning the title at the Open Angers in partnership with Greet Minnen. Their victory came against notable opponents, including former Grand Slam doubles champion Vera Zvonareva and former major doubles finalist Monica Niculescu. These impressive achievements propelled her into the top 100 rankings for the first time in her career.

Tereza Mihalikova achieved the runner-up position at both the Transylvania Open with Harriet Dart and the Rosmalen Open with Olivia Nicholls. She also reached consecutive quarterfinals at the China Open and the Wuhan Open, both WTA 1000 tournaments, while partnering with Nicholls. In November, Mihalikova and Viktoria Hruncakova won the crucial doubles match against the USA team of Taylor Townsend and Ashlyn Krueger, securing Slovakia’s spot in the Billie Jean King Cup quarterfinals. The duo subsequently achieved the same outcome in the semifinals by prevailing over Nicholls and Heather Watson while representing Slovakia, leading to their advancement to the final for the first time since 2002, where they secured victory against Great Britain.