Anna Kalinskaya builds confidence with tough win

SINGAPORE – Every day in sport demands an act of defiance. Sometimes it’s because a body is being troublesome. Sometimes it’s because a rival is inspired. Sometimes it’s because a season has had a lousy start. Anna Kalinskaya, a gently spoken player with a fluent game, was confronted with all this on Jan 31 at the Singapore Tennis Open and yet she prevailed.

She called a trainer mid-match, had a strapping on her thigh and bent over her towel box occasionally like a winded boxer. Still she found the grace to applaud her rival mid-match even as she eventually dismissed her. She beat Thailand’s charming Mananchaya Sawangkaew 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 in the quarter-finals in one hour and 57 minutes.

“It was a very challenging match,” said the composed Russian later. “(Mananchaya) is a very tricky player and a very good fighter. She brings so many balls back (and has) very good hands”.

Yes, but the Russian showed a scrapper’s heart. 

The centre-court hall at Kallang Tennis Hub is small but offers the joy of proximity. Echoing shots could be heard and power felt. The Russian is ranked No. 18 and the Thai No. 132 but the margins were finer than the gap suggested. Women’s tennis is claustrophobic in its competitiveness and this match was tight till Kalinskaya shifted gears. To put it in short form, the top seed had too much tennis IQ and kmh. 

Kalinskaya missed the Australian Open with a virus and said of her body, “maybe (it’s) not recovering as fast as I wish it can recover”. The Thai observed this, played with athletic glee, and even seized five straight games in the second set. This underdog had bite and the audience hollered in admiration. The Russian went off court for treatment, repaired her tactics and eventually her shots flew faster than the Thai’s feet.

The Russian, like everyone at this event, is hunting for confidence. It’s the most precious commodity in sport and the hardest to keep hold of. Think of it as a temporary armour. She had a terrific 2024 with wins over Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff and Jelena Ostapenko and a high ranking of No. 11 in October. Then a virus in January 2025 and two first-round losses stalled her. Momentum in sport simply vanishes like a thief into the fog.

“For me,” Kalinskaya told The Straits Times, “confidence comes with having a lot of matches.” Now in Singapore she has three wins and they’re like small building blocks towards a hopefully sturdy construction.

In the semi-finals, Kalinskaya meets the thoughtful American Ann Li, whose tight win over Australia’s Kimberly Birrell 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4) will have burnished her own confidence. In January 2022, Li was world No. 44, then injuries to her pectoral muscle and abdomen visited, she fell to No. 174 in November 2023 and is now back to No. 85. Sport offers a rapid degree in life and at 24 she wisely says, “Maybe I needed to try and enjoy it a little bit more”.

Confidence, Li agrees, can be a “super-fragile” thing. One day everything has clarity, next day doubt is sneering at the door. “Like anything can happen at any moment,” she says. “You could have a great week at any moment, but also you could have a terrible week, and then all of a sudden, it’s like one thing after another. And so I think the biggest thing is to be grateful and find enjoyment in the little things.”

Confidence is composed of many parts. It arrives, says Li, from playing well, of course, but also “from physically feeling strong, knowing that you’re putting in the work every day, eating good. So I think not just focusing on if you’re winning or if you’re losing, but focusing on, am I getting better as a whole”.

In the other quarter-finals, fourth seed Wang Xinyu held off Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 in a 3hr 19min marathon, while second seed Elise Mertens prevailed over No. 6 seed Camila Osorio 6-4, 6-2. Feb 1 is semi-final day and to just get to the final brings the promise of US$21,484 (S$29,200) in prize money, 163 ranking points and some of that priceless substance. Confidence.