Player history

Lesia Tsurenko only played tennis occasionally and for fun before moving to Kiev at 17 and began playing more seriously. She studied at Physical Education & Sports Institute for one and a half years and has not lost her hopes to return there one day.

The Ukrainian played first events of career on ITF Circuit in 2007; made WTA main draw debut at 2009 Tashkent. 

She enjoyed her breakthrough season in 2015, finishing year at a career-high ranking of No.33, having started at No.88. That season, she won her first title in Istanbul (d. U.Radwanska) and reached the semifinals in Moscow (l. eventual champion Kuznetsova), her third third Premier-level semifinal appearance of career (after 2013 Brisbane and 2015 New Haven).

In 2016 she clinched the second WTA singles title in Guangzhou (d. Jankovic). Other notable results that year included the quarterfinal runs in Nürnberg and Tashkent, and the third-round effort at Indian Wells (where she registered first main draw wins of season). At 2016 Us Open she reached the round 16 at Grand Slam level for the first time in her career where she lost in straight sets to Vinci. That season, she suffered 11 1r losses in 2016, including three of the majors – Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
 During the summer, a left thigh injury forced her withdrawal from Stanford, Montréal, Florianopolis and Rio Olympics.

In 2017, Tsurenko passed $2 million in career prize money after the Australian swing. She claimed the third career singles title at Acapulco (d. Mladenovic in F). She also reached the semifinals in Hobart and ‘s-Hertogenbosch and quarterfinals in Stanford and Moscow. Tsurenko achieved career-high singles ranking of No.29 on July 17, 2017 and completed the second Top 50 season at No.42, the fifth straight Top 100 year-end finish. 

In 2018, she reached a career-high of No.26 on September 10 and finished the season at No.27 completing her first top-30 campaign. She opened the season with a second round run in Brisbane (l. Kanepi) before reaching the semifinal stage in Hobart (l. Buzarnescu). She reached the second round at Australian Open (d. Vikhlyantseva, l. Agnieszka Radwanska). She successfully defended her title in Acapulco (d. Voegele), improving her record in finals to a perfect 4-0. She failed to win a match in Doha, Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami and on clay before the Roland Garros, where she reached the fourth round for the first time (retired vs. Muguruza with a leg injury).

On grass, she fell to Strycova at both events, in the quarterfinal in Birmingham (retired with a hip injury) and the second round at Wimbledon. She reached the fourth quarterfinal of the season in Cincinnati (d. No.9 Muguruza, l. No.1 Halep) and reached the same stage at the Us Open to mark her best result at a Grand Slam (l. eventual champion Osaka). In the second round, she upset No.2 Wozniacki to notch the best win-by-rank of her career. Following the Us Open, she achieved her career-high singles ranking of No.26.

In her final three tournaments, in Beijing, Wuhan and Moscow, she failed to claim back-to-back wins.