For the second year running, No. 9 seed Diana Shnaider had to solve the problem of Katerina Siniakova at the Adelaide International. For the second year running, she succeeded in three sets, edging the lucky loser 6-1, 2-6, 7-5 to return to the quarterfinals.

This time last year, Shnaider was ranked No. 13, and seemingly poised to join the Top 10 after a breakthrough 2024. But instead, amidst a revolving door of coaches that included Igor Andreev, Dinara Safina and Carlos Martinez, she compiled just a 28-25 record over the course of 2025, and ended the season outside the Top 20 again.

Since August, the 21-year-old’s team has stabilized. She’s been working with Sascha Bajin — Serena Williams’ former hitting partner who has since coached players including Naomi Osaka, Karolina Pliskova and Donna Vekic — and is coming off what she feels was an intense, fruitful pre-season block with the German.

“I do enjoy working together,” Shnaider said after defeating Siniakova. “We’re having a lot of fun, we’re working on a lot of stuff, I’m learning a lot for myself. So far it’s working pretty well. I enjoy what I’ve seen on the court — the way I’m playing, the way I’m keeping my composure, having tight matches against tough opponents.”

Keeping calm was key against Siniakova in a match that swung wildly between the two players. The Czech player turned the second set in her favor by coming up with several brilliant passes and volleys, and Shnaider felt she could do little but focus on her own serve in the decider.

“She can play very well,” she said. “Sometimes too well, I would say! She’s a very unexpected player, she can come into the net, she definitely can surprise you. First set was going just my way, I was feeling amazing, but then there was a momentum shift and she started playing better.

“Every ball was going in and I couldn’t do anything there. In the third set I just tried to hold my serve, and if I had a chance on return then to take it. I just tried to keep my composure, don’t be too negative on myself when she’s playing too good.”

Navarro holds off Putintseva to reach Adelaide quarters

Shnaider’s chance came at 5-5 as she found some excellent backhand strikes to capture the only break of the set. In the next game, she came up with a superb pass of her own en route to serving out the win. She’ll next face No. 6 seed Emma Navarro, who held off a late comeback attempt by qualifier Yulia Putintseva to advance 6-1, 6-4. Shnaider holds a 2-1 head-to-head advantage over Navarro, though they have not played since 2024.

Despite her ranking slide, Shnaider has proven on several occasions over the past year that she’s capable of going toe-to-toe with top players. Converting close matches into wins has been elusive, though. Since the start of 2025, Shnaider has gone 0-5 against Top 10 opposition, with four of those losses coming in three sets. Last week, that pattern continued in Brisbane as she fell to Madison Keys 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 7-6(4) in the first triple-tiebreak match of either player’s career.

However, Shnaider is intent on taking the positives from having maintained a high level throughout the 2-hour, 59-minute barnburner.

“It’s a sweet-bitter feeling afterwards because it was so close,” she said. “You definitely think you should have done something different, something more — but at the end of the day, it was an amazing match. I was very proud of the effort I put there. I feel like it was very physical for both of us. I’m happy I pushed Maddy to her limits, pushed myself to the limits and checked my ability at the start of the season.”

The all-Australian derby in Wednesday’s final match in Adelaide ended in unfortunate fashion, with a shoulder injury forcing wild card Ajla Tomljanovic to retire while leading Maya Joint 2-0. Joint will advance to face fellow teenager and No. 3 seed Mirra Andreeva in the quarterfinals.

 

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