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Mika Stojsavljevic had already lost at the Hong Kong Open. Her qualifying campaign was over, and she was preparing to leave the tournament.
Then came an unexpected phone call.
Leylah Fernandez had withdrawn, opening a place in the main draw. As a lucky loser, Stojsavljevic was back in the competition.
There was one complication. Her opponent was Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion, and she had approximately an hour to prepare.
The 17-year-old British player responded by producing the biggest WTA Tour victory of her career, defeating Kenin 6–3, 4–6, 6–4 on Wednesday.
“I only knew an hour before I was going to be playing,” Stojsavljevic said afterwards.
“I kind of just went out and swung today.”
It was her first victory in a regular WTA Tour main draw, achieved against an opponent ranked 224 places above her, and a former Grand Slam champion..
But the result was not entirely unexpected for those who have followed Stojsavljevic’s development.
Two years earlier, she had won the US Open girls’ singles title. In April, she defeated a top-60 opponent while representing Great Britain.
Her performance in Hong Kong offered further evidence that the teenager possesses the ability to compete against established professionals.
A tennis career that began almost by accident
Stojsavljevic grew up in west London, where her introduction to tennis came through her older brother, Sava.
She was watching him take a lesson when he decided he no longer wanted to play. Her parents suggested that Mika take his place.
“He put the racket down, and I picked it up,” she recalled in a 2024 interview with the ITF.
She began developing her game at Ealing Lawn Tennis Club, working with coach Andrew Lewandowski.
Her enthusiasm was apparent from an early age.
Former British professional Katie O’Brien, who later became an LTA national coach, first encountered Stojsavljevic at a junior training camp in Loughborough in November 2017.
O’Brien remembers a young player who wanted to participate in everything.
She was regularly the first child to volunteer when coaches asked questions, and her competitiveness was already evident.
“The love of the game and her competitiveness shone through more than anything,” O’Brien told the LTA.
Stojsavljevic subsequently trained at the Loughborough University National Tennis Academy, where she began developing the attacking game that would bring her success internationally.
According to O’Brien, the teenager always possessed powerful shots, but needed to learn how to combine them into a more complete playing style.
That process accelerated during 2024.
A Grand Slam champion at 15
Stojsavljevic arrived at the 2024 US Open with considerable junior experience, but few would have predicted what followed.
In the quarterfinals, she defeated Australian junior world No. 1 Emerson Jones 7–5, 6–4.
She then produced an extraordinary opening set against American Iva Jovic in the semifinals, winning it 6–0 before eventually taking the match 6–0, 3–6, 6–3.
O’Brien, who watched the performance, later described that opening set as among the finest junior tennis she had witnessed.
The final brought another impressive result.
Stojsavljevic defeated Japan’s Wakana Sonobe 6–4, 6–4 to become the first British winner of the US Open girls’ singles championship since Heather Watson in 2009.
She won 91 per cent of points behind her first serve during the final.
At just 15, she had become a junior Grand Slam champion.
“I’m super happy and super grateful,” she said after collecting the trophy.
There was little time to celebrate. Stojsavljevic was due back at school within days, with GCSE examinations approaching.
Her tennis achievements were becoming increasingly more impressive, but she was still navigating the ordinary demands of teenage life.
The US Open victory established her as one of Britain’s most promising young players. It did not, however, guarantee a straightforward transition to professional tennis.
Learning to win when things go wrong
One of Stojsavljevic’s most important victories came six months after her US Open triumph.
In March 2025, she faced fellow British prospect Hannah Klugman in the final of the 18U Junior National Championships.
Klugman, who would later reach the Roland Garros junior final, served for the match at 5–4 in the deciding set.
Stojsavljevic recovered to win 3–6, 6–2, 7–5.
The result was important in her development, not simply because she won another title, but because of how she responded when defeat appeared imminent.
O’Brien believed the match illustrated an important change in the teenager’s approach.
Stojsavljevic had always possessed the ability to hit winners, but her reactions to difficult situations had sometimes worked against her.
By 2025, her emotional control was improving.
“In the last few years, she’s made a lot of improvements to her game,” O’Brien explained.
The coach considered her increasing maturity under pressure particularly important.
Those improvements would become valuable as Stojsavljevic moved into professional competition, where opponents were more experienced and less likely to be overwhelmed by her attacking shots.
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The difficult transition to professional tennis
Stojsavljevic turned professional in 2025 after reaching a career-high junior ranking of world No. 5.
Her early professional results were encouraging.
She won an ITF title in Birmingham and reached the W100 Wrexham final in October. She also made her Wimbledon women’s singles main-draw debut, gaining experience against established tour-level opposition.
But junior success and professional consistency are very different achievements.
Against experienced opponents, Stojsavljevic could no longer rely solely on the attacking tennis that had brought her success in junior tournaments.
She needed to develop greater consistency, improve her decision-making and learn how to manage matches when her most aggressive shots were not working. This is one of the most common issues juniors face when making that jump to the senior ranks.
By 2026, she was working with former British Davis Cup player Jeremy Bates as part of the LTA’s national coaching program.
The teenager also benefited from training alongside established British professionals.
Those experiences helped prepare her for an unexpected opportunity in April.
A breakthrough for Great Britain
Stojsavljevic received her first senior Billie Jean King Cup selection when Great Britain travelled to Melbourne to face Australia. The call from captain Anne Keothavong came after a gym session.
For a player who had grown up watching British representatives compete internationally, the selection was a major achievement.
“It means everything to me,” she told the LTA before the tie.
Her debut opponent was Talia Gibson, then ranked No. 56 in the world.
Gibson was playing at home and had considerably more experience against professional opposition, but Stojsavljevic was undeterred.
She won 7–6(4), 7–5 at John Cain Arena, giving Great Britain an important victory.
Afterwards, she admitted that the occasion had been overwhelming.
“It feels amazing. I can’t believe it,” she told BBC Sport.
Keothavong was impressed by the teenager’s composure.
“She’s not your average 17-year-old,” the British captain said.
Stojsavljevic had defeated a player ranked inside the world’s top 60, demonstrating that she could compete against established professionals.
But the Billie Jean King Cup is a separate competition from the regular WTA Tour. She still needed her first main-draw victory at that level.
One hour to prepare for Sofia Kenin
That opportunity arrived in Hong Kong on 4 November.
Stojsavljevic entered the tournament ranked No. 411, while Kenin was No. 187.
The American’s ranking had fallen considerably since her Australian Open triumph and subsequent appearance in the 2020 Roland Garros final, but she remained an experienced opponent.
Stojsavljevic began aggressively, winning the opening set 6–3.
She then established a 3–0 lead in the second, only for Kenin to recover and force a deciding set.
For a teenager competing in her first successful WTA main-draw campaign, the momentum shift could easily have proved decisive. Instead, Stojsavljevic regrouped.
She moved ahead 4–1 in the final set before Kenin threatened another comeback.
This time, the British player held her nerve, converting her second match point to complete the victory.
The statistics illustrated both the strengths of her game and the areas requiring improvement.
Stojsavljevic struck six aces and converted six of 13 break points.
However, she also committed 12 double faults and landed only 43 per cent of her first serves.
When those first serves landed, she won 78 per cent of the points.
It was an aggressive performance, but far from a flawless one. That makes the result particularly encouraging.
Stojsavljevic had beaten a former Grand Slam champion despite struggling with one of the most important parts of her game.
Afterwards, she acknowledged that the lack of preparation had forced her to rely on instinct.
“We didn’t have much time to prepare,” she said.
She knew Kenin’s achievements made the match difficult, but trusted her ability to compete. The victory took her into the second round against Turkey’s Zeynep Sönmez.
Part of a promising British generation
Stojsavljevic is not the only young British player beginning to make progress on the professional circuit.
Hannah Klugman, also 17, won the W100 Wrexham title in October without dropping a set.
Mimi Xu has also emerged through Britain’s junior development system.
The three players have competed alongside and against one another for years, providing a competitive environment as they attempt to establish professional careers.
Stojsavljevic and Klugman offer particularly interesting comparisons. Both have achieved considerable junior success, but their development has followed different paths.
Klugman’s recent Wrexham victory showed her ability to win consecutive matches against experienced professional opponents.
Stojsavljevic’s victories over Gibson and Kenin have demonstrated that she can trouble higher-ranked players on significant occasions.
Neither has yet established the week-to-week consistency required to compete regularly at the highest level. That is obviously the next challenge.
For Stojsavljevic, the immediate priority will be improving her ranking and gaining regular entry into stronger tournaments.
Her aggressive game gives her the ability to compete with experienced opponents, but the serve statistics against Kenin illustrate why further development is necessary.
The encouraging signs are not limited to her shot-making.
O’Brien’s observations about her growing resilience have been supported by results.
She recovered from a difficult position against Klugman, handled the pressure of her Billie Jean King Cup debut and responded to Kenin’s second-set comeback in Hong Kong.
Each required something more than simply hitting powerful groundstrokes.
What comes next?
Stojsavljevic turns 18 in December.
She already has a junior Grand Slam title, a senior international victory and a first WTA Tour main-draw win to her name.
Those achievements make her an exciting prospect, but they are still early steps in a professional career.
The difference between a promising teenager and an established tour player is often measured in consistency rather than occasional outstanding performances.
Stojsavljevic has shown she can beat opponents with considerably stronger rankings.
Now she must learn to do it repeatedly.
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