25 October 2025

Zeliha Nil Çukurluoğlu Breaks New Ground in Turkish Tennis History! Türkiye’s First Junior Masters Champion

One of our country's young tennis talents, Zeliha Nil Çukurluoğlu, became Türkiye's first Junior Masters champion in the Girls’ 14 & Under category by defeating her opponent Emilia Henningsen 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 after a great struggle.

Making a fast start to the final match, our athlete gained the upper hand by breaking serve in the first game. However, she lost the first set after her Danish opponent won five consecutive games. The second set proceeded with a scenario almost the exact opposite of the first; Zeliha Nil brought balance to the match by converting three of the six break points she obtained.

Elevating her performance even further in the deciding set, Çukurluoğlu won 89 percent of points on her first serve and won six of the last seven games by breaking serve four times. She experienced great joy with the victory, which came on her first match point. This victory was recorded as the biggest success of Zeliha Nil Çukurluoğlu’s career as well as her first championship of this year. The young athlete, who won two doubles championships throughout the season (one in the Super Category Maia) and was the runner-up at the Open Stade Français held in Paris, had entered the Masters ranked eighth.

In the organization held in Monte-Carlo, Çukurluoğlu, a Rafa Nadal Academy athlete, passed the group stage without losing a set. Thus, she added her name among those writing history in the same tournament, following Rafa Nadal, who was the champion in the Boys’ 14 & Under category in 2000.

25 October 2025