Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova teases 2023 Australian Open comeback

WATCH: Pavlyuchenkova endured a narrow loss to Barbora Krejcikova in the 2021 Roland Garros final.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova revealed plans to come back in time for the 2023 Australian Open on her Instagram stories, having shut down her season earlier this year due to a nagging knee injury.

“I really hope I’ll be fit and ready to go, so fingers crossed,” she said, specifying a January return that likely allow her to play a warm-up event before Melbourne.

The 31-year-old enjoyed a long-awaited major breakthrough last spring when she finished runner-up to Barbora Krejcikova at Roland Garros, reaching her first major final after enduring six quarterfinal losses in 14 years on tour.

“A result like that could have given me something inside, but I’m also working hard every day to bring it out on the court.,” she said a month later at Wimbledon. “I really try to take every match as a new match. I want to come into each one with a fresh energy and fighting spirit. At the same time, I do feel a little bit stronger, more confident and consistent within myself.”

Pavlyuchenkova went on to win an Olympic gold medal in mixed doubles and came agonizingly close to a Top 10 debut, peaking at No. 11 last November, but missed 10 weeks of action following this year’s Australian Open due to a knee injury. She ultimately aborted her comeback attempt on European clay after back-to-back singles defeats in Madrid and Rome—despite winning a doubles title in the latter with Veronika Kudermetova.

“Now the injury is limiting me physically and mentally to compete and practice fully,” she wrote when announcing her withdrawal from Roland Garros and all remaining 2022 tournaments. “After rehabbing for months this year and only played at 3 events, the last two tournaments have shown me that the pain was still there and I wasn’t ready.

“So, I have decided to take more time and come back stronger next year!”

Though her best major result has come in Paris, Australia has typically been fertile ground for the Russian with three quarterfinal appearances at the Australian Open, including two in 2019 and 2020.