She was born in Moscow, and coached by her father. She moved to American at a young age, and trained in a prestigious academy. She showed potential as a precocious child and went on to win junior international championships before making a name for herself on the pro tour as a teenager. Her trademark weapon is her fight and determination. She's blonde, sponsored by Nike and has a passion for diamonds.
That brief synopsis could describe a young Maria Sharapova, or it could be Sofia Kenin.
The 18-year-old Kenin hails from Moscow, but moved to America as a baby. She showed promise as a five-year-old and her father Alexander built a website promoting his young phenom. Kenin spent some time training at Rick Macci's academy in south Florida, but also took lessons from Sharapova's former coaches Nick Bollettieri and Robert Landsorp.
She's lived up to the hype, winning the Orange Bowl in 2014, and rising to No. 2. The Florida teenager is already up to No. 139 on the pro tour and won the US Open Wildcard Challenge to make her third career appearance in New York.
Kenin took out No. 32-seeded Lauren Davis for her first-ever major win, and then outlasted fellow Floridian Sachia Vickery 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (0) on Wednesday. Her father has promised her jewelry for every win so far, and she names Tiffany's and Swarovski as her favorite stores.
Next up for Kenin is none other than fellow Swarovski-lover, Sharapova.
"It's incredible to play here in the third round, that's huge," Kenin said Thursday. "To play against a great player like Maria, it's going to be great. I'm going to try to obviously do well. It's really exciting to be in this position and to be playing the person who I've always looked up to all my life."
The former No. 1 has never faced Kenin before, and has not even really heard of her. But the 30-year-old will be finding out all about Kenin soon enough.