Who is Tereza Smitkova?

I doubt if many tennis fans had heard of Tereza Smitkova before this week. The 19-year-old from the Czech Republic made her tour main draw debut last year, and is currently ranked number 175 in the world (170 was her highest ranking).

Smitkova has won four ITF singles titles and five ITF doubles titles. She is coached by Jaroslav Machovský and likes hard courts and grass courts.

Smitkova now has a 22-12 win-loss record for the year. In Wimbledon qualifying, she defeated Sofia Shapatava, Gabriella Taylor and Madison Brengle. Once she got into the main draw, she took out Hsieh Su-Wei (world number 126), Top Shelf Open champion Coco Vandeweghe (number 51) and Bojana Jovanovski (number 45).

Smitkova, who underwent quite a battle against her own emotions in her third round match, will meet her first seeded player in the round of 16 when she faces 23rd seed Lucie Safarova. Smitkova is currently riding a wave of Czech dominance at Wimbledon; four players from the Czech Republic have made it to the round of 16.