TENNIS
Max Verstappen’s girlfriend: Five things to know about Kelly Piquet
1. KELLY BEGAN DATING MAX IN 2020
Kelly Piquet started dating Max Verstappen in 2020. This was one year before he won the F1 World Championship.
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2. KELLY WAS BORN IN GERMANY
The 33-year-old was born on 7 December 1988 in Homburg, Germany. Kelly has travelled from place to place and spent some time in France.
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3. SHE STUDIED INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
According to The Sun, the 34-year-old spent 12 months studying in England. She then headed back to Brazil and thereafter went to college in New York – graduating in International Relations.
Kelly is also a model columnist, blogger and public relations professional. She spent time with Marie Claire and Vogue magazines. The model later took over as part of the social media team for Formula E.
4. SHE IS A MOM
Kelly confirmed that she was dating Russian racing driver Daniil Kvyat in January 2017, according to the publication. In 2019, the blogger had a daughter with Kvyat named Penelope.
“Exactly 3 years ago, right before midnight, you came into my life and rocked my world forever. You are the most special human being I know and you teach me every day. I will forever be your biggest supporter.
I love you my sweet P,” she wrote on Instagram.
5. KELLY COMES FROM A FAMILY OF ‘RACING ROYALTY’
The Brazilian model comes from a family of “racing royalty”. Her father is F1 legend Nelson Piquet snr, who has been dubbed one of the greatest to ever grace the sport. Piquet won three world championships – 1981, 1983 and 1987 – driving for Brabham, Williams, Lotus and Benetton.
Elena Rybakina has been through to the Abu Dhabi semifinal after ousting world No. 74 Cristina Bucsa.
Rybakina, the top-seeded player in Abu Dhabi, saw off qualifier Bucsa 6-1 6-4 to make her first semifinal at the WTA 500 event in the United Arab Emirates. Previously, Rybakina was a quarterfinalist in Abu Dhabi in 2021 and 2023.
Rybakina, 24, and 26-year-old Bucsa were playing against each other for the second time. Earlier this year, Rybakina also beat Bucsa 6-2 7-5 in the Adelaide International round-of-16.
How Rybakina defeated Bucsa and who is her next opponent?
Rybakina made an emphatic start against Bucsa, claiming back-to-back breaks en route to winning the opening five games of the match. In the sixth game, Bucsa managed to finally serve out one service game and hold to her serve but it didn’t change much as Rybakina routinely served out for the first set in the following game.
After easily losing the first set, Bucsa started playing much better at the start of the second set and she even claimed her first break of the match in the fourth game for a 3-1 lead. However, Bucsa’s lead was short-lived as Rybakina instantly got the break back in the following game.
After recovering from an early break down in the second set, Rybakina broke Bucsa again in the ninth game to go 5-4 up. Serving for the match in the 10th game, Rybakina served out the game to love and routinely closed out the match.
In the Abu Dhabi semifinal, Rybakina plays against No. 8 seed Liudmila Samsonova. In the opening match of Friday’s schedule, Samsonova defeated 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova 6-1 6-4.
Elena Rybakina and Liudmila Samsonova
Elena Rybakina and Liudmila Samsonova© Getty Images Sport – Minas Panagiotakis
When Rybakina and Samsonova meet, it will be their fifth meeting. A bit shockingly, fifth-ranked Rybakina has never beaten world No. 15 Samsonova. After beating Rybakina in 2021 Montreal and 2022 Tokyo, Samsonova also beat the Kazakh last year in Montreal and Beijing.
It remains to be seen if Rybakina can clinch her first win over Samsonova when she meets the No. 8 seed in the Abu Dhabi semifinal.
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