Caroline Wozniacki

Wozniacki at the 2009 US Open
Country	Denmark
Residence	Monte Carlo, Monaco
Born	(1990-07-11) 11 July 1990 (age 21) Odense, Denmark
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in)[1]
Weight	58 kg (128 lb; 9 st 2 lb)[1]
Turned pro	18 July 2005[1]
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)[1]
Career prize money	$ 12,444,751[1]
Official web site	www.carolinewozniacki.dk
Singles
Career record	318–117[1]
Career titles	18 WTA, 4 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 1 (11 October 2010)
Current ranking	No. 9 (28 May 2012)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	SF (2011)
French Open	QF (2010)
Wimbledon	4R (2009, 2010, 2011)
US Open	F (2009)
Other tournaments
Championships	F (2010)
Olympic Games	3R (2008)
Doubles
Career record	36–54[1]
Career titles	2 WTA, 0 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 52 (14 September 2009)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2008)
French Open	2R (2010)
Wimbledon	2R (2009, 2010)
US Open	3R (2009)
Last updated on: 28 May 2012.

Caroline Wozniacki (born 11 July 1990) is a Danish professional tennis player. She is a former world no. 1 on the WTA Tour. As of 23 January 2012, she held this position for 67 weeks.^[5] She is the first Scandinavian woman to hold the top ranking position and 20th overall.^[6]

Since her WTA debut in 2005, she has improved her year-end ranking each year until finishing on top in both 2010 and 2011. She has won 18 WTA singles titles as of August 2011, three in 2008, three in 2009, six in 2010 (the most since Justine Henin's ten in 2007),^[7] and six in 2011. She was runner-up at the 2009 US Open and the 2010 WTA Tour Championships in Doha to Kim Clijsters. She won the 2006 Wimbledon Girls' Singles title but has yet to win a women's Grand Slam title. She also holds two WTA titles in doubles.

Early life[link]

Wozniacki is the daughter of Polish Roman Catholic^[8] immigrants, Piotr and Anna Wozniacki.^[9] Anna played on the Polish women's national volleyball team,^[10] and Piotr played professional football. The couple moved to Denmark when Piotr signed for the Danish football club Boldklubben 1909.^[9][11] Wozniacki's older brother Patrik Wozniacki is a professional footballer for Hvidovre IF in Denmark.^[10]

Playing style[link]

Wozniacki's playing style centers "around the defensive aspects of tennis with her anticipation, movement, agility, footwork and defence all first-rate and key parts of her game."^[12] Her two-handed backhand is one of her best weapons as she is capable of turning defense into offense, most notably the backhand down-the-line. Her defensive playing style has her contemporaries label her a counter-puncher.^{[citation needed]}

Sponsors[link]

In 2009, Wozniacki signed on to become an endorser for the line of tennis apparel designed by Stella McCartney for adidas. She wore her first adidas by Stella McCartney tennis dress at the 2009 US Open.^[13] She also has sponsorship agreements with Compeed, Danske Invest, Oriflame, Turkish Airlines, Proactiv, Sony Ericsson, Yonex and e-Boks.^[14]

Career[link]

This section may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may only interest a specific audience. Please help relocate any relevant information, and remove excessive detail that may be against Wikipedia inclusion policy. (December 2011)

2005[link]

Wozniacki won several junior tournaments in 2005, including the Orange Bowl tennis championship.^[15] She made her debut on the WTA Tour at Cincinnati's Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open on 19 July 2005, losing to the top-seeded and eventual champion Patty Schnyder in the first round. In the Nordea Nordic Light Open, her other WTA tournament of the year, she lost to Martina Suchá in the first round.

2006[link]

In 2006, she was the top seed at the Australian Open (junior girls' singles), but lost the final to eighth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia. She was seeded second with partner Anna Tatishvili in the doubles tournament, but the pair was knocked out in the semifinals by the French-Italian pair of Alizé Cornet and Corinna Dentoni, who were seeded eighth.

In February at the Memphis, she reached her first WTA Tour quarterfinal, beating Kristina Brandi and Ashley Harkleroad, before losing to third-seeded Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden.

Wozniacki during the Junior Wimbledon final

Before the Wimbledon, Wozniacki won the exhibition tournament Liverpool International Tennis Tournament, beating Ashley Harkleroad in the finals.^[16]

Later that year, she was given a wild card to the qualifying draw at Wimbledon, where she was beaten in the first round by Miho Saeki. However, Wozniacki went on to win the girls' singles tournament, beating Slovak Magdaléna Rybáriková in the finals.

In August, she reached another WTA Tour quarterfinal, this time at the Nordea Nordic Light Open in Stockholm. She defeated top-100 players Iveta Benešová and Eleni Daniilidou, before falling to eventual champion and third-seeded Zheng Jie.

Wozniacki was seeded second in Girls' Singles in the year's last major tournament. In the first round, she won the first set against Russian Alexandra Panova, but was disqualified in the second set for verbally abusing an umpire. Wozniacki was said to have used an expletive in referring to a linesman who made a disputed call.^[17] However, on her blog, she claimed to have said, "take your sunglasses of [sic]" and was mistaken for talking to the linesman, when she in fact was criticizing herself after the next point.^[18]

In her last junior tournament, the Osaka Mayor's Cup, she won both the girls' singles and doubles.^[19]

Her first title on the senior tour came shortly after on 29 October, when she won the $25,000 ITF-tournament in Istanbul by beating Tatjana Malek in the final.

Wozniacki was set to face Venus Williams on 27 November in an exhibition match in Copenhagen,^[20] but five days before the event, Williams canceled because of an injury.^[21] The two did, however, face each other in the Memphis WTA Tier III event on 20 February. Williams beat Wozniacki, ending a nine-match winning streak for Wozniacki.

On 29 November, Wozniacki was named ambassador for Danish Junior Tennis by the Culture Minister of Denmark at the time, Brian Mikkelsen.^[22]

2007[link]

On 4 February, she won a $75,000 ITF singles title in Ortisei, Italy, beating Italian Alberta Brianti.^[23] On 4 March, she won the $75,000 ITF tournament in Las Vegas, beating top-seed Akiko Morigami in the final.

She obtained a wild card for the Pacific Life Open main draw and made her Tier I debut there. She was knocked out in the second round by Martina Hingis.

She then made the semifinals of the AIG Open in Tokyo in October, her first career WTA Tour semifinal, and as a result became the first Danish woman to reach a WTA semifinal since Tine Scheuer-Larsen at Bregenz in 1986. She was defeated by Venus Williams in straight sets.

2008[link]

At 2008 US Open

At the Australian Open, Wozniacki defeated Gisela Dulko and 21st seed Alona Bondarenko on her way to the round of 16, where she lost to the eventual finalist and fourth-seeded Ana Ivanović.

At the French Open, she was seeded 30th, making this the first Grand Slam tournament in which Wozniacki was seeded. She again lost in the third round to the eventual champion and world no. 2 Ana Ivanović.

At Wimbledon, she reached the third round, but lost to second-seeded Jelena Janković.^[24]

Wozniacki won her first WTA Tour title at the Nordic Light Open in Stockholm without dropping a set, defeating fifth seed Anabel Medina Garrigues in the quarterfinals, top seed and world no. 10, Agnieszka Radwańska in the semifinals, and Vera Dushevina in the final.

At the Summer Olympics in Beijing, she beat world no. 12 Daniela Hantuchová in the second round, before falling to the eventual gold-medalist Elena Dementieva. Wozniacki then won her second WTA Tour title at the Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven, defeating four seeded players, Dominika Cibulková, Marion Bartoli, and Alizé Cornet, en route to the final, where she defeated world no. 11 Anna Chakvetadze.

Wozniacki was the 21st seed at the US Open. She defeated world no. 14 Victoria Azarenka in the third round, but lost to second-seeded and eventual runner-up Jelena Janković in the fourth round.

At the China Open, she lost her opening match to Anabel Medina Garrigues. However, she teamed up with Medina Garrigues to clinch the doubles title, defeating the Chinese duo of Han Xinyun and Xu Yi-Fan. It was Wozniacki's first WTA doubles title. At the Tier III AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships, she was the top seed for the first time on the WTA Tour, and she won her third career title, defeating Kaia Kanepi of Estonia in the final.

Wozniacki then took part in the e-Boks Odense Open in her hometown of Odense. She won the tournament, beating world no. 64 Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden in the final.

Her final win–loss record for the year (ITF matches included, exhibition matches not included) was 58–20 in singles and 8–9 in doubles. She ended the year ranked 12th in singles and 79th in doubles. She finished thirteenth in the race for the Sony Ericsson Championships. She also won the WTA Newcomer of the Year award for 2008.^[25]

2009[link]

Wozniacki reached 8 finals winning 3 in 2009

Wozniacki started the season in Auckland, where she lost to Elena Vesnina in the quarterfinals. She also reached the quarterfinals in Sydney, this time losing to world no. 2 Serena Williams after having three match points. Seeded 11th at the Australian Open, Wozniacki lost in the third round to Australian wild card Jelena Dokić.

In Pattaya, Wozniacki lost to Magdaléna Rybáriková in the quarterfinals. Seeded first at the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, Tennessee, Wozniacki advanced to the final, but lost to Victoria Azarenka. Afterwards, they partnered in the doubles final to defeat Michaëlla Krajicek and Yuliana Fedak.

Wozniacki then took part in the first two Premier Mandatory tournaments of the year. At Indian Wells, she lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Vera Zvonareva. In Miami, she scored her first win over Elena Dementieva, before losing to another Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals.

Wozniacki won her first title of the year at the MPS Group Championships on green clay in Ponte Vedra Beach, where she defeated Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak. In Charleston, she defeated top seed Elena Dementieva in the semifinals, before losing the final to Sabine Lisicki.

Wozniacki suffered early exits in her next two tournaments, losing to Marion Bartoli in the second round in Stuttgart, and to Victoria Azarenka in the third round in Rome. She reached the final of the inaugural Premier Mandatory Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, where she lost to world no. 1 Dinara Safina. This was Wozniacki's only match against a reigning no. 1 before she herself became no. 1 in October 2010. Seeded 10th at the French Open, Wozniacki lost to Sorana Cîrstea in the third round. They partnered in doubles, but lost in the first round.

Wozniacki won her second 2009 title on the grass of Eastbourne. In the final, she defeated Virginie Razzano.^[26] Wozniacki was seeded ninth at Wimbledon, where she lost to Sabine Lisicki in the fourth round.

Wozniacki reached her first Grand Slam final at the US Open

On her 19th birthday, she lost the final of the Swedish Open to María José Martínez Sánchez. On hard court at the LA Women's Tennis Championships, she lost in the second round to Sorana Cîrstea. At the Cincinnati Masters, she reached the quarterfinals, before falling to Elena Dementieva. In Toronto, she lost early in the second round to Zheng Jie, but she then went on to defend her title at the Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven without losing a set. In the first round, she had her first double bagel win as a professional, 6–0, 6–0, over Edina Gallovits in 41 minutes. In the final, she beat Elena Vesnina for her third title of the season.

Wozniacki was the ninth seed at the US Open. She made her best result to date by becoming the first Danish woman to reach a Grand Slam final. There, she was defeated by Kim Clijsters, who had recently made a comeback after retiring in 2007.

In the second round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open, she retired because of a viral illness down 0–5 against Aleksandra Wozniak. She then lost to María José Martínez Sánchez in the first round of the China Open, and to Samantha Stosur in the semifinals in Osaka. The following week in Luxembourg, she retired with a hamstring injury in the first round, while leading 7–5, 5–0 over Anne Kremer. This aroused controversy because of the scoreline.^[27]

Wozniacki's 2009 results qualified her for the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha for the first time. She won two of three group matches and advanced to the semifinals. There she struggled with a stomach strain and a left thigh injury against world no. 1 Serena Williams, and retired while trailing 6–4, 0–1.^[28]

2010[link]

In her first WTA tournament of the year, Wozniacki suffered an opening-round loss to Li Na of China in the Sydney. She was seeded fourth at the Australian Open, her first top-eight seed in a Grand Slam. She again fell to Li, this time in the fourth round, in straight sets. Despite her fourth-round exit, Wozniacki achieved a career-high ranking of no. 3.

As the second seed at Indian Wells, Wozniacki reached the final before losing to former world no. 1 Jelena Janković. With this result, she achieved a new career-high ranking of world no. 2.^[29] At the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Wozniacki lost in the quarterfinals to the newly returned Justine Henin.

Her next tournament was in Ponte Vedra Beach, where she defeated Olga Govortsova in the final. Wozniacki then competed at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston. She advanced to the semifinals, where she met Vera Zvonareva. Wozniacki was forced to retire down 2–5, after she rolled her ankle while chasing down a short ball.^[30][31]

Despite her ongoing ankle injury, she continued to compete in tournaments through the clay-court season, suffering early losses in Stuttgart, Rome, and Madrid. She then reached the quarterfinals in Warsaw, but retired there after losing the first set.^[32]

Wozniacki was seeded third at the French Open. She posted her best result at Roland Garros by advancing to the fourth round without dropping a set. After defeating Flavia Pennetta in the round of 16 in three sets, she lost to eventual champion Francesca Schiavone in the quarterfinals. Wozniacki partnered with Daniela Hantuchová in doubles, but they withdrew before their second round match against the Williams sisters because of a right shoulder injury to Hantuchová.

As the defending champion, Wozniacki lost early at the AEGON International, her first grass-court tournament of the year, to Aravane Rezaï. Wozniacki was seeded third at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, where she defeated Tathiana Garbin, Chang Kai-chen, and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova en route to the fourth round, where she was defeated by Petra Kvitová.

Wozniacki was the first seed at the inaugural 2010 e-Boks Danish Open. It was the first Danish WTA tournament, created largely out of Wozniacki's popularity in Denmark. She reached the final, and she defeated Klára Zakopalová to win her second title of the year.

In Cincinnati, she lost in the third round to Marion Bartoli. As the second seed in Montreal, Wozniacki was forced to wait two days to play her semifinal match with Svetlana Kuznetsova because of heavy rain. She defeated both Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva on the same day for her third singles title of the year. As the top seed in New Haven, Wozniacki defeated Nadia Petrova in the final for her third consecutive title there. By virtue of this, she also won the 2010 US Open Series.

Wozniacki in the 2010 US Open

Wozniacki was the top seed at the US Open due to the withdrawal of world no. 1 Serena Williams. She advanced to the semifinals, before being upset by Vera Zvonareva. With her semifinal appearance, Wozniacki became one of only two women (the other being Venus Williams) to have reached at least the fourth round of all four Grand Slam events in 2010.^[33]

Wozniacki's first tournament during the Asian hard-court season was the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. She won back-to-back three setters against Victoria Azarenka and Elena Dementieva, the latter of whom she beat in the final to win her fifth title of the year.

She then entered the China Open in Beijing. In the third round, Wozniacki faced Petra Kvitová, who had routed her at Wimbledon. Wozniacki avenged that loss, which ensured that she would replace Serena Williams as the new world no. 1 after the tournament. She was the fifth player to reach the no. 1 position without having won a Grand Slam tournament. She also became the first Danish player, man or woman, to reach the top ranking.^[34] Wozniacki ultimately won the tournament, defeating Vera Zvonareva in the final to win her sixth title of the year and twelfth overall.

At the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Wozniacki was drawn in a group with Francesca Schiavone, Samantha Stosur, and Elena Dementieva. She defeated Dementieva in her first round-robin game, but lost to Stosur in the second. She won her last round-robin match in the group against Schiavone, securing the year-end world no. 1 rank and a place in the semifinals against the winner of the other group, Vera Zvonareva. Wozniacki defeated her, but then lost the final in three sets to Kim Clijsters. Wozniacki ended the season with six WTA singles titles, the most on the tour. Clijsters won five, and no other player won more than two.

2011[link]

Caroline Wozniacki serving in the New Haven Open

During the off season, Wozniacki switched her racquet make from Babolat to Yonex.^[35] Wozniacki began her 2011 season with an exhibition match in Thailand against Kim Clijsters where she lost in a super tie-break.^[36] Wozniacki then played another exhibition, the team Hong Kong Tennis Classic, where she represented and was captain of Team Europe. She won two matches against Team Asia Pacific, before getting crushed by world no. 2 Vera Zvonareva in the final against Team Russia.^[37] Her first WTA tournament was the Medibank International Sydney. She received a bye to the second round, where she lost to Dominika Cibulková.

The Australian Open was Wozniacki's first major as world no. 1.^[38] She lost to Li Na in the semifinals after failing to convert a match point when trying to serve out the match at 5–4 in the second set.

Wozniacki dropped to no. 2 behind Kim Clijsters during the week of 14 February, but regained the top spot the following week. She received a bye to the second round in Dubai where, in the quarterfinals, she beat Shahar Pe'er to ensure her no. 1 position in the next rankings update.^[39] She went on to defeat Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final to take her 13th career singles title and first of the year.

In Doha, she received a bye to the second round and reached the final, after defeating Nadia Petrova, Flavia Pennetta, and Marion Bartoli in straight sets. She lost to Vera Zvonareva in the final.

In the first Premier Mandatory event of the year in Indian Wells, Wozniacki made it to the final, where she defeated Marion Bartoli for her 14th singles title.

After a first-round bye at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida, Wozniacki lost in the fourth round to 21st seed Andrea Petkovic. Wozniacki made an uncharacteristic 52 unforced errors and later cited exhaustion as a factor in the loss.

In the Family Circle Cup, Wozniacki made it to the final, where she defeated unseeded Elena Vesnina to take her third title of the year, 15th of her career.

In Stuttgart, Wozniacki made it to her fifth final of the year, where she lost to Julia Görges in straight sets.

In Madrid, Wozniacki lost to Görges again, this time in the third round. In Rome, she lost to eventual champion Maria Sharapova in the semifinal round.

At the Brussels Open, Wozniacki reached the semifinals, where she defeated third seed and reigning French Open champion, Francesca Schiavone.^[40] In the final, Wozniacki's sixth of the year, she defeated eighth seed Peng Shuai to win her first red clay title, after having won three on the faster green clay.^[41]

Wozniacki was the top seed at the French Open, but was defeated in the third round by 28th seed Daniela Hantuchová.^[42]

Wozniacki's next tournament was the e-Boks Sony Ericsson Open in her native Denmark. In the final, she defeated fourth seed Lucie Šafářová, taking her fifth title of the year.^[43] At Wimbledon, she had straight-set wins until the fourth round, but then lost to 24th seed Dominika Cibulková.^[44]

Caroline Wozniacki accepting the winners trophy at the New Haven Open

At the Rogers Cup Wozniacki made an early second-round exit. She was defeated by Roberta Vinci in straight sets despite holding a 5–1 lead in the second set. Wozniacki was the top seed at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, but lost in the second round to world no. 76 Christina McHale. Next playing at the New Haven Open at Yale, Wozniacki won the title for the fourth year in a row, defeating Francesca Schiavone in the semifinals and qualifier Petra Cetkovská in the final.^[45]

At the US Open, Wozniacki was the first seed. In the first round, she defeated Nuria Llagostera Vives. In the second round, Wozniacki defeated Arantxa Rus,^[46] and in the third round, defeated American Vania King.^[47] In the fourth round, Wozniacki fought back from a 7–6, 4–1 deficit, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova.^[48] Wozniacki then progressed to the semifinals by defeating Andrea Petkovic in the quarterfinals.^[49] In the semifinals she lost to Serena Williams.^[50]

In Tokyo Wozniacki lost to Kaia Kanepi in the third round. In Beijing she lost to Flavia Pennetta in the quarterfinals. This was Wozniacki's only loss in the 12 quarterfinals she reached in 2011.

Wozniacki was the top seed at the WTA Championships. In the group stage she beat Agnieszka Radwańska before falling to Vera Zvonareva. She lost also to Petra Kvitová in her final round-robin match and so she failed to advance to semifinals for the first time in three appearances. After the withdrawal of Maria Sharapova, Wozniacki was certain to finish the year as world no. 1 for the second consecutive year.

2012[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2012)

Wozniacki began her season by representing Denmark at the 2012 Hopman Cup with Frederik Nielsen as her partner. Wozniacki won two of her three round robin matches in singles, defeating Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Tsvetana Pironkova before losing to the World No. 2 Petra Kvitová in three sets.

Wozniacki's next event was the 2012 Apia International Sydney. After a first round bye, Wozniacki defeated Dominika Cibulková (whom she had lost to in the same round of the event last year) in three sets after trailing 4–0 in the final set. She lost to World No. 8 Agnieszka Radwańska in three sets in the quarterfinals, after serving for the match at 5–4 up in the second set.

Wozniacki competed at the 2012 Australian Open as the top seed. Wozniacki defeated Anastasia Rodionova, Anna Tatishvili, Monica Niculescu and Jelena Janković all in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals where she lost to former World No. 1 Kim Clijsters. As a result Wozniacki lost her top ranking and was replaced by Victoria Azarenka. Next playing at Doha, Wozniacki lost to Lucie Safarova in the second round, having received a first round bye.

Wozniacki was the defending champion in Dubai and Indian Wells but failed to defend either title, losing to Julia Georges and Ana Ivanovic respectively. Following her loss at Indian Wells, Wozniacki fell out of the Top 5 for the first time since 2009.

Wozniacki was seeded fourth in Miami, and reached the semifinals by beating Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, Petra Cetkovska, Yanina Wickmayer and Serena Williams, all in straight sets. Wozniacki was then beaten by second seed Maria Sharapova, 4–6, 6–2, 6–4. Wozniacki did not defend her title in Charleston as she was not allowed to participate under WTA rules because two Top-6 players had already entered the draw. Wozniacki then played at the tournament in her home town of Copenhagen. She defeated Urszula Radwanska, Pauline Parmentier, Alize Cornet, and Petra Martic. She lost her first match at the tournament losing to Angelique Kerber in the final 6–4 6–4.

Personal life[link]

Wozniacki's best friend is her fellow Danish tennis player Malou Ejdesgaard, who has been her doubles partner in five tournaments.^[51] They are trying to gain entry to the 2012 Summer Olympics in doubles.^[52]

When asked in 2008 by Teen Vogue magazine what sports beside tennis she liked to play, Wozniacki said "I like handball, soccer, swimming, playing the piano, and all kinds of different things."^[53]

On 20 December 2010, she signed a three-year deal to endorse Turkish Airlines' business class service.^[54][55]

Wozniacki is a Liverpool supporter. She wore a Liverpool shirt signed by footballer Steven Gerrard on court in the 2011 Qatar Ladies Open.^[56]

According to Forbes in 2011 she was the second highest earning female athlete in the world.^[57]

According to the June 2011 edition of SportsPro Wozniacki is the world's ninth most marketable athlete.^[58]

She is currently dating professional golfer Rory McIlroy.^[59]

Career statistics[link]

Grand Slam finals[link]

Singles: 1 (0–1)[link]

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	2009	US Open	Hard	Kim Clijsters	7–5, 6–3

Singles performance timeline[link]

Awards[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Tennis portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Caroline Wozniacki

• Official website
• Caroline Wozniacki at the Women's Tennis Association
• Caroline Wozniacki at the International Tennis Federation
• Caroline Wozniacki at the International Tennis Federation Junior Profile
• Caroline Wozniacki at the Fed Cup
• Caroline Wozniacki at the Internet Movie Database
• Caroline Wozniacki on Twitter

Caroline Wozniacki (Achievement predecessor & successor) Sporting positions Preceded by Serena Williams Kim Clijsters World No. 1 11 October 2010 – 13 February 2011 21 February 2011 – 30 January 2012 Succeeded by Kim Clijsters Victoria Azarenka Preceded by Elena Dementieva US Open Series Champion 2010 Succeeded by Serena Williams Awards Preceded by Ágnes Szávay WTA Newcomer of the Year 2008 Succeeded by Melanie Oudin Preceded by Serena Williams ITF Women's Singles World Champion 2010 Succeeded by Petra Kvitová Preceded by Samantha Stosur Diamond Aces 2011 Succeeded by Incumbent

Sara Errani

File:S Errani.jpeg Sara Errani in 2012
Country	Italy
Residence	Bologna, Italy
Born	(1987-04-29) April 29, 1987 (age 25) Bologna, Italy
Height	1.64 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight	60 kg (130 lb)
Turned pro	2002
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	$2,488,393
Singles
Career record	298–217
Career titles	5 WTA, 2 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 23 (May 21, 2012)
Current ranking	No. 24 (May 28, 2012)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	QF (2012)
French Open	4R (2012)
Wimbledon	3R (2010)
US Open	3R (2009, 2010)
Doubles
Career record	188–129
Career titles	13 WTA, 6 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 8 (May 14, 2012)
Current ranking	No. 8 (May 28, 2012)
Last updated on: May 28, 2012.

Sara Errani (born April 29, 1987 in Bologna, Italy), nicknamed "Poco Gigante", is a professional female tennis player from Italy. On May 21, 2012, she reached a new career-high of no. 23 on the Tour rankings. On May 14, 2012, Errani became a top 10 doubles player and had a career high rank of World No. 8. She won five WTA titles in her career, and also has two ITF Titles.

Career[link]

Early life and Junior career[link]

At age 12 her father sent her to the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. At 16 she moved to Valencia, in Spain, to be coached by Pablo Lozano and David Andres.^[1]

Errani competed in her first event at the $10,000 Cagliari event in her native country of Italy in 2002 where she lost to Sun Tiantian 6–1, 6–0. She continued to compete in the ITF, where her best performance of the year was a semifinal appearance in $10,000 Zaton. She continued to participate mainly on the ITF, where she won her first tournament 6–1, 6–4 over Lucia Jiminez in Melilla, Italy 2005.

2008-2011[link]

Her first WTA title of her career was in the Internazionali Femminili di Palermo, where she defeated Mariya Koryttseva. On July 27, 2008, she captured her second career title in two weeks defeating Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6–3, 6–3. She has also won six doubles WTA titles.

In 2009, Errani was the runner-up at two WTA tournaments: in Palermo and Portoroz, as the defending champion in both.

With Italy, she won the Fed Cup in 2009 and 2010.

In February 2011, she reached the final of the PTT Pattaya Open, where she was defeated by Daniela Hantuchová.

2012[link]

Errani's breakthrough year came in 2012. At the 2012 Australian Open Errani advanced to her first grand slam quarterfinals, defeating Nadia Petrova, Sorana Cirstea, and Jie Zheng en route before losing to Petra Kvitova. Her ranking jumped to World No.33, a career best.

At the Abierto Monterrey Open, Errani was the 2nd seed where she reached the semi-finals, losing to eventual champion Timea Babos 6–4 6–7 6–4, but she triumphed in Acupulco on clay as the 3rd seed, winning her 3rd career title. She defeated fellow italians Roberta Vinci 7–5 6–1 and 2nd seed Flavia Pennetta 6–7(5) 7–5 6–0 in her last two matches.

Errani fell in the opening rounds of Indian Wells to Vania King 7–6 6–4, and in the 2nd round of the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open against Sloane Stephens 3–6 6–2 7–5.

As the 7th seed at the Barcelona Ladies Open, Errani stormed to her 4th career title and 2nd of the year year, not dropping a set as she sweeped through the draw , beating 2nd seeded Julia Goerges 6–2 6–3 (in QF), Carla Suarez Navarro 6–1 6–2 (in SF) and Dominika Cibulkova 6–2 6–2 in the final. Her ranking increased to World No. 28. In the Fed Cup semi-finals against Czech Republic, Errani lost to Petra Kvitova 6–4 6–3 and beat Andrea Hlavackova 3–6 6–2 6–2, with Italy losing the tie 4–1.

On May 7, 2012 Errani won the 2012 Budapest Grand Prix, tieing countrywoman Roberta Vinci for the most titles won by an Italian female in a year at three.^[2]

In addition to her singles wins, Errani also won 5 doubles titles with Roberta Vinci including the 2012 Mutua Madrid Open and the 2012 Internazionali BNL d'Italia. She and Vinci also made the finals of the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open and the 2012 Australian Open.

Major finals[link]

Grand Slam[link]

Doubles: 1 (0–1)[link]

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	2012	Australian Open	Hard	Roberta Vinci	Svetlana Kuznetsova Vera Zvonareva	7–5, 4–6, 3–6

Premier 5/Premier Mandatory[link]

Doubles: 3 (2–1)[link]

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	2012	Miami, United States	Hard	Roberta Vinci	Maria Kirilenko Nadia Petrova	6–7(0–7), 6–4, [4–10]
Winner	2012	Madrid, Spain	Clay (blue)	Roberta Vinci	Ekaterina Makarova Elena Vesnina	6–1, 3–6, [10–4]
Winner	2012	Rome, Italy	Clay	Roberta Vinci	Ekaterina Makarova Elena Vesnina	6–2, 7–5

WTA Career Finals[link]

Singles: 8 (5–3)[link]

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	July 13, 2008	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Mariya Koryttseva	6–2, 6–3
Winner	2.	July 27, 2008	Portorož, Slovenia	Hard	Anabel Medina Garrigues	6–3, 6–3
Runner-up	1.	July 19, 2009	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Flavia Pennetta	1–6, 2–6
Runner-up	2.	July 26, 2009	Portorož, Slovenia	Hard	Dinara Safina	7–6(7–5), 1–6, 5–7
Runner-up	3.	February 13, 2011	Pattaya City, Thailand	Hard	Daniela Hantuchová	0–6, 2–6
Winner	3.	March 4, 2012	Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	Flavia Pennetta	5–7, 7–6(7–2), 6–0
Winner	4.	April 15, 2012	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Dominika Cibulková	6–2, 6–2
Winner	5.	May 5, 2012	Budapest, Hungary	Clay	Elena Vesnina	7–5, 6–4

Doubles: 20 (13–7)[link]

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	July 13, 2008	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Nuria Llagostera Vives	Alla Kudryavtseva Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova	2–6, 7–6(7–1), [10–4]
Winner	2.	June 19, 2009	's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Flavia Pennetta	Michaëlla Krajicek Yanina Wickmayer	6–4, 5–7, [13–11]
Runner-up	1.	February 22, 2010	Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	Roberta Vinci	Polona Hercog Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	6–2, 1–6, [2–10]
Winner	3.	April 11, 2010	Marbella, Spain	Clay	Roberta Vinci	Maria Kondratieva Yaroslava Shvedova	6–4, 6–2
Winner	4.	April 17, 2010	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Roberta Vinci	Timea Bacsinszky Tathiana Garbin	6–1, 3–6, [10–2]
Winner	5.	July 17, 2010	Palermo, Italy (2)	Clay	Alberta Brianti	Jill Craybas Julia Görges	6–4, 6–1
Runner-up	2.	October 23, 2010	Moscow, Russia	Hard (i)	María José Martínez Sánchez	Gisela Dulko Flavia Pennetta	3–6, 6–2, [6–10]
Winner	6.	January 15, 2011	Hobart, Australia	Hard	Roberta Vinci	Kateryna Bondarenko Līga Dekmeijere	6–3, 7–5
Winner	7.	February 13, 2011	Pattaya City, Thailand	Hard	Roberta Vinci	Sun Shengnan Zheng Jie	3–6, 6–3, [10–5]
Runner-up	3.	April 10, 2011	Marbella, Spain	Clay	Roberta Vinci	Nuria Llagostera Vives Arantxa Parra Santonja	6–3, 4–6, [5–10]
Runner-up	4.	June 12, 2011	Birmingham, Great Britain	Grass	Roberta Vinci	Olga Govortsova Alla Kudryavtseva	6–1, 1–6, [5–10]
Winner	8.	July 16, 2011	Palermo, Italy (3)	Clay	Roberta Vinci	Andrea Hlaváčková Klára Zakopalová	7–5, 6–1
Runner-up	5.	August 27, 2011	New Haven, United States	Hard	Roberta Vinci	Chuang Chia-jung Olga Govortsova	5–7, 2–6
Runner-up	6.	January 27, 2012	Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Roberta Vinci	Svetlana Kuznetsova Vera Zvonareva	7–5, 4–6, 3–6
Winner	9.	February 26, 2012	Monterrey, Mexico	Hard	Roberta Vinci	Kimiko Date-Krumm Zhang Shuai	6–2, 7–6(8–6)
Winner	10.	March 4, 2012	Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	Roberta Vinci	Lourdes Dominguez Lino Arantxa Parra Santonja	6–2, 6–1
Runner-up	7.	March 31, 2012	Miami, United States	Hard	Roberta Vinci	Maria Kirilenko Nadia Petrova	6–7(0–7), 6–4, [4–10]
Winner	11.	April 15, 2012	Barcelona, Spain (2)	Clay	Roberta Vinci	Flavia Pennetta Francesca Schiavone	6–0, 6–2
Winner	12.	May 13, 2012	Madrid, Spain	Clay (blue)	Roberta Vinci	Ekaterina Makarova Elena Vesnina	6–1, 3–6, [10–4]
Winner	13.	May 20, 2012	Rome, Italy	Clay	Roberta Vinci	Ekaterina Makarova Elena Vesnina	6–2, 7–5

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sara Errani

• Sara Errani at the Women's Tennis Association
• Sara Errani at the International Tennis Federation

v t e Women's Tennis Association: Top ten Italian female singles tennis players as of 14 May 2012. Francesca Schiavone (14 3) Roberta Vinci (19 1) Flavia Pennetta (21 ) Sara Errani (24 ) Alberta Brianti (104 7) Karin Knapp (112 4) Camila Giorgi (145 16) Anna Floris (184 1) Nastassya Burnett (193 4) Maria Elena Camerin (209 2)

Svetlana Kuznetsova
Светла́на Кузнецо́ва

Kuznetsova at the 2009 US Open
Country	Russia
Residence	Saint Petersburg, Russia
Born	(1985-06-27) June 27, 1985 (age 26) Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Weight	73 kg (160 lb; 11.5 st)
Turned pro	2000
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	$16,372,146
Singles
Career record	460–208
Career titles	13 WTA, 1 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 2 (September 10, 2007)
Current ranking	No. 28 (May 7, 2012)[1]
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	QF (2005, 2009)
French Open	W (2009)
Wimbledon	QF (2003, 2005, 2007)
US Open	W (2004)
Other tournaments
Championships	RR (2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
Doubles
Career record	216–90
Career titles	15 WTA
Highest ranking	No. 3 (June 7, 2004)
Current ranking	No. 31 (May 7, 2012)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	W (2005, 2012)
French Open	F (2004)
Wimbledon	F (2005)
US Open	F (2003, 2004)
Other Doubles tournaments
WTA Championships	SF (2003, 2004)
Olympic Games	QF (2008)
Last updated on: April 40, 2012.

Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova ( Светла́на Алекса́ндровна Кузнецо́ва (help·info)); born June 27, 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player and as of May 7, 2012 ranked No. 28 in the WTA singles and No. 31 in the doubles ranking. Kuznetsova has appeared in four singles Grand Slam finals, winning two, and has also appeared in seven doubles finals, winning twice. She has qualified five times for the round-robin stage of the WTA Tour Championships but has never qualified for the semifinals.

Her first Grand Slam title came at the 2004 US Open, making her the third Russian woman to win a Grand Slam title, after Anastasia Myskina and Maria Sharapova who won at the 2004 French Open and 2004 Wimbledon tournaments respectively. Kuznetzova's second Grand Slam title was the 2009 French Open, defeating Serena Williams in the quarterfinal, Samantha Stosur in the semifinal, and compatriot Dinara Safina in the final in straight sets. At the 2006 French Open and the 2007 US Open singles tournament she was the runner-up, both times to Belgian player Justine Henin. As a result, Kuznetsova obtained her new WTA ranking of No. 2, her best to that date. Kuznetsova has won a total of 13 WTA and 1 ITF singles titles and 15 WTA doubles titles to date and US$16,372,146 in prize money, making her the second top Russian earner on court and number 11 of all female tennis players to date and No. 5 of active players, after only Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters, and Maria Sharapova respectively.

Early life[link]

Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova was born in Leningrad. Her father, Aleksandr Kuznetsov, has coached five Olympic and world cycling champions. Kuznetsova's mother, Galina Tsareva, is a six-time world champion and holder of 20 world records in cycling, and her brother, Nikolay Kuznetsov, was a silver medalist at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and coach of the Russian cycling team Lokomotiv. Svetlana Kuznetsova began to play tennis at the age of seven, and moved to Spain six years later for better training and coaching. While there, she became fluent in Spanish.^[2][3]

Career[link]

2000: ITF Junior Career[link]

Kuznetsova debuted in her first International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament in Mallorca on January 31. In the first round, she defeated Katia Altilia from Italy in two straight sets, 6–0, 6–4. However, she lost in the quarter final to Oana–Elena Golimbioschi, 7–5, 6–1.^[4] Her next appearance was in Talence in April. She defeated Aurore Desertin in the first round, but lost in the second round to Berengere Karpenschif, both from France.^[4] In Minsk, Belarus, in a tournament using the short sets scoring system, she reached the quarter final, after defeating the unranked Vera Zvonareva in the first round in four sets, 5–3, 4–2, 4–5(4), 4–2, and Daria Panova in three sets, 5–3, 4–2, 4–1 in the second round. In the quarter final, she lost to 574th ranked Elena Voropaeva in four sets, 5–4(5), 5–4(4), 4–2, after losing two tie breaks in the two earlier sets.^[4] However, Kuznetsova was ranked in the top 900, receiving her first ranking below 889. She moved to Mallorca again and joined the Mallorca 3 tournament. Kuznetsova lost in the first round to Dinara Safina after winning the first set, 4–5(0), 4–1, 4–1, 4–0.^[4] Subsequently, she moved down to 891. Her last tournament this year was again in Mallorca, but now played in a minimum of four sets. In the Round of 32, she defeated Silvia Disderi, 4–2, 4–1, 3–5, 3–5, 4–2. However, she fell to 8th seeded Mihaela Moldovan in the last round, 4–2, 0–4, 5–4(5), 4–2.^[4] She ended the season ranked 889.^[5]

2001–2002[link]

Kuznetsova began playing in tournaments on the ITF Circuit in 2000, winning her first title on the circuit in April 2001.^[4] Her first appearances in the main draws of tournaments on the main WTA Tour were at the Madrid Open in May of that year and at the Waikoloa Championships in Waikoloa, Hawaii, losing in the second round on both occasions. She finished the year 2001 ranked 259.^[5]

Kuznetsova made her debut in the main draw of a Grand Slam at the 2002 Australian Open, where, as a qualifier, she reached the second round before losing to 16th seed Iroda Tulyaganova.^[6] However, she lost in the qualifying rounds of both the French Open and Wimbledon.^[4]

As a qualifier at the clay-court Nordea Nordic Light Open in Helsinki, Finland in August, Kuznetsova won her first WTA singles title, defeating World No. 24 Patty Schnyder in the quarterfinals for her first win over a top 40 player,^[4] before defeating Denisa Chládková in the final.^[7] Kuznetsova entered the top 100 for the first time as a result of that victory.^[4] Kuznetsova qualified for the US Open, defeating 19th seed Anne Kremer in the first round for her first win over a top 20 player,^[4] before losing in the third round to 13th seed Silvia Farina Elia.^[8] In September, Kuznetsova won her second title at the hard court Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in Bali, Indonesia,^[4] defeating former Grand Slam champions Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and Conchita Martínez.^[9] Also during 2002, she teamed up with Sánchez Vicario to win the first WTA doubles titles of her career, in Sopot, Poland, Helsinki and Kōtō, Japan.^[4] Kuznetsova finished the season as World No. 43 in singles.^[5]

2003[link]

Kuznetsova began her season at the Brisbane International. She received a wild card, but fell in the first round in the singles to Elena Bovina, 7–5, 6–4. At the doubles competition, she paired with Martina Navratilova, with whom she would later play throughout the year (except on the Pacific Life Open, partnered with Slovak Janette Husárová), and won against Nathalie Dechy and Emilie Loit in straight sets, 6–4, 6–4.^[10] In the Australian Open, she lost to second seed Venus Williams in the first round, 4–6, 2–6. With Navratilova, they lost against ninth seed Daniela Hantuchová/Chanda Rubin in the third round, 4–6, 6–3, 5–7.^[11] In the singles event of the Dubai Tennis Championships in February, Kuznetsova managed the first round against 6th seeded Francesca Schiavone, but was beaten by Dinara Safina in the second round, 6–4, 6–3, and in the doubles event the first round, before being beaten by runner-ups María Vento-Kabchi and Angelique Widjaja.^[12] She did not reach the quarterfinals of any tournaments during the first half of the year.^[4] Kuznetsova's win over World No. 11 Anastasia Myskina in the second round of the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California was her first over a top-10 player this year.^[13]

In the first round of the French Open, Kuznetsova lost to Meghann Shaughnessy 3–6, 7–5, 11–9.^[14] Kuznetsova's came at Wimbledon, where in the fourth round, she defeated Maria Sharapova to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, losing to third seed Justine Henin. At the doubles, they were defeated by Kim Clijsters and partner Ai Sugiyama.^[15] She then made her first semifinal of the year at the Acura Classic in San Diego^[4] before losing to Henin.^[16] At the US Open singles tournament, Kuznetsova lost in the third round to top seed Kim Clijsters. However, at the doubles competition, she again partnered with Navratilova, but was beaten by Paola Suárez and Virginia Ruano Pascual in the final, 6–2 6–3.^[17] She joined the Sparkassen Cup, losing to fifth seeded Daniela Hantuchová in the first round. Kuznetsova won the doubles title against Elena Likhovtseva and Nadia Petrova, 3–6, 6–1, 6–3.^[18] In the doubles competition at the Ladies Kremlin Cup, they reached the semifinals before losing to Russian couple and runner-ups Anastasia Myskina and Vera Zvonareva 6–7, 6–2, 6–4.^[19] Her last appearance this year was at the Tour Championships.^[4] In the first round, they lost to champions Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suárez, 6–4, 6–4.^[20] She finished the season as World No. 36.^[5]

2004[link]

Kuznetsova reached the third round of the singles competition at the Australian Open before losing to top seed Justine Henin. She reached her second Grand Slam doubles final^[4] with new partner Elena Likhovtseva before losing to Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suárez.^[21] Several weeks later, playing singles at Dubai, Kuznetsova defeated former World No. 1 Venus Williams 6–2, 6–3 in the quarterfinals before defeating World No. 8 Ai Sugiyama in the semifinals for her first win over a top 10 player.^[4] Kuznetsova lost to World No. 1 Henin.^[22] The following week, Kuznetsova defeated Henin for the first time in the semifinals of the Qatar Total Open in Doha, Qatar, before losing in the final to Myskina in three sets,^[23] pushing her into the top 20 for the first time.^[4] In April, Kuznetsova reached her third singles final^[4] of the year at the start of the clay-court season at the J&S Cup in Warsaw, losing there to Venus Williams in the final.^[24] Kuznetsova had climbed to No. 11 by the time of the French Open.^[4] There, she reached the fourth round before losing to champion Myskina 1–6, 6–4, 8–6, after holding a match point in the third. In doubles Kuznetsova and Likhovtseva reached the final, losing to Suarez and Ruano Pascual.^[25] Following the French Open, Kuznetsova climbed to career-highs of World No. 9 in the singles rankings, her first time in the top ten, and World No. 3 in the doubles rankings.^[4] Kuznetsova won her third title at the Hastings Direct International Championships in Eastbourne, defeating Hantuchová in the final.^[26] At Wimbledon itself, Kuznetsova suffered a first-round loss to 118–ranked Virginie Razzano.^[15]

Representing Russia at the Olympics in August, Kuznetsova reached the quarterfinals before losing to silver-medallist Amélie Mauresmo.^[27] She went into the US Open seeded ninth. There, she defeated 14th seed Petrova in the quarterfinals, and in her first Grand Slam semifinal, defeated fifth seed and former champion Davenport 1–6, 6–4, 6–2, ending the American's 22-match winning streak.^[28] In the final, Kuznetsova defeated sixth seed Dementieva 6–3, 7–5. Kuznetsova was the first female Russian to win the US Open and the third to win any Grand Slam singles title, following the successes of Myskina and Maria Sharapova earlier in the year. Meanwhile, Kuznetsova teamed with Likhovtseva to reach the final of the doubles tournament before losing there to Suarez and Ruano Pascual, marking Kuznetsova's fourth consecutive defeat to the pair in Grand Slams.^[4][29] Kuznetsova continued her success by winning the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in Bali, Indonesia defeating Marlene Weingärtner in the final.^[30] This increased her ranking to a new high of World No. 5.^[4] The following week, at the China Open in Beijing, Kuznetsova defeated Wimbledon champion Sharapova in the semifinals 6–2, 6–2 to extend her winning streak to 14 matches.^[4] However, she lost in the final to Serena Williams.^[31] Making her debut at the season-ending WTA Championships in Los Angeles, Kuznetsova lost two of three matches in the preliminary round-robin stage and exited before the semifinals.^[32] Kuznetsova finished the season as World No. 5.^[5]

2005[link]

Kuznetsova began the year by reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, losing to fourth seed Sharapova in three. Kuznetsova teamed with Molik to win her first Grand Slam doubles title,^[4] defeating Davenport and Corina Morariu.^[33] In the first round she received a bye at the Toray Pan Pacific Open, but she was defeated by runner-up Lindsay Davenport in the semfinal, 6–1 7–6.^[34] Kuznetsova did not reach any finals during the spring hard-court season,^[4] with defeats including one to World No. 97 Sania Mirza in the first round at Dubai.^[35] She received a bye at the Pacific Life Open and reached the quarterfinal. There, she lost to Elena Dementieva, 3–6 6–3 7–5.^[36] She joined the next event, the NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami, and succeeded to the 4th Round after receiving a bye in the 1st Round. However, there she was defeated by Ana Ivanović, 6–3, 3–6, 7–5.^[37]

She made her first final of the year at the J&S Cup in Warsaw, defeating former World No. 1 Clijsters in the semis. In the final, Kuznetsova lost to Henin.^[38] At the French Open, Kuznetsova lost again to champion Henin in the fourth round 7–6, 4–6, 7–5, having saved a match point in the third set.^[39] Kuznetsova reached the quarterfinals of for her second time before losing to top seed Davenport. However, she teamed up with Mauresmo to reach her sixth Grand Slam doubles final, losing there to Cara Black and Liezel Huber.^[40]

At the US Open, she lost to World No. 97 Ekaterina Bychkova in the first round, becoming the first female defending US Open champion to lose in the first round.^[41] This defeat dropped her out of the top ten.^[4] She defeated Zvonareva in the quarterfinal of the Kremlin Cup but was beaten by Francesca Schiavone in the semifinal, 6–3, 6–1.^[42] At the $1,300,000 Zurich Open Kuznetsova lost in the first round to the unseeded Nathalie Dechy, 6–4 4–6 7–6.^[43] She finished the year ranked World No. 18.^[5]

2006[link]

Kuznetsova at the Zurich Open, 2006

Kuznetsova started her season this year in the Australian Open and reached the fourth round before losing there to top seed Davenport.^[44] Several weeks later, Kuznetsova rebounded at Dubai, defeating World No. 2 Mauresmo in the quarterfinals for her first win over a top ten player since 2004.^[4] She then lost to Henin in the semifinals.^[45] In March, Kuznetsova defeated former World No. 1 Martina Hingis in the third round of the NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami, before going on to defeat World No. 1 Mauresmo 6–1, 6–4 in the semifinals. In the final, she defeated Sharapova to win the first Tier I title of her career and her first singles title of any kind in 18 months.^[46] This win returned her to the top ten.^[4]

Kuznetsova reached her second final of the year at the clay-court J&S Cup in Warsaw, defeating Williams en route. In the final, she lost to World No. 2 Clijsters,^[47] marking third consecutive runner-up finish.^[4] At the French Open, Kuznetsova reached the quarterfinals for the first time, where she defeated 14th seed Safina. In the semifinals, she defeated 17 year old Czech Nicole Vaidišová 5–7, 7–6 (5), 6–2 after saving a match point. In her second Grand Slam final, Kuznetsova lost to Henin 6–4, 6–4.^[48] Kuznetsova reached only the third round at Wimbledon, losing to 27th seed Li Na, 3–6 6–2 6–3.^[49]

At the US Open Kuznetsova lost in the fourth round to 19th seed Jelena Janković, 6–7 6–3 6–2.^[50] In September, Kuznetsova won her second title of the year at the $225,000 donated tournament Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in Bali, defeating Davenport in the semifinals and Marion Bartoli in the final.^[51] The following week, she won the China Open in Beijing, after defeating World No. 1 Mauresmo 6–4, 6–0 in the final.^[52] This marked the first time Kuznetsova had won back-to-back tournaments.^[4]

Competing at the season-ending WTA Championships for the second time in Madrid, Kuznetsova again failed to advance past the preliminary round-robin stage, winning just one of three matches.^[53] She finished the season as World No. 4.^[5]

2007[link]

Kuznetsova began the year by losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open to 16th seed Pe'er.^[54] She rebounded to reach her first final of the year in February at the Qatar Total Open in Doha Qatar, losing there to Henin in two sets, 6–4, 7–5.^[55] She then made the final of the Tier I Pacific Life Open at Indian Wells, but then lost to Hantuchová.^[56] Reaching the final improved her ranking to third, a career high.^[4]

Kuznetsova continued on form during the clay-courts season. At the J&S Cup in Warsaw, she defeated V. Williams for the first time in her career in the quarterfinals before losing to Alona Bondarenko in the semifinals.^[57] She made the final of another Tier I tournament, at the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin, after defeating World No. 1 Henin for only the second time in the semifinals.^[4] In the final, Kuznetsova lost to Ana Ivanović.^[58] The following week, Kuznetsova reached the final of the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, losing there to Janković.^[59] As the third seed at the French Open, Kuznetsova advanced to the quarterfinals without dropping a set but lost there to runner-up Ivanović 6–0, 3–6, 6–1.^[60] Kuznetsova reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon for the third time in July, but lost there to champion Venus Williams 6–3, 6–4.^[61]

In August, Kuznetsova won her first title of the year at the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven, after three of her opponents retired due to injury or illness, including her finals opponent Ágnes Szávay.^[62] At the US Open, Kuznetsova defeated sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze in the semifinals to advance to her third Grand Slam final. She lost to Henin 6–1, 6–3.^[63] As a result of this run, Kuznetsova reached World No. 2.^[4]

At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, Kuznetsova recorded her first career win over Serena Williams before losing in the semifinals to Tatiana Golovin.^[64] The following week, she lost to Serena Williams in the semifinals of the Kremlin Cup.^[65] Kuznetsova completed the year by competing at the year-ending Championships in Madrid, but once again failed to progress beyond the preliminary round-robin stage, losing all three matches.^[66] She finished the season as World No. 2 and as the highest-ranked Russian player for the first time.^[5]

2008[link]

Kuznetsova at Suzuki Warsaw Masters 2008

Kuznetsova began the season by reaching the final at the Medibank International in Sydney, losing there to World No. 1 Henin in the final set.^[67] At the Australian Open, Kuznetsova was seeded second, but fell in the third round to 29th seed Agnieszka Radwańska.^[68] Kuznetsova made her second final of the season in Dubai, defeating former World No. 1 Mauresmo in the quarterfinals and World No. 4 Janković in the semifinals. However, in the final, Kuznetsova lost to Elena Dementieva.^[69] At the Tier I Pacific Life Open in March, Kuznetsova defeated Radwańska in the quarterfinals before defeating Australian Open champion Sharapova in the semifinals. In the final, Kuznetsova lost to top-seeded Ivanović, 4–6, 3–6.^[70] This marked her eighth defeat in her nine most recent appearances in finals.^[4] At the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open the next fortnight, Kuznetsova defeated Venus Williams in the quarterfinals but then lost to Serena Williams 3–6, 7–5, 6–3 in the semifinals.^[71]

Kuznetsova's form dipped following the conclusion of the spring hard-court season, as she won just three of five matches on clay leading up to the French Open.^[4] She advanced to the semifinals without dropping a set, but then lost to Safina 6–3, 6–2.^[72] At Wimbledon, Kuznetsova lost in the fourth round to Radwańska 6–4, 1–6, 7–5, after leading by a break in the third set.^[73]

In the summer, she competed at the Beijing Olympics, losing to Li Na in the first round.^[4] In the US Open she fell to Katarina Srebotnik in the third round in three sets, 6–3, 6–7, 6–3.^[74] After the latter loss, she dropped out of the top five on the world rankings for the first time in two years.^[4] The following week, Kuznetsova made her first final since March at the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, defeating World No. 2 Janković in the quarterfinals before going on to lose to Safina 6–1, 6–3 in the final.^[75] The following week, Kuznetsova reached the final at the China Open in Beijing, but lost there to Janković 6–3, 6–2.^[76] This marked Kuznetsova's 10 defeat in her last 11 finals.^[4]

She mirrored her earlier performance at the season-ending WTA Championships in Doha, Qatar, losing all three of her matches.^[77] Kuznetsova finished the year ranked World No. 8, the only woman in the top ten not to have won a title that year.^[5]

2009[link]

At the Australian Open, Kuznetsova reached the quarterfinals for the second time in her career,^[4] but lost there to champion Serena Williams 5–7, 7–5, 6–1, after approaching with two points of winning in the second set.^[78] After that, Kuznetsova did not win another match for nearly two months.^[4] She broke the losing streak at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, reaching the semifinals before losing there to Victoria Azarenka.^[79]

Kuznetsova at the 2009 Wimbledon Championships

At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Kuznetsova defeated World No. 3 Dementieva 6–4, 6–2 in the semfinals to reach her first final that year. There, she defeated World No. 1 Safina 6–4, 6–3^[80] to win her first singles title since August 2007.^[4] The following week, Kuznetsova also reached the final at the Premier 5 Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, having defeated World No. 4 Janković en route. She lost the championship to Safina 6–3, 6–2.^[81] In the semifinals of the French Open, Kuznetsova defeated Samantha Stosur to reach her fourth Grand Slam final, where she defeated top seed Safina 6–4, 6–2 to win her second Grand Slam title.^[82] At Wimbledon, Kuznetsova fell in the third round to unseeded German Sabine Lisicki.^[83]

She pulled out of the LA Women's Tennis Championships, citing a foot injury.^[84] Her next event was the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and Women's Open, where she felled to Clijsters in the third round, 6–4, 4–6, 6–2.^[85] She then played in the Rogers Cup and fell to Stosur in the second round.^[86] She received a wild card entrance to the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven, but lost in the quarterfinals to Mauresmo.^[4] At the US Open she won in straight set wins over Gorges, Sevatsova, and Peer, but lost against Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round.^[87] At the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, seeded fifth, she lost to Andrea Petkovic.^[88]

The week later, she played at China Open as the sixth seed. She advanced to the final beating Petrova in the semifinal and then faced Agnieszka Radwańska in the final, winning 6–2, 6–4.^[89] Soon after, she played at the WTA Tour Championships in Doha, Qatar. She entered the Maroon group along with Dementieva, Serena Williams and Venus Williams. She lost both her matches against the Williams Sisters 6–7, 5–7 against Serena despite having 2 set points in the first set, and 2–6, 7–6, 4–6 against Venus. She, however, defeated Dementieva, breaking her 8–match losing streak at the Championships.^[90] Kuznetsova ended the year ranked No. 3.^[5]

2010[link]

Kuznetsova began the year at the Medibank International Sydney. She defeated Alisa Kleybanova in the first round before falling to Dominika Cibulková in the second round.^[91] Kuznetsova was seeded 3rd for the Australian Open. She advanced to the 4th round, losing 3–6, 6–3, 1–6, to No. 19 Petrova.^[92] Following the tournament, Kuznetsova fell to World No. 4.^[4] Kuznetsova was seeded 2nd for the Dubai Tennis Championships but fell in a 3rd round upset to qualifier and World No. 99 Regina Kulikova 7–5, 6–7, 4–6.^[93] At the Billie Jean King Cup, Kuznetsova lost her match 6–4 to Williams.^[94] As the top seed due to Serena Williams and Safina's withdrawal at the BNP Paribas Open she was upset by Carla Suárez Navarro, 4–6 6–4 1–6 in the second round after receiving a first round bye.^[95] Kuznetsova was seeded No. 1 once again at the Sony Ericsson Open and after receiving a bye in the first round, managed to prevent another upset by defeating Peng Shuai in the second round 6–2, 3–6, 6–4. She then defeated 27th seed Ágnes Szávay 6–2, 6–3 to book a fourth round encounter with 13th seed Bartoli, losing to the French No. 1 6–3, 6–0 in the quarterfinal.^[96]

Kuznetsova was the defending champion at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, but fell to Li Na in the second round, 6–3 7–5, after defeating Srebotnik.^[97] At the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, where she had reached the final the year before, she lost in the second round to Maria Kirilenko 6–2, 3–6, 6–4, after receiving a first round bye.^[98] As the defending champion at the French Open, Kuznetsova was the 6th seed. She defeated Sorana Cîrstea 6–3, 6–1 in the first round and faced Petkovic in the second round, whom she defeated 4–6, 7–5, 6–4. In the third round she lost to 30th seeded Kirilenko, 3–6, 6–2, 4–6.^[99] Kuznetsova advanced to the quarterfinals of the AEGON International, losing to Ekaterina Makarova.^[100] Kuznetsova was seeded 19th at the Wimbledon. She defeated Akgul Amanmuradova in the first round, 6–2 6–7 6–4, before falling to Anastasia Rodionova in the second round, 6–4 2–6 6–4.^[101]

Kuznetsova rallied by winning the Mercury Insurance Open in San Diego. She defeated Yanina Wickmayer, Sara Errani, Coco Vandeweghe, and Flavia Pennetta in route to the final where she won in three sets against Agnieszka Radwańska.^[102] She then played at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati in a losing effort to Sharapova 6–4, 1–6, 6–2 in the first round.^[103] At the Rogers Cup, Kuznetsova defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7–5, 4–6, 6–1, Timea Bacsinszky 7–6, 6–4, 7th seed Radwańska 6–4, 1–6, 6–3 and Zheng Jie 6–1, 6–3 before falling to Wozniacki in the semifinals.^[104] Kuznetsova was seeded 11th at the US Open. She defeated Kimiko Date-Krumm, Anastasija Sevastova, and 23rd seed Kirilenko before falling in the 4th round to unseeded Cibulková.^[105] Kuznetsova was the 10th seed at the Toray Pan Pacific Open, but fell to Petkovic in the second round.^[106]

As the defending champion, Kuznetsova fell in the first round of the Premier tournament China Open to Roberta Vinci.^[107] She finished the year ranked World No. 27, her lowest since 2003.^[5]

2011[link]

Svetlana Kuznetsova at Roland Garros

Kuznetsova's first tournament of 2011 was the ASB Classic Open in Auckland, New Zealand where she was the third seed. She fell to Peng Shuai in the second, although initially up a set.^[108] She then headed to Sydney for the Medibank International Sydney where she lost in the quarterfinals to eight-seeded Li.^[109] Kuznetsova was seeded 23rd at the Australian Open where she lost in the fourth round to No. 6 seed Schiavone, squandering six match points.^[110] The match was the longest recorded women's Grand Slam match in the Open Era, with a final scoreline of 6–4, 1–6, 16–14. It was the second-longest women's match in the Open Era at any tournament.^[111] Her next tournament was the Dubai Tennis Championships. The 16th seed set up a date in the final with Caroline Wozniacki by beating Flavia Pennetta in the semifinal, 6–4, 6–4. However, Kuznetsova was defeated by the top-seed, 1–6, 3–6. In doubles, she teamed up with Vera Zvonareva, and in the semifinal the pair disrupted the match between 2nd seed Liezel Huber and María José Martínez Sánchez due to a right elbow injury Zvonareva had received before. Subsequently Huber/Sanchez received a walkover.^[112] She lost in the Qatar Ladies Open tournament against 8th seed Shahar Pe'er in the first round, 2–6, 4–6.^[113] As an 11th seed, Kuznetsova received a bye in the 2nd Round at the BNP Paribas Open, but were defeated by wildcard Christina McHale, 6–7, 6–7. At the doubles event, Kuznetsova teamed up with Vera Zvonareva. They received a wildcard in the first round, but were defeated by 4th seed King/Shvedova, 2–6, 3–6.^[114] In the singles tournament of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Svetlana Kuznetsova was 11th-seeded. Alike in the prior tournament, seeded players starts in the second round. There, Simona Halep was her opponent, who she beat in two sets, 6–0, 6–4. Her next opponent was Peng Shuai, whom she has lost 3–6, 1–6. At the doubles tournament, again with Zvonareva and a wildcard entry, they defeated Alexandra Dulgheru and Magdaléna Rybáriková in the first round, 6–4, 6–2. In the second round they lost against María José Martínez Sánchez and Anabel Medina Garrigues 1–6, 4–6.^[115]

She was seeded second at the 2011 Andalucia Tennis Experience after receiving a wildcard. She succeeded to move to the semifinal where she lost against qualifier Irina-Camelia Begu 6–3, 6–7, 4–6.^[116] She failed to succeed into the second round in both the Madrid Open and Internationali BNL d'Italia, against Dominika Cibulková in the former and against Gréta Arn in the latter tournament. In Madrid she partnered with Zvonareva and received a wildcard. They moved into the second round, but lost against King/Shvedova.^[117] Kuznetsova was seeded 13th at the French Open singles event where she lost against Marion Bartoli in the quarterfinal, her first in a Grand Slam tournament since 2009 6–7, 4–6. At the doubles event she paired with Zvonareva and defeated unseeded Klaudia Jans and Alicja Rosolska from Poland. They lost against third seeds King/Shvedova, 6–3, 1–6, 6–3.^[118] She lost against Dominika Cibulková in the quarterfinal of the UNICEF Open.^[119] At the Wimbledon singles tournament she defeated Zhang Shuai and Alexandra Dulgheru, but lost against Yanina Wickmayer.^[120]

Kuznetsova was the defending champion on the Mercury Insurance Open, but withdrew due to a groin strain.^[121] She recovered fast from the injury and entered the Rogers Cup, but lost to Simona Halep in the first round.^[122] As an 14th-seed, she succeeded into the 3rd of the Western & Southern Open, but was beaten by eventual champion Maria Sharapova.^[123] Kuznetsova reached the fourth round of the US Open, until losing to top-seeded Wozniacki.^[124]

2012[link]

Kuznetsova began her season at ASB Classic, where she reached the semifinal.^[125] At the Australian Open, she was defeated in the third round of the singles event by German Sabine Lisicki; in contrast, she partnered with Vera Zvonareva as in the last season, and won against Errani/Vinci in the final,^[126] her best doubles result since 2009.^[4]

Fed Cup participation[link]

Kuznetsova joined team Russia in 2004 in the doubles and singles competition. Her teammates were Myskina and Zvonareva in singles and Likhovtseva (with Kuznetsova) in doubles. They competed against Australia in the first round in the Luzhniki Stadium in an indoor carpet court. Kuznetsova defeated Molik 6–4, 3–6, 6–4 and Molik/Rennae Stubbs 6–7, 6–3, 6–2. The end result was 4–1 for Russia; Myskina lost to Molik 3–6, 3–6.^[127] In the quarterfinal they faced Argentina in Buenos Aires. Kuznetsova lost to Gisela Dulko, 4–6, 6–3, 4–6. In the doubles she defeated Dulko and partner Patricia Tarabini 6–2, 5–7, 6–4. The final score was the same as in the first round, 4–1.^[128] In the semifinal they faced Austria. Again in Moscow, Kuznetsova defeated Yvonne Meusburger, Daniela Kix and Meusburger and Patricia Wartusch all in straight sets 6–1, 6–1; 6–1, 6–1; 6–2, 6–2. The final stand was a straight 5–0.^[129] In the final they faced France only 3 days after the semifinal. Kuznetsova beat Dechy, but lost to Tatiana Golovin, 4–6, 1–6.^[130] Russia won the final 3–2 for its first Fed Cup victory.^[131]

Kuznetsova did not participate in the next two years. She rejoined in 2007 and defeated Spain's Lourdes Domínguez Lino and Anabel Medina Garrigues in the quarterfinal.^[132] She was elected in the final that year. There, she won against Mara Santangelo and Schiavone from Italy. Russia again won that year's Cup.^[133]

The next year she again participated. She played against the United States, defeating then-282nd-ranked Ahsha Rolle in the semifinal, 6–2, 6–1. By contrast, Kuznetsova lost the doubles competition with partner Elena Vesnina, beaten by Liezel Huber and Vania King. In the end, Russia defeated the US 3–2.^[134] In the final, Russia defeated Spain as it had the prior year. Kuznetsova won against Carla Suárez Navarro and Garrigues, 6–3, 6–1 and 5–7, 6–3, 6–4. Team Russia won the 2008 Fed Cup with a straight defeat, 4–0.^[134]

In 2009 Kuznetsova joined the group again. She played against China in the quarterfinal and won in the singles over opponent Zi Yan, and in the doubles, together with Dementieva, over Tian-Tian Sun and Zi Yan, after losing the first set. Russia won against China in a straight 5–0 final scoreline.^[135] Russia lost to Italy in the semifinal. Kuznetsova was the only winner, defeating Pennetta, 6–0, 6–3.^[136]

At the 57th Fed Cup, Russia lost against Serbia in the quarterfinal 3–2.^[137] There, Kuznetsova won two of three matches, beating Ivanović, 6–1, 6–4, and Ivanović and Janković in doubles, with partner Kleybanova, with the same scoreline. She lost to Janković, 3–6 6–4 3–6.