Anastasia Sergeyevna Pavlyuchenkova (Russian: Анастасия Сергеевна Павлюченкова, Russian pronunciation: [ɑnɑstɑˈsijə.pɑvlʉˈt͡ɕɛnkova]; born 3 July 1991) is a Russian professional tennis player and a multiple junior Grand Slam champion. Her career-high rank of World No. 13 was achieved on 4 July 2011. From July 2007 to September 2009 she was coached at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in France. Since then she has been coached by her brother Aleksandr Pavlyuchenkov.

Born in Samara, Russia, then part of the Soviet Union in its final months, Pavlyuchenkova first made headlines by winning the 2006 Australian Open junior title by defeating Caroline Wozniacki. She then won the US Open junior title against Tamira Paszek and defended her Australian Open title in 2007, defeating Madison Brengle. Anastasia played for the Sacramento Capitals of the World Team Tennis league in the summer of 2006.

Her success in juniors enabled her to enter ITF and WTA tournaments, winning a small ITF tournament in Italy in May 2006. In October 2006 Pavlyuchenkova received a wild card into the Kremlin Cup and lost in the first round to rising Czech Nicole Vaidišová 6–3 6–3. She then barely missed out on qualifying for the main draw of the 2007 Australian Open, losing to Julia Vakulenko in the final round of qualifying.

Angelique Kerber (born 18 January 1988 in Bremen) is a professional German tennis player. Kerber has a career high ranking of world no. 10, achieved on 21 May 2012 and is currently the highest ranked German. She has competed as a professional since 2003, and has won 11 ITF titles, and two WTA titles at the 2012 Open GDF Suez and the 2012 e-Boks Open. She has also reached one Grand Slam semi-final at the 2011 US Open.

She is born in Bremen, to father Slawek Kerber and mother Beata, and has one sister. She started playing tennis at age 3, eventually joining the junior circuit, making inroads at events in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, but didn't win a junior title before 2003 at which point she turned professional at the age of 15. Kerber speaks German, Polish and English.

In 2003 obtained her first top 100 victory by defeating Marion Bartoli in the qualifying draw of the WTA German Open 3–6, 6–3, 6–4.

In 2004 Kerber started the year by reaching the finals of an ITF event in Warsaw losing to Marta Domachowska 7–6, 3–6, 6–3 in the finals. She attained her first ITF title entering as a qualifier in Opole, Poland, by defeating Elena Tatarkova 6–2, 6–2 in the finals.

Romina Sarina Oprandi (born March 29, 1986 in Jegenstorf, Canton of Bern, Switzerland) is a female professional tennis player. She has dual Swiss-Italian citizenship and represented Italy from her professional debut in 2005 until January 2012, when she joined the Swiss tennis federation. Her highest singles ranking was no. 46 on September 25, 2006.

She first came to prominence in the top tier of women's tennis when she reached the quarterfinals of a WTA Tier I event in Rome as a qualifier, barely missing out on a place in the semifinals with a loss to Svetlana Kuznetsova, 4–6, 7–5, 6–7. She then made appearances at the 2006 Wimbledon and the US Open, losing in the first round of each to difficult opponents in Francesca Schiavone and Svetlana Kuznetsova once again. After the end of her US Open campaign, Romina went on to win yet another ITF singles title at Denain, which would be her best result for the rest of the 2006 season, struggling with injury problems and losing matches early on in tournaments.

Yanina Wickmayer (born 20 October 1989 in Lier, Belgium) is a Belgian professional tennis player who is currently ranked world no. 36 and is the highest ranked female Belgian tennis player. She reached her career-high ranking of world no. 12 on 19 April 2010. She is also known for reaching the semifinals at the 2009 US Open. She won the award for "WTA Most Improved Player" in 2009 (see below).

Wickmayer has achieved career victories over Kim Clijsters, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Petra Kvitova, Na Li, Sam Stosur (at ITF level), Francesca Schiavone, Dinara Safina and Agnieszka Radwanska (see Tennis career). In June 2011, Time Magazine named her one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future".

Wickmayer obtained her first successes: three singles ITF titles and two ITF doubles (see below).

Wickmayer continued her success on the ITF circuit by winning several tournaments in Asia during the fall season (see external links). It was around this time that Wickmayer surpassed Caroline Maes as the no. 2 Belgian female tennis player. At the start of the year, Wickmayer was no. 534 in the world, but by November 2007, was around no. 170. Wickmayer had won eight singles titles and seven doubles titles on the ITF circuit.

Victoria Azarenka (Belarusian: Вікторыя Фёдараўна Азаранка, Russian: Виктория Фёдоровна Азаренко; born 31 July 1989) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She is the current World No. 1 as of 28 May 2012.

She won the 2012 Australian Open singles title, becoming the first Belarusian player to win a Grand Slam in singles. Her other achievements include winning two mixed doubles Grand Slam titles, the 2007 US Open with Max Mirnyi and the 2008 French Open with Bob Bryan.

At age 16, Azarenka moved to Scottsdale, Arizona from Minsk, Belarus, to train. In this she was aided by National Hockey League goalie Nikolai Khabibulin and his wife, who is a friend of Azarenka's mother. In 2010 she briefly considered a break from the sport of tennis to focus on education, however, after a conversation with her grandmother she decided to continue playing. It is the inspiration from her grandmother that is regarded as the key for her continued developments in the sport. Azarenka is romantically involved with tennis player Sergei Bubka Jr, son of former Olympic gold medalist and World Champion, Sergey Bubka.