Residence - Moscow, Russia
Date of Birth - March 5, 1987
Birthplace - Moscow, Russia
Height - 5' 7" (1.70 m)
Weight - 128 lbs. (58 kg)
Plays - Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Status - Pro (2003)
2001.
As WC entry, l. 1r at ITF/Minsk-BEL, her ITF Circuit debut (one and only event of season).
2002.
Unranked, debuted on Tour as WC in Budapest qualifying, d. No.173 Pastikova (l. 2r to No.175 Kurhajcova); competed at five ITF Circuit events, in doubles twice, won title (w/Kotkina) in doubles debut and reaching singles SF at same event (ITF/Istanbul 2-TUR).
2003.
As No.546, entered Moscow qualifying as WC and eliminated first Top 100 player, No.97 Husarova, before l. 2r in 3s to No.47 Pisnik; during five appearances (did not compete in doubles), reached two ITF Circuit singles SF (once as qualifier).
2004.
First Top 100 finish; as No.175 qualifier at US Open, in Grand Slam debut and second career Tour main draw, d. Schett 16 64 63 in 1r, then recorded career-best win in 2r vs. No.3 Myskina 76(3) 63; in only her third Tour main draw match, was equal-second fastest to d. a Top 10 player alongside S.Williams (d. No.7 Pierce in 1997 Chicago 2r); Leand is fastest, scoring first Top 10 win in second Tour match (l. in 3r to No.29 seed Daniilidou); afterwards (September 13), Top 100 debut at No.91; qualified at Moscow and Stockholm; on ITF Circuit, won ITF/Redbridge-GBR as qualifier.
2005.
First Top 40 finish in season highlighted by first Tour SF at Tier II New Haven (d. No.17 Jankovic for equal-best win of season, falling to top seed and eventual champion Davenport); also reached first three Tour QF earlier in season, at Istanbul (l. to top seed and eventual champion V.Williams), Birmingham (l. to Golovin) and Tier I San Diego (d. No.17 Likhovtseva en route to first Tier I QF; l. to Morigami); 3r four times, at Indian Wells (d. No.20 Jankovic, falling to eventual champion Clijsters), in Roland Garros debut (l. to No.2 seed Sharapova), Los Angeles (l. to Sharapova 46 64 75, having held one-break third-set lead) and US Open, her second straight 3r there (d. Craybas in 2r for 100th career match win; l. to No.6 seed and eventual semifinalist Dementieva 61 46 76(5) after holding 3-0 third-set lead); also made Grand Slam debuts at Australian Open (l. to Dementieva in 2r) and Wimbledon (l. to Jankovic in 1r); first of four Top 20 wins of season came at Antwerp (d. No.17 Sprem in 1r; l. in 2r to Srebotnik 46 61 76(12), equal-longest tie-break on Tour in 2005); made Top 50 debut at No.44 on June 6 (after Roland Garros), achieving career-high ranking of No.24 on August 29 (after New Haven); ret. during 1r match vs. Krajicek at Hasselt w/wrist injury.
2006.
Breakthrough season highlighted by winning first two Tour singles titles in consecutive events, at Tier III Guangzhou (d. Medina Garrigues 61 64 in final) and Tier I Moscow (unseeded, d. No.7 seed Safina and No.4 seed Dementieva en route to final, then d. No.5 seed Petrova 64 64; wins over world No.10 Safina, world No.7 Dementieva and world No.5 Petrova were fourth, fifth and sixth career Top 10 wins); afterwards on October 16, rose from No.24 to No.16, her career Top 20 debut; SF at Warsaw (d. Jankovic, Hantuchova, Ivanovic; l. to Kuznetsova) and Montréal (d. Petrova en route; ret. vs. Hingis w/right forearm strain); QF at San Diego (d. Petrova en route; l. to Vaidisova in 3s); wins over world No.5/No.6 Petrova at San Diego/Montréal were first two of five Top 10 wins in 2006 (other three came at Moscow); 4r three times, at US Open (first Grand Slam second week; as No.23 seed, l. to No.27 seed Golovin) and at back-to-back Tier Is in spring, in Indian Wells (as No.22 seed, d. No.11 seed Kirilenko; l. to No.8 seed Ivanovic) and Miami (d. No.31 seed Peer; l. to No.10 seed Myskina); 3r three times, at Berlin (l. to Mauresmo), Birmingham (l. to eventual champion Zvonareva) and Wimbledon (as No.30 seed, l. to No.3 seed and eventual runner-up Henin-Hardenne); 2r twice, at Australian Open (l. to No.16 seed Vaidisova) and Roland Garros (as No.27 seed, l. to N.Li); fell 1r seven times, incl. Rome (ret. vs. Morigami w/right thigh strain), New Haven (ret. vs. Voskoboeva w/right forearm strain) and Beijing (pushed Davenport to 75 third set before falling); w/Vesnina, reached Roland Garros doubles QF (d. Ruano Pascual/Suárez en route) and Beijing final (l. to Ruano Pascual/Suárez); 1-1 in Russia’s Fed Cup World Group I Play-off win over Croatia; withdrew from Zürich w/right shoulder strain and from Hasselt w/flu.
2007.
Breakthrough season culminating in first Top 10 finish, highlighted by winning third through sixth career Tour singles titles and reaching first Grand Slam SF; won titles at Hobart (as top seed, d. qualifier Bardina in final), 's-Hertogenbosch (as No.3 seed, d. No.5 seed Hantuchova in SF and top seed Jankovic in final), Cincinnati (as top seed, d. No.7 seed Morigami in final) and Stanford (as top seed, d. No.3 seed Hantuchova in SF and Mirza in final); is now 6-0 lifetime in Tour singles finals; SF five times, at Antwerp (as No.7 seed, d. No.3 seed Petrova in QF; l. to top seed and eventual champion Mauresmo in 3s), Miami (as No.9 seed, overcame 64 31 deficit to d. No.15 seed Li in QF; l. to No.2 seed Henin), San Diego (as No.3 seed, d. No.10 seed V.Williams 67(5) 76(3) 62 in QF to extend summer hardcourt win streak to 12 matches, having saved mp down 5-3 second set; l. to top seed and eventual champion Sharapova), US Open (as No.6 seed, l. to No.4 seed Kuznetsova in 3s in career-first Grand Slam SF) and finally first Tour Championships – having qualified at No.6 in Race, compiled 2-1 RR record (l. to Henin) to reach SF (l. to Sharapova); QF six times, at Australian Open (as No.12 seed, d. No.8 seed Schnyder in 4r; l. to top seed Sharapova), Paris [Indoors] (as No.8 seed, l. to No.2 seed Mauresmo), Warsaw (as No.6 seed, ret. vs. No.4 seed Jankovic w/right shoulder strain), Roland Garros (as No.9 seed, l. to No.2 seed Sharapova), Luxembourg (as top seed, l. to No.5 seed Bartoli in 3s) and Linz (as top seed, l. to No.6 seed Schnyder); notched five Top 10 wins during season, at Australian Open (No.9 Schnyder), Antwerp (No.7 Petrova), 's-Hertogenbosch (No.10 Hantuchova, No.3 Jankovic) and Tour Championships (No.3 Jankovic), bringing career tally to 11 (wins over Jankovic were equal-best of career, having beaten No.3 Myskina at 2004 US Open); having started season at No.13, made Top 10 debut on February 19 (after Antwerp; rose from No.12 to No.10) and Top 5 debut on September 10 (after US Open; rose from No.6 to No.5); suffered seven pre-QF losses in 22 events played, incl. at Wimbledon (as No.8 seed, l. 3r to No.31 seed Krajicek in 3s; was only pre-QF loss in Grand Slam season), Toronto (after 1r bye, ret. in 2r vs. Razzano w/viral illness) and back-to-back openers in fall at Stuttgart (l. to Golovin 76(3) 61, having led 5-2 first set) and Moscow (l. to Safina 76(6) 62, having held 2sp in tie-break); also reached second and third career Tour doubles finals in back-to-back weeks at Stanford and San Diego (both w/Azarenka); surpassed both $1 million and $2 million in career earnings, in fact earning nearly 60% of her career prize money this season alone; played in all three of Russia's Fed Cup ties, going 1-0 in 5-0 1r win over Spain (d. Llagostera Vives), 1-1 in 3-2 SF win over USA (d. King; l. to V.Williams) and 1-0 in 4-0 final victory over Italy (d. Schiavone 64 46 64, having trailed 3-0 third set; was third Fed Cup title in last four years for Russia); withdrew from Zürich w/respiratory infection and from Québec City w/right shoulder injury.
JANUARY - Fell 1r at Sydney (as No.5 seed, l. to Srebotnik); reached 3r at Australian Open (as No.6 seed, l. to No.27 seed Kirilenko in 3s).