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Elena Likhovtseva Biography

Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova born June 27, 1985 in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) is a Russian professional tennis player. She won the 2004 US Open and the 2009 French Open singles titles defeating Elena Dementieva and Dinara Safina. She also was the runner-up in singles at the 2006 French Open and the 2007 US Open, both times to Belgian player Justine Henin.

Kuznetsova was born in Leningrad. Her father, Aleksandr Kuznetsov has coached five Olympic and world cycling champions. Her father's protégés include her mother, Galina Tsareva, a six-time world champion and holder of 20 world records, and Svetlana's brother, Nikolay Kuznetsov, a silver medalist at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Kuznetsova also tried out cycling in her early years, but it bored her.She focused on tennis instead and was sent to Spain when she was 13 years old for better training and coaching also leading her to speak fluent Spanish. Despite training in Barcelona, the Spanish Tennis Federation did not see Kuznetsova as a possible future champion.

Kuznetsova is an all-around player as she has adapted her game to all surfaces. Her game is characterized by her strong serve and her heavy forehand. Kuznetsova's serve is aided by her powerful physique, and she is often considered to be one of the physically strongest players on the tour along with Venus and Serena Williams.Many tennis experts say that her powerful inside-out forehand is one of the best in the women's game. Kuznetsova is capable of hitting winners of both wings. Her volleys are very effective, and she is capable of producing deft touch.Her game is strengthened by her footwork and movement around the court. She is among the few players who are capable of sliding on all the major playing surfaces. She is also capable of producing spectacular shots like running shots, passing shots, and between-the-legs shots when in form, but, on an off-day, her shots can fly all over the court.

Career

2001–2002

Kuznetsova began playing in tournaments on the ITF Circuit in 2000, winning her first of title on the circuit in April 2001. 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 as World No. 259.

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. However, she lost in the qualifying rounds of both the French Open and Wimbledon. As a qualifier at the clay-court Nordea Nordic Light Open in Helsinki, Finland in August, Kuznetsova won the first WTA singles title of her career, defeating World No. 24 Patty Schnyder in the quarterfinals for her first win over a player ranked in the top 40, before ultimately defeating Denisa Chládková in the final. Kuznetsova entered the top 100 for the first time as a result of the victory.

Kuznetsova qualified for the US Open, defeating 19th seed Anne Kremer in the first round for her first win over a player ranked in the top 20 before ultimately losing in the third round to 13th seed Silvia Farina Elia. In September, Kuznetsova won her second title at the hard court Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in Bali, Indonesia, defeating former Grand Slam champions Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and Conchita Martínez. She finished the season as World No. 43. 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.

2003

Kuznetsova began the year by losing in the first round of the Australian Open to second seed Venus Williams. She did not reach the quarterfinals of any tournaments during the first half of the year, the highlight of this period being a win over World No. 11 Anastasia Myskina in the second round of the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California. In the first round of the French Open, Kuznetsova lost to Meghann Shaughnessy 3–6, 7–5, 11–9.

Kuznetsova's breakthrough came at Wimbledon, where in the fourth round, she defeated future champion Maria Sharapova to reach the first Grand Slam quarterfinal of her career. However, there, she lost to third seed Justine Henin. She then made her first semifinal of the year at the Acura Classic in San Diego before losing to Henin. At the US Open, Kuznetsova lost in the third round to top seed Kim Clijsters. She finished the season as World No. 36.

While Kuznetsova's year-end ranking in singles was only better than her finish the previous year by seven places, she made better progress in doubles during the year, after she partnered 31-times former Grand Slam women's doubles champion Martina Navratilova throughout the year. Kuznetsova and Navratilova made the final of the US Open, before losing there to Paola Suárez and Virginia Ruano Pascual. Kuznetsova and Navratilova won four titles during the year, including at the Tier I tournaments in Rome and Toronto. Kuznetsova was briefly included in the top ten of the doubles rankings in September.

2004

Kuznetsova reached the third round of the singles competition at the Australian Open before losing to top seed Justine Henin. However, she reached the her second Grand Slam doubles final at the tournament with new partner Elena Likhovtseva before losing there to Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suárez. Several weeks later, in the singles competition at the Dubai Tennis Championships, 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 player ranked in the top ten. In the third final of her career, Kuznetsova lost to World No. 1 Henin. However, 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 Anastasia Myskina in three sets. Kuznetsova entered the top 20 on the rankings for the first time as a result of this success.

In April, Kuznetsova made her debut in the Fed Cup, winning a singles rubber and a doubles rubber in Russia's tie against Australia. Kuznetsova then reached her third singles final of the year at the start of the clay-court season at the J&S Cup in Warsaw, losing there to Venus Williams. Kuznetsova had climbed to No. 11 by the time of the French Open. There, she reached the fourth round before losing to eventual champion Myskina 1–6, 6–4, 8–6, having held a match point in the third set. In the doubles tournament, Kuznetsova teamed with Likhovtseva to reach the final, but like at the Australian Open, lost there to Suarez and Ruano Pascual. 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.

Kuznetsova won the third title of her career at the Wimbledon warm-up tournament Hastings Direct International Championships in Eastbourne, UK, defeating Daniela Hantuchová in the final. However, at Wimbledon itself, Kuznetsova suffered a surprise first-round loss to World No. 118 Virginie Razzano.

Representing Russia at the Athens Olympics in August, Kuznetsova reached the quarterfinals before losing to eventual siver-medalist Amélie Mauresmo. She went into the US Open as the ninth seed. There, she defeated 14th seed Nadia Petrova in the quarterfinals, and then, in her first Grand Slam semifinal, she defeated fifth seed and former champion Lindsay Davenport 1–6, 6–4, 6–2, ending the American's 22-match winning streak. In the final, Kuznetsova defeated sixth seed Elena Dementieva 6–3, 7–5. Consequently, Kuznetsova became the first 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 defeat to the pairing in four Grand Slam doubles finals.

Following the US Open, Kuznetsova continued her success by winning the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in Bali, Indonesia, defeating Marlene Weingärtner in the final. This increased her ranking to a new high of World No. 5. 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. However, she lost in the final to Serena Williams after leading by a set and a break. Making her debut at the elusive season-ending WTA Championships in Los Angeles, Kuznetsova lost two of three matches in the preliminary round-robin stage and consequently failed to progress to the semifinals. She finished the year by being part of the victorious Russian team in the Fed Cup, even though Kuznetsova herself lost her two singles rubbers in the final against France. Kuznetsova finished the season as World No. 5.

2005

Kuznetsova began the year by reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, before losing there to fourth seed Maria Sharapova in three sets. However, she teamed up with Alicia Molik at the event to win the first Grand Slam doubles title of her career, defeating Lindsay Davenport and Corina Morariu in the final.

Kuznetsova did not reach the final at any tournament during the spring hard-court season, with her defeats including one to World No. 97 Sania Mirza in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships. She made her first final of the year at the J&S Cup in Warsaw, defeating former World No. 1 Kim Clijsters in the semifinals, ending the Belgian's 16-match winning streak. In the final, Kuznetsova lost to Justine Henin. At the French Open, Kuznetsova lost to eventutal champion Henin in the fourth round 7–6(6), 4–6, 7–5, having held a match point in the third set.

Kuznetsova reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon for the second time in her career before losing there to top seed Davenport. However, she teamed up with Amélie Mauresmo to reach her sixth Grand Slam doubles final, losing there to Cara Black and Liezel Huber.

In preparing to defend her US Open title, Kuznetsova won just two of five matches in warm-up tournaments. At the US Open itself, 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.[1] As a result of this defeat, Kuznetsova dropped out of the top ten on the world rankings. Following the US Open, Kuznetsova played just four matches during the remainder of the year, winning two of them. She finished the year ranked World No. 18.

2006

At the Australian Open, Kuznetsova reached the fourth round before losing there to top seed Lindsay Davenport. However, several weeks later, Kuznetsova rebounded at the Dubai Tennis Championships, defeating World No. 2 Amélie Mauresmo in the quarterfinals for her first win over a player ranked in the top ten since 2004. She then lost to Justine Henin in the semifinals. In March, Kuznetsova defeated former World No. 1 Martina Hingis in the third round of the Tier I NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami, before going on to defeat reigning World No. 1 Mauresmo 6–1, 6–4 in the semifinals. In the final, she defeated Maria Sharapova to win the first Tier I title of her career and her first singles title of any kind in 18 months. She returned to the top ten on the world rankings as a result of the win.

Kuznetsova reached her second final of the year at the clay-court J&S Cup in Warsaw, defeating Venus Williams en route. In the final, she lost to World No. 2 Kim Clijsters, marking the third consecutive year she had finished runner-up at the tournament. At the French Open, Kuznetsova reached the quarterfinals for the first time, where she defeated 14th seed Dinara 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 the second Grand Slam final of her career, Kuznetsova lost to Henin 6–4, 6–4.

Kuznetsova underperformed at both Wimbledon and the US Open, losing in the third round of the former to 27th seed Li Na and in the fourth round of the latter to 19th seed Jelena Janković. However, she returned to the top five on the rankings following the latter result. In September, Kuznetsova won her second title of the year at the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in Bali, Indonesia, defeating Davenport in the semifinals and Marion Bartoli in the final. The following week, she won the China Open in Beijing, after defeating World No. 1 Mauresmo 6–4, 6–0 in the final. This marked the first time Kuznetsova had won back-to-back tournaments. Competing at the season-ending WTA Championships for the second time in Madrid, Kuznetsova failed to advance past the preliminary round-robin stage again after winning just one of three matches. She finished the season as World No. 4, her best finish to date.

2007

Kuznetsova began the year by losing surprisingly in the fourth round of the Australian Open to 16th seed Shahar Pe'er. She rebounded to reach her first final of the year in February at the Qatar Total Open in Doha, Qatar, losing there to Justine Henin. She then made the final of the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, but then lost to Daniela Hantuchová. However, reaching the final improved her ranking to a career high of World No. 3.

Kuznetsova continued her strong form during the clay-courts season. At the J&S Cup in Warsaw, she defeated Venus Williams for the first time in her career in the quarterfinals before losing to Alyona Bondarenko in the semifinals. She then 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 her career in the semifinals. In the final, Kuznetsova lost to Ana Ivanović. The following week, Kuznetsova reached the final of the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, losing there to Jelena Janković. As the third seed at the French Open, Kuznetsova advanced to the quarterfinals without dropping a set but lost there to eventual runner-up Ivanović 6–0, 3–6, 6–1.

Kuznetsova reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon for the third time in her career in July, but lost there to eventual champion Venus Williams 6–3, 6–4. In August, Kuznetsova won her first title of the year at the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven, USA, after three of her opponents retired due to injury or illness during the match, including her opponent in the final Ágnes Szávay. At the US Open, Kuznetsova defeated sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze in the semifinals to advance to the third Grand Slam final of her career. However, there, she was defeated by Henin 6–1, 6–3. As a result of this run, Kuznetsova rose to a new high of World No. 2 on the rankings.

Kuznetsova then went on to compete for Russia in the Fed Cup, winning both her rubbers in the final against Italy and in the process helping Russia to win the competition for a third time. 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. The following week, she lost to Serena Williams in the semifinals of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Kuznetsova completed the year by competing at the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid, but once again failed to progress beyond the preliminary round-robin stage of the tournament after losing all three of her matches. She finished the season as World No. 2 and as the highest-ranked Russian player for the first time.

2008

Kuznetsova began the season by reaching the final at the Medibank International in Sydney, losing there to World No. 1 Justine Henin after leading by a break in the final set. At the Australian Open, Kuznetsova was seeded second, but suffered a surprise loss in the third round to 29th seed Agnieszka Radwańska.

Kuznetsova made her second final of the season at the Dubai Tennis Championships, defeating former World No. 1 Amélie Mauresmo in the quarterfinals and World No. 4 Jelena Janković in the semifinals. However, in the final, Kuznetsova lost to Elena Dementieva. At the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California in March, Kuznetsova defeated Radwańska in the quarterfinals before becoming the first person to defeat Australian Open champion Maria Sharapova during the season in the semifinals. In the final, Kuznetsova lost to top-seeded Ana Ivanović in straight sets. This marked her eighth defeat in her nine most recent appearances in finals. At the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Miami 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, after leading by a set and a break at one stage.

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. At the French Open itself, Kuznetsova had the opportunity to become World No. 1. She advanced to the semifinals without dropping a set, but then was well beaten by Dinara Safina 6–3, 6–2. 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.

Kuznetsova's poor year in major events continued in the summer, as she lost in the first round of the tennis event at the Beijing Olympics to Li Na and in the third round of the US Open to Katarina Srebotnik. After the latter loss, she dropped out of the top five on the world rankings for the first time in two years. However, after this, Kuznetsova won both her singles rubbers in Russia's victory over Italy in the Fed Cup final. 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. The following week, Kuznetsova reached the final at the China Open in Beijing, but lost there to Janković 6–3, 6–2. This marked Kuznetsova's 10 defeat in her last 11 finals. She completed the year by once again failing to advance past the preliminary round-robin stage at the season-ending WTA Championships in Doha, Qatar, losing all three of her matches. Kuznetsova finished the year ranked World No. 8, but was the only woman in the top ten not to have won a title during the year.

2009

At the Australian Open, Kuznetsova reached the quarterfinals for the second time in her career, but lost there to eventual champion Serena Williams 5–7, 7–5, 6–1, after having been two points away from winning in the second set. After that, Kuznetsova did not win another match on the WTA Tour for nearly two months. She broke the losing streak at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, reaching the semifinals before losing there to Victoria Azarenka.

Kuznetsova at the 2009 Wimbledon Championships.

Kuznetsova's form improved at the start of the clay-court season. At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, Kuznetsova defeated World No. 3 Elena Dementieva 6–4, 6–2 in the semfinals to reach her first final of the year. There, she defeated World No. 1 Dinara Safina 6–4, 6–3 to win her first singles title since August 2007. The following week, Kuznetsova also reached the final at the Premier 5 Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, having defeated World No. 4 Jelena Janković en route. However, in the final, she lost to Safina 6–3, 6–2. As a consequence of her strong clay-court season, she was considered one of the favorites at the French Open. There, she defeated second seed Serena Williams in the quarterfinals 7–6 (7–3), 5–7, 7–5 where she recovered from a break down in the final set. In the semifinals, Kuznetsova defeated Samantha Stosur to reach the fourth Grand Slam final of her career, where she defeated top seed Safina 6–4, 6–2 to win the second Grand Slam title of her career.Kuznetsova returned to the top five on the world rankings as a result of her win.

At Wimbledon, Kuznetsova was defeated surprisingly in the third round, on her 24th birthday, by unseeded German Sabine Lisicki. She pulled out of the LA Women's Tennis Open, citing a foot injury. Her next event is part of the Olympus US Open Series, the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and Women's Open. She received a first round bye and defeated Lucie Šafářová 6–3, 6–7, 7–6 after leading 6–3, 5–2. She fell to Kim Clijsters in the third round, 6–4, 4–6, 6–2. She then played in the Rogers Cup and fell to Samantha Stosur, who she defeated in the French Open semifinals, in the second round. She recently received a wild card entrance to the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven. She lost in the quarterfinals to Amélie Mauresmo.

At the 2009 US Open she won in straight set wins over Gorges, Sevatsova, and Peer. But she surprisingly lost against Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round.

At the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, seeded fifth, she lost in her first match against Andrea Petkovic. The week later, she played at China Open as the sixth seed. She advanced to the final beating Nadia Petrova in the semifinal. She faced Agnieszka Radwańska in the final and won by 6–2, 6–4. This was her third title of the year.

Soon later, she reclaimed her world no.3 title and played at the 2009 WTA Tour Championships, the year end championships, in Doha, Qatar. She entered the Maroon group along with Elena Dementieva and the Williams Sisters, Serena Williams and Venus Williams. She lost both her matches against the Williams Sisters, by 6(6)-7, 5–7 against Serena despite having 2 set points in the first set, and by 2–6, 7–6(3), 4–6 against Venus. She, however, defeated Dementieva, breaking her 8-match losing streak at the Championships. The win did not do any good for her as Venus Williams became the last player to qualify to the semifinal from the Maroon group.

2010

Kuznetsova began the year at the Medibank International in Sydney, Australia. She defeated Alisa Kleybanova in the first round before falling to Dominika Cibulková in the second round. Kuznetsova was seeded 3rd for the 2010 Australian Open. She advanced to the 4th round, where she lost 3–6, 6–3, 1–6, to #19 Nadia Petrova. Kuznetsova struggled with 52 unforced errors. Following the tournament, Kuznetsova fell to World No. 4.

At the 2010 Fed Cup, Kuznetsova defeated Ana Ivanović to give Russia a 1–0 lead over Serbia. She then fell in three sets to Jelena Janković in reverse singles. She then partnered with Alisa Kleybanova to win the deciding doubles match over Ivanović and Janković. Kuznetsova was seeded 2nd for the Dubai Tennis Championships but fell in a shocking 3rd round upset to qualifier and world No. 99 Regina Kulikova 7–5, 6–7(2), 4–6. At the Billie Jean King Cup, Kuznetsova lost her match 6–4 to Venus Williams. As the top seed due to Serena Williams and Dinara Safina's withdrawal at the 2010 BNP Paribas Open she was upset by Carla Suárez Navarro, 4–6 6–4 1–6 in the second round after receiving a bye in the first round.

Kuznetsova was seeded No.1 once again at the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open and after a receiving a bye in the first round, managed to prevent another upset against her 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 Marion Bartoli. She was defeated by the French No.1 6-3, 6-0 in just under an hour. Svetlana had pains in her shoulder and is expected to take time out to get treatment.

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 Katarina Srebotnik. At the 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, where she reach the final the year before, she lost in the second round to Maria Kirilenko 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, after receving a bye in the irst round. Her last tournament before the French Open was the 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, where she lost in the first round to Shahar Pe'er, 6-3 2-6 6-0.

As the defending champion at the 2010 French Open, Kuznetsova was the 6th seed. She defeated Sorana Cîrstea 6-3, 6-1 in the first round and she faced Andrea Petkovic in the second round, whom she defeated in three sets 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, where she saved several match points in the second set. In the third round she came up against the 30th seeded Maria Kirilenko who she lost to, also in three sets, 3-6, 6-2, 4-6. Due to this loss, she will lose 1840 ranking points, causing her to drop to world no 19.

Kuznetsova advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2010 AEGON International, losing to Ekaterina Makarova. Kuznetsova was seeded 19th at the Wimbledon Championships. She defeated Akgul Amanmuradova in the first round 6-2 6-7(5) 6-4 before falling to Anastasia Rodionova in the second round 6-4 2-6 6-4.

Kuznetsova saw a return to form by winning the 2010 Mercury Insurance Open. 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. The victory propelled Kuznetsova to World No. 14. She then played at the 2010 Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in a losing effort to compatriot Maria Sharapova 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 in the first round. At the 2010 Rogers Cup, Kuznetsova cointinued her good form by defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, Timea Bacsinszky 7-6(6), 6-4, 7th seed Agnieszka Radwańska 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 and Zheng Jie 6-1, 6-3 before falling to Caroline Wozniacki in the semifinals.

Kuznetsova was seeded 11th at the 2010 US Open. She defeated Kimiko Date Krumm, Anastasija Sevastova, and 23rd seed Maria Kirilenko before falling in the 4th round to unseeded Dominika Cibulkova. Because of this loss, Kuznetsova failed to advance to the quarterfinals of any of the Grand Slams of 2010.

Kuznetsova was the 10th seed at the 2010 Toray Pan Pacific Open, but fell to Andrea Petkovic in the second round.

In Beijing Svetlana lost to Roberta Vinci and couldn't defent the title.

Elena Likhovtseva