Anna Vladimirovna Blinkova ( rus, Анна Владимировна Блинкова, , ˈanːə blʲɪnˈkovə, Ru-Anna Blinkova.ogg; born 10 September 1998) is a Russian professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player. She has won one singles and one doubles title on the

WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour. WTA Tour tou ...

, one singles and one doubles title each on

WTA Challenger Tour WTA 125 tournaments are an international series of professional women's tennis tournaments organized by the Women's Tennis Association since 2012. In the past (2012–2015) sometimes called the WTA Challenger seriesITF Circuit. In February 2020, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 54. On 14 September 2020, she peaked at No. 45 in the WTA doubles rankings. Blinkova was runner-up at the

2015 Wimbledon Championships Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak al ...

in girls' singles and was ranked the No. 3 junior tennis player in the world in August 2015.

Personal life and background

Anna Blinkova was born on 10 September 1998 in Moscow to mother Elena and father Vladimir. During childhood, she played both tennis and

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

to a high level. She prefers playing on

hardcourt A hardcourt (or hard court) is a surface or floor on which a sport is played, most usually in reference to tennis courts. It is typically made of rigid materials such as asphalt or concrete, and covered with acrylic resins to seal the surface and ...

s. Her favourite shot is forehand. She speaks

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, Slovak, French and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Junior career

Blinkova is former junior world No. 3 player. She was runner-up at the 2015 Wimbledon in girls' singles, where she lost to compatriot

Sofya Zhuk Sofya Andreyevna Zhuk ( rus, Софья Андреевна Жук, , ˈsofʲjə ɐnˈdrʲe(j)ɪvnə ˈʐuk; born 1 December 1999) is a former Russian tennis player. She won the 2015 Wimbledon girls' singles title. Career Early career Zhuk trai ...

Professional career

2015–17: First steps

2017 Roland Garros Qualifying Tournament - 29 (cropped)

Blinkova made her debut at the ITF Circuit at the $10K event in Kantaoui in February 2015. There she won her first ITF doubles title. In January 2016, she won her first ITF singles title at the $10K Stuttgart. In April 2016, she turned pro and made her

debut at the

Morocco Open The Morocco Open or Rabat Grand Prix (for sponsorship reasons called the Grand Prix de SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem), is a women's professional tennis tournament currently held in Rabat, Morocco. This WTA Tour event is classified as an Internati ...

, where she was defeated in the first round. In October 2016, she won her first match on the WTA Tour, defeating

Anastasija Sevastova Anastasija Sevastova (born 13 April 1990) is an inactive professional tennis player from Latvia. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 in October 2018, after reaching her first Premier Mandatory final at the China Open. She ...

in the first round of

Kremlin Cup The Kremlin Cup (russian: Кубок Кремля) is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts, which was suspended in 2022. It was part of the ATP Tour 250 series of the ATP Tour and was a Premier Tournament on the WTA ...

. In January 2017, she made

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

debut at the Australian Open through qualifying, where she defeated

Monica Niculescu Monica Niculescu (born 25 September 1987) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked by the Women's Tennis Association as high as 28 in singles and 11 in doubles. Niculescu has won several titles: three singles and ten double ...

in the first round before losing to

Karolína Plíšková Karolína Hrdličková (née Plíšková; ; born 21 March 1992) is a Czech professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in singles, reaching the top of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings on 17 July 2017 and holding the posi ...

in the second. At the

2017 Wimbledon The 2017 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The main draw matches commenced on 3 July 2017 and concluded on 16 July 20 ...

and US Open, she also reached main draw, but then lost to

Elena Vesnina Elena Sergeyevna Vesnina (born 1 August 1986) is a Russian former professional tennis player and a former world No. 1 in doubles. She is a four-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2013 French Open, 2014 US Open, and 2017 Wimbledon Cha ...

in the first round of both competition. During the 2017 season, she won two $100K events on the ITF Circuit in doubles event, in

Ilkley Ilkley is a spa town and civil parish in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, in Northern England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within the ...

and

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

2018–19: Top-100 debut in singles and doubles

In February 2018, she reached the third round of the Premier 5 Qatar Open, defeating Elena Vesnina and

Kristina Mladenovic Kristina "Kiki" Mladenovic (; sr, Кристина "Кики" Младеновић, Kristina "Kiki" Mladenović, ; born 14 May 1993) is a French professional tennis player and a former world No. 1 in doubles. She is a nine-time Grand Slam c ...

, before she lost to world No. 7,

Caroline Garcia Caroline Garcia (, born 16 October 1993) is a French professional tennis player. She has been ranked in the top 5 in both singles at world No. 4 and in doubles at world No. 2. Garcia is the 2022 WTA Finals singles champion. She is also a two- ...

. In May, she won her first WTA doubles title at the

, partnering with

Raluca Olaru Ioana Raluca Olaru (born 3 March 1989) is a professional tennis player from Romania. The winner of 11 singles and 15 doubles ITF titles, Olaru reached one WTA singles final, at the 2009 Gastein Ladies,WTA TourPetkovic, Olaru Into Final(25 Jul ...

. Blinkova entered top 100 for the first time in both singles and doubles in 2018. At the

2019 French Open The 2019 French Open was a major tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 26 May to 9 June, comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. Junior and wheelchair tournamen ...

, she reached third round after the major win over Caroline Garcia, but then lost to

Madison Keys Madison Keys (born February 17, 1995) is an American professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 7 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), a ranking she first achieved in October 2016. Keys has played in one Grand Sla ...

. In August 2019, she reached her first WTA Tour quarterfinal in singles at the Bronx Open, where she lost to Wang Qiang. At the 2019 US Open, she took defending champion and top seed

Naomi Osaka is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and is the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles. Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam singles champio ...

to three sets. She followed this with title in

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

on the

WTA Challenger Tour WTA 125 tournaments are an international series of professional women's tennis tournaments organized by the Women's Tennis Association since 2012. In the past (2012–2015) sometimes called the WTA Challenger series Nearly after that, she reached the semifinal of the Guangzhou Open, but then lost to

Sofia Kenin Sofia Anna "Sonya" Kenin (born November 14, 1998) is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) of No. 4 in the world, which she achieved on March 9, 2020. She was the 2020 WTA ...

. In October, she reached another semifinal at the

Luxembourg Open Luxembourg Open, Tennis tournaments in Luxembourg Indoor tennis tournaments Hard court tennis tournaments WTA Tour Kockelscheuer Recurring sporting events established in 1991 Autumn events in Luxembourg 1991 establishments in Luxembourg ...

, but lost to later champion

Jeļena Ostapenko Jeļena Ostapenko (born 8 June 1997), also known as Aļona Ostapenko, is a Latvian professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 5 in singles, achieved on 19 March 2018, and world No. 9 in doubles, reached on 22 Augus ...

. During the year, she did even better in doubles. In February 2019, she won the Hua Hin Championships, alongside

Wang Yafan Wang Yafan (; ; born 30 April 1994) is a Chinese tennis player. In her career, she has won one singles title and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as four doubles titles on WTA 125 tournaments, plus eleven singles and six doubles ...

. After that, she reached semifinals of the Hungarian Open. In April, she reached another semifinal at the Premier-level Stuttgart Open. She then won $60K, $80K and $100K events, respectively, on the ITF Circuit. In September, she won the WTA Challenger New Haven.

2020: US Open doubles semifinal, first top-10 win

Blinkova continued to made better results in doubles than singles. Despite not producing good results in singles during the season, Blinkova started year with her first career top 10 win, defeating

Belinda Bencic Belinda Bencic ( sk, Belinda Benčičová, ; born 10 March 1997) is a Swiss professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of No. 4 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) which she achieved in February 2020. Bencic has won six singl ...

in the first round of the Shenzhen Open. In singles, her best result of the year came at the Italian Open, where she reached the third round, but then lost to world No. 4, Karolína Plíšková. In doubles, her first significant result came in March at the Indian Wells Challenger, where she reached the semifinal. Then, six month absence of the WTA Tour happened due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

outbreak. When tennis came back in August, she first played at the

Top Seed Open The Lexington Challenger (previously known as the Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships and the Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships) is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hardcourts. It is currently part of the ATP Challenger Tour ...

, where she reached the semifinal in doubles alongside

Vera Zvonareva Vera Igorevna Zvonareva ( rus, Вера Игоревна Звонарёва, p=ˈvʲɛrə ˈiɡərʲɪvnə zvənɐˈrʲɵvə, a=Vera zvonareva.ogg; born 7 September 1984) is a Russian professional tennis player. She was introduced to tennis at ...

. She followed this with quarterfinal of the

Cincinnati Open The Cincinnati Masters or Cincinnati Open (branded as the Western & Southern Open for sponsorship reasons) is an annual outdoor hardcourt tennis event held in Mason, Ohio near Cincinnati. The event started on September 18, 1899, and is the olde ...

, alongside

Veronika Kudermetova Veronika Eduardovna Kudermetova; ; tt-Cyrl, Вероника Эдуард кызы Кадыйрмәтова, translit=Veronika Edward qızı Qadıyrmätova. (born 24 April 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player. She has a career-high si ...

. Things then went even better at the US Open, where Blinkova and Kudermetova reached the semifinal. They lost to eventual champions

Laura Siegemund Laura Natalie Siegemund (born 4 March 1988, in Filderstadt) is a German professional tennis player. She is a two-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2020 US Open in women's doubles with Vera Zvonareva, as well as the 2016 US Open in mi ...

and Vera Zvonareva. In singles, she lost to eventual semifinalist

Jennifer Brady Jennifer Elizabeth Brady (born April 12, 1995) is an inactive American professional tennis player. She reached a career-high singles WTA ranking of world No. 13 on 22 February 2021, and a career-high doubles ranking of 44 on 19 August 2019. Brad ...

in the first round. Blinkova qualified for the main draw at the

Internazionali d'Italia The Italian Open ( it, Internazionali d'Italia; literally: ''Italy's Internationals''), originally called the Italian International Championships, is a tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is one of the most important clay tennis tournament ...

and defeated

Aliona Bolsova Aliona Vadimovna Bolsova Zadoinova ( ro, Aliona Bolșova; russian: Алёна Вадимовна Большова, Alyona Vadimovna Bolshova; born 6 November 1997) is a Spanish-Moldovan tennis player. On the ITF Junior Circuit, Bolsova had a ...

in a final-set tiebreak to reach the third round.

2021: Out of top 100

Blinkova started her year with consecutive losses at the Grampians Trophy and the Australian Open, before clinching her first win of the year over former top-ten player

Andrea Petkovic Andrea Petkovic (, ; born 9 September 1987) is a German former professional tennis player. Born in Tuzla, SFR Yugoslavia, to Serbian father Zoran and Bosniak mother Amira, she moved to Germany at six months old and turned professional in 2006 a ...

in the first round of the Phillip Island Trophy. However, she managed to reach the doubles semifinals of the Gippsland Trophy with

, but lost to

Chan Hao-ching Chan Hao-ching (; ; born September 19, 1993), also known as Angel Chan, is a Taiwanese professional tennis player. She is primarily a doubles specialist, having won 18 WTA, 2 WTA Challenger and 6 ITF titles in that discipline. Chan reached the ...

Latisha Chan Latisha Chan (born 17 August 1989), formerly known by her Chinese name Chan Yung-jan (; ), is a Taiwanese tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. She has won 33 career titles in doubles, including a Grand Slam title at the 2017 ...

9-11 in the match tiebreak. Alongside compatriot

Anastasia Potapova Anastasia Sergeyevna Potapova (born 30 March 2001) is a Russian tennis player. Potapova has a career-high ranking of No. 44 achieved on 17 October 2022 and a doubles ranking of No. 44 achieved on 3 October 2022. Potapova is a former junior No ...

, she reached her third WTA doubles final at the Phillip Island Trophy, losing to Ankita Raina and

Kamilla Rakhimova Kamilla Stanislavovna Rakhimova ( rus, Камилла Станиславовна Рахимова, , kɐˈmʲiɫə rɐˈxʲiməvə; born 28 August 2001) is a Russian professional tennis player of Tatar descent. She has career-high WTA rankings ...

. She reached her first semifinal of the year at the Bol Ladies Open, a WTA 125 event, as the top seed. However, she lost to

Jasmine Paolini Jasmine Paolini (; born 4 January 1996) is an Italian tennis player. She reached career-high WTA rankings of No. 44 in singles and 122 in doubles. Paolini has won one singles title (at the 2021 Slovenian Open) and one doubles title on the WTA To ...

, after winning just four games. At the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is pla ...

, Blinkova beat

Tímea Babos Tímea Babos (; born 10 May 1993) is a Hungarian professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. She is a four-time Grand Slam champion in women's doubles, having won the 2018 and 2020 Australian Opens, as well as the Fre ...

in the first round before falling to world No. 1,

Ashleigh Barty Ashleigh is the feminine form of the Old English name Ashley, which means "dweller near the ash tree forest". It is most common in the United States and United Kingdom. Notable people B *Ashleigh Ball (born 1983), Canadian voice actress * Ashle ...

, on Centre Court. Blinkova reached the doubles semifinals of the Western & Southern Open with

Aliaksandra Sasnovich Aliaksandra Aliaksandraŭna Sasnovich ( be, Аляксандра Аляксандраўна Сасновіч; born 22 March 1994) is a Belarusian tennis player. She has won eleven singles and seven doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. She has rea ...

, defeating top seeds

Hsieh Su-wei Hsieh Su-wei ( ;''Xiè 謝淑薇Shūwēi'' in Chinese mainland. Taiwanese Mandarin: ; in Standard Mandarin of Chinese mainland. born 4 January 1986) is an inactive Taiwanese professional tennis player. She has won three singles titles and 30 ...

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in the second round. She lost in the first round of the US Open to

Valentini Grammatikopoulou Valentini Grammatikopoulou ( el, Βαλεντίνη Γραμματικοπούλου; born 9 February 1997) is a Greek tennis player. On 22 August 2022, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 143. On 28 February 2022, she peaked at No ...

2022: Resurgence, first WTA title, back to top 100

After falling in the opening round of qualifying at the Australian Open to

You Xiaodi You Xiaodi (; ; born 12 May 1996) is a Chinese tennis player. She has won one WTA Challenger doubles title, as well as six singles and 17 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 16 March 2020, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 1 ...

, Blinkova reached her first singles final since 2019 at the $60k event Open Andrézieux-Bouthéon 42, defeating

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for her first top-100 win since August 2021, before losing to

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in the final. The Russian followed it up with another $60k final at the Open de l'Isère, where she beat the top seed

Arantxa Rus Arantxa Rus (; born 13 December 1990) is a Dutch tennis player. In 2008, she won the girl's singles title at the Australian Open, defeating Jessica Moore from Australia in the final. With this win she went from 35th to second place on the junio ...

before she lost to

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in the final. She won her first WTA Tour-level singles title at the

2022 Transylvania Open The 2022 Transylvania Open was a women's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the second edition of the Transylvania Open, and part of the WTA 250 series of the 2022 WTA Tour. It was held at the BT Arena in Cluj-Napoca, Roma ...

Performance timelines

''Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup /Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.''

Singles

''Current through the

.''

Doubles

''Current through the 2022 Korea Open.''

WTA career finals

Singles: 1 (1 title)

Doubles: 4 (1 title, 3 runner-ups)

WTA Challenger finals

Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Doubles: 1 (title)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 9 (3 titles, 6 runner–ups)

Doubles: 11 (11 titles)

Junior Grand Slam tournament finals

Girls' singles: 1 (runner–up)

Fed Cup participation

Singles (0–1)

Doubles (2–0)

WTA Tour career earnings

''Correct as of 15 November 2021''

Wins over top-10 players

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blinkova, Anna 1998 births Living people Tennis players from Moscow Russian female tennis players