Danka Kovinić ( cnr, Данка Ковинић; born 18 November 1994) is a Montenegrin 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. On 22 February 2016, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 46, and on 20 June 2016, she peaked at No. 67 in the WTA doubles rankings.

Tennis career

2010–2013: Historic WTA debut and quarterfinal

Kovinić started playing as a professional in 2010. Her first

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 tourna ...

tournament in singles was the 2013 Budapest Grand Prix, where she became the first Montenegrin to reach the quarterfinals of a WTA event.

2015: First Grand Slam match wins, first WTA singles final and doubles title

Her first major match wins in singles came at the

2015 French Open The 2015 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 119th edition of the French Open and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 24 May to 7 June and consisted of e ...

and the 2015 US Open. In October 2015, she reached her first WTA Tour singles final at the

Tianjin Open The Tianjin Open is an International-level WTA 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 th ...

. Her first match in doubles on the WTA Tour was at

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

, in April 2014. She won her first WTA Tour doubles title with

Stephanie Vogt Stephanie Vogt (; born 15 February 1990) is a retired tennis player from Liechtenstein. In her career, Vogt won two doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as 12 singles titles and 11 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 24 February 2014, she ...

, in July 2015 at

Bad Gastein Bad Gastein (; formerly ''Badgastein''; Southern Bavarian: ''Bod Goschdei'') is a spa town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau District, St. Johann im Pongau, in the Austrian state of Salzburg (state), Salzburg. Picturesquely situated in a hig ...

2016: Top 50 debut

Kovinić started the season at the Auckland Open where she lost in the first round to third seed

Caroline Wozniacki Caroline Wozniacki (; born 11 July 1990) is a Danish former professional tennis player. She was ranked world No. 1 in singles for a total of 71 weeks, including at the end of 2010 and 2011. She achieved the top ranking for the first time on 11 ...

. In doubles, she and

Barbora Strýcová Barbora Strýcová (; born 28 March 1986), formerly known as Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, is a Czech former professional tennis player who was ranked List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles. She won her fir ...

reached the final which they lost to

Elise Mertens Elise Mertens (; born 17 November 1995) is a Belgian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in doubles. Mertens is a three-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2019 US Open and 2021 Australian Open partnering Ar ...

and

An-Sophie Mestach An-Sophie Mestach (born 7 March 1994) is a Belgian retired tennis player. In her career, Mestach won two doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as six singles titles and eight doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 14 September 2015, she reac ...

. At the

Hobart International The Hobart International is a women's professional tennis tournament held at the Hobart International Tennis Centre in Hobart, Australia. Held since 1994, it forms a part of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour and is classed as an Interna ...

, Kovinić was defeated in the first round by Australian wildcard

Kimberly Birrell Kimberly Birrell (born 29 April 1998) is an Australian tennis player. She has won two singles titles and one doubles title on the ITF Circuit. Birrell reached her best singles ranking of world No. 154 on 6 May 2019. Personal life Birrell was ...

. At the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

, Kovinić made it to the second round and lost to 14th seed and two-time champion,

Victoria Azarenka Victória Fyódarauna Azárenka ( be, Вікторыя Фёдараўна Азаранка; Russian: Виктория Фёдоровна Азаренко; born 31 July 1989) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. Azarenka is a former wo ...

. Seeded third at the

Rio Open The Rio Open, also known as the ''Rio Open presented by Claro'' for sponsorship reasons, is a tennis event on the ATP Tour and former WTA International Tournaments event. The tournament is played on outdoor clay courts at the Jockey Club Brasileir ...

, Kovinić advanced to the quarterfinals where she was defeated by wildcard

Sorana Cîrstea Sorana Mihaela Cîrstea (; born 7 April 1990) is a Romanian professional tennis player. In singles, she achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 21 on 12 August 2013. In doubles, her career-high ranking is No. 35, which she reached on 9 March ...

. Seeded seventh at the Abierto Mexicano, she lost in the second round to

Christina McHale Christina Marietta McHale (born May 11, 1992) is an American former professional tennis player. Her highest-ever WTA rankings were No. 24 in singles and No. 35 in doubles. Known for an aggressive baseline game, McHale was recognized by ''The New ...

. Seeded seventh at the

Monterrey Open The Monterrey Open is a professional women's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. The event is affiliated with the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and is part of the 250 series on the WTA Tour. From 2009 to 2013, the tournament wa ...

, she was defeated in the first round by qualifier

Nicole Gibbs Nicole Gibbs (born March 3, 1993) is an American retired tennis player. She won seven singles and five doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 25 July 2016, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 68. On 19 September 2016, she peaked at ...

. At the

Indian Wells Open The Indian Wells Masters, also known as the Indian Wells Open and BNP Paribas Open is an annual tennis tournament usually held in early- and mid-March at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, United States. The owner is La ...

, Kovinić faced eighth seed

Petra Kvitová Petra Kvitová, OLY ( , ; born 8 March 1990) is a Czech professional tennis player. Known for her powerful left-handed groundstrokes and variety, Kvitová has won 29 career singles titles, including two major titles at Wimbledon in 2011 and i ...

in the second round. She pushed Kvitová to three sets but ended up losing the match. At the Miami Open, Kovinić was defeated in the second round by 24th seed

Johanna Konta Johanna Konta (born 17 May 1991) is a British former professional tennis player, having represented Australia until 2012. She won four singles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as 11 singles and four doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. The ...

2020: Return to major tournaments

At the

, Kovinić lost in the first round to 16th seed

. At the Mexican Open, she was defeated in the first round by

Kateryna Bondarenko Kateryna Volodymyrivna Volodko (née Bondarenko; uk, Катерина Володимирівна Бондаренко; born 8 August 1986) is a tennis player from Ukraine. She was the doubles champion in 2008 at the Australian Open, partnering ...

. At the

, she lost in the first round to top seed and eventual champion

Elina Svitolina Elina Mykhailivna Svitolina ( uk, Еліна Михайлівна Світоліна, ; born 12 September 1994) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. She reached career-high rankings of world No. 3 in singles and 108 in doubles. Svitolina ...

. In August, Kovinić played at 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 ...

where she was defeated in the first round of qualifying by Vera Zvonareva. At the US Open, she made it to the second round and lost to 24th seed Magda Linette.

2021: WTA 500 final

In January, she started her Australian tour at the Gippsland Trophy with a win against

Tamara Zidanšek Tamara Zidanšek (; born 26 December 1997) is a Slovenian tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of No. 22 in singles and No. 54 in doubles, and is the current number-one Slovene tennis player in singles. She has won one singles title an ...

, before losing to

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 ...

in the next round. After that, she played at the

where she lost in the first round against top seed and world No. 1,

Ashleigh Barty Ashleigh is the feminine form of the Old English name Ashley (given 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 ...

. Her next tournament was the Phillip Island Trophy where she played against 13th seed

Marie Bouzková Marie Bouzková (, born 21 July 1998) is a Czech professional tennis player. She attained her career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 26 on 31 October 2022. On 9 May 2022, she peaked at No. 24 in the WTA doubles rankings. So far, she has won one ...

and retired during the second set, after winning the first. In March, Danka made the round of 16 at the

Abierto Zapopan The Abierto Zapopan, also known as Abierto Akron Zapopan for sponsorship reasons, was a WTA 250-level professional women's tennis tournament. It used to take place on outdoor hardcourts, around the month of March at the Panamerican Tennis Cente ...

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

, Mexico where she was defeated in straight sets by

Lauren Davis Lauren Davis (born October 9, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. Known for her aggressive backhand, speed, and clay-court strength, she won her first title on the WTA Tour at the Auckland Open and reached a career-high singles ra ...

. During the tournament, she suffered a back injury and had to pull out of

and Miami Open. In April, Kovinić made it into the quarterfinals of the

Charleston Open The Credit One Charleston Open, formerly known as the Volvo Car Open and the Family Circle Cup, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in ...

by beating third seeded Petra Kvitová in straight sets in the round of 16. It was her third victory over a player who was ranked inside top 10. In the next round, she defeated 11th seed

Yulia Putintseva Yulia Antonovna Putintseva ( rus, Ю́лия Анто́новна Пути́нцева; , ''puh-TEEN-tseh-vah''; born 7 January 1995) is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player. She is a three-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist (twic ...

to reach her first

WTA 500 WTA may refer to: Organizations *Washington Trails Association *Whatcom Transportation Authority *Waskahegan Trail Association, the management board for the Waskahegan Trail *Water Transit Authority, former name of the San Francisco Bay Area Water ...

semifinal. After that, she beat 12th seeded

Ons Jabeur Ons Jabeur ( ar, أُنْس جَابِر, ʾUns Jābir, ; born 28 August 1994) is a Tunisian professional tennis player. She has a career high Women's Tennis Association (WTA) ranking of world No. 2 achieved on 27 June 2022. Jabeur is the curre ...

in straight sets, to book a place in her third career final which she lost to

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 ...

. After that, she entered the MUSC Health Open in Charleston where she reached her second consecutive WTA semifinal by beating

Viktoriya Tomova Viktoriya Konstantinova Tomova ( bg, Виктория Константинова Томова, born 25 February 1995) is a professional Bulgarian tennis player. Tomova reached a career-high WTA singles ranking of 89 achieved on 31 October 2022. ...

in straight sets, seventh seeded

in the round of 16, and

Shelby Rogers Shelby Rogers (born October 13, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 30 in singles achieved August 2022 and No. 40 in doubles, achieved February 2022, and has won six singles and two doub ...

in the quarterfinals. She then lost to the top seed Ons Jabeur.

2022: Historic Grand Slam third round

In January, she started her Australian tour at the Melbourne Summer Set with a straight-sets win in qualifying against Alexandra Osborne, before withdrawing due to injury in the next round. At

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, she lost in the first round to

Maddison Inglis Maddison Inglis (born 14 January 1998) is an Australian tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of 112, achieved on 2 March 2020. Inglis has won five singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, ITF Circu ...

, in three sets. At the

, she won in the first round against

Jang Su-jeong Jang Su-jeong ( ko, 장수정 ; born 13 March 1995) is a South Korean tennis player. Jang has won one singles title on the WTA Challenger Tour as well as ten singles titles and thirteen doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 11 July 2022, she ...

, before she defeated reigning US Open champion

Emma Raducanu Emma Raducanu (born 13 November 2002) is a British professional tennis player. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 10 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) on 11 July 2022, and is the current British No. 1. Raducanu is the first British ...

in three sets to reach the third round, her best result at a Grand Slam. In the next round, she was defeated by the former world No. 1,

Simona Halep Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019, for a total of 64 weeks, which ranks eleventh in the history of the Women's Tennis Assoc ...

. With this result, she became the first player from Montenegro to reach the third round of a Grand Slam championship. In Indian Wells, Kovinić beat

Jil Teichmann Jil Belén Teichmann (born 15 July 1997) is a Swiss professional tennis player. She has been ranked by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) as high as world No. 21 in singles and No. 74 in doubles. She has won two singles titles and one doubles ...

in the first round, while in the second round she had a surprising top-10 win over seventh seed

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 pos ...

, before losing to Ludmilla Samsonova in the third round. At Roland Garros, she avenged her loss in Indian Wells and beat 25th seed Ludmilla Samsonova in the first round. She managed to beat

Anna Karolína Schmiedlová Anna Karolína Schmiedlová (; born 13 September 1994) is a Slovak tennis player. She has won three singles titles on the WTA Tour, one singles title on the WTA Challenger Tour as well as 12 singles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 12 October 201 ...

in straight sets, before losing to top seed and world No. 1,

Iga Swiatek Iga may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Ambush at Iga Pass, a 1958 Japanese film * Iga no Kagemaru, Japanese manga series * Iga, a set of characters from the Japanese novel '' The Kouga Ninja Scrolls'' Biology * ''Iga'' (beetle), a gen ...

, in the third round. Kovinić was supposed to play at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

against

Sonay Kartal Sonay Kartal (born 28 October 2001) is a British tennis player. Kartal has a career-high WTA singles ranking of 195 and a career-high doubles ranking of 559. She has won six ITF singles titles. Career Kartal began playing tennis at aged ...

in the first round, but was forced to withdraw at the very last moment, due to low back problems. Kovinić lost in the first round of the US Open (the last professional tournament of Serena's career) to

Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...

. In October, she reached semifinals of the

Emilia-Romagna Open The Emilia-Romagna Open is a professional tennis tournament played on clay courts. It is currently part of the WTA Tour for women and minor league ATP Challenger Tour for men. It is held annually in Montechiarugolo, Parma Parma (; egl, Pä ...

by beating

Océane Dodin Océane Dodin (, born 24 October 1996) is a professional tennis player from France. Ranked by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), she reached a career-high of 46 as a singles player in June 2017 and No. 375 in October 2017 as a doubles player ...

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 ...

and

Sloane Stephens Sloane Stephens (born March 20, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. She achieved a career-best ranking of world No. 3 after Wimbledon in 2018. Stephens was the 2017 US Open champion, and has won seven WTA Tour singles titles in t ...

. However, she lost her semifinal match to top seed

Maria Sakkari Maria Sakkari ( gr, Μαρία Σάκκαρη, ; born 25 July 1995) is a Greek professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 3 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), which she first achieved on 21 March 2022, making her ...

2023: Quarterfinal of ASB Classic

In January, Kovinic reached the semifinals of ASB Classic by beating

Nao Hibino is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as No. 56 in singles and No. 43 in doubles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Hibino has won two singles and two doubles titles on the WTA Tour. Along with that, she ...

in straight sets in the first round. In the round of 16, she beat

in three sets, while in the quarterfinals she managed to beat

Viktória Kužmová Viktória Kužmová (; born 11 May 1998) is a Slovak professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as No. 43 in singles and No. 27 in doubles in the world by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Kužmová has won three WTA doubles ti ...

in straight sets.

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

2022 Emilia-Romagna Open The 2022 Emilia-Romagna Open is a professional tennis tournament played on clay courts in Parma, Italy as an ATP Challenger Tour 125 event for the men and a WTA 250 event for the women. The fifth edition of the men's event was held between 13 an ...

.''

Doubles

WTA career finals

Singles: 3 (3 runner-ups)

Doubles: 5 (1 title, 4 runner-ups)

WTA Challenger finals

Singles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

Doubles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 21 (13 titles, 8 runner–ups)

Doubles: 11 (4 titles, 7 runner–ups)

Other finals

Singles

Head-to-head records

Wins over top-10 players

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kovinic, Danka 1994 births Living people Montenegrin female tennis players Sportspeople from Cetinje Olympic tennis players of Montenegro Tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics