Kaia Kanepi (; born 10 June 1985) is an
Estonian 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 achieved her career-high ranking of world No. 15 on 20 August 2012 and has won four singles titles 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 ...
.
Described as a 'resident Grand Slam upset specialist' by ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' - with 19 wins over seeded players in the first week of Grand Slams; only three active players (
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 w ...
,
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, Williams has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open. She is ...
and
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 ...
) have more. She has also reached seven Grand Slam quarterfinals in all four championships (French Open in 2008 and 2012, Wimbledon in 2010 and 2013, the US Open in 2010 and 2017, and Australian Open 2022), becoming the first Estonian to achieve this and was the first Estonian to be ranked inside the world's top 15. Kanepi's numerous achievements have made her one of Estonia's most famous and successful professional tennis players in history. Kanepi reached her first final in 2006, becoming the first Estonian female player to do so, at the
Gaz de France Stars where she lost to
Kim Clijsters
Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters (; born 8 June 1983) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. Clijsters reached the world No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles, having held both rankings simultaneously in 2003. She won six major titles, ...
. She then won her first singles title in
Palermo in 2010, also becoming the first Estonian female player to win a title.
Career
Kaia Kanepi was born in
Haapsalu
Haapsalu () is a seaside resort town located on the west coast of Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Lääne County, and on 1 January 2020 it had a population of 9,375.
Description
Haapsalu has been well known for centuries for its ...
. Her father, Jaak (a
real estate broker) and mother Anne (a
homemaker
Homemaking is mainly an American and Canadian term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping, housewifery or household management. It is the act of overseeing the organizational, day-to-day operations of a hous ...
) played tennis. They also have daughters Kadri, who won a tennis scholarship to study in the United States, and Karin, a dedicated horse rider. Kaia, who always watched her parents and sisters play, discovered her love for tennis at an early age. She started playing at the age of eight.
Her family has always supported her desire to play professional tennis. She reached world number one in the
International Tennis Federation
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016, there ...
(ITF) junior rankings before turning professional in 2000.
1994–2003 Kaia was trained by Tiit Kivistik. From 2003 until the autumn of 2007, Kaia was coached by
Andrei Luzgin. After Luzgin,
Fredrik Lovén from Sweden became her coach, but their partnership ended in February 2008. Kanepi's next coach (until September 2008) was Pablo Giacopelli. From November 2008, she was coached by Luca Appino. After November 2009, Kanepi was coached by fellow Estonia pro
Mait Künnap
Mait Künnap (born 23 September 1982) is an Estonian 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 ...
. In February 2010, she broke up with her coach and agent. In April, she started to work with Silver Karjus, who was her coach until March 2012. From 2013–2014, she was coached by Märten Tamla.
2004–2007
Kanepi represented
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
in both the women's singles and women's doubles, partnering
Maret Ani
Maret Ani (born 31 January 1982) is a retired tennis player from Estonia.
At the start of 2006, she was the top-ranked player in Estonia, before losing that spot to Kaia Kanepi.
Ani was a junior basketball champion, but devoted herself to tenni ...
, at the
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...
, losing in the first round of both events.
At the end of 2006, she reached 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 tou ...
final during the
Gaz de France Stars tournament in Hasselt, Belgium. She came through three qualification rounds and beat
Anne Kremer
Anne Kremer (born 17 October 1975) is a Luxembourgish retired tennis player. Anne won two singles titles on the WTA Tour. On 29 July 2002, she achieved her best WTA ranking of world No. 18.
Anne completed her schooling at the Athénée de Luxe ...
,
Nathalie Dechy
Nathalie Dechy (born 21 February 1979) is a former professional tennis player from France.
Dechy is a three-time doubles Grand Slam champion, winning the 2006 US Open women's doubles title with Vera Zvonareva, the 2007 French Open mixed doubl ...
,
Eleni Daniilidou
Eleni Daniilidou ( el, Ελένη Δανιηλίδου; ; born 19 September 1982) is a Greek former tennis player from the island of Crete.
She is considered one of the best Greek tennis players of the Open Era, winning five singles titles and t ...
,
Francesca Schiavone
Francesca Schiavone (; born 23 June 1980) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1998 and won the 2010 French Open singles title, becoming the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam event in singles. She w ...
, and
Michaëlla Krajicek
Michaëlla Krajicek ( cz, Michaela Krajíčková; born 9 January 1989) is a Dutch former tennis player. She won three singles and five doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as one WTA 125 doubles title, and 14 singles and 22 doubles titles on ...
to eventually play the final against
Kim Clijsters
Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters (; born 8 June 1983) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. Clijsters reached the world No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles, having held both rankings simultaneously in 2003. She won six major titles, ...
, to whom she lost in three sets.
At the
2007 Australian Open, Kanepi struggled, but defeated 28th-seeded
Flavia Pennetta
Flavia Pennetta (; born 25 February 1982) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She became Italy's first top-ten female singles player on 17 August 2009 and the first Italian to be ranked world No. 1 in doubles, on 28 February 2011. ...
before losing to
Alicia Molik in the second round. At Indian Wells, she defeated wildcard
Kristina Brandi
Kristina Brandi (born March 29, 1977) is a former Puerto Rican tennis player. She was the first tennis player representing Puerto Rico to win a singles match in an Olympic tennis tournament.
Some of Brandi's career highlights: She achieved her b ...
in the first round, but lost in the second round to 14th seed and eventual champion,
Daniela Hantuchová
Daniela Hantuchová (; born 23 April 1983) is a Slovak tennis commentator and retired player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first WTA Tour title at the Indian Wells Masters, defeating M ...
. At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, she stunned
Patty Schnyder
Patty Schnyder (born 14 December 1978)
Weltwoche, 14. September 2011 is a Swiss reti ...
in the second round, before losing to qualifier
Vera Dushevina
Vera Yevgenyevna Dushevina ( rus, Вера Евгеньевна Душевина; born 6 October 1986) is a Russian former professional tennis player.
She won one singles title and two doubles titles on the WTA Tour. As a junior, she won the ...
in the next round.
![Kaia Kanepi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Kaia_Kanepi.jpg)
In late July, Kanepi reached the semifinals of the
Bad Gastein
Bad Gastein (; formerly ''Badgastein''; Southern Bavarian: ''Bod Goschdei'') is a spa town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau, in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Picturesquely situated in a high valley of the Hohe Tauern mountain range, it ...
tournament in Austria, where she fell to Francesca Schiavone. This was her third career semifinal and first of the year. Afterwards, she made her top-40 debut at world No. 40.
2008: French Open quarterfinal
After losing in the first round of
Australian Open, Kanepi performed better in the next Grand Slam. At the
French Open, Kanepi defeated sixth seed
Anna Chakvetadze
Anna Djambuliovna Chakvetadze ( ; born 5 March 1987) is a Russian former professional tennis player.
In her career, Chakvetadze won eight WTA Tour singles titles, the biggest being the 2006 Kremlin Cup. She booked her highest singles ranking o ...
in the second round. She then defeated 29th-seeded
Anabel Medina Garrigues
Ana Isabel Medina Garrigues (, ; born 31 July 1982) is a Spanish tennis coach and former professional player.
As a player she reached a career-high ranking of world No. 16 in 2020, and won 11 singles and 28 doubles titles, including the 2008 ...
for a place in the fourth round. Outplaying unseeded
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 ...
she reached the quarterfinals, where she was defeated by fourth seed
Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets. Nonetheless, Kanepi made history by becoming the first Estonian female tennis player to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Kanepi was granted direct entry 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
* ...
, where she lost in the first round to sixth seed
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 ...
.
At the
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...
, Kanepi reached the third round, defeating Flavia Pennetta and
Virginie Razzano
Virginie Razzano (born 12 May 1983) is a former French professional tennis player. She won two WTA Tour singles titles, both of them in 2007. Razzano reached her career-high WTA singles ranking of world No. 16 on 14 September 2009. She represen ...
, before losing to
Li Na
Li Na (born 26 February 1982) is a Chinese former professional tennis player.
She achieved a career-high WTA ranking of world No. 2 on 17 February 2014. Over the course of her career, Li won nine WTA Tour singles titles including two Grand ...
.
At the US Open, 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, but lost to
Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Simone Mauresmo (; born 5 July 1979) is a French former world No. 1 tennis player and tournament director. Mauresmo won two major singles titles at the 2006 Australian Open and Wimbledon Championships, and also won the silver medal in s ...
in the second round.
In September, Kanepi reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier of the Tier I Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, where she defeated Vera Dushevina, world No. 13, Chakvetadze, and Virginie Razzano, before losing to world No. 5,
Dinara Safina
Dinara Mubinovna Safina (; ; tt-Cyrl, Динара Мөбин кызы Сафина; born April 27, 1986) is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis player. Safina was runner-up in singles at the 2008 French Open, 2009 Australian Open, and the ...
. She then reached the semifinals of the Korea Open in Seoul where she was beaten by the eventual champion and first seed,
Maria Kirilenko
Maria Yuryevna Kirilenko ( rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Кириле́нко, p=mɐˈrʲijə kʲɪrʲɪˈlʲɛnkə ; born 25 January 1987) is a Russian former professional tennis player. A junior Grand Slam champion at the 2002 US Open a ...
.
She then made only her second final at the WTA level at the Tier III
Japan Open in Tokyo. She defeated
Lucie Šafářová
Lucie Šafářová (; born 4 February 1987) is a Czech former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles, and No. 5 in singles.
She is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2015 Australian Open, 2015 ...
,
Yanina Wickmayer
Yanina Wickmayer (born 20 October 1989) is a Belgian professional tennis player. She reached the semifinals at the 2009 US Open, and a career-high WTA ranking of world No. 12, on 19 April 2010. In doubles, she achieved a career-high of world No. ...
,
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Anastasia Sergeyevna "Nastia" Pavlyuchenkova (russian: Анастаси́я "Настя" Серге́евна Павлюче́нкова; born 3 July 1991) is an inactive Russian professional tennis player. A junior prodigy, Pavlyuchenkova won ...
, and eighth seed
Aleksandra Wozniak
Aleksandra Wozniak ( pl, Woźniak; born September 7, 1987) is a Canadian former tennis player. She turned professional in November 2005, and achieved a career-best ranking of No. 21 in June 2009, making her the fifth highest-ranked Canadian singl ...
, before losing in the final to Danish then world No. 16 and top 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 three sets.
She was named the 2008
Best Female Athlete of Estonia by the Association of Estonian Sports Journalists.
2009
Kanepi reached her career-best third round at the
Australian Open, but lost miserably to then world No. 3,
Dinara Safina
Dinara Mubinovna Safina (; ; tt-Cyrl, Динара Мөбин кызы Сафина; born April 27, 1986) is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis player. Safina was runner-up in singles at the 2008 French Open, 2009 Australian Open, and the ...
, in straight sets. She had an epic match with
Kimiko Date
is a Japanese former professional tennis player. She reached the semifinals of the 1994 Australian Open, the 1995 French Open and the 1996 Wimbledon Championships, and won the Japan Open a record four times. She reached a career-high ranking ...
, former world No. 4, in the first round.
She was a member of the
Estonia Fed Cup team
The Estonia Billie Jean King Cup team represents Estonia in the Billie Jean King Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Estonian Tennis Association.
Estonia has competed in Fed Cup since 1992.
In 2022, Estonia competes in the 2022 Bil ...
in rounds played in February. She was paired with
Maret Ani
Maret Ani (born 31 January 1982) is a retired tennis player from Estonia.
At the start of 2006, she was the top-ranked player in Estonia, before losing that spot to Kaia Kanepi.
Ani was a junior basketball champion, but devoted herself to tenni ...
, and the Estonian team beat
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
,
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
, and
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
. Kanepi won all the singles rubbers that she played (including a win over then world No. 15
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 w ...
). She set a new personal serve record in the tournament, among the fastest ever served by a woman.
She continued her season at the
Open GdF Suez, a Premier tournament, but lost in the second round to
Émilie Loit
Émilie Loit (; born 9 June 1979) is a retired tennis player from France.
Besides her three career singles titles, all on clay, included Estoril and Casablanca both in 2004, and Acapulco in 2007, she won 16 doubles titles on the WTA Tour
Th ...
.
At the top-level Dubai Championships, she advanced to the third round to set up a match with former world number one,
Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković ( sr-Cyrl, Јелена Јанковић, ; born 28 February 1985) is a Serbian former tennis player. A former world No. 1, Janković reached the top ranking before her career-best major performance, a runner-up finish at the ...
whom she defeated in straight sets. She was the highest-seeded player Kanepi had by that time defeated. Kanepi then beat
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 quarterfinals, in straight sets. She was, however, denied a place in the finals by Virginie Razzano.
Kanepi then participated at the
Rome Masters
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 ...
. She defeated Patty Schnyder in the third round, but lost to
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 w ...
in the quarterfinals. Her next tournament was the
Madrid Open There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open:
* Madrid Open (golf)
The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...
, where she was seeded 16th. However, she retired in the first round against Lucie Šafářová. In the
French Open opening round, Kanepi was defeated by Yaroslava Shvedova in the first surprise of the day. Her first round loss led to a drop in her ranking, as she fell to world No. 24.
She was then scheduled to play at the
Aegon Classic
The Birmingham Classic (currently sponsored by Rothesay Pensions) is a 250-level women's tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held at the Edgbaston Priory Club in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. Held at this location since 1982, the tour ...
in Birmingham as the second seed. However, she then withdrew because of a knee injury. Kanepi was seeded 25th 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 Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...
, but lost to
Carla Suárez Navarro
Carla Suárez Navarro (; born 3 September 1988, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A former top 10 singles player, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 6 on 29 February 2016, and a b ...
in the first round.
Kanepi lost her opening matches at
Bastad and
Portoroz. Her bad form continued when she lost three straight first-round matches during the
US Open Series
The US Open Series is the name given by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to a series of North American professional tennis tournaments leading up to and including the US Open. It is part of the "North American hard court season". Emira ...
. She fell in the first round of the
US Open to qualifier
Chang Kai-chen
Chang Kai-chen (; ; born January 13, 1991) is a Taiwanese former professional tennis player.
Career
Her father is Chang Chin-lai and mother is Jun Yu-mei; she has two older brothers, Yao-lun and Yao-chung (both play tennis). Born and raised ...
in three sets.
Kanepi lost to Chang again in the first round at
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
. She suffered a first-round loss at the
China Open in Beijing to Serena Williams in a match where she had more break points than Serena and lost 5–7, 4–6. This was her 12th straight loss. Kanepi ended her losing streak at an ITF tournament Dubai in December, where she defeated
Yuliana Fedak
Yuliana Leonidivna Fedak ( uk, Юліана Леонідівна Федак; born 8 June 1983) is a retired Ukrainian tennis player.
Fedak has a career high WTA singles ranking of 63, achieved on 18 September 2006. Fedak also has a career high W ...
in straight sets in the first round. She then lost to
Regina Kulikova
Regina Aleksandrovna Kulikova ( Russian: Регина Александровна Куликова; born 30 January 1989) is a former professional Russian tennis player. Her highest WTA singles ranking is No. 65, which she reached in May 2010. Her ...
.
2010: Wimbledon and US Open quarterfinals
By the start of the new season, Kanepi seemed to be in better physical shape than in 2009. Kanepi reached the second round at the
ASB Classic, defeating world No. 15, Li Na, in straight sets, before losing to
Maria Kirilenko
Maria Yuryevna Kirilenko ( rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Кириле́нко, p=mɐˈrʲijə kʲɪrʲɪˈlʲɛnkə ; born 25 January 1987) is a Russian former professional tennis player. A junior Grand Slam champion at the 2002 US Open a ...
in the second round. She fell in the first round of 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 ...
to seventh seed
Zheng Jie
Zheng Jie (born 5 July 1983) is a retired tennis player from China. In May 2009, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 15.
Zheng is one of the most successful tennis players from China. She won four WTA singles titles – Ho ...
in a tight three-setter. At the first Grand Slam of the year at the
Australian Open, Kanepi defeated
Chan Yung-jan
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 ...
in the first round, but fell to 19th seed
Nadia Petrova
Nadezhda Viktorovna "Nadia" Petrova (russian: Надежда Викторовна Петрова ; born 8 June 1982) is a Russian former professional tennis player. A former top-five player in both singles and doubles, she reached a career-high ...
in the second round.
Kanepi was seeded fifth at the
Cellular South Cup
Cellular may refer to:
*Cellular automaton, a model in discrete mathematics
*Cell biology, the evaluation of cells work and more
* ''Cellular'' (film), a 2004 movie
*Cellular frequencies, assigned to networks operating in cellular RF bands
*Cellu ...
in Memphis. She was in the same half of the draw as Maria Sharapova. She defeated
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 ...
in the first round, and former world No. 7, Nicole Vaidišová, in the second round. She fell in three sets to fifth seed Petra Kvitová in the quarterfinals. Despite this, Kanepi's ranking fell to world No. 96, due to the fact that she did not defend her points from Dubai from the previous year.
Kanepi reached the second round in
Acapulco, but lost to top seed and defending champion
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, Williams has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open. She is ...
. Kanepi also fell in the second round of 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 ...
to second seed Daniela Hantuchová in straight sets.
Kanepi then competed in two Premier Mandatory tournaments. At the
BNP Paribas Open and the
Sony Ericsson Open
The Miami Open (also known as the Miami Masters, and currently branded as the Miami Open presented by Itaú for sponsorship reasons) is a tennis tournament held at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. It is part of the men's ATP Tour Mas ...
, she fell in the first rounds to
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 ...
and Lucie Šafářová respectively. Kanepi's ranking fell out of the top 100 following these tournaments.
She then represented
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
in the
2010 Fed Cup World Group Play-offs against
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
. She was defeated by world No. 12 Yanina Wickmayer in her first match, but surprisingly defeated former world No. 1,
Justine Henin
Justine Henin (; born 1 June 1982) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. She spent a total of 117 weeks as the world No. 1 and was the year-end No. 1 in 2003, 2006 and 2007. Henin, coming from a country with limited success in tenni ...
, in her second match-up.
At the beginning of May, Kanepi won ten straight matches to claim her seventh and eighth career ITF tournaments. She qualified for the
French Open, where she defeated
Pauline Parmentier
Pauline Parmentier (; born 31 January 1986) is a French former tennis player.
Her career-high WTA singles ranking is world No. 40, which she attained on 21 July 2008. On 30 April 2012, she peaked at world No. 89 on the WTA doubles rankings. Sh ...
in the first round. She pushed world No. 4,
Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković ( sr-Cyrl, Јелена Јанковић, ; born 28 February 1985) is a Serbian former tennis player. A former world No. 1, Janković reached the top ranking before her career-best major performance, a runner-up finish at the ...
, to three sets before losing in round two. This allowed her ranking to re-enter the top 100.
At the
Internazionali di Palermo, Kanepi won her first WTA career singles title. She defeated top seed Flavia Pennetta for the title. At the start of the grass-court season, she reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier at
Aegon Classic
The Birmingham Classic (currently sponsored by Rothesay Pensions) is a 250-level women's tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held at the Edgbaston Priory Club in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. Held at this location since 1982, the tour ...
in Birmingham, defeating 12th seed
Elena Baltacha
Elena Sergeevna Baltacha ( uk, Олена Сергіївна Балтача; 14 August 1983 – 4 May 2014) was a Ukrainian-born British professional tennis player. Being a four-time winner of the AEGON Awards, she was also a long-ter ...
,
Jarmila Groth
Jarmila Wolfe (née Gajdošová, formerly Groth; born 26 April 1987) is a Slovak-Australian former tennis player.
In her career, she won two singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as 14 singles and ten doubles titles on ...
, and
Michelle Larcher de Brito
Michelle Larcher de Brito (born 29 January 1993) is a Portuguese former professional tennis player. She is the former Portuguese No. 1.
Larcher de Brito won four singles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit in her career. On 6 July 2009, she rea ...
en route, before losing to top seed and eventual champion Li Na.
Kanepi then qualified for 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 Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...
, defeating
Olga Savchuk
Olga Mykolayivna Savchuk ( uk, Ольга Миколаївна Савчук; born 20 September 1987) is a retired tennis player from Ukraine. Savchuk grew up in the city of Makiyivka in Donetsk province. She resides in Nassau, Bahamas.
Her best ...
,
Elena Bovina
Elena Olegovna Bovina ( rus, link=no, Елена Олеговна Бовина, , ɪ̯ɪˈlʲenə ˈbovʲɪnə; born 10 March 1983) is a former professional tennis player from Russia. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 14 in ...
, and
Ajla Tomljanović
Ajla Tomljanović ( ; ; born 7 May 1993) is an Australian professional tennis player. She has won four singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 31 October 2022, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 33. On 5 Janu ...
in straight sets. In the first round, Kanepi caused a big upset when she defeated world No. 6 and French Open finalist,
Samantha Stosur
Samantha Jane Stosur ( ; born 30 March 1984) is an Australian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she first achieved on 6 February 2006 and held for 61 consecutive weeks. Also a former top ten s ...
. She then defeated
Edina Gallovits
Klaudia Edina Gallovits-Hall (née Gallovits; born December 10, 1984) is a Romanian Americans, Romanian-born American tennis player. Her career-high ranking of No. 54 she achieved on April 28, 2008. She represented Romania until April 2015, then ...
in the second round, and world No. 31
Alexandra Dulgheru
Alexandra Dulgheru (; born 30 May 1989) is a professional tennis player from Romania. On 11 April 2011, she achieved her career-high singles ranking of world No. 26. Her best ranking in doubles is No. 41, reached on 4 July 2011.
She is coached b ...
in round three. Kanepi then reached her second Grand Slam quarterfinal, when she defeated
Klára Zakopalová in the fourth round. In the quarterfinals, Kanepi lost a tough three-set match to Petra Kvitová, despite having a total of five match points and being a double break up in the final set. With her success at Wimbledon, Kanepi's ranking rose to world No. 38.
Kanepi next played at the
Swedish Open
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
. She fell in the first round to fifth seed
Arantxa Parra Santonja
Arantxa Parra Santonja (; born 9 November 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. She turned pro in 2000 and retired in 2019.
In her career, Parra Santonja won eleven doubles titles on the WTA Tour
The WTA Tour is a worldwide ...
. However, she continued her strong play at the
Internazionali di Palermo where, as the fifth seed, she defeated
Rossana de los Ríos
Rossana Neffa de los Rios (born 16 September 1975) is a retired tennis player from Paraguay. She was born in the Paraguayan capital, Asunción, and now lives in Miami, Florida, with her daughter Ana Paula Neffa de los Ríos and her husband Gust ...
,
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 ...
, third seed
Sara Errani
Sara Errani (; born 29 April 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. She is a former top five player in singles and former world No. 1 in doubles. With 9 singles titles and 27 doubles titles (including 5 Grand Slam doubles championship ...
and
Romina Oprandi
Romina Sarina Oprandi (born 29 March 1986) is a retired 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.
She has w ...
to reach her third WTA Tour final. In the final, Kanepi defeated top seed, world No. 12, and defending champion Flavia Pennetta, not dropping a set in the whole tournament to claim her first WTA career title.
Kanepi was seeded 31st at the
US Open where she defeated Alizé Cornet,
Akgul Amanmuradova
Akgul Charievna Amanmuradova ( uz, Oqgul Omonmurodova; born June 23, 1984) is a professional tennis player from Uzbekistan. At 1.90 metres in height, she is one of the tallest female tennis players in history.
Amanmuradova has won two d ...
, fourth seed Jelena Janković and 15th seed Yanina Wickmayer to advance to her first US Open quarterfinal, where she lost to the seventh seed and eventual runner-up Vera Zvonareva.
Kanepi then entered the
Toray Pan Pacific Open and defeated
Melanie Oudin
Melanie Jennings Oudin (born September 23, 1991) is an American former professional tennis player. The former world junior No. 2 was a member of the American Fed Cup team from 2009 to 2011 and the winner of the 2011 US Open mixed-doubles title ...
in the first round. She then upset 13th seed
Shahar Pe'er
Shahar Pe'er ( he, שחר פאר, ; born ) is an Israeli retired tennis player.
Pe'er won five singles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as four singles and three doubles titles on the ITF circuit in her career. She reached ...
and third seed Jelena Janković in succession. Her run was ended in the quarterfinals by French Open champion
Francesca Schiavone
Francesca Schiavone (; born 23 June 1980) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1998 and won the 2010 French Open singles title, becoming the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam event in singles. She w ...
, who beat Kanepi in three sets. Her final tournament of the year was the
China Open. She defeated 16th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round but lost to Kvitová in the second round.
2011
![Kaia Kanepi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Kaia_Kanepi.jpg)
Kanepi started her season with a loss to
Bojana Jovanovski Bojana may refer to
Places
* Bojana (river), a river in Albania and Montenegro
* Ada Bojana / Bojana Island
Name
* Bojana (given name), a Slavic given name
* People
** Bojana Atanasovska
** Bojana Bobusic
** Bojana Jovanovski
** Bojana Novakovic
* ...
, in the first round of the
Medibank International Sydney
The Sydney International (formerly known as the Championship of New South Wales and New South Wales Open, with various title sponsors), formerly sponsored as the Apia International Sydney from 2012 to 2017, is a professional tennis tournament i ...
. Her next tournament was the
Australian Open, where she was the 20th seed. There, she defeated
Magdaléna Rybáriková
Magdaléna Rybáriková (; born 4 October 1988) is a retired Slovak tennis player. In her career, she won four singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour. Rybáriková reached the semifinals of the 2017 Wimbledon Championships and br ...
in the first round, but fell to
Julia Görges in round two. Kanepi, as the third seed, reached the semifinal in
Open GdF Suez, where she beat
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 ...
,
Sofia Arvidsson
Lena Sofia Alexandra Arvidsson (born 16 February 1984) is a Swedish professional padel player and a former tennis player. In her tennis career, she won two singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as 20 singles and 13 double ...
and Dominika Cibulková. In the semifinal, she faced the first seed
Kim Clijsters
Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters (; born 8 June 1983) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. Clijsters reached the world No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles, having held both rankings simultaneously in 2003. She won six major titles, ...
, who was too strong for Kanepi this time, and Kanepi lost the match in straight sets.
Kanepi was the 14th seed at the
Indian Wells Masters
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 ...
. She had a bye in the first round, and in the second round defeated
Gisela Dulko
Gisela Dulko (; born 30 January 1985) is a retired Argentine tennis player. Although she enjoyed modest success in singles, reaching a career-high ranking of world No. 26 and winning four WTA titles, her speciality was doubles, where she achiev ...
. She lost in the third round to 23rd seed Yanina Wickmayer. At the
Sony Ericsson Open
The Miami Open (also known as the Miami Masters, and currently branded as the Miami Open presented by Itaú for sponsorship reasons) is a tennis tournament held at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. It is part of the men's ATP Tour Mas ...
, she was the 14th seed but lost to Virginie Razzano in her opening match after having a first round bye.
She lost her opening matches at the
Madrid Open There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open:
* Madrid Open (golf)
The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...
and
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 ...
to Julia Görges and
Romina Oprandi
Romina Sarina Oprandi (born 29 March 1986) is a retired 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.
She has w ...
respectively. She qualified for the
Brussels Open but was defeated by Yanina Wickmayer in the first round. At the
French Open, seeded 16th, she beat
Sofia Arvidsson
Lena Sofia Alexandra Arvidsson (born 16 February 1984) is a Swedish professional padel player and a former tennis player. In her tennis career, she won two singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as 20 singles and 13 double ...
and Britain's
Heather Watson
Heather Miriam Watson (born 19 May 1992) is a British professional tennis player. A former British No. 1, Watson has won nine titles over her career, including the mixed-doubles title at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships partnering Henri K ...
in straight sets, before being upset in the third round by unseeded
Ekaterina Makarova
Ekaterina Valeryevna Makarova ( rus, Екатери́на Вале́рьевна Мака́рова; ; born 7 June 1988) is a Russian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles, and world No. 8 in singles.
She ...
.
Kanepi had a poor grass-court season. She lost all her opening round matches at
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
to qualifier
Arina Rodionova
Arina Ivanovna Rodionova (russian: Арина Ивановна Родионова; born 15 December 1989) is a Russian-born Australian tennis player.
Rodionova has won nine singles and 42 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. In 2007, ...
after having a first round bye, at
Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...
to fourth seed Francesca Schiavone and 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
* ...
to Sara Errani. She consequently fell out of the top 30.
Kanepi lost in the second round at the
US Open to qualifier
Sílvia Soler Espinosa
Sílvia Soler Espinosa (; born 19 November 1987) is a retired Spanish tennis player.
In her career, she has won one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as five singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 21 May 2012, she ...
. She had good results during the Asian swing. At the
Toray Pan Pacific Open, Kanepi beat world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the third round to reach the quarterfinals, where she lost to Agnieszka Radwańska. At the China Open, she met Wozniacki in the third round again but lost this time. Kanepi reached the final at the
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, losing to Dominika Cibulkova in three sets. She also reached the semifinals of an ITF event in
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
.
2012: Second French Open quarterfinal
Kanepi began season at the
Brisbane International
The Brisbane International established in 2009 is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hardcourts in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia. It is a WTA Premier tournament of the WTA Tour and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 seri ...
where she advanced to the final defeating qualifier
Alexandra Panova
Alexandra Alexandrovna Panova (russian: Александра Александровна Панова; born 2 March 1989) is a Russian professional tennis player.
On 30 July 2012, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 71. On 18 ...
, seventh seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, second seed Andrea Petkovic, and third seed Francesca Schiavone. In the final, she beat Daniela Hantuchová to win her second WTA Tour title. At the
Australian Open, she lost in second round to Ekaterina Makarova.
She then passed a chance to represent her nation in
Fed Cup
The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was chan ...
, wanting to dedicate herself to singles tournaments, but her hopes were cut short when she had to pull out of the
Open GdF Suez tournament in Paris due to a sore shoulder. The injury also forced her to skip the
Qatar Open and the
Dubai Championships. Kanepi returned in March at the
BNP Paribas Open. Seeded 29th, she was defeated in the second round by
Chanelle Scheepers
Chanelle Scheepers ( ; born 13 March 1984) is a retired South African tennis player.
She won one singles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as 12 singles and 20 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit in her career. On 10 Octobe ...
. Seeded 31st at the
Sony Ericsson Open
The Miami Open (also known as the Miami Masters, and currently branded as the Miami Open presented by Itaú for sponsorship reasons) is a tennis tournament held at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. It is part of the men's ATP Tour Mas ...
, Kanepi lost in the second round to Sílvia Soler Espinosa. At the end of the month, Kanepi and her coach for the last two years, Silver Karjus, split up over a psychologist, who supposedly influenced Kanepi's direction so much that it was impossible for him to continue working with her. Entering the
e-Boks Open tournament as the fifth seed, Kanepi was defeated in her quarterfinal match by third seed Jelena Janković.
Seeded sixth at the
Estoril Open, Kanepi won her third WTA title defeating Carla Suárez Navarro in the final. At the
Madrid Open There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open:
* Madrid Open (golf)
The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...
, Kanepi was defeated in the first round by Lucie Šafářová. Before the French Open, Kanepi reached the semifinals at the
Brussels Open where she lost to top seed and eventual champion, Agnieszka Radwańska. At the
French Open, Kanepi entered as the 23rd seed and played a very good tournament given her ranking, defeating Alexandra Panova,
Irina-Camelia Begu, ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki, and Aranxta Rus. She was defeated in her quarterfinal match by second seed and eventual champion, Maria Sharapova.
A bilateral achilles' heel injury caused Kanepi to withdraw from the
Aegon Classic
The Birmingham Classic (currently sponsored by Rothesay Pensions) is a 250-level women's tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held at the Edgbaston Priory Club in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. Held at this location since 1982, the tour ...
,
Aegon International
The Eastbourne International is a tennis tournament on the WTA Tour and the ATP Tour held at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club, Eastbourne, United Kingdom. Held since 1974, it is classified as a WTA 500 series on the WTA Tour and an ATP Tour ...
,
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 Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...
, and eventually also from the
Summer Olympics
The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...
in London. Despite not having played since the French Open she reached a career high of number 15 on 20 August.
Kanepi returned from injury in September and competed at the
Korea Open. Seeded third, she reached her third final of the year; she lost in the final to top seed Caroline Wozniacki. Seeded fifteenth at the
Pan Pacific Open
The Pan Pacific Open ( ja, 東レ パン・パシフィック・オープン・テニストーナメント), currently sponsored by Toray Industries, is a women's outdoor hardcourt tennis tournament held annually in Tokyo, Japan. It is a WTA 500-le ...
, Kanepi was defeated in the second round by qualifier
Jamie Hampton
Jamie Lee Hampton (born January 8, 1990) is a former American professional tennis player. In July 2013, she reached her highest singles ranking of world No. 24.
Early life
Hampton was born in Frankfurt, West Germany, because her father, a career ...
. Following that loss, Kanepi withdrew from the
China Open due to ongoing heel problems.
Kanepi didn't play anymore tournaments for the rest of the season. She ended the year ranked 19.
2013: Second Wimbledon quarterfinal
![Kanepi WM13-005 (9489757960)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Kanepi_WM13-005_%289489757960%29.jpg)
Her continuing Achilles tendon bilateral injury caused Kanepi to withdraw from the
Australian Open,
Open GDF Suez,
BNP Paribas Open,
Sony Open Tennis
The Miami Open (also known as the Miami Masters, and currently branded as the Miami Open presented by Itaú for sponsorship reasons) is a tennis tournament held at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. It is part of the men's ATP Tour Mas ...
, and the
Family Circle Cup
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 ...
.
Kanepi returned to the tour in April, playing at the first edition of the
Katowice Open. Seeded sixth, she lost in the second round to Karolína Plíšková. Seeded fourth 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 ...
, Kanepi was defeated in the second round by
Mandy Minella
Mandy Minella (born 22 November 1985) is a former professional tennis player from Luxembourg. Having made her debut on the WTA Tour in 2001, she peaked at No. 66 in the WTA singles rankings in September 2012, and No. 47 in doubles in April 2013 ...
. Kanepi failed to defend her title at the
Portugal Open
The Portugal Open (formerly named Estoril Open) was an ATP and WTA clay court tennis tournament in Portugal. The event took place at the sports complex of Jamor in Oeiras, of which Estoril Court Central is the most prominent show court. In 20 ...
; she lost in the semifinal to fourth seed Carla Suárez Navarro. At the
Madrid Open There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open:
* Madrid Open (golf)
The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...
, Kanepi was defeated in the quarterfinal by second seed and eventual finalist Maria Sharapova. Kanepi won her fourth WTA title at the
Brussels Open beating eighth seed
Peng Shuai
Peng Shuai (; born 8 January 1986) is a Chinese retired professional tennis player. In February 2014, she was ranked world No. 1 doubles player by the WTA, becoming the first Chinese tennis player to achieve that ranking (in either single ...
in the final. Ranked 26 at the
French Open, Kanepi lost a tough three-set match in the second round to Stefanie Vögele.
Kanepi played one grass-court tournament before Wimbledon which was the
Topshelf Open
The Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, branded by its sponsored name as the :nl:Libéma, Libéma Open since 2018, (formerly known as the Continental Grass Court Championships, Heineken Trophy, Ordina Open, UNICEF Open, Topshelf Open and RICOH Ope ...
. She was defeated in the first round by top seed Roberta Vinci. 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 Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...
, Kanepi advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2010 defeating British wildcard
Tara Moore
Tara Shanice Moore (born 6 August 1992) is a Hong Kong-born British tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 145, which she achieved on 8 May 2017. She has won nine singles and 17 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. Her ...
, seventh seed Angelique Kerber,
Alison Riske
Alison Riske-Amritraj (née Riske; born July 3, 1990) is an American professional tennis player. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 in November 2019 and won her first WTA Tour title in October 2014 at the Tianjin Open. ...
, and home crowd favorite
Laura Robson
Laura Robson (born 21 January 1994) is a British former professional tennis player. She debuted on the ITF Junior Circuit in 2007, and a year later won the Junior Wimbledon championships at the age of 14. As a junior, she also twice reached t ...
. She lost her quarterfinal match to 23rd seed and eventual finalist,
Sabine Lisicki.
Seeded 25th at the
US Open, Kanepi was defeated in the third round by eighth seed Angelique Kerber.
In Beijing at the
China Open, Kanepi lost in the second round to
Lucie Šafářová
Lucie Šafářová (; born 4 February 1987) is a Czech former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles, and No. 5 in singles.
She is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2015 Australian Open, 2015 ...
. At the
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 ...
, she was defeated in the first round by seventh seed and eventual finalist Sam Stosur. Kanepi played her final tournament of the season at the
Soho Square Ladies Tournament. As the top seed, she lost in the second round to
Jovana Jakšić Jovana is a Serbian feminine name. People with the name include:
*Jovana Brakočević, Serbian volleyball player
*Jovana Crnogorac, Serbian cyclist
*Jovana Damnjanović, Serbian football player
*Jovana Jakšić, Serbian tennis player
*Jovana Jankov ...
.
Kanepi ended the year ranked 30.
2014
She started 2014 at the
Brisbane International
The Brisbane International established in 2009 is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hardcourts in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia. It is a WTA Premier tournament of the WTA Tour and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 seri ...
. She reached the quarterfinals after wins over qualifier Alexandra Panova and eighth seed Carla Suárez Navarro. She lost her quarterfinal match to third seed Maria Sharapova. At the
Apia International Sydney
The Sydney International (formerly known as the Championship of New South Wales and New South Wales Open, with various title sponsors), formerly sponsored as the Apia International Sydney from 2012 to 2017, is a professional tennis tournament i ...
, Kanepi was defeated in the second round by fifth seed and eventual finalist, Angelique Kerber. Seeded 24th at the
Australian Open, she lost in the first round to
Garbiñe Muguruza
Garbiñe Muguruza Blanco (; born 8 October 1993) is a Spanish-Venezuelan professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. ...
.
Kanepi defeated Varvara Lepchenko in the first round at the
Qatar Open but fell to seventh seed and eventual champion,
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 ...
, in the second round. At the
Dubai Championships, Kanepi lost in the first round to qualifier Flavia Pennetta. Seeded third at the
Abierto Mexicano, Kanepi was defeated in her quarterfinal match by eventual finalist
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 24th at the
BNP Paribas Open, Kanepi received a first-round bye; she lost to qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova in her second-round match. Seeded 24th at the
Sony Open Tennis
The Miami Open (also known as the Miami Masters, and currently branded as the Miami Open presented by Itaú for sponsorship reasons) is a tennis tournament held at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. It is part of the men's ATP Tour Mas ...
, Kanepi again received a first-round bye; she reached the third round where she was defeated by 15th seed Suárez Navarro.
Starting her clay-court season at the
Porsche Grand Prix, Kanepi lost in the second round to eighth seed Sara Errani. Seeded fifth at the
Portugal Open
The Portugal Open (formerly named Estoril Open) was an ATP and WTA clay court tennis tournament in Portugal. The event took place at the sports complex of Jamor in Oeiras, of which Estoril Court Central is the most prominent show court. In 20 ...
, Kanepi was defeated in the second round by qualifier Irina-Camelia Begu. At the
Madrid Open There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open:
* Madrid Open (golf)
The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...
, she lost in the first round to Alison Riske. She fell out of the top 30 after this tournament. Seeded 25th at the
French Open, Kanepi suffered a first-round loss at the hands of Monica Niculescu.
She began her grass-court season at the
Topshelf Open
The Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, branded by its sponsored name as the :nl:Libéma, Libéma Open since 2018, (formerly known as the Continental Grass Court Championships, Heineken Trophy, Ordina Open, UNICEF Open, Topshelf Open and RICOH Ope ...
where she was defeated in the first round by Yvonne Meusburger. 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 Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...
, Kanepi upset seventh seed Jelena Janković in the first round. She lost in the second round to Yaroslava Shvedova. After failing to defend quarterfinal points, she fell out of the top 50.
As the top seed at the
Lorraine Open 88, Kanepi advanced to the final where she was defeated by fifth seed Irina-Camelia Begu. Kanepi, as the top seed, won her ninth ITF title at the
Open de Biarritz
The ENGIE OPEN Biarritz ''(previously known as the Open GDF Suez de Biarritz)'' is a tournament for professional female tennis players played on outdoor clay courts. The event is classified as a $60,000 ITF Women's Circuit
The ITF Women's World ...
beating second seed
Teliana Pereira
Teliana Santos Pereira (born 20 July 1988) is a Brazilian former professional tennis player.
On 19 April 2015, she became the first Brazilian in 27 years to win a title on the WTA Tour, beating Yaroslava Shvedova in Bogotá 7–6, 6–1. She ...
in the final. At the
Swedish Open
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
, Kanepi lost in her quarterfinal match to eventual champion
Mona Barthel
Mona Barthel (born 11 July 1990) is a German tennis player.
Barthel has won four singles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, one doubles title on the WTA Challenger Tour as well as five singles titles and one doubles title on the ITF Ci ...
.
Kanepi played one tournament before the US Open which was the
Connecticut Open. She fell in the final round of qualifying to Sílvia Soler Espinosa. At the
US Open, Kanepi reached the fourth round after victories over Pauline Parmentier, 24th seed and 2011 champion Sam Stosur, and 15th seed Carla Suárez Navarro. She lost in the fourth round to top seed, two-time defending champion, and eventual champion Serena Williams.
Seeded sixth at the
Korea Open, Kanepi was defeated in her quarterfinal match by Maria Kirilenko. In Beijing at the
China Open, Kanepi lost in the first round to fourth seed and eventual champion Maria Sharapova. Kanepi's last tournament of the year was at the
Generali Ladies Linz
The Linz Open, currently sponsored by Generali Gruppe, is a women's tennis tournament held in Linz, Austria. It is played on indoor hardcourts.
The inaugural event took place in 1987 in Wels, Austria and was organized by the ITF as a $10,000 tou ...
. She was defeated in the first round by Magdaléna Rybáriková.
Kanepi ended the year ranked 52.
2015
![Kaia Kanepi (18564996126) (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Kaia_Kanepi_%2818564996126%29_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Kanepi began her season at the
Brisbane International
The Brisbane International established in 2009 is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hardcourts in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia. It is a WTA Premier tournament of the WTA Tour and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 seri ...
. She reached the quarterfinal where she lost to second seed and eventual finalist
Ana Ivanovic. 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 ...
, she defeated
Monica Puig
Monica Puig Marchán, (born September 27, 1993) is a Puerto Rican former professional tennis player. She is the first Puerto Rican in history to win a gold medal at the Olympics while representing Puerto Rico, having done so in 2016 at th ...
in her first-round match. She then withdrew from her second-round match against
Camila Giorgi
Camila Giorgi (; born 30 December 1991) is an Italian professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 26, achieved on 22 October 2018. She is the current Italian No. 2, after Martina Trevisan.
After winning her fi ...
due to a viral illness. Ranked 48 at the
Australian Open, Kanepi was defeated in the first round by Irina Falconi.
In February, Kanepi competed at the
Dubai Tennis Championships
The Dubai Tennis Championships or Dubai Open (also known as the ''Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships'' for sponsorship reasons) (formerly known for sponsorship reasons as the ''Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships'' and the ''Dubai Duty Free Men's ...
. In the first round, she faced Svetlana Kuznetsova. Kuznetsova led 4–1 in the first set before Kanepi retired due to a back injury. At the
BNP Paribas Open, Kanepi lost in the first round to qualifier
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 curr ...
. Kanepi had a better result at the
Miami Open. She had her first win since Hobart by defeating
Françoise Abanda in the first round. In the second round, she beat 28th seed Varvara Lepchenko. In the third round, Kanepi took fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki to three sets, but she still lost the match. After Miami, Kanepi played at the
Katowice Open. Seeded fifth, she beat qualifier Shahar Pe'er in the first round. She was defeated in the second round by lucky loser Elizaveta Kulichkova.
Kanepi started her clay-court season 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 lost in the first round to qualifier Teliana Pereira. In Spain at the
Madrid Open There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open:
* Madrid Open (golf)
The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...
, Kanepi was defeated in the second round by Sam Stosur. At the
French Open, Kanepi lost in the first round to second seed, former world No. 1 and defending champion, Maria Sharapova. Due to her poor result at the French Open, Kanepi competed at the
Open Féminin de Marseille
The Open Féminin de Marseille (previously known as Open GDF Suez de Marseille) was a tournament for professional female tennis players played on outdoor clay courts. The event was classified as a $100,000 ITF Women's Circuit tournament. It was h ...
. As the top seed, she was defeated in the first round by
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 ...
.
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 Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...
, Kanepi was defeated in the first round by qualifier Hsieh Su-wei.
Kanepi played only one tournament during the US Open Series which was the
Connecticut Open. She lost in the second round of qualifying to Magdaléna Rybáriková. At the
US Open, Kanepi won her first Grand Slam match of the year by beating
Anna-Lena Friedsam
Anna-Lena Friedsam (born 1 February 1994) is a German tennis player.
She has won three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, one WTA 125 singles title as well as 12 singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Circuit in her career. She played also ...
in the first round. She was defeated in the second round by 17th seed
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 ...
.
Seeded third and the defending champion at the
Engie Open de Biarritz, Kanepi lost in the first round to qualifier
Amra Sadiković
Amra Sadiković ( mk, Амра Садиковиќ; ; born 6 May 1989) is a Swiss tennis player. She announced her retirement in May 2014, a few days after her 25th birthday, only to begin playing 13 months later on the ITF Women's Circuit again. ...
. Seeded second at the
L'Open de Saint-Malo, Kanepi was defeated in her quarterfinal match by sixth seed and eventual champion,
Daria Kasatkina
Daria Sergeyevna Kasatkina (born 7 May 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player. She is currently the Russian No. 1 player in singles. She made her top-ten debut in the WTA rankings towards the end of the 2018 season and has been ranked ...
. In Austria at the
Linz Open
The Linz Open, currently sponsored by Generali Gruppe, is a women's tennis tournament held in Linz, Austria. It is played on indoor hardcourts.
The inaugural event took place in 1987 in Wels, Austria and was organized by the ITF as a $10,000 tou ...
, Kanepi lost in the final round of qualifying to
Aleksandra Krunić
Aleksandra Krunić ( sr-Cyrl, Александра Крунић; born 15 March 1993) is a Serbian professional tennis player. She has won one singles title and six doubles titles on the WTA Tour along with one singles title on WTA 125 tournament ...
. At the
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 ...
, Kanepi was defeated in the first round of qualifying by
Paula Kania
Paula or PAULA may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Paula, in video game ''EarthBound''
* Paula, in ''The Larry Sanders Show''
* Paula Campbell (''EastEnders''), in 2003
Film and television
* ''Paula'' (1915 film), a si ...
. Kanepi played her final tournament of the year at a $25k tournament in Bangkok, Thailand. She won the tournament as the top seed beating qualifier Patty Schnyder in the final.
Kanepi ended the season ranked 126.
2016
Kanepi began season at the
Brisbane International
The Brisbane International established in 2009 is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hardcourts in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia. It is a WTA Premier tournament of the WTA Tour and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 seri ...
where she retired during her match in the second round of qualifying against Kateryna Bondarenko.
In April, at the
Porsche Grand Prix, she lost in the second round of qualifying to Camila Giorgi. Next, she played 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 ...
. After passing through the qualifying rounds, Kanepi lost in the first round to
Kateryna Kozlova
Kateryna Baindl ( uk, Катерина Ігорівна Баіндль, née Kozlova; born 20 February 1994) is a Ukrainian tennis player. On 19 February 2018, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 62. On 22 October 2012, she ...
. At the
French Open, Kanepi was defeated in the second round of qualifying by
Verónica Cepede Royg
Verónica Cepede Royg (; born 21 January 1992) is a professional Paraguayan tennis player.
On 7 August 2017, she reached her highest WTA singles ranking of No. 73 whilst her best doubles ranking is No. 85, achieved on 19 September 2016. Cepede ...
.
At the
Internazionali di Brescia, Kanepi lost in the second round to fourth seed
Maryna Zanevska
Maryna Volodymyrivna Zanevska ( uk, Марина Володимирівна Заневська; born 24 August 1993) is a Ukrainian-born Belgian tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 62, achieved on 23 May 2022, and ...
. Seeded fifth at the $25k tournament in
Padua
Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...
, Italy, Kanepi was defeated in her quarterfinal match by third seed
İpek Soylu
İpek Soylu (born 15 April 1996) is a professional Turkish female tennis player.
Soylu has won three doubles titles on the WTA Tour
The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The s ...
.
She ended 2016 ranked 302.
2017: Second US Open quarterfinal
Kanepi returned from a long injury break in June at the Bredeney Ladies Open in Essen, Germany. She won the tournament when her opponent, seventh seed Patty Schnyder, retired from their championship match.
In London 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 Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...
, Kanepi lost in the second round of qualifying to Arina Rodionova.
At the
Bucharest Open, Kanepi was defeated in the first round of qualifying by Arantxa Rus. Kanepi won a $15k tournament in Pärnu, Estonia, defeating Polina Golubovskaya in the final.
Unable to obtain a wildcard or protected ranking for the main draw, Kanepi received a protected ranking to play in the qualifying for the
US Open. She qualified to her first Grand Slam main draw in two years with victories over
Nina Stojanović
Nina Stojanović ( sr-cyr, Нина Стојановић, ; born 30 July 1996) is a Serbian professional tennis player. On 2 March 2020, Stojanović reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 81. On 17 January 2022, she peaked at No. 37 in ...
,
Louisa Chirico
Louisa Chirico (born May 16, 1996) is an American tennis player. She is of Korean descent through her mother.
Chirico, who comes from Harrison, New York, has won five singles and two doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 24 October 2016 ...
and Hsieh Su-wei. Kanepi recorded victories in her first three main-draw matches, defeating Francesca Schiavone, Yanina Wickmayer and
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 ...
, reaching the second week at a major since the 2014 US Open. She then defeated Daria Kasatkina to advance to her second US Open quarterfinal, her sixth Grand Slam quarterfinal overall, and her first quarterfinal at a major since Wimbledon 2013. She lost her quarterfinal match to 15th seed and eventual finalist, Madison Keys. Nonetheless, she made history by becoming only the second qualifier in US Open history to make the quarterfinals and the first to do so since
Barbara Gerken
Barbara Gerken (born July 3, 1964) is a former American international tennis player
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 p ...
in 1981. Following the US Open, Kanepi's ranking skyrocketed from 418 to 110.
Getting past qualifying at the
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 ...
, Kanepi was defeated in the first round by
Natalia Vikhlyantseva
Natalia Konstantinovna Vikhlyantseva ( Russian: Наталья Константиновна Вихлянцева; born 16 February 1997) is a Russian tennis player. Her favourite court surface is grass.
Vikhlyantseva has career-high rankings of ...
. As the top seed at the Open Nantes Atlantique, Kanepi won the tournament defeating Richèl Hogenkamp in the final. Kanepi played her final tournament of the year at the
Open de Limoges
The Open BLS de Limoges (formerly Open GDF Suez de Limoges, Open GDF Suez Région Limousin and Engie Open de Limoges) is a tournament for professional female tennis players played on indoor hard courts. The event is currently classified as a WTA 1 ...
. Seeded seventh, she lost in her quarterfinal match to third seed Pauline Parmentier.
Kanepi managed to finish the year ranked at 107, her best end-of-year ranking since 2014.
2018
Kanepi began season at the
Brisbane International
The Brisbane International established in 2009 is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hardcourts in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia. It is a WTA Premier tournament of the WTA Tour and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 seri ...
. Qualifying for the main draw, she reached the quarterfinal round beating Daria Kasatkina and
Lesia Tsurenko
Lesia Viktorivna Tsurenko ( uk, Леся Вікторівна Цуренко; born 30 May 1989) is a Ukrainian tennis player. Tsurenko has won four singles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as six singles and eight doubles tournaments on the IT ...
. She lost her quarterfinal match to second seed and defending champion Karolína Plíšková. This helped propel her back into the top 100 for the first time since August 2015. At the
Australian Open, Kanepi upset 24th seed Dominika Cibulková in the opening round. She then defeated Monica Puig in the second round to advance to the third round of the Australian Open for the first time since 2009. Her run ended as she was defeated in the third round by Carla Suárez Navarro.
In March, Kanepi competed at the
BNP Paribas Open; she lost in the second round to 17th seed CoCo Vandeweghe. She then retired during her first-round match at the
Miami Open against Christina McHale.
Kanepi began her clay-court season at the
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
The Stuttgart Open, also known by its sponsored name Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, is a women's tennis tournament held in Stuttgart, Germany (until 2005, in Filderstadt, a southern suburb of Stuttgart). Held since 1978, the tournament is the oldest w ...
. She lost in the final round of qualifying to Zarina Diyas. Even though she qualified for the
Italian Open, Kanepi was defeated in the second round by ninth seed Sloane Stephens. Coming through the qualifying round at
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
, Kanepi lost in the first round to eighth seed Hsieh Su-wei. At the
French Open, Kanepi was defeated in the first round by 14th seed Daria Kasatkina. Despite the loss, she returned to the top 50 of the WTA rankings for the first time since May 2015.
As the top seed at the
Internazionali Femminili di Brescia, Kanepi won the tournament beating sixth seed
Martina Trevisan
Martina Trevisan (; born 3 November 1993) is an Italian professional tennis player. Trevisan is the current Italian No. 1, has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 24 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and in 2021 had a peak doubles r ...
in the final.
Kanepi kicked off her grass-court season at the
Ilkley Trophy
The Ilkley Trophy, previously named as the Fuzion 100 Ilkley Trophy and the Aegon Ilkley Trophy, is a tennis tournament for male and female professional players played on grass courts. The event is classified as a €42,500 ATP Challenger and a ...
. Despite being the top seed, she lost in her quarterfinal match to seventh seed
Ekaterina Alexandrova
Ekaterina Evgenyevna Alexandrova ( rus, Екатери́на Евге́ньевна Александро́ва, links=no; ; born 15 November 1994) is a Russian professional tennis player.
She has won three WTA singles titles, three WTA 125 titl ...
. At the
Eastbourne International
The Eastbourne International is a tennis tournament on the WTA Tour and the ATP Tour held at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club, Eastbourne, United Kingdom. Held since 1974, it is classified as a WTA 500 series on the WTA Tour and an ATP Tour 2 ...
, Kanepi was defeated in the second round by fifth seed
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 ...
. 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 Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...
, she lost in the first round to qualifier
Sara Sorribes Tormo
Sara Sorribes Tormo (; born 8 October 1996) is a Spanish professional tennis player. Sorribes Tormo has won one singles title and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as one doubles title on the WTA Challenger Tour. On the ITF Circuit ...
.
Seeded eighth at the first edition of the
Moscow River Cup
The Moscow River Cup was a WTA Tour International-level professional women's tennis tournament. It took place on outdoor clay courts, in July 2018 at the National Tennis Center of Juan Antonio Samaranch, in Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; ...
, Kanepi was defeated in the second round by lucky loser and eventual champion,
Olga Danilović
Olga Danilović ( sr-cyr, Олга Даниловић, ; born 23 January 2001) is a Serbian tennis player.
In July 2018, Danilović won her first WTA Tour singles title in Moscow by beating Anastasia Potapova in the final. She also won two WTA ...
.
Coming through qualifying at the
Western & Southern Open, Kanepi reached the second round where she lost to 16th seed
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 ...
. At the
US Open, Kanepi upset top seed Simona Halep in the first round becoming the first player in US Open history and just sixth in Grand Slam history to beat the top-seeded player in the first round. She then defeated qualifier Jil Teichmann and
Rebecca Peterson
Rebecca Peterson (born 6 August 1995) is a Swedish tennis player. She has been ranked as high as 43 in singles and 87 in doubles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Peterson has reached two singles finals on the WTA Tour in 2019, winning bo ...
to advance to the fourth round and was defeated by 17th seed Serena Williams.
Kanepi didn't play any more tournaments for the rest of the season. She ended the year ranked 58.
2019
![Kanepi WM19 (23) (48522005927)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Kanepi_WM19_%2823%29_%2848522005927%29.jpg)
Kanepi played her first tournament of 2019 at the
Australian Open. After taking the first set in a tiebreak, Kanepi was defeated in the first round by top seed Simona Halep.
Seeded seventh at the
Oracle Challenger in Indian Wells, Kanepi lost in the third round to 11th seed Zarina Diyas. At the
BNP Paribas Open, Kanepi was defeated in the second round by 15th seed Julia Görges. Entering the
Miami Open draw as a qualifier, Kanepi lost in the first round to Alison Riske.
Kanepi began her clay-court season at the
Volvo Car 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 ...
. She reached the third round beating
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 ...
and sixth seed
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 ...
. She was defeated in her third-round match by eleventh seed
Danielle Collins
Danielle Rose Collins (born December 13, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. She has reached career-high WTA rankings of No. 7 in singles and world No. 86 in doubles. Collins has won two WTA Tour singles titles, at the 2021 Palerm ...
. At the
Madrid Open There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open:
* Madrid Open (golf)
The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...
, Kanepi lost in the final round of qualifying to Kristýna Plíšková. Ranked 88 at the
French Open, Kanepi advanced to the fourth round for the first time since 2008 after wins over 18th seed Julia Görges, Zhang Shuai, and Veronika Kudermetova. She was defeated in her fourth-round match by 31st seed
Petra Martić.
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 Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...
, Kanepi lost in the second round to 13th seed
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 Cincinnati at the
Western & Southern Open, Kanepi was defeated in the first round of qualifying by
Barbora Strýcová
Barbora Strýcová (; born 28 March 1986), formerly known as Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, is a Czech former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles.
She won her first Grand Slam title at the 2019 Wimbledon Champion ...
. Even though Kanepi qualified for the first edition of the
Bronx Open, she lost in the first round to fellow qualifier and eventual champion
Magda Linette
Magda Linette (born 12 February 1992) is a Polish professional tennis player. Having made her tour debut in 2009, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 33 in February 2020. Linette has reached five finals on the WTA Tour, winning ...
. At the
US Open, Kanepi was defeated in the second round by 23rd seed
Donna Vekić
Donna Vekić (; born 28 June 1996) is a Croatian professional tennis player and businesswoman. She has won three singles titles on the WTA Tour – at the 2014 Malaysian Open, at the 2017 Nottingham Open, and the 2021 Courmayeur Ladies Open. ...
.
As the top seed at the first edition of the
Oeste Ladies Open, Kanepi lost in her quarterfinal match to eventual champion
Isabella Shinikova
Isabella Shinikova ( bg, Изабелла Шиникова) (born 25 October 1991) is a Bulgarian tennis player.
On 20 February 2017, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 133. On 20 May 2019, she peaked at No. 159 in the WTA do ...
. After getting through qualifying at the
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 ...
, Kanepi won her first-round match over Tímea Babos. She was defeated in the second round by second seed Kiki Bertens. As the top seed at a $15k tournament in
Milovice
Milovice (; german: Milowitz) is a town in Nymburk District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 12,000 inhabitants.
In the 20th century, the history of the town was influenced by the presence of a military base. In ...
, Kanepi won the tournament beating
Anastasia Kulikova in the final. Her final tournament of the season was at the
Open de Limoges
The Open BLS de Limoges (formerly Open GDF Suez de Limoges, Open GDF Suez Région Limousin and Engie Open de Limoges) is a tournament for professional female tennis players played on indoor hard courts. The event is currently classified as a WTA 1 ...
in France where she lost in the first round to fourth seed
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 ...
.
Kanepi ended the season ranked 101.
2020
Kanepi started her 2020 season at the
Brisbane International
The Brisbane International established in 2009 is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hardcourts in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia. It is a WTA Premier tournament of the WTA Tour and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 seri ...
. She lost in the first round of qualifying to
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 ...
. At the
Australian Open, she was defeated in the first round by qualifier
Barbora Krejčíková
Barbora Krejčíková (; born 18 December 1995) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2, achieved on 28 February 2022, and on 22 October 2018, she became world No. 1 in doubles.
Krejčíková ...
.
The WTA tour was suspended from March through July due to the Coronavirus pandemic. When the WTA resumed tournament play in August, she made her return at the
US Open. She fell in her second-round match to 27th seed Ons Jabeur. A couple of weeks later, she competed at the rescheduled
French Open. She was beaten in the second round by 16th seed
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 ...
.
2021
Kanepi started her season at the first edition of the
Gippsland Trophy. She stunned fourth seed
Aryna Sabalenka
Aryna Siarhiejeŭna Sabalenka ( be, Арына Сяргееўна Сабаленка; russian: Арина Сергеевна Соболенко, ''Arina Sergeyevna Sobolenko'', born 5 May 1998) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She ha ...
in the second round. She ended up reaching the final where she lost to seventh seed Elise Mertens. The following week, at the
Australian Open, she upset fourth seed and defending champion,
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 the second round. This was her 13th Top 10 victory, and eighth at a Grand Slam tournament. She was defeated in the third round by 28th seed Donna Vekić.
Getting past qualifying in
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
, Kanepi was eliminated in the first round by
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 ...
. At the
Miami Open, she was beaten in the second round by 21st seed
Elena Rybakina
Elena Andreyevna Rybakina (born 17 June 1999) is a Kazakhstani professional tennis player. She is the reigning champion at Wimbledon and the first Kazakhstani player to win a title at a major. She is also the first to be ranked in the world's t ...
.
Starting her clay-court season in
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
, Kanepi lost in the second round to third seed
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 ...
. At the
Madrid Open There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open:
* Madrid Open (golf)
The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...
, she was defeated in the first round of qualifying by Kateryna Kozlova. Playing the first edition 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 ...
in Parma, she fell in the first round to third seed and eventual champion,
Coco Gauff
Cori Dionne "Coco" Gauff (born March 13, 2004) is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of world No. 4 in singles, reached on October 24, 2022, and world No. 1 in doubles, achieved on August 15, 2022. Gauff won h ...
. At the
French Open, she was eliminated in the first round by 20th seed and 2019 finalist,
Markéta Vondroušová
Markéta Šimková (née Vondroušová; ; born 28 June 1999) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of world No. 14 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Vondroušová finished runner-up at the 2019 French Open, ...
.
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
* ...
, Kanepi lost in the first round to
Liudmila Samsonova
Liudmila Dmitriyevna Samsonova ( rus, Людмила Дмитриевна Самсонова, , lʲʊdˈmʲiɫə sɐmˈsonəvə; born 11 November 1998) is a Russian tennis player. She also competed for Italy, from 2014 to 2018.
Samsonova has a c ...
.
As the top seed at the 25k ITF tournament in
Pärnu
Pärnu () is the fourth largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet ...
, she won her 19th ITF title by beating
Anna Sisková
Anna Sisková (born 1 July 2001) is a Czech tennis player.
Sisková has career-high WTA rankings of 236 in singles and 87 in doubles. She has won one doubles title on the WTA Challenger Tour as well as three singles and 21 doubles titles on the ...
in the final. Playing at the first edition of the
Chicago Women's Open, she was defeated in the second round by eighth seed
Marta Kostyuk
Marta Olehivna Kostyuk ( uk, Марта Олегівна Костюк; born 28 June 2002) is a Ukrainian tennis player. She has career-high rankings of 49 in singles, achieved on 14 February 2022, and world No. 39 in doubles, reached on 19 Septem ...
. Ranked 70 at the
US Open, she upset 31st 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 ...
, in the first round. She fell in the second round to eventual finalist,
Leylah Fernandez
Leylah Annie Fernandez (born 6 September 2002) is a Canadian professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of No. 13 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), achieved on 8 August 2022. Fernandez won her first WTA Tour title at the 202 ...
.
As the top seed at the 25k ITF tournament in
Fort Worth, Kanepi won her 20th ITF tournament by beating
Kayla Day
Kayla Day (born September 28, 1999) is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of No. 122 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). As a junior, she won one junior Grand Slam title, at the 2016 US Open. There, she al ...
in the final. At the first edition of the
Chicago Fall Classic, she was eliminated in the first round by 16th seed
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 ...
. Competing at the
Indian Wells Masters
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 ...
, she was beaten in the first round by Madison Keys.
Kanepi ended the season ranked 72.
2022: Australian Open quarterfinal
Kanepi started her 2022 season at the first edition of the
Melbourne Summer Set 1. She beat
Jaqueline Cristian
Jaqueline Adina Cristian (born 5 June 1998) is a professional tennis player from Romania.
Cristian has career-high WTA rankings of 58 in singles and 168 in doubles. Up to date, she has won ten doubles and ten singles titles on tournaments of t ...
in the first round in three sets. She lost in the second round to Ana Konjuh. Ranked 115 at the
Australian Open, she stunned 16th seed, 2016 champion, and former world no. 1,
Angelique Kerber
Angelique Kerber (; born 18 January 1988) is a German professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 1, for a total of 34 weeks, and won three major titles at the 2016 Australian Open, the 2016 US Open, and the 2018 Wi ...
, in the first round. In the fourth round, she upset second seed and World No. 2,
Aryna Sabalenka
Aryna Siarhiejeŭna Sabalenka ( be, Арына Сяргееўна Сабаленка; russian: Арина Сергеевна Соболенко, ''Arina Sergeyevna Sobolenko'', born 5 May 1998) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She ha ...
, in a close match with a third set super-tiebreak to reach her first quarterfinal at this Major and the last one of all the Majors, completing a career set of Grand Slam quarterfinals. With the victory over Sabalenka, it was her fourteenth career Top-10 win, and ninth at a Grand Slam. She fell in her quarterfinal match to seventh seed
Iga Świątek
Iga Natalia Świątek (; born 31 May 2001) is a Polish professional tennis player. She is currently ranked world No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Świątek is a three-time major singles champion, having won the French Open in 20 ...
.
In March, Kanepi competed at the
Indian Wells Masters
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 ...
. In the second round, she defeated 22nd seed
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 ...
. She was eliminated from the tournament in the third round by qualifier
Harriet Dart
Harriet Dart (born 28 July 1996) is a British professional tennis player.
Dart entered the WTA top 100 for the first time in March 2022 and achieved her career-high singles ranking of 84 on 25 July 2022. She also has a career-high doubles ran ...
. At the
Miami Open, she beat 32nd seed,
Sara Sorribes Tormo
Sara Sorribes Tormo (; born 8 October 1996) is a Spanish professional tennis player. Sorribes Tormo has won one singles title and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as one doubles title on the WTA Challenger Tour. On the ITF Circuit ...
, in the second round. She lost in the third round to eighth seed and World No. 10,
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 curr ...
.
At the
French Open, she beat 10th seed and 2016 champion,
Garbiñe Muguruza
Garbiñe Muguruza Blanco (; born 8 October 1993) is a Spanish-Venezuelan professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. ...
, in the first round. After beating
Beatriz Haddad Maia
Beatriz Haddad Maia (born 30 May 1996) is a Brazilian professional tennis player. On 22 August 2022, she reached a career-high in the WTA rankings in singles at No. 15. Haddad Maia has won two singles and four doubles titles on the WTA Tour, on ...
in the second round, she lost to the eventual finalist
Coco Gauff
Cori Dionne "Coco" Gauff (born March 13, 2004) is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of world No. 4 in singles, reached on October 24, 2022, and world No. 1 in doubles, achieved on August 15, 2022. Gauff won h ...
in the third round.
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
* ...
, Kanepi lost to
Diane Parry
Diane Parry (born 1 September 2002) is a French professional tennis player. On 24 October 2022, she peaked at No. 58 in the WTA singles rankings. In 2019, she became the junior world No. 1.
Career Junior years
Junior Grand Slam results - Single ...
in the first round.
In August, Kanepi reached the finals of the
WTA 250
WTA 250 tournaments is a category of tennis tournaments in the Women's Tennis Association tour, implemented since the reorganization of the schedule in 2021. Earlier these events were classified as WTA International Tournaments.
As of 2021, WT ...
,
2022 Citi Open, losing to the Russian
Liudmila Samsonova
Liudmila Dmitriyevna Samsonova ( rus, Людмила Дмитриевна Самсонова, , lʲʊdˈmʲiɫə sɐmˈsonəvə; born 11 November 1998) is a Russian tennis player. She also competed for Italy, from 2014 to 2018.
Samsonova has a c ...
.
At the
US Open, Kanepi lost in the second round to
Aryna Sabalenka
Aryna Siarhiejeŭna Sabalenka ( be, Арына Сяргееўна Сабаленка; russian: Арина Сергеевна Соболенко, ''Arina Sergeyevna Sobolenko'', born 5 May 1998) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She ha ...
in three sets. Kanepi had two match points, but failed to convert any.
Playing style
Kanepi builds up her game around her powerful
groundstroke
In racket sports a groundstroke, or ground stroke, refers to a forehand or backhand shot that is executed after the ball has bounced on the court. The term is commonly used in the sports of tennis and pickleball, and is counter to a volley shot ...
s. Her serve is considered to be one of the strongest on the WTA Tour. Kanepi frequently hits 170 km/h to 180 km/h serves. She generally serves away from her opponent but sometimes prefers to hit a powerful body first serve in order to push back and pin her opponent behind the baseline. But on occasions her serve can break down, which affects her game. In 2008, she began to improve her volleying skills and under her coach Luca Appino begun to use sliced backhand more often, thus making her playing more versatile.
She likes to return serves mainly with her backhand which she hits flat and tries to position herself to receive with backhand but is also capable of hitting good service returns with her forehand as well. She generally ends points early but she is capable of playing long rallies and reducing her unforced error count. Overall, she is an
offensive baseliner but depending on the game situation and scoreboard Kanepi can play a more defensive game.
Sponsorship
For a long time Kanepi was sponsored by Infortar, the largest shareholder of
Tallink
Tallink () is an Estonian shipping company operating Baltic Sea cruiseferries and ropax ships from Estonia to Finland, Estonia to Sweden to Sweden and Finland to Sweden. It is the largest passenger and cargo shipping company in the Baltic Sea ...
, a major
ferry company in the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
. Their sponsorship ended in February 2010, but later started again and finally ended in 2017.
Career statistics
Grand Slam performances
Singles
Doubles
Notes
References
External links
Official website*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanepi, Kaia
1985 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Haapsalu
Estonian female tennis players
French Open junior champions
Olympic tennis players of Estonia
Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles