Jessika Ponchet (born 26 September 1996) is a French professional

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

player. She has career-high

WTA rankings The WTA rankings are the ratings defined by the Women's Tennis Association, introduced in November 1975. Iga Świątek is the current world No. 1. Ranking method The WTA rankings are based on a rolling 52-week, cumulative system. A pla ...

of No. 138 in singles, achieved on 27 February 2023, and No. 101 in doubles, achieved on 28 November 2022.

Career

Ponchet did not play any

ITF Junior Circuit The ITF Junior Circuit is the premier level for worldwide competition among under-18 junior tennis players. Founded in 1977 with only nine tournaments, the 2011 ITF Junior Circuit offered over 350 tournaments in 118 countries. Mirroring the ATP an ...

tournaments, plunging straight into the

ITF Women's Circuit The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, previously known as the ITF Women's Circuit, is a series of professional tennis tournaments run by the International Tennis Federation for female professional tennis players. History It serves as a developmental ...

at the age of 14.

2011–2013

Ponchet played the singles events of four tournaments and the doubles event of one tournament on the 2011 ITF Circuit, starting with a $100k tournament held in early July in the French city of Biarritz. She played a total of 11 and 18 ITF tournaments in 2012 and 2013, respectively.

2014–2015

Ponchet played a total of 17 ITF tournaments in 2014. She suffered a major setback when torn knee ligaments forced her to miss tournaments in the first eight months of 2015. She played the singles events of seven tournaments and the doubles event of one tournament on the 2015 ITF Circuit.

2016

Ponchet played a total of 22 tournaments on the ITF Circuit in the 2016 season.

2017

She made her

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

singles debut at the French Open, after receiving a qualifying

wildcard Wild card most commonly refers to: * Wild card (cards), a playing card that substitutes for any other card in card games * Wild card (sports), a tournament or playoff place awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal pla ...

; however, after defeating

Dalma Gálfi Dalma Rebeka Gálfi (born 13 August 1998) is a Hungarian tennis player. She has won nine singles titles and ten doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 20 June 2022, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 81. On the same day, ...

(the 2015 ITF World Champion in the girls' combined category), she lost to the No. 4 seed

Richèl Hogenkamp Richèl Hogenkamp (born 16 April 1992) is a Dutch professional tennis player. Her highest WTA singles ranking is 94, which she reached on 24 July 2017. On the ITF Circuit, she has won 16 singles and 14 doubles titles. Personal background Hog ...

in the second round. Ponchet made her

WTA 125 tournaments WTA 125 tournaments are an international series of professional women's tennis tournaments organized by the Women's Tennis Association since 2012. In the past (2012–2015) sometimes called the WTA Challenger series 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 ...

, entering only its singles event. She received a wildcard for the main draw, where she defeated her compatriot

Chloé Paquet Chloé Paquet (; born 1 July 1994) is a French professional tennis player. She has achieved career-high WTA rankings of No. 101 in singles on 25 April 2022 and 247 in doubles on 12 June 2017. Career 2010–2016: WTA Tour debut Paquet made her d ...

in the first round and lost to the No. 7 seed

Kaia Kanepi Kaia Kanepi (; born 10 June 1985) is an Estonian professional tennis 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. Described as a 'resident Grand Slam upset speci ...

in the second. Ponchet finished 2017 with a final win–loss record of 42–24 for singles matches.

2018

She made her Grand Slam and WTA Tour singles main-draw debut at the Australian Open after receiving a wildcard for the main draw, where she lost in the first round to the No. 3 seed

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. ...

. Prior to the Australian Open, Ponchet had in her entire career played in the singles main-draw event of just one tournament that was at a higher level than the

(the 2017

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 ...

) and had never even faced a player ranked in the top 100 of WTA singles rankings. Ponchet made French Open debut after receiving a wildcard for the singles main draw, where she lost in the first round to the unseeded

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 ...

, in straight sets.

2019

At the Australian Open, Ponchet reached the singles main draw where she lost in the first round to 19th-seeded

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

, after winning all her three qualifying matches without dropping a set. On 9 April, in her first-round match of the $25k tournament in Sunderland, Ponchet was leading

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 ...

6–0, 5–0 and had a match point to achieve a double bagel, but Moore staged a comeback to win 0–6, 7–6, 6–3.

Performance timelines

Singles

''Current through the 2023 Australian Open.''

Doubles

WTA 125 tournament finals

Doubles: 3 (3 runner-ups)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 15 (9 titles, 6 runner–ups)

Doubles: 20 (12 titles, 8 runner–ups)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ponchet, Jessika 1996 births Living people French female tennis players 21st-century French women