Luksika "Luk" Kumkhum ( th, ลักษิกา คำขำ; ; born 21 July 1993) is a Thai
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 cov ...
player. She turned professional in 2011, and reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 66 on 19 November 2018. On 16 July 2018, she peaked at No. 86 of the WTA doubles rankings.
Career
In 2010, Kumkhum had won one ITF Circuit event in singles but three events in doubles. The following year, she won five singles ITF events, all $10ks, and two in doubles. In 2012, she won two singles and two doubles events on the ITF Circuit.
2013
In 2013, she cracked the top 200 and started to play 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 ...
as well as the ITF Circuit. Kumkhum qualified for the
Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Ope ...
where she defeated Sofia Arvidsson in the first round, she was then beaten by
Jamie Hampton
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Early life
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. She played the Malaysian Open where she qualified for the tournament and reached the quarterfinals defeating
Olivia Rogowska
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and
Eleni Daniilidou
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en route before falling to
Ayumi Morita
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Morita is known for strong and consistent two-handed grounds ...
in the quarterfinals, she also reached the semifinals of the tournament where she partnered with
Erika Sema Retrieved 3 July 2010. is a Japanese professional
Janette Husárová
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and
Zhang Shuai
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in the semifinals. In April 2013, she won the 25k event in Phuket, defeating
Lisa Whybourn
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in the finals.
She played the Roland Garros qualifying event where she defeated
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before falling to Sandra Záhlavová in the second qualifying round. She then suffered first-round losses at
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...
,
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,
Noppawan Lertcheewakarn
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in the second round, and
Ekaterina Bychkova
Ekaterina Andreevna Bychkova (russian: Екатерина Андреевна Бычкова; born 5 June 1985) is an inactive tennis player from Russia.
In her career, Bychkova won ten singles and five doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 20 F ...
in the quarterfinals before she lost to
Nadiya Kichenok
Nadiia Viktorivna Kichenok ( uk, Надія Вікторівна Кіченок, born 20 July 1992) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. On 6 January 2014, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 100. On 31 January 2022, she ...
in the semifinals. In the doubles event, she and
Tamarine Tanasugarn
Tamarine Tanasugarn ( th, แทมมารีน ธนสุกาญจน์, , ; born 24 May 1977) is a Thai former tennis player. Born in Los Angeles, she turned professional in 1994, and has been in the top 20 in both singles and doubl ...
reached the final before falling to first seeds
Nina Bratchikova
Nina Bratchikova (russian: Нина Олеговна Братчикова; born 28 June 1985) is a Russian former professional tennis player.
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Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Ope ...
, Kumkhum, ranked 87 in the world, caused a major upset when she defeated former Wimbledon champion
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 ...
in the first round, in three sets. This was the first time ever that Kumkhum had ever faced a top-ten opponent in her career.Sixth seed Petra Kvitova crashes out to Luksika Kumkhum ''Sky Sports'', 13 January 2014 She then suffered first-round loss at the Pattaya Open from
Julia Görges
Julia Görges (born 2 November 1988) is a German former professional tennis player. A former top-ten singles player, she was ranked as high as No. 9 in the world on 20 August 2018, and was ranked inside the top 15 in doubles, peaking at world No ...
, in straight sets.
2018
Having qualified for the
Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Ope ...
, Kumkhum has progressed to the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. In the second round, she defeated former top-ten player
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 ...