Vera Dushevina

Vera Yevgenyevna Dushevina (; born 6 October 1986) is a retired Russian tennis player. She won one singles and two WTA Tour titles. As a junior, she won Wimbledon Junior Championships beating Maria Sharapova in th final, while she reached the final of French Open Junior Chamiponships losing to Anna-Lena Grönefeld. Vera was born in Moscow and resides in nearby satellite city of Khimki.
Early life.
Dushevina began playing tennis at the age of seven under her father, Yevgeny, an engineer. Her mother, Elena, is a teacher. Beside tennis, Vera also played football and basketball.
Tennis career.
Early years.
She played her first main-draw match at the 2002 J&S Cup by qualifying, but lost to Virginia Ruano Pascual 1–6, 6–7. Her first WTA Tour match she won at the 2003 NASDAQ-100 Open. After qualifying, she defeated Patricia Wartusch 6–0, 6–3 but lost to fourth seed Justine Henin 3–6, 2–6 in the second round. She then won her first professional title at the ITF event in Innsbruck, Austria coming through the qualifying draw and defeating Melinda Czink 7–6, 6–2 in the final. In her next tournament, she reached her first WTA Tour semifinals at the Nordic Light Open including defeating her first top-50 player, world No. 35, Denisa Chládková, 6–2, 6–3 but lost to Jelena Kostanić in the semifinals. She then played her first Grand Slam main-draw match after qualifying but lost to Ashley Harkleroad 4–6, 2–6 in the first round. In the Kremlin Cup she upset then world No. 28 Lisa Raymond 6–2, 7–6, but lost to seventh seed Vera Zvonareva 2–6, 1–6.
2005–2009.
Dushevina began her 2005 campaign by losing in the first round at the Canberra Women's Classic to Anna-Lena Grönefeld 5–7, 4–6. At the Australian Open, she reached the fourth round for the first time in a Grand Slam tournament losing to fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 4–6, 2–6. Along the way she won her first top 20 victory over then world No. 11, Vera Zvonareva, 6–3, 6–3 in the second round. She then qualified for the Open Gaz de France and Dubai Championships but fell to Dinara Safina 2–6, 4–6 in the second round and to Nathalie Dechy 7–6, 4–6, 6–7 in the first round, respectively. She then lost four straight matches in the second round of the NASDAQ-100 Open and the first rounds of Bausch & Lomb Championships, J&S Cup and German Open. She then bounced back by reaching the quarterfinals of the Internationaux de Strasbourg losing to eventual champion Anabel Medina Garrigues 7–6, 5–7, 1–6. At the French Open, she lost to 21st seed Mary Pierce 2–6, 5–7.
Dushevina reached her first WTA singles final at the Hastings International Championships as a qualifier she finished as runner-up to former world No. 1, Kim Clijsters, 5–7, 0–6. In the said tournament, she won her first top-5 victory over then world No. 3, Amélie Mauresmo, 6–4, 6–4 in the second round. However, she fell in the first round of the Wimbledon Championships to Ana Ivanovic 4–6, 3–6. She then bounced back to reach the semifinals of the Nordic Light Open losing to Katarina Srebotnik 0–6, 5–7. She then reached the second round of the Pilot Pen Tennis losing to Elena Dementieva. She then suffered back-to-back to loses to Shahar Pe'er at the second round of US Open and first round of China Open. She then fell at the quarterfinals of the Hansol Korea Open to top seed Jelena Janković 5–7, 6–3, 6–3. She then lost in the first round of the Kremlin Cup to Elena Likhovtseva 3–6, 6–2, 7–5. She then avenged her lose to Janković at the Generali Ladies Linz defeating her 7–6, 3–6, 6–0 in the first round, but fell to Sybille Bammer in the next round.
Dushevina had a poor 2006 season. She reached in the second rounds of ASB Classic and Medibank International losing to top ten players Nadia Petrova and Justine Henin respectively. She then fell in the first round of the Australian Open to Catalina Castaño in straight sets, and also fell in the second rounds of Open Gaz de France and Dubai Championships to then world No. 2, Amélie Mauresmo, and then world No. 4, Maria Sharapova, respectively. She suffered a back-to-back first round loss at the Qatar Ladies Open and NASDAQ-100 Open. She then earned her best performance of the year by reaching the third round of the Bausch & Lomb Championships losing to Patty Schnyder 3–6, 5–7. At the Estoril Open, she was upset by Antonella Serra Zanetti 6–4, 6–4 in the first round. She then suffered four consecutive second-round exits at the German Open and French Open to then world No. 1 Amélie Mauresmo, at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia to Patty Schnyder, and the Hastings International Championships to Anna-Lena Grönefeld. She then fell five consecutive first-round main-draw matches, at Wimbledon, at the JPMorgan Chase Open, Rogers Cup, US Open, and the China Open. She reached the second rounds of the Hansol Korea Open and Japan Open. She then suffered back-to-back main-draw match to compatriot Vera Zvonareva at the Kremlin Cup and Gaz de France Stars.
Two years later, she reached her second final at the Nordic Light Open, losing in straight sets to Agnieszka Radwańska. Dushevina reached the final of the Stockholm event again in 2007, losing to Caroline Wozniacki. Dushevina has won one doubles title, the Warsaw Open, playing with Tatiana Perebiynis in 2007. She was also a part of the winning Russian team in the 2005 Fed Cup, winning doubles ties in the quarterfinals and semifinals partnering Dinara Safina. Dushevina began writing a blog for Eurosport about her time on the tour in 2009.
In June 2009, at the Aegon International in Eastbourne, she lost in 45 minutes to Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak in the quarterfinals, 1–6, 0–6, winning only 17 of the 69 points in the match, and losing every one of her service games..
Dushevina upset world No. 22 Alizé Cornet in the first round of the Wimbledon Championships, but fell to Elena Vesnina in the second.
Dushevina won her first WTA career title at the İstanbul Cup defeating Lucie Hradecká 6–0, 6–1 in the final.
2010–2011.
Dushevina started 2010 by qualifying for the Medibank International Sydney where she reached the quarterfinals with wins over Casey Dellacqua and Elena Vesnina, but lost to then world No. 1, Serena Williams, in the quarterfinals. She then fell in the first round of the Australian Open to compatriot and fifth seed Elena Dementieva, 2–6, 1–6. At the PTT Pattaya Open, she was upset in the second round by world No. 121, Ekaterina Bychkova, 6–4, 6–1. She then fell in the first rounds of Dubai Championships and Sony Ericsson Open and the second round of BNP Paribas Open.
She then reached the third round of the Family Circle Cup losing to eventual champion Samantha Stosur 1–6, 6–3, 1–6, but fell early in the Internazionali BNL d'Italia to Andrea Petkovic, 3–6, 0–6. In the second round of the Madrid Open, Dushevina lost the most competitive match of her career against world No. 1, Serena Williams. Williams finally won 6–7, 7–6, 7–6, after 3 hours and 26 minutes despite being 5–2 up in the final set. Dushevina had match point at 7–6, 6–5 but could not close out the match. She was also 4–0 up in the final set tie break before losing. It was also Williams' longest match. She then fell in the first rounds of the French Open and Aegon International. At Wimbledon she upset French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 6–7, 7–5, 6–1 in the first round, but fell to eventual semifinalist Tsvetana Pironkova 3–6, 4–6 in the following round.
She reached the back-to-back quarterfinals in the Slovenia Open and İstanbul Cup losing to Anna Chakvetadze 6–2, 3–6, 5–7 and Jarmila Groth 5–7, 2–6, respectively. She then fell in the second round of the Western & Southern Open to Jelena Janković 4–6, 6–3, 1–6. She then fell in the qualifying rounds of Rogers Cup and Pilot Pen Tennis. In the US Open she fell in the first round to Alona Bondarenko. In the Korea Open, she upset former world No. 1, Ana Ivanovic, 2–6, 6–4, 6–2 but fell in the next round to Klára Zakopalová. She then reached the third round of the China Open as a qualifier losing to Francesca Schiavone 6–4, 3–6, 1–6. In her final tournament of the year at the Kremlin Cup, she was able to reach her first semifinal since winning in the 2009 İstanbul Cup, she defeated three consecutive compatriots Ekaterina Makarova, Elena Vesnina and Anna Chakvetadze but fell to another compatriot Maria Kirilenko 1–6, 1–6.
Vera started 2011 by losing in the qualifying draw of the Medibank International Sydney. At the Australian Open she was able to pick up her first win in six years by defeating Maria Elena Camerin 6–3, 3–6, 6–1 but fell to fifth seed Sam Stosur in the next round. She then fell in the first rounds of Open GdF Suez and Dubai Championships. At the Qatar Open, she qualified and defeated María José Martínez Sánchez in the first round and lost to Daniela Hantuchová in the second.
2017: Retirement.
Dushevina announced her retirement from professional tennis on 15 August 2017 because of several injuries which prevented her to continue playing. She said she would like to concentrate on coaching.