Yulia Putintseva

Yulia Antonovna Putintseva (; , "puh-TEEN-tseh-vah"; born 7 January 1995) is a Kazakh tennis player of Russian origin and descent. She is a three-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist (twice at the French Open and once at the US Open), and she achieved her career-high singles ranking of world No. 27 in February 2017. So far, she has won one WTA singles title.
Personal life.
Yulia Putintseva was born to Anton Putintsev and Anna Putintseva, and has a brother named Ilya. Born in Moscow, she currently resides in Boca Raton, Florida. She was introduced to sport by her father. She liked it and was soon practicing at Spartak Club in Moscow. Later, she moved to Paris to attend Mouratouglou Academy after winning a big Under 14s event. Her favourite surface is clay, while her favourite tournaments are Australian Open and US Open. Tennis idols were Martina Hingis and Justine Henin. She also enjoys dancing, music, singing, Sudoku, playing cards and chess. As of the start of June 2012, she represents Kazakhstan.
Junior career.
Putintseva was successful as junior. She is former No. 3 junior player, that she achieved on the 21 May 2012. Putintseva began playing on the ITF Junior Circuit in 2008 at the age of 13. In May 2009, she won her first junior title at the Grade 2 International Junior Tournament Citta' Di Prato in Prato in singles event. The following week, she won Grade 1 International Junior Tournament "Citta' Di Santa Croce" in Santa Croce, also in singles. She then played at the Grade A Trofeo Bonfiglio, but lost to Sloane Stephens in the first round. She continued with good results, and reached two Grade 1 singles finals, but won only one of them. At the 2009 US Open, she made her Grand Slam debut and also recorded her first Grand Slam win, defeating Anna-Lena Friedsam. Later, she reached final of Grade 1 Kentucky International Junior Tennis Derby, but lost to Zheng Saisai. In December 2009, she played at the Grade A Dunlop Orange Bowl, where she lost in the third round to Ajla Tomljanović. 
In 2010, Putintseva continued to rise. She started year with quarterfinal of the Grade 1 Loy Yang Traralgon International. After the Australian Open second-round loss, she finished as runner-up at the Open International Juniors de Beaulieu sur Mer. Soon after that, she won Grade 2 International Junior Tournament Citta' Di Prato, that was her second title there. She then reached two Grade 1 semifinals. At Wimbledon, she reached her first Grand Slam semifinal, but then lost to Kristýna Plíšková. In August, she played for Russia at the Youth Olympic Games and reached quarterfinal. She then reached semifinal of the Grade 1 Canadian Open Junior Championships. In early September, she played her first Grand Slam final at the US Open, but lost there to compatriot Daria Gavrilova. In November, she reached final of the Grade 1 Eddie Herr International Junior Tennis Championships. In December, at the Dunlop World Challenge, she reached quarterfinals, getting one step further than previous year. 
In 2011, Putintseva was not less successful than in the previous years. She started year with the final of the Grade 1 Loy Yang Traralgon International, where she lost to Monica Puig. She followed this with third-round of the Australian Open and quarterfinal of the French Open. She then had successful grass-season, finished as runner-up at the Grade 1 AEGON Junior International - Roehampton and as quarterfinalist of Wimbledon. At the US Open, reached third Grand Slam quarterfinal of the year. In the early December, she won Grade 1 Eddie Herr International Junior Tennis Championships, defeating compatriot Victoria Kan in the final. She finished year with the final of the Dunlop World Challenge, where she lost to Anett Kontaveit. 
Season of 2012, was her last season as junior. She started year with the semifinal of the Grade 1 Loy Yang Traralgon International. Followed with this, she reached another Grand Slam singles final, at the Australian Open, but missed chance to become Grand Slam champion, losing to Taylor Townsend. Her last tournament was French Open, where she finished as quarterfinalist. She has won five singles titles in total on the ITF Junior Tour.
Professional career.
2009–11: First steps.
Putintseva turned pro in 2009 at the age of 14. Her first tournament was WTA Luxembourg Open, where she played in qualification as wild card player. She came into the final stage of qualification, after the two wins, but failed to reach main-draw. After that, her next tournament was $10K event in Amiens in March 2010. There she reached her first semifinal. In October 2010, she made her debut at the WTA Tour at the Luxembourg Open, but lost to Angelique Kerber in the first round. In May 2011, she won her first ITF title at the $25K event in Moscow. Soon after that, she won another $25K event, but this time in Samsun, and then $50K Kazan, after she defeat Caroline Garcia. 
2012–15: Years of improvements, federation switch.
Putintseva switched to representing Kazakhstan instead of Russia in 2012. During the season of 2012, Putintseva made an improvement. In the early begging of a season, she won $25K event in Launceston, followed with semifinal of $25K event in Almaty. She then recorded her first win on the WTA Tour, defeating Karen Barritza in the first round, but then lost to former world one Jelena Janković. In May, she won $100K Cagnes-sur-Mer, defeating Patricia Mayr-Achleitner in the final. She then made her debut in the Grand Slam qualifications at the French Open, but failed to reach main-draw. In August, she had her first chance to reach main-draw of some Premier 5 tournament, but lost in the second round of qualification of the Cincinnati Open. By the end of year, she reached two ITF finals, at the $50K Open Nantes Atlantique and $75K Al Habtoor Challenge, respectivelly. 
In 2013, Putintseva continued to progress. At the Australian Open, she made her Grand Slam main-draw debut, and there she also recorded her first Grand Slam win, defeating Christina McHale. In the second round she lost to Carla Suárez Navarro. At the Qatar Open, she played her first tournament as top 100 player and also made her Premier 5 main-draw debut, but lost to Mona Barthel in the first round. Unlike Indian Wells Open, where she failed to qualify, she succeed at the Miami Open, but lost to qualifier Donna Vekić in the first round. Unlike in previous seasons, in 2014 Putintseva did not produce such good performances. During the season, she reached only two quarterfinals on the WTA Tour, at the Swedish Open and Japan Women's Open, as well as one WTA 125K quarterfinal. Things get better in 2015, when she reached her first WTA semifinal at the Swedish Open and recorded her first top 10 win at the Nuremberg Cup, defeating world No. 10 Andrea Petkovic in the first round. During the year, she also reached two $100K finals, the Grand Est Open 88 and the Nanjing Open.
2016–17: French Open quarterfinalist, first WTA final, top 50.
Putintseva turned back on the track in 2016. At the Australian Open, she reached her first Grand Slam third round, after the two wins in the main-draw, including win over former number one Caroline Wozniacki. Right after that, she reached semifinal of the Taiwan Open, where she lost to Venus Williams. At the Indian Wells, after she defeated Peng Shuai and Kristina Mladenovic, Putintseva lost to Serena Williams in the third round. In April, she reached her first Premier-level quarterfinal at the Charleston Open, where she also defeated Venus Williams. She followed this with quarterfinal of Morocco Open. At the French Open, she got more recognition, since she reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. In the quarterfinal match, she lost to Serena Williams. This helped her breakthrough the top 50 for the first time. Later, she reached another semifinal, at the Citi Open, but lost to Yanina Wickmayer. At the Pan Pacific Open, she made her second career top 10 win, defeating Madison Keys in the first round. 
In the early begging of the 2017 season, Putintseva reached her first WTA singles final at the St. Petersburg Trophy. On the path to the final, she made two top 10 wins over world No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 5 Dominika Cibulková, before she lost to Kristina Mladenovic. She then defeat world No. 15 and former top 10 player Timea Bacsinszky at the Qatar Open, but then lost to Monica Puig. At the French Open, she did not repeat previous year result, losing to Garbiñe Muguruza in the third round. During the year, she also reached quarterfinals at the Nurember Cup and Japan Women's Open. 
2018–20: Varied results and success, two Grand Slam quarterfinals, first WTA title.
In the first few months, Putintseva did not made any significant results. She reached only second round of Hobart International, Australian Open, Indian Wells Open, Istanbul Cup and one quarterfinal at the Taiwan Open. She then defeated top 10 player Sloane Stephens in the first round of Nurember Cup, but lost in the next round. Putintseva then made big return, reaching another quarterfinal of the French Open. However, this time she also failed to reach semifinal, losing to Madison Keys. After the second round loss at Wimbledon and quarterfinal of Citi Open, she started with modest results again. However, it did not stop her to reach her second career WTA final, this time at the Guangzhou Open, but she finished as runner-up again. 
During the season of 2019, Putintseva varied with results. In January, she reached quarterfinal of the Premier-level Sydney International and recorded top 10 win over Sloane Stephens in the second round, before she lost to another top player Kiki Bertens. Following with this, she reached only second round of the Australian Open and Indian Wells Open, and first round of the St. Petersburg Trophy and Dubai Championships. She then reached her first Premier Mandatory round of 16 at the Miami Open. There she defeated Kirsten Flipkens, Belinda Bencic and Anastasija Sevastova, before she lost to Karolína Plíšková. At the Madrid Open, she reached third round, but lost there to Ashleigh Barty. In May, she won her first WTA singles title at the Nuremberg Cup, after she defeated Tamara Zidanšek in the final. Then, after the first round loss at the French Open, she reached quarterfinal of the Premier-level Birmingham Classic, where she defeated world No. 1 Naomi Osaka. At Wimbledon, she made big upset in the first round, making another defeat over world No. 1 Osaka. However, she lost in the second round to Viktorija Golubic. She then start with modest results again, losing in the early rounds at the Canadian Open, Cincinnati Open and Bronx Open. Things then got better, with third round of US Open, where she also defeated world No. 13 Aryna Sabalenka. At the Japan Women's Open, she reached quarterfinal, but this time Osaka made her revange, defeating Putintseva in the straight-sets. Later, she reached another WTA quarterfinal in the year, at the Tianjin Open, where she lost to Ons Jabeur. 
Putintseva continued with varied results in 2020. During the first half of year, she reached third round of Australian Open and Qatar Open as her only significant results. Then, WTA Tour was suspended for the six months due to COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Tennis returned in August, and Putintseva first played at the Lexington Open, where she defeated Ajla Tomljanović, but then lost to later runner-up Jil Teichmann. She followed this with only second round of Cincinnati Open, where she lost to Maria Sakkari. She then reached her first US Open quarterfinal, where she also defeated world No. 15 Petra Martić, before she lost to Jennifer Brady. Right after that, she reached her first Premier 5 quarterfinal at the Italian Open, but then lost to later champion Simona Halep after the retirement during the match. She finished year with early loss at the French Open, losing to qualifier Nadia Podoroska in the second round.