After reaching the 3rd round of the 2011 Australian Open Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova lost to Iveta Benesova in three sets. Although Melbourne is her favorite city she just wanted to get back to Russia, but on the day of a flight there was a terrorist attack in Moscow and the airport was closed. On her home website, she wrote that she was stuck in Hong Kong for at least one night and she was not sure what was happening back home.
| Birthdate: | 3-July-1991 |
|---|---|
| Birthplace: | Samara, Russia |
| Height: | 5 ft 9 1/2 in (1.77 m) |
| Plays: | Right-Handed |
| Turned Pro: | December 2005 |
It was inevitable the teenage Russian sensation would take up a sporting career with her pedigree.
Video Credit: Australian Open TV
Her grandmother played basketball for Russia, her grandfather was a high-level basketball referee, her father Sergey was an Olympic-level canoeist, her mother Marina was a swimmer and her parents and brother Aleksander are all tennis coaches.
She was introduced to tennis at the age of 6-years-old by her family and at the age of 15, she won the 2006 Australian Open Junior Title beating Caroline Wozniacki. She went on to win the US Open Junior Title beating Tamira Paszek and successfully defended her title at the 2007 Australian Open beating Madison Brengle.
Her success in juniors meant she could enter ITF and WTA tournaments and she won a small tournament in Italy in May 2006.
She played her first Wimbledon main draw on a wild card in 2007 but lost to 10th seed Daniela Hantuchova 6-0/6-1 in just 40 minutes winning only 14 points. In 2008 she was the youngest player in the Women’s Singles at 16 (17 on July 3rd) and she beat 17th seed Alize Cornet and Li Na before losing to 11th seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the 3rd round.
From 2007 to 2009 she lived and trained at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in France, accompanied by her mother, where she was coached by Patrick Mouratoglou. She is now coached by her brother who was a graduate of the same Academy.
She reached the quarter-final of the Brisbane International in 2010 before losing to Ana Ivanovic and she also reached the quarter-final in Dubai where this time she managed to beat Daniela Hantuchova en route. But she never got any further because she met defending champion Venus Williams in the next round.
She won her first WTA title at the 2010 Monterrey Open when she again beat Hantchucova in the final and her 2nd WTA Title came at the Istanbul Cup. She was down 5-7/0-4 to Elena Vesnina but she clawed her way back into the match to win it 5-7/7-5/6-4.
At the 2010 US Open, she had the best Grand Slam result in her career when she reached the last 16 before losing to French Open champion Francesca Schiavone.
Off-court she enjoys figure skating and dancing and hates listening to her brother’s heavy metal music.
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