Kaia Kanepi

Kaia Kanepi
	Kanepi at the 2011 US Open
Full name	Kaia Kanepi
Country (sports)	Estonia
Residence	Haapsalu, Estonia
Born	10 June 1985 (age 39); Haapsalu, Estonia
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Turned pro	2000
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$2,794,826
Singles
Career record	334–201
Career titles	3 WTA, 8 ITF
Highest ranking	16 (14 February 2011)
Current ranking	16 (25 June 2012)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	3R (2009)
French Open	QF (2008, 2012)
Wimbledon	QF (2010)
US Open	QF (2010)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games	3R (Template:OlympicEvent)
Doubles
Career record	41–56
Career titles	0 WTA, 2 ITF
Highest ranking	106 (6 June 2011)
Current ranking	122 (25 June 2012)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2011)
French Open	3R (2012)
Wimbledon	3R (2008)
US Open	1R (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010)
Other doubles tournaments
Olympic Games	1R (2004, 2008)
	Last updated on: 25 June 2012.

Kaia Kanepi (pronunciation: KY-ah KAH-nep-i; Template:IPA-ee; born 10 June 1985 in Haapsalu) is an Estonian professional tennis player. Her career-high ranking is world no. 16 reached on 14 February 2011.

Kanepi won her first WTA Tour title in Palermo in 2010, becoming the first Estonian female player to win a WTA title. She has also reached four Grand Slam quarterfinals, becoming the first Estonian to achieve this and was the first Estonian to be ranked in the top 20. She then won her second title at the Brisbane International in January 2012.

Career

Her father, Jaak (a real estate broker) and mother Anne (a homemaker) played tennis. They also have daughters Kadri, who won a tennis scholarship to study in the U.S., and Karin, a dedicated horse rider. Kaia, who always watched her parents and sisters play, discovered her love for tennis at an early age. She started playing at the age of 8. Her family has always supported her desire to play professional tennis. She reached world no. 1 on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior rankings before turning professional in 2000. She has won eight ITF singles titles and is now the top-ranked Estonian female tennis player.

She currently lives in Haapsalu, Estonia. Until the autumn of 2007, Kaia was coached by Andrei Luzgin. After Luzgin, Fredrik Loven from Sweden became her coach, but their partnership ended in February 2008. Kaia's next coach (until September 2008) was Pablo Giacopelli. From November 2008, Kanepi was coached by Luca Appino. After November 2009, Kanepi was coached by fellow Estonia pro Mait Künnap. In February 2010, she broke up with her coach and agent. In April, she started to work with Silver Karjus, and her quality of game has risen again.

2004

Kanepi represented Estonia in both the women's singles and women's doubles, partnering Maret Ani, at the 2004 Summer Olympics, losing in the first round in both events.

2006

At the end of 2006, she reached her first WTA-tour final during the Gaz de France Stars tournament in Hasselt, Belgium. She came through three qualification rounds and beat Anne Kremer, Nathalie Dechy, Eleni Daniilidou, Francesca Schiavone, and Michaëlla Krajicek to eventually play the final against Kim Clijsters, where she lost, 3–6, 6–3, 4–6.

2007

At the Australian Open, Kaia struggled, but defeated 28th-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy, 7–5, 7–6, before losing to Alicia Molik, 6–1, 3–6, 2–6 in the second round. At Indian Wells, she defeated wildcard Kristina Brandi in the first round, 3–6, 7–5, 6–0, but lost in the second round to 14th-seeded and eventual champion Daniela Hantuchová, 6–2, 2–6, 1–6. At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, she stunned Patty Schnyder in the second round, before losing to qualifier Vera Dushevina in the next round.

In late July, Kanepi reached the semifinals of the Bad Gastein tournament in Austria, where she fell to Francesca Schiavone, 4–6, 2–6. This was her third career semifinal and first of the year. Afterwards, she made her top 40 debut at world no. 40.

2008

At the French Open, Kanepi defeated sixth-seeded Anna Chakvetadze, 6–4, 7–6(2). She then defeated 29th-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6–1, 6–7, 7–5, for a place in the fourth round. Outplaying unseeded Petra Kvitová, 6–3, 3–6, 6–1, took her to the quarterfinals, where she was defeated by fourth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, 5–7, 2–6.

Kanepi was granted direct entry at Wimbledon, where she lost in the first round to sixth-seeded Serena Williams, 5–7, 3–6.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Kanepi reached the third round, defeating Flavia Pennetta and Virginie Razzano, before losing to Li Na, 6–4, 2–6, 0–6.

At the U.S. Open, she defeated Monica Niculescu in the first round 6–0, 6–3, but lost to Amélie Mauresmo in the second round, 6–2, 4–6, 0–6.

Kanepi in September reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier of the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, where she defeated Vera Dushevina, world no. 13 Chakvetadze, and Virginie Razzano, before losing to world no. 5 Dinara Safina of Russia, 4–6, 7–6(4), 3–6. She then reached the semifinals of the Hansol Women's Open in Seoul, South Korea, where she was beaten by the eventual champion and top-seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia, 4–6, 6–3, 4–6.

She then made only her second final at the WTA level at the Tier III Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo. She defeated Lucie Šafářová, Yanina Wickmayer, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and eighth-seeded Aleksandra Wozniak, before losing in the final to Danish then world no. 16 and top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, 2–6, 6–3, 1–6.

She was named the Best Female Athlete of Estonia 2008 by the Association of Estonian Sports Journalists.^[1]

2009

Kanepi reached her career-best third round at the Australian Open, but lost miserably to then world no. 3 Dinara Safina in straight sets. She had an epic match with Kimiko Date, former world no. 4, in the first round, 4–6 6–4 8–6.

She was a member of the Estonia Fed Cup team in rounds played in February. She was paired with Maret Ani, and the Estonian team beat Bulgaria, Croatia, and Belarus. Kanepi won all the singles games that she played (including a win over then world no. 15 Victoria Azarenka). She set a new personal 196 kilometres per hour (122 mph) serve record in the tournament, among the fastest ever served by a woman.

Kanepi continued her year in GDF Suez Open, a WTA premier tournament, but lost in the second round to Emile Loit. Weak serves and health problems were cited as reasons for the loss to a lower-ranked player.

At the top-level Dubai Tennis Championships (9 out of 10 of the 10 highest-ranked WTA players participated), she advanced to the third round to set up a match with former world no. 1 Jelena Janković. She defeated Janković in two sets, 6–2 7–5. She was the highest-seeded player Kanepi had by that time defeated. Kanepi commented on her match briefly after her match: "I am really happy at the moment. My game plan was to mix my game up and it worked. My coach Luca Appino has also improved my serve." Janković did not agree in the post-match interview that her loss was due to Kanepi playing well, though: "This was the worst match of my career. It was a horrible day. I kept framing the ball, kept making unforced errors and could not put two balls together on the court. I didn't move properly, and I didn't see the ball properly. She didn't have to do too much. Basically, I beat myself. I don't know what happened out there. I am ashamed of this performance." Kanepi beat Elena Vesnina in the quarterfinals in straight sets, 6–3, 7–5. She was, however, denied a place in the finals by Virginie Razzano, 1–6, 2–6.

Kanepi then participated at the Rome Masters. She defeated Patty Schnyder in the third round, but lost to Victoria Azarenka in the quarterfinals. Her next tournament was the 2009 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, where she was seeded sixteenth. However, she retired in the first round against Lucie Šafářová. In the French Open opening round, Kanepi was defeated by Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova in the first surprise of the day. Her first-round loss led to a drop in her ranking, as she fell to world no. 24.

She was then scheduled to play at the 2009 AEGON Classic in Birmingham, United Kingdom as the second seed. However, she then withdrew because of a knee injury.

Kanepi was seeded 25th at the 2009 Wimbledon Championships, but lost to Carla Suárez Navarro in the first round.

She suffered a first-round loss at the China Open in Beijing to Serena Williams in a match where she had more break points than Serena and lost 5–7, 4–6. This was her 12th straight loss. Kanepi ended her losing streak in Dubai in December, where she won in two sets in the first round

2010

By the start of the new season, Kanepi seemed to be in better physical shape than in 2009. Kanepi reached the second round at the ASB Classic, defeating world no. 15 Li Na in straight sets, before losing 2–6, 3–6, to Maria Kirilenko in the second round. She fell in the first round of the 2010 Moorilla Hobart International to seventh seed Zheng Jie in a tight three-setter 6–4, 3–6, 3–7. At the first Grand Slam of the year at the 2010 Australian Open, Kanepi defeated Chan Yung Jan 7–6, 6–2, in the first round, but fell to 19th seed Nadia Petrova 4–6, 4–6, in the second round.

Kanepi was seeded fifth at the Cellular South Cup in Memphis. She was in the same half of the draw as Maria Sharapova. She defeated Arantxa Rus, 6–0, 6–4, in the first round, and former world no. 7 Nicole Vaidišová 4–6, 6–1, 6–3, in the second round. She fell in three sets to fifth seed Petra Kvitová in the quarterfinals 6–1, 3–6, 6–7. Despite this, Kanepi's ranking fell to world no. 96, due to the fact that she did not defend her points from Dubai from the previous year.

Kanepi reached the second round in Acapulco, but lost to top seed and defending champion Venus Williams, 4–6, 4–6. Kanepi also fell in the second round of the 2010 Monterrey Open to second seed Daniela Hantuchová, 1–6, 3–6.

Kanepi then competed in two Premier Mandatory tournaments. At the 2010 BNP Paribas Open and the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open, she fell in the first rounds 7–6, 3–6, 4–6, to Romanian Sorana Cîrstea, and to Lucie Šafářová 7–6, 4–6, 3–6, respectively. Kanepi's ranking fell out of the top 100 following these tournaments.

Kanepi then represented Estonia in the Fed Cup World Group Play-offs against Belgium. She was defeated by world no. 12 Yanina Wickmayer in her first match, 2–6, 6–4, 1–6. She surprised everyone by defeating former world no. 1 Justine Henin 6–7, 6–4, 6–3, in her second match-up.

In the beginning of May, Kanepi won ten straight matches to claim her seventh and eighth ITF tournaments. Kanepi qualified for the 2010 French Open, where she defeated Pauline Parmentier in the first round. She pushed world no. 4 Jelena Janković to three sets before losing 2–6, 6–3, 4–6.^[2] This allowed her ranking to re-enter the top 100.

At the start of the grass court season, she reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier at 2010 AEGON Classic in Birmingham, defeating 12th seed Elena Baltacha, Jarmila Groth, and Michelle Larcher de Brito en route, before losing to top seed and eventual champion Li Na 4–6, 2–6.

Kanepi then qualified for the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, defeating Olga Savchuk, Elena Bovina, and Ajla Tomljanović in straight sets. In the first round, Kanepi caused a big upset when she defeated world no. 6 and French Open finalist Samantha Stosur 6–4, 6–4.^[3] She then defeated Edina Gallovits 6–4, 7–5, in the second round, and world no. 31 Alexandra Dulgheru 6–1, 6–2, in the third round. Kanepi then reached her second Grand Slam quarterfinal, when she defeated Klára Zakopalová 6–2, 6–4 in the fourth round.^[4] In the quarterfinals, Kanepi lost an extremely tough three-set match to Czech Petra Kvitová 4–6, 7–6(8), 6–8, despite having a total of five match points and being a double break up in the final set. With her success at Wimbledon, Kanepi's ranking rose to world no. 38.

Kanepi next played at the 2010 Swedish Open, where she fell in the first round to fifth seed Arantxa Parra Santonja 4–6, 5–7. However, Kanepi continued her strong play at the 2010 Internazionali Femminili di Palermo where, as the fifth seed, she defeated Rossana de los Ríos 7–5, 6–2, Ioana Raluca Olaru 6–1, 6–2, third seed Sara Errani 6–2, 6–2, and Romina Oprandi 6–3, 6–2, to reach her third WTA tour final. In the final, Kanepi defeated top seed, world no. 12 and defending champion Flavia Pennetta 6–4, 6–3, not dropping a set in the whole tournament to claim her first WTA tour title.

Kanepi was seeded 31st at the 2010 US Open. She defeated Alizé Cornet 3–6, 6–1, 6–0, Akgul Amanmuradova 6–2, 6–4, fourth seed Jelena Janković 6–2, 7–6, and 15th seed Yanina Wickmayer 0–6, 7–6, 6–1, to advance to her first US Open quarterfinal, where she lost to the seventh seed and eventual runner-up Vera Zvonareva, 3–6, 5–7.

Kanepi then entered the 2010 Toray Pan Pacific Open and defeated Melanie Oudin in the first round, 6–4, 6–4. She then upset 13th seed Shahar Pe'er and third seed Jelena Janković winning 6–3, 7–6 and 6–4, 6–4, respectively. Her run was ended in the quarterfinals by French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, who beat Kanepi in a marathon match 5–7, 6–4, 5–7.

2011

Kanepi started her season with a loss to Bojana Jovanovski 4–6, 4–6, in the first round of the 2011 Medibank International Sydney. Her next tournament was the 2011 Australian Open, where she was the 20th seed. There, she defeated Slovakias Magdaléna Rybáriková 2–6, 6–4, 6–3, in the first round, but fell to Julia Görges 4–6, 6–3, 4–6, in the second round. Kanepi, as the third seed, reached the semifinal in 2011 Open GDF Suez, where she beat Anastasija Sevastova 7–6, 6–2, Sofia Arvidsson 6–3, 6–4, and Dominika Cibulková 6–2, 2–6, 6–2. In the semifinal, she faced the first seed Kim Clijsters, who was too strong for Kanepi this time, and Kanepi lost the match 1–6, 5–7. Kanepi had her chances in the second set, being up 5–4 in her own service game to actually take the second set, but Clijsters battled back to win the second set and the match. Kanepi was the 14th seed at the Indian Wells Masters. She had a bye in the first round, and in the second round defeated Gisela Dulko 3–6, 6–2, 6–2. At the 2011 French Open, seeded 16th, she beat Sofia Arvidsson and Britain's Heather Watson in straight sets, before being upset 4–6, 5–7, in the third round by unseeded Ekaterina Makarova.

At the Toray Pan Pacific Open Kaia beat world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, 7–5, 1–6, 6–4, in the third round to reach the quarterfinals.

2012

Kanepi entered her first tournament of the year in Brisbane. She defeated Alexandra Panova in the first round 7–5, 3–6, 6–2. She then upset No.7 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6–0, 6–3 and No.2 seed Andrea Petkovic 6–1, 7–6. In the semifinals she defeated No.3 seed Francesca Schiavone 6–3, 6–0 to book her place in the final against Daniela Hantuchová which she went on to win 6–2, 6–1. Kanepi then entered the first Grand Slam of the year 2012 Australian Open and in the first round she overpowered Johanna Larsson 6–2, 6–4. She lost in second round to Ekaterina Makarova, future quarter-finalist.

Kaia however blamed a shoulder and neck injury for her loss.That injury forced her to skip tournaments in Paris, Doha and Dubai. She returned in March at 2012 BNP Paribas Open and lost to Chanelle Scheepers in the second round. At 2012 Sony Ericsson Open she also lost in second round to Silvia Soler-Espinosa in straight sets. She then entered 2012 e-Boks Open as the 5th seed and won against Anastasia Rodionova and Timea Babos to reach the quarterfinals where she lost to no.3 seed Jelena Jankovic 4–6 6–1 6–3. Kaia then went on to win her third WTA title at the Estoril Open, defeating Carla Suarez Navarro in the final 4–6 7–6(6) 6–4.

At Roland Garros, Kanepi played a very good tournament given her ranking, defeating ninth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki in the third round 6–1, 6–7 (3), 6–3 and Arantxa Rus in the fourth round 6–1, 4–6, 6–0, but she was defeated in the quarterfinals by Maria Sharapova in straight sets 6–2, 6–3.^[5]

An achilles billateral injury cause Kanepi to withdraw from Birmingham, Eastbourne and Wimbledon. She has high hopes to return for the 2012 London Olympics.

Playing style

Kanepi builds up her game around her powerful groundstrokes. Her serve is considered to be one of the strongest on the WTA tour. Kanepi frequently hits 170 km/h to 180 km/h serves. She generally serves for power and tries to hit the lines but sometimes hits a powerful body serve to push her opponents behind the baseline. But sometimes her serve can break down which affects her game. In 2008 she began to improve her volleying skills and under her coach Luca Appino begun to use sliced backhand more often thus making her playing more versatile. Her current coach is Silver Karjus.

She likes to return serves mainly with her backhand which she hits extremely flat and tries to position herself to receive with backhand but is also capable of hitting good service returns with her forehand as well. She likes to end points early but she is capable of playing long rallies and reducing her unforced error count. Overall, she is an offensive baseliner but depending on the game situation and scoreboard Kanepi can play a more defensive game.

Other

For a long time Kanepi was sponsored by Infortar, the largest shareholder of Tallink, a major ferry company in the Baltic Sea. Their sponsorship ended in February 2010, but later started again.^[6]

WTA Career Finals

Singles: 6 (3–3)

Winner — Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
WTA Tour Championships (0–0)
Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (0–0)
Premier (1–2)
International (2–4)

Titles by Surface
Hard (1–3)
Grass (0–0)
Clay (2–0)
Carpet (0–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	5 November 2006	Hasselt, Belgium	Hard(i)	Kim Clijsters	3–6, 6–3, 4–6
Runner-up	2.	5 October 2008	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Caroline Wozniacki	2–6, 6–3, 1–6
Winner	1.	18 July 2010	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Flavia Pennetta	6–4, 6–3
Runner-up	3.	23 October 2011	Moscow, Russia	Hard (i)	Dominika Cibulková	6–3, 6–7^(1–7), 5–7
Winner	2.	7 January 2012	Brisbane, Australia	Hard	Daniela Hantuchová	6–2, 6–1
Winner	3.	5 May 2012	Estoril, Portugal	Clay	Carla Suárez Navarro	3–6, 7–6^(8–6),6–4