Elena Vesnina life and biography

Elena Vesnina is a professional female tennis player from Russia. Her career high rank was #22, achieved on October 12, 2009. She is coached by former ATP tour player Andrei Chesnokov.

CAREER:
2010:
She then lost 7 back-to-back matches falling in the third round of 2010 Family Circle Cup and the first rounds of 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, 2010 Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, 2010 Internationaux de Strasbourg, 2010 French Open, 2010 UNICEF Open, and 2010 Wimbledon Championships.

At the Wimbledon Championships Vesnina made it to her second grand slam final in doubles while partnering Vera Zvonareva. The pair scored some impressive wins over the top seeded Williams Sisters in the Quarter finals (which ended the Americans 27 match winning streak in grand slam doubles matches) and over 4th seeds Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta in the Semifinals. In the final they fell to fellow unseeded pairing Yaroslava Shvedova and Vania King 7–6 6–2.

She was able to break her 7 losing streak at the 2010 İstanbul Cup defeating Bojana Jovanovski, Stefanie Vögele and Anastasia Rodionova in straight sets. She then upset 6th seed Andrea Petkovic 1–6, 6–0, 7–6(2) recoring from a break down to reach the finals. In the final where she faced fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Vesnina went down 5–7 7–5 6–4 despite having led 4–0 in the second set and been a break up at 3–1 in the final set.

Vesnina then played in the 2010 Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open, where in the second round she defeated French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 6–4, 6–4. She lost to Ana Ivanović in the 3rd round 0–6, 3–6. She then needed to qualify in the 2010 Pilot Pen Tennis, which she did but lost to Maria Kirilenko 6–1 3–6 6–1 in the first round. She also fell to 5th seed Samantha Stosur in the first round of the US Open 3–6 7–6(2) 6–1.

Following the US Open Vesnina next participated in the 2010 Tashkent Open. She beat Lesya Tsurenko and Olga Savchuk to reach the quarterfinals where she then demolished Darya Kustova 6–0, 6–1. In the semifinals she defeated Monica Niculescu 6–3, 3–6, 6–4 despite being down 3–0 in the third set, Elena won 6 of the last 7 games. She lost to Alla Kudryavtseva 6–4, 6–4 in the final.

Elena scored the biggest win of her career two weeks later in the China Open by defeating 12th seed Maria Sharapova 7–6(3) 6–2. She lost to Timea Bacsinszky in the next round.

2011:
Elena began her year at the 2011 ASB Classic where she was seeded 7th. In her first match of the year she easily outclassed Marina Erakovic 6–2 6–2. However in the next round Vesnina faced Simona Halep, she started well leading 6–2 4–1 however she then lost the second set and retired at 6–2 4–6 0–4 due to dizziness.

Elena then went to 2011 Moorilla Hobart International where she defeated Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-2, 6-1 in the first round. She then lost to top seed Marion Bartoli 6-4, 6-1.

In the first round of the 2011 Australian Open Vesnina lost to Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano in three sets, 6-4, 3-6, 3-6. She then also fell in the first rounds of 2011 Open GDF Suez, 2011 Dubai Tennis Championships, and 2011 BNP Paribas Open and the qualifying round in 2011 Qatar Ladies Open. At the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open she defeated higher ranked players Gisela Dulko 6-1, 6-3 and 23rd seed Yanina Wickmayer 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 but oddly lost to a lower ranked Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 6-4 in the third round. At the 2011 Family Circle Cup, Vesnina defeated Rebecca Marino in the first round and then knocked out 4 consecutive seeds no. 14 seed Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 2nd seed and defending champion Samantha Stosur, 12th seed Julia Görges and 11th seed Chinese Peng Shuai. Vesnina became runner-up at the 2011 Family Circle Cup by losing to the number one seed, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in straight sets.

In doubles, Vesnina along with Indian Sania Mirza won the finals of the BNP Paribas Open by defeating Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Meghann Shaughnessy 6-0, 7-5. Then the pair won their second doubles title of the year at the Family Circle Cup by defeating Mattek-Sands and Shaughnessy again, 6-4, 6-4.

Singles Titles:
2006: Vina del Mar
2004: Bucharest
2002: Sopot

Doubles Titles:
2008: Indian Wells
2007: Hobart
2005: Québec City

PERSONAL:

Coached by Sergej Vesnin (father) and Boris Konujushkov; travels with father
Introduced to tennis by mother Irina at age 7, and began playing at sport school in Sochi (first coach was Jurij Vasiljevich, who also coached Sharapova)
Mother is a teacher; brother, Dmitriy, also plays tennis and is a student
Admires Hingis
Favorite surfaces are clay, hard
Other sports interests are soccer, basketball, ice hockey
Enjoys reading, shopping, going to movies, listening to music, dancing, going out to the sea with friends, travelling
Favorite types of music are rap, pop and R&B; favorite artists are Maroon 5 and 50 Cent
Favorite movie is Men In Black; favorite actors are Will Smith, Nicole Kidman, Brad Pitt
Favorite cities are Rome and Sochi, because "they are the two most beautiful and warmest cities in the world".

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