Vera Dushevina life and biography

Vera Dushevina is a Russian professional female tennis player. She was born in Moscow but now resides in Khimki, Russia. In 2006, she privately amended the presentation of her surname so as to be more English language friendly, adopting Dushevina in place of Douchevina which is a natural transliteration from her Russian script name.

CAREER:

2010-2011:
Dushevina started 2010 by qualifying in the 2010 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 2010 Australian Open to compatriot and 5th seed Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-1. At the 2010 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 2010 Dubai Tennis Championships and 2010 Sony Ericsson Open and the second round of 2010 BNP Paribas Open.

She then reached the third round of the 2010 Family Circle Cup losing to eventual champion Samantha Stosur 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, but fell early in the 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia to Andrea Petkovic 6-3, 6-0. In the second round of the 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, Dushevina lost the most competitive match of her career against World No.1 Serena Williams. Williams finally won 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 7-6(5) after 3 hours and 26 minutes despite being 5-2 up in the final set. Dushevina had match point at 7-6(2), 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 2010 French Open and 2010 AEGON International. At Wimbledon 2010 she upset French Open Champion Francesca Schiavone 6-7(0), 7-5, 6-1 in the first round, but fell to eventual semi-finalist Tsvetana Pironkova 6-3, 6-4 in the following round.

She reached the back-to-back quarterfinals in the 2010 Banka Koper Slovenia Open and 2010 İstanbul Cup losing to Anna Chakvetadze 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 and Jarmila Groth 7-5, 6-2, respectively. She then fell in the second round of the 2010 Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open to Jelena Janković 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. She then fell in the qualifying rounds of 2010 Rogers Cup and 2010 Pilot Pen Tennis. In the 2010 US Open she fell in the first round to Alona Bondarenko. In the 2010 Hansol Korea Open, she upset former world no. 1 Ana Ivanović 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 but fell in the next round to Klára Zakopalová. She then reached the third round of the 2010 China Open as a qualifier losing to Francesca Schiavone 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. In her final tournament of the year at the 2010 Kremlin Cup, she was able to reach her first semifinal since winning in the 2009 Istanbul Cup, she defeated 3 consecutive compatriots Ekaterina Makarova, Elena Vesnina and Anna Chakvetadze but fell to another compatriot Maria Kirilenko 6-1, 6-1.

Vera started 2011 by losing in the qualifying draw of the 2011 Medibank International Sydney. At the 2011 Australian Open she was able to pick up her 1st win in 6 years by defeating Maria Elena Camerin 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 but fell to 5th seed Samantha Stosur in the next round. She then fell in the first rounds of 2011 Open GDF Suez and 2011 Dubai Tennis Championships. She is currently playing at the 2011 Qatar Ladies Open, where she qualified and defeated María José Martínez Sánchez 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(1) in the first round and lost to Daniela Hantuchová 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the second round.

Singles Titles
2009: Istanbul

Doubles Titles
2007: Warsaw

PERSONAL:
Coached by Irina Granaturova
Father, Yevgeny, is an engineer; mother, Elena, is a teacher; sister, Sonia, is a university student
Father introduced her to the sport at age 7
Has two cats
Changed spelling of last name in 2005 for Tour purposes, from Douchevina to Dushevina
Favorites include actor Hugh Grant and Russian movies; favorite foods are chicken, fish
Likes London and Paris best
Other sports interest is in swimming
Admires Kim Clijsters, Jennifer Capriati.

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