Yanina Wickmayer life and biography

Yanina Wickmayer is a Belgian professional tennis player who is currently ranked World No. 22. She reached the semi-finals at the 2009 US Open. She is a baseline player.

CAREER:

Singles Titles
2010: Auckland
2009: Estoril, Linz

2010:
Wickmayer was selected to represent Belgium at the World Group II Fed Cup tie against Poland. Wickmayer won both her rubbers against Marta Domachowska and Agnieszka Radwańska, thus allowing Kirsten Flipkens to secure the tie for Belgium with a win against Domachowska, to advance to the World Group Playoff.

In her next two tournaments, the Open GDF Suez tournament in Paris and the 2010 Dubai Tennis Championships in Dubai, Wickmayer lost in first-round matches – in Paris to Petra Martić; and in Dubai to Shahar Pe'er.

She fared better in the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where she won two matches before losing in the round of sixteen to María José Martínez Sánchez of Spain, who had upset sixth seed Victoria Azarenka in the previous round. She then travelled to Miami for the Premier Mandatory Sony Ericsson Open. Seeded 12th, in the fourth round she thrashed Timea Bacsinszky 6–0 6–1. Despite losing 6–4 7–5 to Marion Bartoli in a close quarterfinal match, her strong performance has brought her to a new career-high ranking of World no. 13, moving to 12 without playing the next week.

She was again selected to represent Belgium at the Fed Cup World Group Playoff tie against Estonia. When Kim Clijsters and Yanina won their singles rubbers on Saturday, Belgium was in a comfortable lead. However, Clijsters had injured her foot, and had to be replaced by Justine Henin, who herself had been injured earlier that week. Henin lost her rubber, so it fell on Yanina to bring home the tie during the fourth, which she did in three sets: 2–6, 6–1, 6–1. At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix held in Stuttgart, Yanina moved to the 2nd round before falling for the 2nd consecutive time to fellow Belgium and former World No. 1 Justine Henin 6–3, 7–5. Her next tournament was the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, where she was seeded 11th. She defeated Karolina Šprem and Aravane Rezaï in the first two rounds before losing to 7th seeded Jelena Janković in the third round, 6–2 6–0. As she was defending the points for her 2009 Estoril win during this week, but lost too early in the tournament, this week marked the first in a long time when she lost ranking points.

She pulled out of her next tournament, citing a right elbow injury, and underwent surgery. Though Roland Garros was only two weeks later, she managed to be fit in time, and played there as 16th seed. She defeated Sandra Záhlavová in the first round 6–1, 6–1 and Sybille Bammer 7–6(4), 1–6, 7–5 before falling to Daniela Hantuchová 7–5, 6–3; despite her recent injury, this was her best French Open performance so far.

Yanina reached the quarterfinals in Birmingham where she lost to qualifier Alison Riske. The next week she had 200 ranking points to defend from her 2009 's-Hertogenbosch final. She decided to play in Eastbourne however, where she wasn't seeded due to the strong players field. She lost to fifth seed Kim Clijsters, 6–1 6–1. Yanina defeated Riske in a tough first round match at the Wimbledon Championships, her first Wimbledon main draw win. She reached the third round after defeating compatriot Kirsten Flipkens, but lost to no. 21 seed Vera Zvonareva. The day before their second round match, Flipkens and Yanina played doubles together, which they lost. Yanina also lost her first mixed doubles match with Dick Norman. After Wimbledon she will rise to No. 16 once again, the third Belgian after Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin.

At the 2010 Bank of the West Classic, Wickmayer fell to top seed Sam Stosur in the quarterfinals.

She was seeded 8th at the 2010 Mercury Insurance Open, but fell to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the first round.

Wickmayer was seeded 15th at the 2010 US Open, with semifinal ranking points to defend. She advanced to the 4th round, before falling in three sets to 31st seed Kaia Kanepi.

2011:
Wickmayer returned to Auckland to defend her 2010 championship. Seeded second, she started well with a tough three-set first-round victory over Dinara Safina, 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-1. She made it to the final after defeating Peng Shuai, but lost in the final to Gréta Arn, 3-6, 3-6.

Wickmayer was seeded 21st at the 2011 Australian Open. She won her first match against Australian Jarmila Groth 6–3, 2–6, 6–4, but lost in the second round to Lativan Anastasija Sevastova 4–6, 2–6, citing illness.

Yanina reached the quarterfinals of the 2011 Open GDF Suez, where she lost to Petra Kvitová in a tight three-sets match, 7-5, 3-6, 6-7(3). At the Dubai Free Open she defeated Bojana Jovanovski and Li Na in three sets, the latter after saving four consecutive match points in the second set tiebreak. She lost to Shahar Peer in the third round, 6-3, 4-6, 1-6.

Wickmayer's next event was the 2011 BNP Paribas Open where she competed as the 23rd seed. After a first round bye, she defeated Melanie Oudin, 6-4, 6-3, 14th seed Kaia Kanepi, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 25th seed Dominika Cibulková, 7-5, 7-5 and tenth seed Shahar Pe'er, 6-3, 6-3 en route to the semifinals where she lost to 15th seed Marion Bartoli 1-6, 3-6. This was her first semifinal ever in Indian Wells.

At the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open Yanina was the 23rd seed. After a first round bye, she was defeated by Russian Elena Vesnina, 2-6, 7-5, 4-6.

PERSONAL:

Coached by Glen Schaap; does off-court training with Marc Frey
Introduced to tennis at age 9 by friends at local courts
Father is Marc Wickmayer
Speaks Dutch, English, French
Favorite actor is Brad Pitt; favorite singer is Rihanna; favorite types of music are R&B, rap, techno
Favorite food is French Fries; also enjoys shopping, going to the cinema and hanging out with friends
Favorite cities to visit are New York City, Paris; favorite tournaments are Antwerp, Luxembourg
Other sports interests include soccer
Person most admired is Kim Clijsters
Goal is to reach Top 50.

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