Kaia Kanepi
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| Country |  Estonia |
|---|---|
| Residence | Haapsalu, Estonia |
| Date of birth | 10 June 1985 |
| Place of birth | Haapsalu, Estonia |
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) |
| Turned pro | 2000 |
| Plays | Right-handed (two-handed backhand) |
| Career prize money | $1,615,356 |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 279–172 |
| Career titles | 1 WTA, 8 ITF |
| Highest ranking | No. 18 (25 May 2009) |
| Current ranking | No. 32 (30 August 2010) |
| Grand Slam results | |
| Australian Open | 3R (2009) |
| French Open | QF (2008) |
| Wimbledon | QF (2010) |
| US Open | QF (2010) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 31–48 |
| Career titles | 0 WTA, 2 ITF |
| Highest ranking | No. 143 (3 May 2010) |
| Grand Slam Doubles results | |
| Australian Open | 1R (2007, 2008, 2009) |
| French Open | 2R (2009) |
| Wimbledon | 3R (2008) |
| US Open | 1R (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010) |
| Last updated on: 6 Sept 2010. | |
Kaia Kanepi (pronunciation: KAY-ah KA-nep-i; born 10 June 1985 in Haapsalu) is an Estonian professional female tennis player. Her career-high ranking was set at World No. 18 on 25 May 2009. As of 23 August 2010 she is ranked World No. 32.
Kanepi won her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Title in Palermo in 2010, becoming the first Estonian female player to win a WTA title. She has also reached three Grand Slam Quarter-finals, becoming the first Estonian to achieve this and was the first Estonian to be ranked in the top twenty.
Contents |
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 cooperation ended in February 2008. Kaia's next coach (until September 2008) was Pablo Giacopelli. From November 2008, Kanepi was coached by Luca Appino. Since November 2009 Kanepi has been coached by fellow Estonia pro Mait Künnap. Since February 2010 she has no coach nor agent.
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, 6–3, 3–6, 6–4.
2007
At the Australian Open, Kaia struggled but defeated 28th-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy 7–5, 7–6, before losing to Alicia Molik 1–6, 6–3, 6–2 in the second round. At Indian Wells Masters, 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 2–6, 6–2, 6–1. 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 6–4, 6–2. 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 finally defeated by fourth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 7–5, 6–2.
Kanepi was granted direct entry at Wimbledon, where she lost in the first round to sixth-seeded Serena Williams 7–5, 6–3.
At the 2008 Summer Olympics Kanepi reached the third round, defeating Flavia Pennetta and Virginie Razzano before losing to Li Na 4–6, 6–2, 6–0.
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 2–6, 6–4, 6–0.
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 6–4, 6–7(4), 6–3. 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 6–4, 3–6, 6–4.
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 World No. 16 and top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 6–2, 3–6, 6–1.
She was named the Best Female Athlete of Estonia 2008 by the Association of Estonian Sports Journalists.[1]
2009
Kanepi reached her career-best 3rd 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 1st round in 3 sets 4–6 6–4 8–6.
She was a member of Estonia Fed Cup team in rounds played in February. Teamed with Maret Ani, the Estonian team beat Bulgaria, Croatia and Belarus. Kanepi won all single games she played (including a win over then World No. 15 Victoria Azarenka). She set a new personal 196 km/h serve record in the tournament, among the best ever served by women.
Kanepi continued her year in GDF Suez Open, a WTA premier tournament, but lost in the 2nd round to Emile Loit. Weak serve and health problems were cited as reasons for the loss to lower-ranked player.
At 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 the former World No. 1 Jelena Janković. She defeated Janković in two sets, 6–2 7–5. Janković was ranked No. 3 at the time. 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 with scoreline 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 Madrilena Madrid Open where she was seeded sixteenth. However, she retired in the first round losing to Lucie Šafářová. In the French Open Opening round, Kanepi was defeated by Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova, in the first surprise of the day. Her 1st round loss will lead to a costly drop in the ranking, as she fell to World No. 24 ranking as she reached the quarterfinals the previous year.
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 knee injury.
Kanepi was seeded 25th at the 2009 Wimbledon Championships but lost to Carla Suárez Navarro in the first round.
After a First Round loss at the China Open in Beijing to Serena Williams in a match where she had more break points than Serena she lost 7–5,6–4 and is currently on a 12-match losing streak. Kanepi ended in her losing streak in Dubai in December where she won in two sets in first round
2010
By the start of the new season Kanepi looked very much in better physical shape than in 2009. Also she had colored her hair darker. Kanepi reached second round at ASB Classic, defeating World No. 15 Li Na in straight sets before losing 6–2, 6–3 to Maria Kirilenko in the second round. She fell in the first round of the 2010 Moorilla Hobart International to 7th seed Zheng Jie in a tight three-setter 4–6, 6–3, 7–6(4). At the first Slam of the year at the 2010 Australian Open, Kanepi defeated Chan Yung Jan 7–6(4), 6–2 in the first round but fell to 19th seed Nadia Petrova 6–4, 6–4 in the second round.
Kanepi was seeded 5th 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 with a score of 1–6, 6–3, 7–6(0). Despite this, Kanepi's ranking fell to World No. 96 due to her not defending her points from Dubai last year.
Kanepi reached the second round of Acapulco but lost to top seed and defending champion Venus Williams 6–4, 6–4. Kanepi also fell in the second round of the 2010 Monterrey Open to 2nd seed Daniela Hantuchová 6–1, 6–3.
Kanepi then flew to America to compete at two Premier Mandatory tournaments. At the 2010 BNP Paribas Open and the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open, she fell in the first rounds 6–7(1), 6–3, 6–4 to Romanian Sorana Cîrstea and to Lucie Šafářová 6–7(1), 6–4, 6–3, respectively. Kanepi's ranking fell out of the World's top 100 following these tournaments.
Kanepi then represented Estonia in the Fed Cup World Group Play-offs against Belgium. She surprised everyone by defeating former World No. 1 Justine Henin on clay in Belgium 6–7(4), 6–4, 6–3 in her second match up. She was defeated by World No. 12 Yanina Wickmayer in her first match 6–2, 4–6, 6–1.
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 6–2, 3–6, 6–4.[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 6–4, 6–2.
Kanepi then successfully qualified for the 2010 Wimbledon Championships defeating Olga Savchuk, Elena Bovina and Ajla Tomljanovic 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 second and World No. 31 Alexandra Dulgheru 6–1, 6–2 in third round. Kanepi then reached her second Grand Slam Quarter-final when she defeated Klára Zakopalová 6–2, 6–4 in the 4th round.[4] In the quarter-finals, Kanepi lost an extremely tough three set match with Czech Petra Kvitová 4–6, 7–6(8), 8–6 despite having a total of five match points to reach her first semi-final and being up a double break 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 5th seed Arantxa Parra Santonja 6–4, 7–5. However, Kanepi continued her strong play at the 2010 Internazionali Femminili di Palermo where, as the fifth seed, she defeated Rossana De Los Rios 7–5, 6–2, Ioana Raluca Olaru 6–1, 6–2, 3rd 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 and not dropping a set in the whole tournament to claim her first WTA tour title.
Kanepi is seeded 31st at the 2010 US Open. She defeated Alize Cornet, Akgul Amanmuradova, 4th seed Jelena Jankovic, and 15th seed Yanina Wickmayer to advance to her first US Open quarterfinal, where she lost to the 7th seed Vera Zvonareva.
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 current coach Luca Appino has begun to use sliced backhand more often thus making her playing more versatile.
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 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 cooperation ended in February 2010.[5]
WTA Tour singles finals (3)
Wins (1)
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| No. | Date | Tournament Name | Tournament Location | Surface | Opponent in Final | Score in Final |
| 1. | 18 July 2010 | Internazionali Femminili di Palermo | Palermo, Italy | Clay |  Flavia Pennetta |
6–4, 6–3 |
Runner-ups (2)
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| No. | Date | Tournament Name | Tournament Location | Surface | Opponent in Final | Score in Final |
| 1. | 5 November 2006 | Gaz de France Stars | Hasselt, Belgium | Hard | .svg.png){kind=small} Kim Clijsters |
3–6, 6–3, 4–6 |
| 2. | 5 October 2008 | AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships | Tokyo, Japan | Hard |  Caroline Wozniacki |
2–6, 6–3, 1–6 |
Grand Slam singles performance timeline
To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only after a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the 2010 Wimbledon Championships.
| Tournament | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | 2R | 1R | 3R | 2R | |
| French Open | 2R | 1R | QF | 1R | 2R |
| Wimbledon | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | QF |
| US Open | 3R | 1R | 2R | 1R | QF |
References
- ↑ Kanepi Named Best Female Athlete in Estonia WTAtour.com, December 16, 2008
- ↑ Nyree Epplett (27 May 2010). "Jankovic survives Parisian rain and Kanepi tempest". RolandGarros.com. http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/news/articles/2010-05-27/201005271274986405857.html. Retrieved 29 June 2010.
- ↑ Ian Baker (22 June 2010). "Seed Stosur surprised in first round upset". Wimbledon.org. http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/news/match_reports/2010-06-22/201006221277218963885.html. Retrieved 29 June 2010.
- ↑ Lee Goodall (28 June 2010). "Kanepi on a roll as fairytale continues". Wimbledon.org. http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/news/match_reports/2010-06-28/201006281277721581606.html. Retrieved 29 June 2010.
- ↑ "Treener ja sponsorid lõpetasid koostöö Kanepiga" (in Estonian). ERR Uudised. 1 February 2010. http://uudised.err.ee/index.php?03109. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
External links
- Official website
- Kaia Kanepi on the Women's Tennis Association
- Kaia Kanepi at the International Tennis Federation
- Kaia Kanepi profile on the Fed Cup official site
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Irina Embrich |
Estonian Sportswoman of the Year 2008 |
Succeeded by Ksenija Balta |
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