Kaia Kanepi

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**Kaia Kanepi**

Country	Estonia
Residence	Haapsalu, Estonia
Date of birth	June 10, 1985
Place of birth	Tallinn, Estonia
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)
Weight	163 lb (74 kg)
Turned Pro	2000
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career Prize Money	$295,404
Singles
Career record:	160-91
Career titles:	0 WTA, 6 ITF
Highest ranking:	No. 56 (March 19th, 2007)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	2r (2007)
French Open	2r (2006)
Wimbledon	1r (2006)
U.S. Open	3r (2006)
Doubles
Career record:	19-28
Career titles:	0 WTA, 1 ITF
Highest ranking:	No. 320 (March 1, 2004)
Infobox last updated on: January 15, 2007.

Kaia Kanepi (pronunciation: KEYE-ah ka-NEP-I; born June 10, 1985 in Tallinn) is an Estonian professional female tennis player. Her career-high was No. 56 on March 19th, 2007. She is right-handed and play two-handed backhand. Her favourite surface is clay.

[edit] Career

Her father, Jaak (A real estate broker) and Mother Anne (a homemaker) played tennis. They introduced their daughters Kadri, who won a tennis scholarship to study in USA 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. Thanks to her family, who have always supported her desire to play pro tennis, she reached world No.1 on ITF Junior Rankings, before turning pro in 2000. She’s won six ITF singles titles on the way and is now top-ranked Estonian female tennis player followed by Maret Ani and Margit Rüütel.

Kaia’s dream is to be world No. 1 someday. She is a great admirer of Anna Kournikova, Martina Hingis, Marat Safin, Andy Roddick and Roger Federer. She currently lives in Haapsalu, Estonia, but trains with her coach Andrei Luzgin in Tallinn.

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

At 2007 Australian Open, Kaia struggled but defeated 28 seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy in straight sets 7-5 7-6, before losing to Alicia Molik 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the second round.