Julia Vakulenko

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Julia Vakulenko
Country Flag of Spain Spain
Residence Barcelona, Spain
Date of birth July 10, 1983 (1983-07-10) (age 24)
Place of birth Yalta, Soviet Union
now Ukraine
Height 1.83m (6 ft)
Weight 69kg (152lbs)
Turned pro 1998
Plays Right; Two-handed backhand
Career prize money $553,485
Singles
Career record: 211-146
Career titles: 0 WTA, 4 ITF
Highest ranking: No. 31 (January 14, 2008)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open 2nd (2004, 2007)
French Open 3rd (2003, 2006)
Wimbledon 2nd (2005)
US Open 4th (2007)
Doubles
Career record: 13-27
Career titles:
Highest ranking: 136 (February 9, 2004)

Julia Vakulenko (Ukrainian: Юлія Вакуленко) (born July 10, 1983 in Yalta) is a professional Ukraine-born female tennis player. She achieved her career high ranking of No. 31 on January 14, 2008.

In April, 2008, Vakulenko renounced her Ukrainian citizenship announcing her decision to acquire the citizenship of Spain where she lives for the last ten years.[1][2]

Contents

[edit] Career

At the 2006 French Open, Vakulenko reached the third round.

At Wimbledon 2006, she had to pull out during the first round due to injury.

Julia became Kim Clijsters' last opponent in her professional career. Julia won 7–6(3), 6–3 in the second round of J&S Cup in Warsaw, Poland on May 3, 2007. This earned her the nickname "Kimmie Killer".

A week later, Julia defeated World No. 3 Amelie Mauresmo at the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin 2–6, 6–1, 6–2 (her career best) and then defeated Dinara Safina 6–3, 5–7, 6–3 to earn a spot in the semifinals against Ana Ivanović.

On August 28, 2007, in the first round of the US Open, Julia defeated number nine seed Daniela Hantuchova 6–4, 3–6, 6–1. She eventually reached the fourth round, her best performance at a major yet, before falling to Ágnes Szávay.

At the final event of the season, the Bell Challenge held in Quebec City, Canada, Julia reached the first WTA final of her career. En-route she beat Rossana De Los Rios, home favourite Stéphanie Dubois, Olga Govortsova and surprise package Julie Ditty. In the final, she lost to three-time Grand Slam champion Lindsay Davenport 6–4, 6–1, who was playing in only her third event since giving birth.

After changing of her citizenship from Ukrainian to Spanish in April, 2008, she plans to play for the Spain in the Fed Cup but she won't be able to compete in 2008 Olympics due to lack of time to be included in Spain's application.[1]

[edit] Singles performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament when the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the 2008 French Open, which ended on June 8, 2008.

Tournament 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Career Win-Loss
Grand Slams
Australian Open A A 2R A A 2R 1R 2–3
French Open A 3R 1R A 3R 1R 1R 4–5
Wimbledon A 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R 1–5
U.S. Open A 2R 2R A A 4R 4–2
Grand Slam Win-Loss 0-0 3-3 2-4 1-1 2-2 4-4 0-2 12-16
WTA Tier I tournaments
Doha1 Not Tier I or Was Not Held A 0–0
Indian Wells A A 1R A A 1R A 0–2
Miami A A 1R A A 3R A 2–2
Charleston 1R A A A 3R 1R A 2–3
Berlin A A 1R A 2R SF A 5–3
Rome 2R A A A A A 1R 1–2
Montreal/Toronto A A A A A 1R 0–1
Tokyo A A 1R A A A 0–1
Moscow A A A A A A 0–0
San Diego1 A A A A A 1R - 0–1
Zurich1 A A A A A A - 0–0
Tournaments Won 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Year End Ranking 209 73 129 185 120 32 N/A
  • A = did not participate in the tournament
  • 1 Doha became a Tier I tournament in 2008, replacing San Diego and Zürich

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Известная теннисистка отказалась от украинского гражданства, korrespondent.net, April 23, 2008
  2. ^ [Tennis - One of Ukraine's top players, Yulia Vakulenko, has opted to take out Spanish citizenship http://uk.reuters.com/article/tennisNews/idUKSP23286020080423?sp=true], Reuters, Apr 23, 2008

[edit] External links