Olga Puchkova

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Olga Puchkova
Country Flag of Russia Russia
Flag of Belarus Belarus
Residence Washington, D.C., U.S.
Date of birth September 27, 1987 (1987-09-27) (age 20)
Place of birth Moscow, USSR (now Russia)
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight 61 kg (130 lb/9.6 st)
Turned pro 2002
Plays Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money $365,405
Singles
Career record: 150-105
Career titles: 5 ITF, 0 WTA
Highest ranking: No. 32 (June 11, 2007)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open 2nd (2007, 2008)
French Open 2nd (2007)
Wimbledon 1st (2007)
US Open 1st (2006, 2007)
Doubles
Career record: 13-23
Career titles: 0
Highest ranking: No. 336 (Oct 8, 2006)

Infobox last updated on: April 15, 2008.

Olga Alekseyevna Puchkova (also Poutchkova) (born September 27, 1987) is a Russian professional tennis player and model.[1] As a junior she played for Belarus,[2] and is sometimes listed as Belarusian as a professional.[3]

Contents

[edit] Early years

Olga Poutchkova, coached by her father Alex Poutchkov was No 1 in the World in the ITF U12 rankings in 1999.[4] Olga won the U12 category in the Eddie Herr in 1999, where she beat Shahar Peer 6–2, 6–2 in the final,[5] and a week later was runner up in the U12 category at the Orange Bowl, where qualifier Tatiana Golovin beat her 6–4, 3–6, 6–4.[6]

Olga made her debut on the U18 circuit August 13, 2000 at the USTA Junior International Grass Court Championships where she was defeated in the first round.[7] Just a week later, at the USTA Junior International Hard Court Championships she secured her first win in a U18 doubles match playing alongside Brazilian Caroline Neves.[8] Alongside American Nicole Pitts she won her first U18 Junior tournament (out of 2 in doubles) in Ecuador, January 2001.[9] She won her only U18 Junior title in singles at the US Junior International Hard Court Championships in 2003, beating Jessi Robinson 6–2, 6–2 in the final.[10]

[edit] ITF Circuit

Poutchkova started her ITF professional career in March 2002, when she played in four tournaments in Australia, reaching the quarterfinals at Warnambool and Benalla.[11] In 2003 she reached the final at Miami in January and the semifinal at Houston in June, and won her first professional tournament at Baltimore in July 2003 when she beat Jewel Peterson 6–2, 6–4 in the final.[12] She won her second professional title July 11 2004 in College Park, Maryland.[13][14] She defeated first seeded Maureen Drake in the second round and Rossana de los Rios in the final: 7–5, 4–6, 6–2.[15] In Pelham, Alabama she reached another final, but was defeated 4–6, 6–4 6–0 by Slovak Zuzana Zemenova.[16] She reached her fifth ITF final in August 2005, beating Stephanie Dubois en route. In the final, Ashley Harkleroad was too strong as she beat Poutchkova 6–2, 6–1 to claim the Washington DC title.[17]

[edit] Breakthrough year 2006

In 2006 she made her WTA Tour main draw debut in Hobart, Australia as a qualifier; however she lost in the first round to Mara Santangelo.[18] Afterwards she tried to qualify for the 2006 Australian Open, but failed. She returned to the ITF tour and reached another final in Hammond, Louisiana at the end of March. She comfortably won the final, beating Andrea Hlavackova 6–3, 6–4 to win her third ITF Title.[19]

Her first WTA Tour main draw win in Birmingham followed in June, beating fellow qualifier Viktoria Kutuzova. She then lost her second round match against 4th seed fellow Russian Elena Likhovtseva.[18] Back in the IFF Tour she cruised to the final in Felixstowe's grass tournament, where she turned out to be way too strong for Australian Trudi Musgrave who was beaten by 6–2, 6–1.[20] As being second seed in Bronx, New York she won yet another ITF title. First seed Melinda Czink was already beaten in the first round by Dutch Elise Tamaëla. Poutchkova herself won all her matches and faced Belarusian Tatiana Poutchek final, which was easily won by Poutchkova 6–3, 6–1.[21]

After failing to qualify for the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon earlier in 2006, she successfully qualified for the 2006 US Open, beating Virginie Pichet, Stephanie Cohen-Aloro and Ryoko Fuda.[22] She then faced Marion Bartoli in the first round and was not able to excel against the 26th seed (6–4, 6–0).[23]

Poutchkova reached her first WTA Tour final in Kolkata, India, in September 2006, losing to Martina Hingis (6–0, 6–4), but beating seventh seed Nicole Pratt en route.[24] A week previously she had reached her first Tour singles quarter-final at the Tier III Bali, Indonesia notching up her first top 20 victory along the way when beating Ana Ivanović.[25]

At the end of the season, Olga reached her second WTA Tour final in Quebec City, Canada. She lost to Marion Bartoli 6–0 6–0, becoming the first woman since 1993 to lose by that scoreline in a Tour final, although she was injured during the final.[26]

During 2006, she made her Top 100 debut and peaked at a high of No. 32 (June. 17, 2007).[18] However, her results soon began to tail off, and she didn't reach another quarterfinal until her last tournament of the season in Bell Challenge. At the 2008 Australian Open, she won her first round match, but lost 6–1, 7–5 to World No. 1 Justine Henin in the second round.

[edit] Professional titles (5)

Legend (Singles) Legend (Doubles)
Tier I (0) Tier I (0)
Tier II (0) Tier II (0)
Tier III (0) Tier III (0)
Tier IV (0) Tier IV (0)
Grand Slam Title (0) Grand Slam Title (0)
WTA Tour Championship (0) WTA Tour Championship (0)
ITF Circuit (5) ITF Circuit (0)

[edit] Singles (5)

No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. July 20, 2003 Baltimore, Maryland, United States Hard Flag of the United States Jewel Peterson 6–2, 6–4
2. July 11, 2004 College Park, Maryland, United States Hard Flag of Paraguay Rossana de los Ríos 7–5, 4–6, 6–2
3. April 2, 2006 Hammond, Louisiana, United States Hard Flag of the Czech Republic Andrea Hlaváčková 6–3, 6–4
4. July 16, 2006 Felixstowe, Great Britain Grass Flag of Australia Trudi Musgrave 6–2, 6–1
5. August 20, 2006 Bronx, New York, United States Hard Flag of Belarus Tatiana Poutchek 6–3, 6–1

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Olga Poutchkova: Model and Professional Tennis Player, Poutchkova.com
  2. ^ Olga Poutchkova profile, Juniortennis.com
  3. ^ 2006 Wimbledon player record, For instance, Wimbledon listed her as Belarusian in 2006 when she played in the qualifiers
  4. ^ Olga Poutchkova profile, Juniortennis.com
  5. ^ Eddie Herr 1999, Juniortennis.com
  6. ^ Orange Bowl 1999, Juniortennis.com
  7. ^ USTA Junior International Grass Court Championships 2000, itftennis.com
  8. ^ USTA Junior International Hard Court Championships 2000, itftennis.com
  9. ^ Nicolas Macchiavello Almeida Cup 2001, itftennis.com
  10. ^ US Junior International Hard Court Championships 2003, itftennis.com
  11. ^ Olga Poutchkova 2002 results, www.photo-tennisdatabase.com
  12. ^ Olga Poutchkova 2003 results, www.photo-tennisdatabase.com
  13. ^ $25,000 College Park, MD 2004, itftennis.com
  14. ^ Olga Puchkova 2004 results, www.photo-tennisdatabase.com
  15. ^ $25,000 College Park, MD 2004 Results, itftennis.com
  16. ^ $25,000 Pelham, AL 2004, itftennis.com
  17. ^ $75,000 Washington, DC 2005, itftennis.com
  18. ^ a b c OLGA POUTCHKOVA (RUS) 2006 in detail
  19. ^ $25,000 Hammond, LA 2006, itftennis.com
  20. ^ $25,000 Felixstowe 2006, itftennis.com
  21. ^ $50,000 Bronx, NY 2006, itftennis.com
  22. ^ U.S. Open 2006 qualification, itftennis.com
  23. ^ U.S. Open 2006 main, itftennis.com
  24. ^ Kolkata 2006, itftennis.com
  25. ^ Bali 2006, itftennis.com
  26. ^ Challengebell Open results, challengebell.com