Anna Chakvetadze - Russia 
| Birth Date:
| 3/5/1987 |
Age:
| 25 |
| Birth Place:
| Moscow, Russia |
Residence:
| Moscow, Russia |
| Height:
| 5' 7" |
Weight:
| 139 lbs. |
| Year Turned Pro:
| 2003 (9 years on tour) |
Plays:
| Right-handed (two-handed backhand) |
| Official Website:
| http://www.annachakvetadze.us/ |
Twitter:
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Ranked 56th to end the 2010 season, Russia’s Anna Chakvetadze has eight career WTA Tour singles titles to her credit.
Chakvetadze burst into the Top 15 at age 19 and the Top 10 at age 20, but fell out of the Top 50 in both 2009 and 2010.
Ranked 371st to start the 2004 season, then 16-year-old Chakvetadze reached the finals of back-to-back ITF tournaments, winning at Redbridge to rise to No. 230 in the world. A few months later, she entered the US Open qualifying bracket and won three straight matches, then took two more in the main draw, including a straight-sets defeat of No. 3 Anastasia Myskina. The run moved her into the Top 100 at No. 93, and she finished the year 84th.
Rapid advancement was in store for Chakvetadze again in 2005. She started the season ranked 84th, but had risen to 44th after reaching the third round of the French Open. She followed that with a quarterfinal appearance at Birmingham, another at San Diego and a trip to the New Haven semifinals en route to finishing the season 33rd.
The hits just kept on coming for Chakvetadze in 2006. At Warsaw, she defeated three Top 30 players, including No. 16 Daniela Hantuchova, to reach the semifinals and move into the Top 30 herself for the first time. She made the third round at Wimbledon for the first time, and followed that up with a trip to the San Diego quarterfinals – defeating No. 5 Nadia Petrova in the process – and the Montreal semifinals, waxing Petrova again.
She reached the fourth round of the US Open, then turned on the jets, winning at China and again at Moscow, the second a dazzling performance that saw her defeat No. 10 Dinara Safina, No. 12 Francesca Schiavone, No.3 Maria Sharapova (walk over), No. 5 Elena Dementieva and cap it all by whipping Petrova yet again, 6-4, 6-4, for the title.
The back-to-back victories sent her surging to No. 13 in the rankings, where she would remain at year’s end.
Chakvetadze’s ascension continued in 2007 as she posted a 59-20 record and finished the year ranked sixth in the world. She started her season red-hot, winning Hobart and reaching the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, losing to Sharapova. She went on to reach the semifinals at Antwerp and Miami to crack the Top 10 for the first time in her career. At the French Open, she reached the quarterfinals, bested again by Sharapova, then won her fourth career title by defeating top-seeded and third-ranked Jelena Jankovic in the final at Hertogenbosch. After being upset in the third round at Wimbledon, she found her form and won Cincinnati and Stanford, lost in the semifinals at San Diego (again to Sharapova) and battled her way to the US Open semifinals, losing there to Svetlana Kuznetsova to move up to No. 5 in the world. She capped her year by reaching the semifinals at Madrid, falling once more to nemesis Sharapova.
Chakvetadze’s career took a step back after her phenomenal 2007, but she still finished 18th in the world in 2008. She won the title at Paris, but did not reach another final until New Haven in August, losing to Caroline Wozniacki. She was upset in the first round at the US Open, dropping her out of the Top 10.
Despite being just 21 years old at the beginning of 2009, the wheels began coming off the wagon for Chakvetadze as she struggled to a 15-19 record and ended the season ranked 70th. She never won more than two matches in a row the entire year.
The 2010 season was a bit kinder to her as she rebounded to a 31-19 mark. She reached the quarterfinals in Thailand early in the season and won at Portoroz, then reached the semifinals at the Sony Ericsson Open.
Year-End Singles Rankings: 2003 – 374th; 2004 -84th; 2005 – 33rd; 2006 – 13th; 2007 – 6th; 2008 – 18th; 2009 – 70th; 2010 – 56th.
Personal
Began playing at age eight after her mother introduced her to the game. Attends Moscow University. Her nemesis is Maria Sharapova, who has beaten her six times in six matches, although Chakvetadze did advance via a walkover at Moscow in 2006, an event she ended up winning. On the flip side, Chakvetadze owns a 5-0 mark all-time against Nadia Petrova, with all five wins coming as the lower-ranked player, including four times when Petrova was ranked between third and seventh in the world.