Who is Akgul Amanmuradova?
The burning question on plenty of WTA fans' minds, and definitely on Jelena Jankovic's, this afternoon is: Who the heck is Akgul Amanmuradova?
Well, if you had read my boy Albert's blog back on July 28, you'd already know she's one of the two tallest female players in the world.
At 6 feet, 3 inches and 188 pounds, Amanmuradova is an intimidating physical specimen who didn't start playing until she was 10 years old in her home city of Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The 26-year-old right-hander uses a Babolat Pure Drive racquet but has never made it past the third round of a Grand Slam singles event. She entered the Cincinnati tournament with an overall record of 11-19, but had lost six of her last eight matches.
She ended 2009 ranked 85th in the world in singles, but had slipped down to 114th as of Monday. She upset 59th-ranked Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan, still going strong a month short of her 39th birthday, 6-1, 6-2. She then faced off against fellow qualifier Bojana Novanovski of Serbia, routing her 6-2, 6-0.
Novanovski had reached the second round by upsetting 14th-seeded Aravane Rezai.
Previous to this week, Amanmuradova has had little success in singles, but a modicum of it in doubles, winning the 2009 AEGON international title with Ai Sugiyam. She's currently ranked 58th in doubles.
She now advances to the quarterfinals to take on Ana Ivanovic.
What's on your mind?
Post a comment below.
Posted by
Nick on
8/12/2010 3:24:15 PM
Filed under:
akgul,
amanmuradova,
aravane,
bojana,
cincinnati,
date,
jankovic,
jelena,
kimiko,
krumm,
novannovski,
rezai,
uzbekistan
Current rating: 0 (0 ratings)
Bookmark this page to:
Share Your Thoughts: To leave a comment Sign in or Register for a Tennis Now account.