120 Facts About Elena Vesnina

Elena Sergeyevna Vesnina was born on 1 August 1986 and is a Russian former professional tennis player who was world No 1 in doubles.

Elena Vesnina reached eight further finals in women's doubles, and four in mixed doubles.

Elena Vesnina became world No 1 for the first time in June 2018, alongside Makarova, with the pair jointly holding the top ranking for the next five weeks.

Elena Vesnina won 19 doubles titles on WTA Tour, including the 2016 WTA Finals and eight at WTA 1000-level.

Elena Vesnina achieved significant success in singles, reaching her career-high ranking of world No 13 in March 2017.

Elena Vesnina won three WTA singles titles, including the 2017 Indian Wells Open, and achieved her best Grand Slam result at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships, reaching the semifinals.

Elena Vesnina has represented Russia in the Billie Jean King Cup since 2006, winning the competition in 2007 and 2008, and competed at the Olympic Games on four occasions.

Makarova and Elena Vesnina won the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and Elena Vesnina won mixed-doubles silver with Aslan Karatsev at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Elena Vesnina has a younger brother, Dmitry, a former junior tennis player.

Elena Vesnina started playing tennis aged seven in the sports school in Sochi.

In October 2002, aged 16 years and two months, Elena Vesnina gained direct entry into the qualifying draw for her first $10k tournament at Giza, Egypt and qualified for the main draw before losing a three-set match.

In 2003, Elena Vesnina began the year entering two successive ITF Circuit events in India, at Chennai and Bangalore, and qualified both times, but reached her first semifinal and another quarterfinal in the main draws, losing to Akgul Amanmuradova at the quarterfinal stage at Bangalore.

Elena Vesnina stayed there to compete at Bucharest, where she made it through the finals losing to German Antonela Voina in two sets.

Elena Vesnina then competed in Zhukovsky, Russia as a qualifier and succeeded, then won through all the way to the semifinal of the main draw with a tight three-set quarterfinal victory over compatriot Ekaterina Bychkova en route, but was stopped in the semifinals by Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine.

Elena Vesnina then failed to qualify, trying to get to for first main-draw appearance at the WTA Tour in her next two events in Moscow and Tashkent.

Elena Vesnina began the year with a second-round exit at the ITF event in Bergamo.

Elena Vesnina then failed to qualify for the ITF Ortisei, exiting at the first round of the qualifying draw.

Elena Vesnina lost in first qualifying round of the 2004 Hyderabad Open to an unranked Barbara Schwartz.

Elena Vesnina then made early exits in Gorizia and Vittel.

Elena Vesnina ended the year by reaching the quarterfinal at Bergamo, losing to Estonian star Maret Ani.

Elena Vesnina started 2005 attempting to make headway in WTA Tour main draws and next entered the qualifying round of the Cellular South Cup but lost in straight sets to Varvara Lepchenko.

The very next week, Elena Vesnina won through qualifying into a WTA main draw for the fourth time at Palermo but lost Maret Ani in the first round.

Elena Vesnina then reached the semifinals in Denain, France, losing to Arantxa Parra Santonja, and in Bordeaux losing to Stephanie Foretz.

Elena Vesnina then failed to qualify at the Kremlin Cup losing to Alona Bondarenko.

Elena Vesnina next competed at the Bangalore Open and Indian Wells Open but lost in the first rounds of both contests, losing to Australian world No 127, Nicole Pratt, at Bangalore and to world No 86, Viktoriya Kutuzova, at Indian Wells.

The week after, playing at Family Circle Cup, Elena Vesnina again came out the loser this time against fellow-Russian Vera Zvonareva.

At the Internationaux de Strasbourg, Elena Vesnina encountered fierce resistance in the first round from upcoming Italian world No 249, Karin Knapp, but finally defeated her to book her place in the second round, where she beat world No 27, Marion Bartoli, for the second time in her career.

At the Carlsbad Open and LA Tennis Championships, Elena Vesnina reached the second round of both events, losing to Emma Laine and Meghann Shaughnessy, respectively.

Elena Vesnina finished the year still ranked 44th in the world, up 67 places year-on-year.

At the Nordic Light Open, Elena Vesnina defeated world No 109, Sofia Arvidsson, in straight sets in the first round, but then lost to fast-rising teenager Caroline Wozniacki, in the second.

Elena Vesnina then competed in the last tournament before the US Open at the Forest Hills Classic, after receiving a first-round bye, she began well with victories over world No 68, Severine Bremond, and Japanese world No 52, Aiko Nakamura, to reach her career-first WTA-level semifinal, but then lost to Virginie Razzano.

Elena Vesnina ended the year at No 54, ten spots lower than the previous year.

Elena Vesnina then prevailed in a semifinal against British No 1, Anne Keothavong, with a score of to set up a meeting with fellow-Russian and tournament top seed Elena Dementieva.

Elena Vesnina participated in the Australian Open but lost in the first round to Julie Coin.

At Dubai, where she was a qualifier, Elena Vesnina made it to the quarterfinals defeating Chinese player Li Na in the first round and achieving her first win over a top-10 player by defeating seventh-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova.

At her next tournament, the Indian Wells Open, Elena Vesnina defeated Sabine Lisicki in the first round and 32nd-seeded Sorana Cirstea in the second round.

Elena Vesnina started her 2009 clay-court season in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Elena Vesnina upset sixth-seeded Peng Shuai in the first round, and the third-seed Dominika Cibulkova in the quarterfinals.

Elena Vesnina lost to second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki in the semifinals.

Elena Vesnina then reached the quarterfinals of the Tier I Family Circle Cup before losing to Sabine Lisicki.

Elena Vesnina then reached the third round of the Madrid Open and lost to Jelena Jankovic.

Elena Vesnina lost to Agnes Szavay in the second round of the French Open, the first time she'd reached the second round there.

Elena Vesnina did reach her first Grand Slam final in doubles at the French Open, partnering Victoria Azarenka.

Elena Vesnina was seeded 31st at the US Open and it was the first time that she had been seeded at a Grand Slam event.

Elena Vesnina faced Lucie Hradecka in the first round where she came through.

Elena Vesnina next played at the Pan Pacific Open where she was unseeded in singles.

Elena Vesnina beat Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in the first round and Roberta Vinci in the second but she had to retire in her third-round match against the seventh seed Jelena Jankovic due to a left thigh strain while trailing.

Elena Vesnina then played at the China Open but she lost in the first round to Melinda Czink.

Elena Vesnina then played at the Kremlin Cup where she was seeded sixth.

Elena Vesnina suffered a first-round defeat by compatriot Evgeniya Rodina.

Elena Vesnina made the quarterfinals in doubles, partnering Riza Zalameda, but lost to Vladimira Uhlirova and Renata Voracova.

Elena Vesnina entered mixed doubles with Andy Ram as the No 8 seeds.

At the Dubai Championships, Elena Vesnina fell in three sets to world No 14, Vera Zvonareva, in the first round.

Elena Vesnina then lost seven consecutive matches, falling in the third round of Charleston Open and the first rounds of Italian Open, Madrid Open, Internationaux de Strasbourg, French Open, Rosmalen Open, and Wimbledon.

At Wimbledon, Elena Vesnina made it to her second Grand Slam final in doubles while partnering Vera Zvonareva.

Elena Vesnina was able to break her seven-match losing-streak at the Istanbul Cup defeating Bojana Jovanovski, Stefanie Vogele and Anastasia Rodionova.

Elena Vesnina then played in the Cincinnati Open, where in the second round she defeated French Open champion Francesca Schiavone.

Elena Vesnina lost to Ana Ivanovic in the third round.

Elena Vesnina then needed to qualify in the Connecticut Open, which she did but lost to Maria Kirilenko in the first round.

Elena Vesnina fell to fifth seed Sam Stosur in the first round of the US Open.

Elena Vesnina next participated in the Tashkent Open where she beat Lesia Tsurenko and Olga Savchuk to reach the quarterfinals and beat Darya Kustova.

Elena Vesnina scored the biggest win of her career two weeks later at the China Open by defeating 12th seed Maria Sharapova.

Elena Vesnina was seeded seventh at the Auckland Open where she beat Marina Erakovic in her first match of the year.

Elena Vesnina then fell in the first rounds of Open GdF Suez, Dubai Championships, and Indian Wells Open and the qualifying round in Qatar Open.

At the Family Circle Cup, Elena Vesnina defeated Rebecca Marino in the first round and then knocked out four consecutive seeds No 14 seed Bethanie Mattek-Sands, second seed and defending champion Sam Stosur, 12th seed Julia Gorges and 11th seed Peng Shuai.

Elena Vesnina became runner-up at the Family Circle Cup by losing to Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets.

Together with Leander Paes, Elena Vesnina reached the Australian Open and the Wimbledon mixed-doubles final.

At the Family Circle Cup, Elena Vesnina won her first-round match.

Elena Vesnina reached the doubles finals of the Dubai Open and Indian Wells with Sania Mirza.

Elena Vesnina paired with Ekaterina Makarova in Madrid and Rome, and reached the finals in both tournaments.

At the start of 2013, Elena Vesnina claimed her first WTA Tour title by beating defending champion Mona Barthel in the final of the Hobart International.

Elena Vesnina was eventually defeated by the defending champion Victoria Azarenka.

Elena Vesnina won her second WTA title at the Eastbourne International.

Elena Vesnina finished third in the group, behind Samantha Stosur and Ana Ivanovic, failing to progress to the semifinals.

Elena Vesnina failed to defend her title at the Hobart International, losing to qualifier Estrella Cabeza Candela in the second round.

Also, at the Australian Open, Elena Vesnina failed to defend fourth-round points, losing to Alison Riske in the first round.

Elena Vesnina reached her first semifinal of the year at the Portugal Open, beating Roberta Vinci in the process.

Elena Vesnina was No 7 in doubles in the year-end rankings.

Elena Vesnina started the year by playing at the Brisbane International as the seventh seed for qualifying, and she qualified for the main draw by beating Australian wildcard Tammi Patterson, Mathilde Johansson and Ysaline Bonaventure.

Elena Vesnina failed to reach the main draw of the Australian Open, losing in the first round of qualifying.

At the inaugural St Petersburg Ladies' Trophy, Elena Vesnina received a wildcard for the singles draw and lost in the second round to qualifier Kateryna Kozlova.

Elena Vesnina then participated in the Qatar Open, where she qualified for the main draw after beating Ons Jabeur and Naomi Broady.

Elena Vesnina faced Caroline Garcia in the first round, and caused an upset by winning.

Elena Vesnina then achieved her first top-2 win of her career against Simona Halep in three sets.

Elena Vesnina then caused her third straight upset against former world No 1, Caroline Wozniacki, in three sets.

At the Indian Wells Open, Elena Vesnina fell in the first round of the qualifying to American wildcard Julia Boserup.

Elena Vesnina was drawn to face fellow qualifier Jana Cepelova in the first round and won in straight sets.

At the Charleston Open, the 85th-ranked Elena Vesnina became the first qualifier to ever reach the championship match in the tournament's 44-year history, where she faced a determined Sloane Stephens.

At Wimbledon, Elena Vesnina competed in her first Grand Slam semifinal with victories over Tamira Paszek, Andrea Petkovic, and Julia Boserup in the first three rounds before outlasting doubles partner Makarova in three sets to advance to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Elena Vesnina then defeated Dominika Cibulkova to continue her resurgence into the semifinals, where she was handily defeated by world No 1 and eventual champion, Serena Williams, in 48 minutes, the quickest Wimbledon semifinal in the history of the championships.

In singles, Elena Vesnina lost to tenth seed Madison Keys in the Rogers Cup and to Elina Svitolina in Connecticut.

Elena Vesnina then headed to the Australian Open, where she was seeded 14th in singles and third in the doubles, again, alongside Makarova.

Elena Vesnina would reach the third round in the singles and the quarterfinals in the doubles.

The next appearance for Elena Vesnina would be at Indian Wells.

Elena Vesnina beat the US Open champion, before defeating Australian Open runner-up Venus Williams and Kristina Mladenovic to reach her first Premier Mandatory final.

Elena Vesnina then traveled to Florida for the Miami Open and lost in the second round to Ajla Tomljanovic.

Elena Vesnina started clay-court season with a stunning loss at the Charleston Open to the 282nd ranked player in the world, Fanny Stollar.

Elena Vesnina received a bye in the first round and lost in straight sets.

Elena Vesnina lost in the second round to Daria Kasatkina at the Grand Prix.

Elena Vesnina lost to Carla Suarez Navarro in the third round.

Elena Vesnina won a first-round match against the Russian Anna Blinkova.

Elena Vesnina was then defeated by Victoria Azarenka in the second round.

Elena Vesnina traveled to Toronto for the Rogers Cup where she was defeated by Ashleigh Barty in the second round.

Elena Vesnina beat Caroline Garcia in the first round of the Cincinnati Open before falling to Caroline Wozniacki in the second round.

Elena Vesnina Opened her US Open with a win in the first round over Anna Blinkova.

Elena Vesnina followed this with a second round win over Kirsten Flipkens.

Elena Vesnina took it to Madison Keys in the third round, winning the first set, but lost the next two sets.

Elena Vesnina returned at the Wuhan Open where she lost in the third round to qualifier Maria Sakkari.

Elena Vesnina made another third-round appearance at the China Open where she lost to Elina Svitolina.

Elena Vesnina had early-round exits at both the Hong Kong Open and Kremlin Cup.

Elena Vesnina lost both of her matches in the round-robins stage, ending her season.

Elena Vesnina ended the year 18th in singles and third in doubles.

Elena Vesnina's doubles ranking at the end of the year was a career high.

Elena Vesnina began the season with a win in the first round at the Sydney International over Lara Arruabarrena.

Elena Vesnina fell in the second round to Dominika Cibulkova.

Elena Vesnina went into the Australian Open as the 16th seed and beat Ons Jabeur in the first round but lost to Naomi Osaka in the second.

Elena Vesnina won the first match of her return at the Qatar Open, partnering Laura Siegemund.

At Wimbledon, Elena Vesnina won her first round singles match against Martina Trevisan, before losing to the 20th seed Coco Gauff.

Elena Vesnina made her comeback in April at the 2024 Madrid Open, going on to play several tournaments with limited success and making her final appearance at the Paris Olympics, where she and Ekaterina Alexandrova lost in the first round to Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova.

Elena Vesnina announced her retirement from professional tennis on 21 November 2024.