Anna Kalinskaya

Anna Kalinskaya
Anna Nikolayevna Kalinskaya (born 2 December 1998) is a Russian professional tennis player. Ranked by the WTA, she reached a career-high of No. 51 as a singles player in September 2022, and No. 49 as a doubles player in February 2023. On the WTA Tour, she has won three doubles titles. On the ITF Women's Circuit, she has won seven singles and nine doubles titles.
She began her career at age 17 by winning the Grand Slam girls' doubles title at the 2016 Australian Open alongside Tereza Mihalíková. Previously she made the finals in the 2015 French Open in the girls' singles event. She also made the finals in the 2015 US Open in the doubles event with compatriot Anastasia Potapova.
In 2019, she defeated former US Open champion Sloane Stephens, an American player, in the first round, achieving her first Grand Slam victory. In 2022, she and American Caty McNally won the doubles tennis title at the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy.
Junior career
Kalinskaya's highest combined junior ranking was No. 3. She won a total of sixteen titles, eight in singles events and eight in doubles. Her most significant title was in doubles at the 2016 Australian Open. In addition, she reached the finals of both the 2015 French Open in singles and the 2015 US Open in doubles.
Singles
In 2012, she won the Grade-5 Green Cup at her first singles event on the ITF Junior Circuit. In 2013, Kalinskaya reached the quarterfinals of the Grade-2 tournament in Šiauliai, Lithuania, and the semifinals of the Grade-2 tournament in Kazan, Russia. She won her second singles title at the Grade-3 tournament in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and her third singles title at the Grade-4 event in Riga, Latvia. She advanced to the finals of the Grade-4 Tallinn tournament in Estonia, but finished as the runner-up. By the end of the year, she had won the title at the Grade- 3 Larnaca tournament in Cyprus, and she finished as runner-up at the Grade-3 tournament in Nonthaburi, Thailand.
In the 2014 season she won the Grade-2 Bratislava tournament, defeating Slovakian Viktória Kužmová, who later became her doubles partner in senior events. With Kužmová, she won her first doubles title in 2019. In March, she won the Grade-2 Šiauliai tournament, followed by reaching the final of the Grade-2 Kazan event. At the 2014 French Open, she made her Grand Slam debut, but was eliminated in the first round. She reached the semifinals of the Grade-2 Moscow tournament and the final of the Grade-1 Berlin tournament. She had better results in late August, by winning her first Grade-1 title in College Park, Maryland. Despite the early loss at her major debut, Kalinskaya redeemed herself with the quarterfinal of the US Open. In late October, she reached the quarterfinals of the Osaka Mayor's Cup.
In March 2015, she began her season with two Grade-1 quarterfinals appearances in Kazan and Beaulieu-sur-Mer, on the French Riviera. She debuted at the Grade-A Trofeo Bonfiglio in Milan, Italy, but lost in the second round to Canadian Katherine Sebov. Kalinskaya hit her peak at her French Open debut as she advanced to the final. She lost to Paula Badosa in straight sets. In late August 2015 she won the title at the Grade-1 in College Park, Maryland, where she also was defending champion. During that year she was eliminated in the first rounds of the Wimbledon and the US Open. Kalinskaya played only two tournaments in 2016. Her first was the Grade-1 Traralgon tournament in Australia, where she lost to Vera Lapko in the final. She finished her singles junior career with a quarterfinal at the 2016 Australian Open, losing again to Lapko.
Doubles
Kalinskaya was successful in doubles events. Her first final was in March 2013 at the Grade-2 Šiauliai tournament. The following week she advanced to another final, but still without a title. In September 2013 she won her first title at the Grade-3 Larnaca tournament, alongside Russian player Gyulnara Nazarova.
Her 2014 season started by taking the title at the Grade-2 Bratislava tournament. The following week she went even further, winning her first Grade-1 Přerov tournament in the Czech Republic. A month later, she took her third title of the year at the Grade-2 Šiauliai tournament. She won all three titles alongside fellow Russian Evgeniya Levashova. In late May, she reached the final of the Grade-1 Charleroi tournament in Belgium. At the 2014 French Open, she made her doubles Grand Slam main-draw debut, but lost in the first round. In late June she won the Grade-2 Moscow tournament. She also won another title in August at the Grade-1 College Park tournament. At the US Open, she lost in the second round. Later, she made her doubles debut at the Osaka Mayor's Cup, advancing to the semifinals.
During the first half of 2015, Kalinskaya struggled. However, things improved in August when she defended her next title at the Grade-1 College Park tournament. Her next stop was the US Open, where she reached her first Grand Slam doubles final. Alongside Anastasia Potapova, she lost to Kužmová and Aleksandra Pospelova. She finished her doubles junior career by taking the title at the 2016 Australian Open, winning with Slovak player Tereza Mihalíková.
Professional career
2014–15: Professional debut
Singles
Kalinskaya attempted her WTA Tour debut at the Premier-level 2014 Kremlin Cup at age 15. After receiving a qualifying wildcard, she lost to her compatriot and wildcard player Polina Monova. In January of 2015 she began playing on the ITF Women's Circuit. After her first two $25k tournaments in the United States, she progressed to tournaments in Turkey. She first played at the $10k Antalya tournament, where she recorded her first win as a senior, defeating Turkish player Cempre Anil. She continued in the same city the following week, reaching her first final, but losing to Chinese player Lu Jiajing. That year she made her debut in the WTA rankings as world No. 1201.
After two $25k tournaments in Moscow, Kalinskaya attempted another WTA Tour debut at the Kremlin Cup, where she received a qualifying wildcard. She lost in the final stage to eventual semifinalist Daria Kasatkina of Russia. By the end of the year, she played two $10k tournaments in Port El Kantaoui, Tunisia. She reached the semifinals in the first and made it to the finals of the second, where she was forced to give a walkover to Bosnian player Ema Burgić Bucko. The result pushed her into the top 600.
Doubles
Her professional doubles career started well, winning the $25k Sunrise, Florida tournament. This result put her on the WTA rankings in doubles, making the top 700. She played four more ITF tournaments without much success.
2016: Success on the ITF Women's Circuit
Singles
In early February 2016, Kalinskaya had another chance to debut at the WTA Tour. As a wildcard player, she played in the qualifying of the Premier-level St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy, but lost to Kateřina Siniaková. After that, she progressed in several ITF tournaments. In late March, she reached the final of the $10k tournament in Manama, Bahrain, where she lost to Mihalíková. A month later, she triumphed in Kazakhstan at the $10k Shymkent event, winning every match in straight sets. In June, she succeeded in Belarus where she first won the $25k Minsk tournament. She followed that up with a final in the same city, but she was forced to retire during the second set.
Her third ITF title of the year came in July at a $25k event in Aschaffenburg in Bavaria, Germany where she bested Dalila Jakupović in a three-set match. In August, Kalinskaya won her fourth title of the year at the $25k Kharkiv tournament. All these results helped her enter the top 200 in September. At the Kremlin Cup, she made her WTA Tour debut after receiving a wildcard for the third year in a row, but this time in the main draw. She lost in the first round to French player Kristina Mladenovic. She finished the year with the $25k Minsk final, but let her opponent win without playing. As a result, she started a new phase in her career, gradually transitioning to the main tour. Since her top 200 debut in September 2016, she spent the rest of the year there.
Doubles
Kalinskaya started her doubles season in Bahrain by winning the title at the $10k Manama tournament in April. A month later, she won the $100k Trnava tournament in Slovakia, her first significant ITF title in both events. During the summer, she won two $25k events in Minsk, Belarus and Darmstadt, Germany, respectively. At the Kremlin Cup, she made her WTA Tour doubles debut and recorded her first win. In November, she won another $25k title in Minsk. As a result, she made her debut in the top 150.
2017: Transition to WTA Tour, Fed Cup debut
Singles
Kalinskaya started the year as a top 200 player, making her debut in a major, and qualifying at the Australian Open. Her first opponent was Swiss top seed Stefanie Vögele, to whom she lost in a three-set match. She was handed a wildcard to the main draw of the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy, and was beaten by Australian Daria Gavrilova in the first round. In early March, at the Malaysian Open, she recorded her first tour-level main-draw win, defeating French top-30 player Caroline Garcia in straight sets. Still finding her way to the top 100, she had to play ITF events as well. She traveled to China to play at two $60k tournaments. Her first destination was Zhuhai, China, where she was eliminated in the first round by former top-10 Swiss player Patty Schnyder. The following week she headed to Shenzhen, where she reached semifinals, but lost to compatriot Ekaterina Alexandrova.
From April until September of 2017, Kalinskaya played in Europe. She did not succeed at ITF tournaments in France and Germany, but things got a bit better on the WTA Tour. She reached two second rounds, one at the Istanbul Cup in late April, and the Gstaad Open in July. In addition, she lost in the first qualifying round of both the French Open and Wimbledon.
After being knocked out in the first round of the US Open qualifying, she traveled to Batumi, Georgia, where she finished as runner-up in the $25k Batumi Ladies Open. However, she struggled again after reaching second round of the $100k Neva Cup in St. Petersburg, losing in the qualifying round of the Tashkent Open and the first round of the $25k Óbidos event in Portugal. Despite early loss in Óbidos, Kalinskaya remained and won again the following week, defeating Polish player Magdalena Fręch in the final. The third was promising as well, but she lost to British player Katie Swan. Without any oscillations in her WTA ranking, Kalinskaya spent the year inside the top 200. On June 12, she reached her then-career high of No. 127.
Doubles
Her doubles performances during the year were primarily on the ITF Circuit. In the first two months she reached two semifinals, first at the $60k Open Andrézieux-Bouthéon in France in January, and then at the $25k AK Ladies Open in Germany in February. In the meantime, she played in the quarterfinals of the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy, and made her debut at the Fed Cup in doubles. In July, she advanced to her first WTA Tour semifinal, after winning two matches alongside Russian player Evgeniya Rodina. Two weeks later, she won the $25k+H Bad Saulgau tournament in Germany with Turkish player İpek Soylu. On 16 October 2017, she achieved a new career high, ranking No. 114 in the world.
2018: Grand Slam debut
Singles
Given her ranking, Kalinskaya often switched between the ITF and the WTA Tours during the year. She began in Australia, where her first tournament was the $25k Playford International, but she lost in the first round to French player Jessika Ponchet. Then she shifted to Melbourne to play at the Australian Open qualifying. She reached the main draw for the first time in her career. Her first opponent in the main draw was Italian player Camila Giorgi, but Kalinskaya lost in two sets. During February, she failed to qualify in two WTA tournaments, the (St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy, and the Hungarian Ladies Open). However, she made her singles debut in the Fed Cup. In Bratislava, she lost in three sets to Slovak player Magdaléna Rybáriková. For Kalinskaya, March brought good performances on the ITF Circuit. In China she first played at the $60k Zhuhai tournament, and reached the semifinals. She followed this with a final appearance at the $60k Shenzhen Open. Her last tournament in March was in France at the $60k Croissy-Beaubourg event, where she reached the semifinals.
During the next five months, still in France, she reached the semifinals of the $100k Contrexéville Open in the middle of July. Then she failed to qualify in both the French Open, and the Wimbledon.
She made the main draw of the US Open for the first time in her career. In the first round, she was defeated by the world's No. 9, German player Julia Görges, in three sets. She continued to struggle with losses to Serbian Olga Danilović in the first round of the Tashkent Open, and to Russian Natalia Vikhlyantseva at the Linz Open qualifying round. Next, she made another appearance at the Kremlin Cup as a wildcard, but was ousted by Mladenovic in a repeat of their 2016 encounter. Despite not reaching any new career-highest singles rankings, she spent all year in the top 200.
Doubles
She also switched between ITF Circuit and the WTA Tour in doubles. After a few early losses during the first two months, she won the title at the $60k Shenzhen Open alongside Slovak player Viktória Kužmová. Two weeks later she won another $60k title, this time in Croissy-Beaubourg, again with Kužmová. A month later she reached the semifinals of the Istanbul Cup, where she played with compatriot Natela Dzalamidze. At the French Open, she notched her Grand Slam debut in doubles, but lost in the first round with fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova. Wimbledon was a disappointment after losing in the second qualifying round. She finished the year by making the semifinals of the Kremlin Cup. On 28 May 2018, she reached a new career-high of 106.
2019: First WTA Tour semifinal, first top-10 win, top 100 debut
Singles
Kalinskaya started the year with a triumph at the $25k Playford International, defeating Kazakhstani Elena Rybakina in the final. Her victories continued with three more, first qualifying for the Australian Open. As a result, she advanced to the main draw, but was defeated by the world's No. 11, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, in the first round. She struggled to reach the WTA Tour main draw at many tournaments, including the Premier-level St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy, Qatar Open and Stuttgart Open. In the middle of May, she won the $60k Open Saint-Gaudens, defeating Romanian Ana Bogdan in the final. While still in France, Kalinskaya tried enter the main draw of the French Open, the only major where she still had not succeeded. However, for the third year in a row she failed to qualify.
As a warm-up for the grass-court season, Kalinskya played in England at the $100k Surbiton Trophy. After defeating Serbian Ivana Jorović in the first round, she lost to Rybáriková in a three-set match. Right after that she traveled to the Netherlands to play at the Rosmalen Championships. Despite losing in the first round, this was nevertheless her first WTA Tour main-draw performance of the year. Preparing for the Wimbledon, she played at the Birmingham Classic, but was stopped in the final qualifying stage. She hired the Argentinian Patricia Tarabini to be her coach. Still looking for her first Grand Slam win, she held out some hope for Wimbledon, given that she had qualified after three straight-sets wins. She failed to achieve it, however, after losing to Polish player Magda Linette in the first round.
During August, Kalinskaya showed an impressive North American hardcourt swing, reaching the semifinals of a WTA Tour event for the first time in her career at the Washington Open. She survived the qualifying rounds, before making a huge comeback against reigning Puerto Rican Olympic champion Monica Puig, and stunning Mladenovic for her first win over the Frenchwoman in three attempts. Her run was stopped by eventual champion Jessica Pegula in the semifinals. At the US Open, Kalinskaya qualified again. In the first round, she stunned the world's No. 10, Sloane Stephens, in her Arthur Ashe Stadium debut, winning in straight sets. However, she was unable to repeat her win, as she was defeated by American wildcard Kristie Ahn in her next match.
Another WTA quarterfinal soon followed in late September at the Tashkent Open, where she beat German player Tatjana Maria en route. Despite losing in the quarterfinals against Ukrainian Katarina Zavatska, she immediately secured her top 100 debut. Two weeks later she played at the Kremlin Cup, with which she closed her season. In the first round she defeated Anastasia Potapova, but lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Doubles
Kalinskaya started off well in her doubles events from start. On her first event, the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy, she made it to the final alongside Kužmová. In late April, they played at the Prague Open and triumphed. They took the title after defeating two top-15 players, Květa Peschke and Nicole Melichar. It was the first WTA Tour title for Kalinskaya. Two weeks later, she competed at the $60k Saint-Gaudens, and finished runner-up alongside Russian Sofya Lansere. Her American journey started well as she reached semifinals of the Washington Open alongside Miyu Kato. Her next stop was the US Open, where she reached the third round. Partnering Yulia Putintseva, she lost to top seeds Tímea Babos and Mladenovic. It was the first time that Kalinskaya reached a major third round in either of two events. Just as in singles, this was the first season that Kalinskaya made it inside the top 100 in doubles, reaching No. 72 in late September.
2020: Pandemic-affected season
Because of the lack of tournaments due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kalinskaya did not play as often. Her season began with the Australian Open, where she qualified for the main draw after saving match points to beat China's Wang Xinyu in the final qualifying round. In the first round of the main draw, she faced unseeded Chinese player Zheng Saisai, but she did not prevail. Before the pandemic forced the cancellation of the tennis season in March, Kalinskaya lost in the first round of the Mexican Open, followed by another first-round loss, this time at the WTA Challenger Indian Wells.
When she resumed the tour in August, she qualified for the main draw of the Lexington Challenger after defeating two American players. Then in the main draw she lost to Swiss player Jil Teichmann. She qualified anew at the following Premier 5 Cincinnati Open. This was her first time in the main draw of a Premier 5/Mandatory tournament, but she fell in the first round to Czech player Marie Bouzková, in straight sets. At the US Open, Kalinskaya beat Serbian Nina Stojanović to reach the second round for the second consecutive year, but lost to Czech 20th seed Karolína Muchová. She tried to qualify for another Premier 5 tournament, the Italian Open, but lost in the final qualifying stage. In late September she finished the season with a main-draw, first-round loss at the postponed French Open. Despite the losses, she completed at least one main-draw performance at all four majors. Kalinskaya sank to No. 117 in August, her lowest of the season.
2021: Struggles followed by resurgence
Singles
She struggled in her first three tournaments. Her season began with the Premier Gippsland Trophy as part of the Australian Open warm-up, but she was eliminated in the first round by the UK's Katie Boulter. Due to her low ranking, she was forced to play to qualify in the Australian Open. She started well, winning her first match, but was unable to qualify for the main draw when she lost to France's Clara Burel in three sets. The Abierto Zapopan in Guadalajara was her third tournament, and she lost to Canadian Leylah Fernandez.
Following these weak performances, she began a resurgence at the Monterrey Open, reaching the quarterfinals as a qualifier after beating second seed Nadia Podoroska of Argentina in the first round. Her run continued the following week as a wildcard at the Miami Open, where she reached the third round of a WTA 1000 tournament for the first time in her career, and lost to 12th seed Garbiñe Muguruza of Spain and Venezuela, despite leading 3-0 in the deciding set. Her struggles continued with a first-round loss at the Copa Colsanitas, while also failing to reach the main draw of the Madrid Open. However, in late May she defeated former top-10 Kristina Mladenovic of France in the first round of the Serbia Open. After being eliminated in the first round of qualifying at the French Open, she managed to qualify at the Wimbledon. Kalinskaya qualified for the main draw for the second time in succession, after beating Australian Priscilla Hon from 0-3 down in the decider. In the main draw she lost to Colombian qualifier Camila Osorio. At the US Open, she lost in the second qualifying round to Greek player Valentini Grammatikopoulou. Thus she ended her three-in-a-row streak in the main draw.
After falling to No. 151 in the singles rankings in October, Kalinskaya returned with a fourth-round appearance at the Indian Wells Open as a qualifier, scoring her third top-50 win of the year over Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain in the process. In the fourth round, she lost to Ons Jabeur of Tunisia. The following week she qualified for the main draw at the Kremlin Cup, but was forced to retire in the second round against Greek player Maria Sakkari due to an injury. She ended her season with a quarterfinal appearance at the Courmayeur Ladies Open, beating sixth seed Alison Riske.
Doubles
The Yarra Valley Classic was her first doubles event of the year, and she made it into the final alongside Kužmová, before losing to the Japanese combination of Ena Shibahara and Shuko Aoyama. Things also improved at the Australian Open, when she reached her first third round there, and her second at any major. At the French Open she was eliminated in the first round, but went one step further at Wimbledon. Despite losing in the first round of the US Open, this was the first season she played all four majors. In the second half of September she won her second WTA Tour doubles title at the Slovenia Open, alongside Mihalíková. On 22 February 2021 she reached a career-high doubles ranking of 69.
2022: New career-high rankings, second top 10 win
Singles
Kalinskaya started her season by qualifying for the Melbourne Summer Set. In the main draw, she was forced to retire during the second set against her compatriot Daria Kasatkina. As a leading seed at the Australian Open qualifying, she lost in straight sets to Spain's Andrea Lázaro García. She continued to struggle at the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy, where she lost in the final qualifying stage.
At the next three tournaments, Kalinskaya made progress. Ranked at No. 100, she defeated three better-ranked players at the Abierto Zapopan in Guadalajara, Mexico, and reached the semifinals. In the semifinal match against Stephens, she won the first set against the eventual champion, but retired after the second set when her opponent made a turnover. The second good result came at the Indian Wells Open, where she won two qualifying matches and achieved main-draw wins against two French players, Harmony Tan and Alizé Cornet. Despite winning the first set against Romanian Sorana Cîrstea in the third round, she lost another two sets, winning only one game. The same situation happened again at the Miami Open, where she reached the third round after qualifying, but this time she did a walkover before the third-round match against Italian Lucia Bronzetti. Previously, in the second round, she defeated the world's No. 6, Czech player Karolína Plíšková, to notch her second top-10 win.
Her first Grand Slam main-draw appearance of the year was at the French Open. Being in the top 100, she secured an automatic place in the main draw, but lost to American Madison Keys. Her grass-court season started with two second rounds, the (Rosmalen Championships, and the German Open). Swiss player Belinda Bencic eliminated her at both. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she was suspended for playing at Wimbledon because of the Russian players ban. On 18 July 2022, she reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 70, after losing in the second round of the Ladies Open Lusanne. She lost to Danilović despite having a match point.
Following a second round showing at the US Open, she reached a new career-high ranking of No. 51 on 12 September 2022. At the WTA 1000 Guadalajara Open, she defeated Czech ninth seed Barbora Krejčíková, marking her third top-20 win of the season, She defeated Belgian Elise Mertens, and seventh seed Russian player Daria Kasatkina, her fourth top-20 win, to reach the quarterfinals for the first time at this level.
Doubles
The season started well for Kalinskaya when she won the title at the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy, together with Caty McNally. On 11 July 2022, she reached a new career-high doubles ranking of No. 65. Again with McNally in August, she lost the final of the Washington Open.
National representation
Billie Jean King Cup
She received her first Fed Cup nomination for the Russia Fed Cup team in the 2017 Fed Cup World Group II, but was only selected for the dead doubles rubber, which she won with Anna Blinkova.
She made her Fed Cup live rubber debut at the 2018 Fed Cup World Group II, losing to Magdaléna Rybáriková.
Kalinskaya again represented Russia at the 2020 Billie Jean King Cup, helping her country get to the finals by winning the decisive doubles rubber with partner Anna Blinkova.
Performance timelines
Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup, Hopman Cup, United Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.
Singles
Current through the 2023 Guangzhou Open.
Doubles
Current through the 2023 Italian Open.
WTA Tour finals
Doubles: 7 (3 titles, 4 runner-ups)
WTA Challenger finals
Singles: 1 (runner-up)
ITF Circuit finals
Singles: 15 (7 titles, 8 runner–ups)
Doubles: 10 (9 titles, 1 runner–up)
Junior Grand Slam finals
Girls' singles: 1 (runner–up)
Girls' doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner–up)
Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup participation
Singles: 1 (0–1)
Doubles: 3 (2–1)
WTA Tour career earnings
current as of 24 April 2023
Head-to-head records
Record against top 10 players
Kalinskaya's record against players who have been ranked in the top 10. Active players are in boldface.
Top-10 wins
Notes
References
External links
1998 births
Living people
Russian female tennis players
Tennis players from Moscow
Australian Open (tennis) junior champions
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' doubles