Anastasia Sergeyevna Potapova[lower-alpha 1] (born 30 March 2001) is a Russian professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 21 by the WTA, achieved on 19 June 2023, and a doubles ranking of 40, reached on 5 December 2022. Potapova is a former junior world No. 1, as well as the 2016 Wimbledon girls' singles champion.
Potapova's other junior highlights include semifinal appearances at the Trofeo Bonfiglio and the Orange Bowl championships, both Grade-A events. Her biggest junior title, excluding Wimbledon, is the Nike Junior International in Roehampton, a Grade-1 event, where she defeated other highly rated junior players such as Claire Liu, Jaimee Fourlis, Sofia Kenin, Olga Danilović and Olesya Pervushina en route to winning the title.
2017: Early rise
Potopava at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships
Starting her first full year on the tour, Potapova started 2017 unranked as she had only played two professional events entering the year. She defeated rival Amanda Anisimova in the final at an $25k event held in Curitiba.[3] This triumph saw her defeat Teliana Pereira for her first top-200 win, and pushed her into the top-500 of the rankings for the first time in her career.[citation needed]
She then made her WTA Tour debut, after having received a wild card to compete in the qualifying rounds of the Premier Mandatory event in Miami, defeating Maria Sakkari for her first top-100 win before falling to Jana Čepelová in straight sets. A series of good runs on clay saw her reaching two ITF semifinals in succession, most particularly at the Empire Slovak Open where she was just an inch away from reaching the final, losing 5–7 in the final set against Verónica Cepede Royg, who went on to reach the second week at the French Open.[citation needed]
Potapova was handed another wild card, this time into the qualifying draw of Wimbledon. She pounced on her chances, steering through all her matches in straight sets to make her Grand Slam main-draw debut defeating Elizaveta Kulichkova in the last round. However, an untimely fall during her first-round match saw her being forced to retire against Tatjana Maria, ending her impressive run.[4]
It was a bleak stretch of results which followed for Potapova, who reached just one ITF Circuit quarterfinal through the remainder of the year. She ended the year ranked 242, with a 20–14 win–loss record and eight top-200 wins.[citation needed]
2018: First singles final & doubles title on WTA Tour
Potapova started 2018 with a final appearance at the Sharm El Sheikh $15k event, but was upset by world No. 769, Yuliya Hatouka. She then played in her second WTA Tour main-draw match at the St. Petersburg Trophy where she finally earned her first main-draw win against Tatjana Maria, in straight sets.[5] This set up a blockbuster second-round match between newly crowned Australian Open champion and world No. 1, Wozniacki, and Potapova, a clash between experience and youth. However, Potapova was only able to claim one game against Wozniacki, falling 0–6, 1–6 to end her run.[6]
Potapova made her Fed Cup debut for Russia, but lost to the higher-ranked Viktória Kužmová and was unable to lead her country to the victory on that weekend. Another ITF final awaited Potapova, this time coming at the O1 Properties Ladies Cup held in Russia. She ousted the 64th-ranked Monica Niculescu but was unable to close out her run as she was defeated by second seed Vera Lapko.
Reaching her first professional clay-court final in Rome, she lost to Dayana Yastremska there having just won one game in the process.[7]
Potapova was given the chance to participate in yet another WTA event, and entered the Moscow River Cup with the help of a wild card. She defeated two top-100 players and came out of nowhere to make her maiden WTA final,[8] but faltered at the last hurdle as she fell to fellow 17-year-old Olga Danilović in a historic clash between the new generation.[9] She led by a break in the deciding set, but failed to close out the win but still managed to make her top-150 debut with this amazing run. At the same tournament, she won her maiden WTA Tour title in doubles with Vera Zvonareva.
Potapova lost in the final round of qualifying at the US Open to Julia Glushko but rebounded to qualify for her third WTA Tour main-draw appearance at the Tashkent Open. She defeated Stefanie Vögele and exacted revenge for her Moscow loss against Olga Danilović in the second round.[10] She then trounced Kateryna Kozlova in the semifinals [11] to set up an all-Russian final with Margarita Gasparyan, where she was defeated with a one-sided scoreline.[12]
Her season ended with a tough, but encouraging loss to eventual semifinalist and eighth seed Anett Kontaveit in the opening round of the Kremlin Cup despite leading by a break in the final set.[13] Nonetheless, she ended the year inside the top 100 for the first time in her career with a dominating 6–2 win–loss record against top-100 players.[14]
2019: First major event match win
Potapova received entry to the main draw of the Australian Open and played her first match against Pauline Parmentier, defeating her in straight sets.[15] This was Potapova's first match win in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament. In the second round, she was defeated by 17th seed Madison Keys.[16]
Potapova won her second career WTA Tour doubles title at the Ladies Open Lausanne with Yana Sizikova and proceeded to reach the semifinals of the Baltic Open where she lost to Sevastova in straight sets.[22]
Potapova didn't play any more tournaments for the rest of the year due to undergoing ankle surgery for her injury sustained at the Korea Open a year earlier.[31] She ended her season ranked 100.
2021: Major third round, first WTA 1000 quarterfinal
Potapova's first clay-court tournament of the season was at the Charleston Open where she lost in the first round to Anastasija Sevastova. At the İstanbul Cup, she upset sixth seed and compatriot, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in a three-set first-round battle.[42] She was defeated in the second round by eventual champion Sorana Cîrstea.[43] In Madrid, she lost in the final round of qualifying to Kristina Mladenovic. At the Italian Open, she was defeated in the final round of qualifying by Bernarda Pera. At the French Open, she lost her first-round match to Leylah Fernandez.[44]
The Russian saved match points against Nina Stojanović in the first round of the Birmingham Classic[45] and reached her second WTA quarterfinal of the year with a comfortable win over Mladenovic.[46] However, she lost to eventual champion Ons Jabeur in straight sets.[47] Potapova was then defeated in the first round of Wimbledon by Donna Vekić.[48]
Potapova qualified for the main draw at the Canadian Open with another win over Mladenovic and stunned Shelby Rogers in the first round.[49] However, she was forced to retire in the second round due to injury.[50] She crashed out of the US Open in the first round against 23rd seed Jessica Pegula in straight sets.
At the Ostrava Open, Potapova qualified for the main draw and beat former top-5 player Caroline Garcia, in the first round.[51] She then lost to second seed Petra Kvitová, in three sets.[52] She made her third quarterfinal of the year at the Astana Open, and defeated Mladenovic for the third time this year.[53]
Her season ended with first-round losses at the Kremlin Cup against Simona Halep[54] and the Transylvania Open against Tomljanović once again.[55]
2022: WTA Tour titles & top 50 debut in singles and doubles
She suffered first-round exits at the St. Petersburg Trophy, Monterrey Open and the Indian Wells Open, and failure to defend her points from Dubai in 2021 meant that she fell out of the top 100. Nonetheless, she made the doubles semifinals in St. Petersburg with Vera Zvonareva.[58]
Ranked No. 122 at the İstanbul Cup, she won her first WTA Tour title as a qualifier defeating third seed and world No. 29, Veronika Kudermetova.[59] As a result, she returned to the top 80 in the rankings, at world No. 78 on 25 April 2022.
In June, she was kept from playing at Wimbledon due to the Russian players ban resulting from the Russian invasion in Ukraine.
In July, Potapova made it to the semifinals of the Lausanne Open where she lost in straight sets to Olga Danilović. Nevertheless, this result guaranteed her a new career high ranking of No. 63. She also made the semifinals of the Hamburg European Open, losing in straight sets to world No. 2, Anett Kontaveit.
Following her showing in the Prague Open final where she lost to Marie Bouzková, she reached the top 50 at world No. 48, on 1 August 2022.[60] At the same tournament, she won her third doubles title with Yana Sizikova defeating compatriots Angelina Gabueva and Anastasia Zakharova. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 52 in doubles also on 1 August 2022.
2023: WTA warning, second title & WTA 1000 quarterfinal & top 25
In March 2023, the WTA issued a formal warning to Potapova for wearing a T-shirt of Russian soccer team Spartak Moscow before a match in Indian Wells. Her actions were viewed as a public show of support for her country during its invasion of Ukraine. Potapova said she had supported Spartak since she was 13 and saw no provocation in wearing the shirt. The WTA said what she did was "not acceptable nor an appropriate action".[61]
In Indian Wells, she lost in the third round to third seed Jessica Pegula. Seeded 27th in Miami, she reached the quarterfinals defeating sixth seed Coco Gauff and 23rd seed Zheng Qinwen en route. As a result, her ranking rose into the top 25 at world No. 21, on 3 April 2023.
Performance timelines
Key
W
F
SF
QF
#R
RR
Q#
P#
DNQ
A
Z#
PO
G
S
B
NMS
NTI
P
NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
Since the end of 2022, she began a relationship with Kazakhstani player Alexander Shevchenko. On September 24, 2023 they announced their engagement.[63] They got married on December 1, 2023.[64]
Awards
2016
The Russian Cup in the nomination Girls Under-18 Team of the Year[65]
↑ Edition is split into the two years due to COVID-19.
1 2 3 The first Premier 5 event of the year has switched back and forth between the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Qatar Ladies Open since 2009 until 2024. Dubai was classified as a Premier 5 event from 2009 to 2011 before being succeeded by Doha for the 2012–2014 period. In 2015, Dubai regained its Premier 5 status while Doha was demoted to Premier status. The Premier 5 tournaments were reclassified as WTA 1000 tournaments in 2021.
↑ Withdrew during the tournament. Not counted as a loss.
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