Julia Vakulenko

Julia Vakulenko
Юлія Вакуленко
Country (sports)  Ukraine
 Spain
Residence Barcelona, Spain
Born (1983-07-10) July 10, 1983
Yalta, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
(now Ukraine)
Height 1.83 m (6 ft)
Turned pro 1998
Retired 2011
Plays Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money $869,480
Singles
Career record 282–191
Career titles 0 WTA, 7 ITF
Highest ranking No. 32 (November 19, 2007)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open 2R (2004, 2007)
French Open 3R (2003, 2006)
Wimbledon 2R (2005)
US Open 4R (2007)
Doubles
Career record 16–37
Career titles 0
Highest ranking 136 (February 9, 2004)
Last updated on: June 23, 2008.

Julia Olegovna Vakulenko (Ukrainian: Юлія Оле́гівна Вакуленко) (born July 10, 1983 in Yalta) is a retired Ukraine-born female tennis player. She achieved her career high ranking of No. 31 on January 14, 2008.

In April, 2008, Vakulenko renounced her Ukrainian citizenship announcing her decision to acquire the citizenship of Spain where she's lived for the last ten years.[1][2]

Career

At the 2006 French Open, Vakulenko reached the third round.

At Wimbledon 2006, she had to pull out during the first round due to injury.

Julia became Kim Clijsters' last opponent in her professional career (before Clijsters' return in 2009). Julia won 7–6(3), 6–3 in the second round of J&S Cup in Warsaw, Poland on May 3, 2007. This earned her the nickname "Kimmie Killer".

A week later, Julia defeated World No. 3 Amélie Mauresmo at the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin 2–6, 6–1, 6–2 (her career best) and then defeated Dinara Safina 6–3, 5–7, 6–3, before retiring in the first set in the semi-finals to eventual champion Ana Ivanovic due to an injury.

On August 28, 2007, in the first round of the US Open, Julia defeated number nine seed Daniela Hantuchová 6–4, 3–6, 6–1. She eventually reached the fourth round, her best performance at a major ever, before falling to Ágnes Szávay.

At the final event of the season, the Bell Challenge held in Quebec City, Canada, Julia reached the first WTA final of her career. En route she beat Rossana de los Ríos, home favourite Stéphanie Dubois, Olga Govortsova and surprise package Julie Ditty. In the final, she lost to three-time Grand Slam champion Lindsay Davenport 6–4, 6–1, who was playing in only her third event since giving birth.

After changing of her citizenship from Ukrainian to Spanish in April, 2008, she plans to play for the Spain in the Fed Cup but she wasn't able to compete in 2008 Olympics due to lack of time to be included in Spain's application.[1]

WTA Tour finals

Singles: 1 (0–1)

Legend: Before 2009 Legend: Starting in 2009
Grand Slam tournaments (0)
WTA Championships (0)
Tier I (0) Premier Mandatory (0)
Tier II (0) Premier 5 (0)
Tier III (0) Premier (0)
Tier IV & V (0) International (1)
Outcome No. Date Championship Surface Opponent in the final Score in the final
Runner-up 1. November 4, 2007 Bell Challenge Quebec City, Canada Carpet (i) United States Lindsay Davenport 4–6, 1–6

Singles performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament when the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the 2008 French Open, which ended on June 8, 2008.

Tournament 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Career Win-Loss
Grand Slams
Australian Open A A 2R A A 2R 1R 2–3
French Open A 3R 1R A 3R 1R 1R 4–5
Wimbledon A 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R 1R 1–6
US Open A 2R 2R A A 4R 1R 4–3
Grand Slam Win-Loss 0–0 3–3 2–4 1–1 2–2 4–4 0–4 12–18
WTA Tier I tournaments
Doha1 Not Tier I or Was Not Held A 0–0
Indian Wells A A 1R A A 1R A 0–2
Miami A A 1R A A 3R A 2–2
Charleston 1R A A A 3R 1R A 2–3
Berlin A A 1R A 2R SF A 5–3
Rome 2R A A A A A 1R 1–2
Montreal/Toronto A A A A A 1R 0–1
Tokyo A A 1R A A A 0–1
Moscow A A A A A A 0–0
San Diego1 A A A A A 1R - 0–1
Zurich1 A A A A A A - 0–0
WTA Tier II tournaments
Amelia Island1 A A A A A 2R - 1–1
Warsaw1 A A A 2R 2R 3R - 4–3
Stanford1 A A A A A 1R - 0–1
Los Angeles1 A A A A A 1R - 0–1
Luxembourg1 A A A A A 1R - 0–1
Stuttgart1 A A A A A 2R - 1–1
Linz1 A A A A A QF - 3–1
WTA Tier III tournaments
Birmingham1 A A A A A 3R - 2–1
WTA Tier IV tournaments
Hyderabad1 A 1R A A A A - 0–1
WTA Tier V tournaments
Casablanca1 A A 1R A A A - 0–1
Tournaments Won 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Year End Ranking 209 73 129 185 120 32 N/A

Head-to-head record against other players

Players who have been ranked World No. 1 are in boldface.

References

  1. 1 2 Известная теннисистка отказалась от украинского гражданства, korrespondent.net, April 23, 2008
  2. ↑ Tennis – One of Ukraine's top players, Yulia Vakulenko, has opted to take out Spanish citizenship, Reuters, Apr 23, 2008
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