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Kaia Kanepi

Kanepi at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships
Country (sports)	Estonia
Residence	Tallinn, Estonia
Born	(1985-06-10) 10 June 1985 (age 39) Haapsalu, Estonia
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro	1999
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$6,249,710
Official website	kaiakanepi.com
Singles
Career record	500–293
Career titles	4 WTA, 14 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 15 (20 August 2012)
Current ranking	No. 96 (3 February 2020)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	3R (2009, 2018)
French Open	QF (2008, 2012)
Wimbledon	QF (2010, 2013)
US Open	QF (2010, 2017)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games	3R (2008)
Doubles
Career record	46–63
Career titles	0 WTA, 2 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 106 (6 June 2011)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2011, 2012, 2014)
French Open	3R (2012, 2014)
Wimbledon	3R (2008, 2009)
US Open	1R (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013)
Other doubles tournaments
Olympic Games	1R (2004, 2008)
Team competitions
Fed Cup	41–15
Last updated on: 3 February 2020.

Kaia Kanepi (Estonian pronunciation: [ˈkɑi.ɑ ˈkɑnepi]; born 10 June 1985) is an Estonian professional tennis player. She achieved her career-high ranking of world No. 15 on August 20, 2012 and has won four singles titles on the WTA Tour.

Kanepi reached her first final in 2006, becoming the first Estonian player to do so, at the Gaz de France Stars where she lost to Kim Clijsters. She then won her first singles title in Palermo in 2010, also becoming the first Estonian player to win a title. She has also reached six Grand Slam quarterfinals in three different Grand Slams (French Open in 2008 and 2012, Wimbledon in 2010 and 2013, and the US Open in 2010 and 2017), becoming the first Estonian to achieve this and was the first Estonian to be ranked inside the world's top 20. Kanepi's numerous achievements have made her Estonia's most famous and successful professional tennis player in history.

Career

Kaia Kanepi was born in Haapsalu. Her father, Jaak (a real estate broker) and mother Anne (a homemaker) played tennis. They also have daughters Kadri, who won a tennis scholarship to study in the United States, and Karin, a dedicated horse rider. Kaia, who always watched her parents and sisters play, discovered her love for tennis at an early age. She started playing at the age of 8.

Her family has always supported her desire to play professional tennis. She reached world number one in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior rankings before turning professional in 2000.

1994–2003 Kaia was trained by Tiit Kivistik. From 2003 until the autumn of 2007, Kaia was coached by Andrei Luzgin. After Luzgin, Fredrik Lovén from Sweden became her coach, but their partnership ended in February 2008. Kanepi's next coach (until September 2008) was Pablo Giacopelli. From November 2008, she was coached by Luca Appino. After November 2009, Kanepi was coached by fellow Estonia pro Mait Künnap. In February 2010, she broke up with her coach and agent. In April, she started to work with Silver Karjus, who was her coach until March 2012. From 2013–2014 she was coached by Märten Tamla.

2004

Kanepi represented Estonia in both the women's singles and women's doubles, partnering Maret Ani, at the 2004 Summer Olympics, losing in the first round of both events.

2006

At the end of 2006, she reached her first WTA Tour final during the Gaz de France Stars tournament in Hasselt, Belgium. She came through three qualification rounds and beat Anne Kremer, Nathalie Dechy, Eleni Daniilidou, Francesca Schiavone, and Michaëlla Krajicek to eventually play the final against Kim Clijsters, to whom she lost in three sets.

2007

At the Australian Open, Kanepi struggled, but defeated 28th-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy before losing to Alicia Molik in the second round. At Indian Wells, she defeated wildcard Kristina Brandi in the first round, but lost in the second round to 14th seed and eventual champion Daniela Hantuchová. At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, she stunned Patty Schnyder in the second round, before losing to qualifier Vera Dushevina in the next round.

In late July, Kanepi reached the semifinals of the Bad Gastein tournament in Austria, where she fell to Francesca Schiavone. This was her third career semifinal and first of the year. Afterwards, she made her top-40 debut at world No. 40.

2008: French Open quarterfinal

After losing in the first round of Australian Open, Kanepi performed better in the next Grand Slam. At the French Open, Kanepi defeated sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze in the second round. She then defeated 29th-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues for a place in the fourth round. Outplaying unseeded Petra Kvitová she reached the quarterfinals, where she was defeated by fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets. Nonetheless, Kanepi made history by becoming the first Estonian tennis player to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Kanepi was granted direct entry at Wimbledon, where she lost in the first round to sixth seed Serena Williams.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Kanepi reached the third round, defeating Flavia Pennetta and Virginie Razzano, before losing to Li Na.

At the US Open, she defeated Monica Niculescu in the first round, but lost to Amélie Mauresmo in the second round.

In September, Kanepi reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier of the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, where she defeated Vera Dushevina, world No. 13 Chakvetadze, and Virginie Razzano, before losing to world number five Dinara Safina of Russia. She then reached the semifinals of the Hansol Women's Open in Seoul, South Korea, where she was beaten by the eventual champion and first seed Maria Kirilenko.

She then made only her second final at the WTA level at the Tier III Japan Open in Tokyo. She defeated Lucie Šafářová, Yanina Wickmayer, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and eighth seed Aleksandra Wozniak, before losing in the final to Danish then world No. 16 and top seed Caroline Wozniacki in three sets.

She was named the 2008 Best Female Athlete of Estonia by the Association of Estonian Sports Journalists.

2009

Kanepi reached her career-best third round at the Australian Open, but lost miserably to then world No. 3 Dinara Safina in straight sets. She had an epic match with Kimiko Date, former world No. 4, in the first round.

She was a member of the Estonia Fed Cup team in rounds played in February. She was paired with Maret Ani, and the Estonian team beat Bulgaria, Croatia, and Belarus. Kanepi won all the singles rubbers that she played (including a win over then world No. 15 Victoria Azarenka). She set a new personal 196 kilometres per hour (122 mph) serve record in the tournament, among the fastest ever served by a woman.

Kanepi continued her season at the Open GDF Suez, a Premier tournament, but lost in the second round to Émilie Loit.

At the top-level Dubai Tennis Championships, she advanced to the third round to set up a match with former world number one Jelena Janković. She defeated Janković in straight sets. She was the highest-seeded player Kanepi had by that time defeated. Kanepi then beat Elena Vesnina in the quarterfinals in straight sets. She was, however, denied a place in the finals by Virginie Razzano.

Kanepi then participated at the Rome Masters. She defeated Patty Schnyder in the third round, but lost to Victoria Azarenka in the quarterfinals. Her next tournament was the Madrid Open, where she was seeded 16th. However, she retired in the first round against Lucie Šafářová. In the French Open opening round, Kanepi was defeated by Yaroslava Shvedova in the first surprise of the day. Her first round loss led to a drop in her ranking, as she fell to world No. 24.

She was then scheduled to play at the Aegon Classic in Birmingham as the second seed. However, she then withdrew because of a knee injury. Kanepi was seeded 25th at the Wimbledon Championships, but lost to Carla Suárez Navarro in the first round.

Kanepi lost her opening matches at Bastad and Portoroz. Her bad form continued when she lost three straight first-round matches during the US Open Series. She fell in the first round of the US Open to qualifier Chang Kai-chen in three sets.

Kanepi lost to Chang again in the first round at Tokyo. She suffered a first-round loss at the China Open in Beijing to Serena Williams in a match where she had more break points than Serena and lost 5–7, 4–6. This was her 12th straight loss. Kanepi ended her losing streak at an ITF tournament Dubai in December, where she defeated Yuliana Fedak in straight sets in the first round. She then lost to Regina Kulikova.

2010: Wimbledon and US Open quarterfinals

By the start of the new season, Kanepi seemed to be in better physical shape than in 2009. Kanepi reached the second round at the ASB Classic, defeating world No. 15 Li Na in straight sets, before losing to Maria Kirilenko in the second round. She fell in the first round of the Hobart International to seventh seed Zheng Jie in a tight three-setter. At the first Grand Slam of the year at the Australian Open, Kanepi defeated Chan Yung-jan in the first round, but fell to 19th seed Nadia Petrova in the second round.

Kanepi was seeded fifth at the Cellular South Cup in Memphis. She was in the same half of the draw as Maria Sharapova. She defeated Arantxa Rus in the first round, and former world No. 7 Nicole Vaidišová in the second round. She fell in three sets to fifth seed Petra Kvitová in the quarterfinals. Despite this, Kanepi's ranking fell to world No. 96, due to the fact that she did not defend her points from Dubai from the previous year.

Kanepi reached the second round in Acapulco, but lost to top seed and defending champion Venus Williams. Kanepi also fell in the second round of the Monterrey Open to second seed Daniela Hantuchová in straight sets.

Kanepi then competed in two Premier Mandatory tournaments. At the BNP Paribas Open and the Sony Ericsson Open, she fell in the first rounds to Sorana Cîrstea and Lucie Šafářová respectively. Kanepi's ranking fell out of the top 100 following these tournaments.

Kanepi then represented Estonia in the 2010 Fed Cup World Group Play-offs against Belgium. She was defeated by world No. 12 Yanina Wickmayer in her first match, but surprisingly defeated former world No. 1 Justine Henin in her second match-up.

At the beginning of May, Kanepi won ten straight matches to claim her seventh and eighth career ITF tournaments. Kanepi qualified for the French Open, where she defeated Pauline Parmentier in the first round. She pushed world No. 4 Jelena Janković to three sets before losing in round two. This allowed her ranking to re-enter the top 100.

At the Internazionali Femminili di Palermo, Kanepi won her first WTA singles title. She defeated top seed Flavia Pennetta for the title. At the start of the grass-court season, she reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier at Aegon Classic in Birmingham, defeating 12th seed Elena Baltacha, Jarmila Groth, and Michelle Larcher de Brito en route, before losing to top seed and eventual champion Li Na.

Kanepi then qualified for the Wimbledon Championships, defeating Olga Savchuk, Elena Bovina, and Ajla Tomljanović in straight sets. In the first round, Kanepi caused a big upset when she defeated world number six and French Open finalist Samantha Stosur. She then defeated Edina Gallovits in the second round, and world No. 31 Alexandra Dulgheru in round three. Kanepi then reached her second Grand Slam quarterfinal, when she defeated Klára Zakopalová in the fourth round. In the quarterfinals, Kanepi lost an extremely tough three-set match to Petra Kvitová, despite having a total of five match points and being a double break up in the final set. With her success at Wimbledon, Kanepi's ranking rose to world No. 38.

Kanepi next played at the Swedish Open, where she fell in the first round to fifth seed Arantxa Parra Santonja. However, Kanepi continued her strong play at the Internazionali Femminili di Palermo where, as the fifth seed, she defeated Rossana de los Ríos, Raluca Olaru, third seed Sara Errani and Romina Oprandi to reach her third WTA tour final. In the final, Kanepi defeated top seed, world No. 12, and defending champion Flavia Pennetta, not dropping a set in the whole tournament to claim her first WTA Tour title.

Kanepi was seeded 31st at the US Open. She defeated Alizé Cornet, Akgul Amanmuradova, fourth seed Jelena Janković and 15th seed Yanina Wickmayer to advance to her first US Open quarterfinal, where she lost to the seventh seed and eventual runner-up Vera Zvonareva.

Kanepi then entered the Toray Pan Pacific Open and defeated Melanie Oudin in the first round. She then upset 13th seed Shahar Pe'er and third seed Jelena Janković in succession. Her run was ended in the quarterfinals by French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, who beat Kanepi in three sets. Her final tournament of the year was the China Open. She defeated 16th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round but lost to Kvitová in the second round.

2011

Kanepi started her season with a loss to Bojana Jovanovski, in the first round of the Medibank International Sydney. Her next tournament was the Australian Open, where she was the 20th seed. There, she defeated Magdaléna Rybáriková in the first round, but fell to Julia Görges in round two. Kanepi, as the third seed, reached the semifinal in Open GDF Suez, where she beat Anastasija Sevastova, Sofia Arvidsson and Dominika Cibulková. In the semifinal, she faced the first seed Kim Clijsters, who was too strong for Kanepi this time, and Kanepi lost the match in straight sets.

Kanepi was the 14th seed at the Indian Wells Masters. She had a bye in the first round, and in the second round defeated Gisela Dulko. She lost in the third round to 23rd seed Yanina Wickmayer. At the Sony Ericsson Open, she was the 14th seed but lost to Virginie Razzano in her opening match after having a first round bye.

She lost her opening matches at the Madrid Open and Internazionali BNL d'Italia to Julia Görges and Romina Oprandi respectively. She qualified for the Brussels Open but was defeated by Yanina Wickmayer in the first round. At the French Open, seeded 16th, she beat Sofia Arvidsson and Britain's Heather Watson in straight sets, before being upset in the third round by unseeded Ekaterina Makarova.

Kanepi had a poor grass court season. She lost all her opening round matches at Birmingham to qualifier Arina Rodionova after having a first round bye, at Eastbourne to fourth seed Francesca Schiavone and at Wimbledon to Sara Errani. She consequently fell out of the top 30.

Kanepi lost in the second round at the US Open to qualifier Sílvia Soler Espinosa. She had good results during the Asian swing. At the Toray Pan Pacific Open, Kanepi beat world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the third round to reach the quarterfinals, where she lost to Agnieszka Radwańska. At the China Open, she met Wozniacki in the third round again but lost this time. Kanepi reached the final at the Moscow, losing to Dominika Cibulkova in three sets. She also reached the semifinals of an ITF event in Helsinki.

2012: Second French Open quarterfinal

Kanepi entered her first tournament of the year in Brisbane. She defeated Alexandra Panova in the first round before upsetting number seven seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and number two seed Andrea Petkovic. In the semifinals, she defeated number three seed Francesca Schiavone to book her place in the final against Daniela Hantuchová, which she went on to win in straight sets, her second WTA title. Kanepi then entered the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open, and in the first round overpowered Johanna Larsson, but lost in second round to future quarterfinalist Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets.

She then passed a chance to represent her nation in 2012 Fed Cup, wanting to dedicate herself to singles tournaments, but her hopes were cut short when she had to pull out of the Open GDF Suez tournament in Paris due to a sore shoulder. The injury also forced her to skip tournaments in Doha and Dubai.

Kanepi returned in March at the BNP Paribas Open and lost to Chanelle Scheepers in the second round. At the Sony Ericsson Open she also lost in the second round to Sílvia Soler Espinosa in straight sets. At the end of the month Kanepi and her coach for the last two years, Silver Karjus, split up over a psychologist, who supposedly influenced Kanepi's direction so much that it was impossible for him to continue working with her. She then entered the e-Boks Open as the fifth seed and won against Anastasia Rodionova and Tímea Babos to reach the quarterfinals where she lost to number three seed Jelena Janković. Kanepi then went on to win her third WTA title at the Estoril Open, defeating Carla Suárez Navarro in the final.

Before the French Open, Kanepi reached the semifinals at the Brussels Open, she lost to Agnieszka Radwańska. At Roland Garros, Kanepi entered as the 23rd seed and played a very good tournament given her ranking, defeating ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki in the third and Arantxa Rus in the fourth round, but was defeated in the quarterfinals by Maria Sharapova in straight sets. Bilateral Achilles' heel injuries caused Kanepi to withdraw from Birmingham, Eastbourne, Wimbledon and eventually also from the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Despite not having played since the French Open she reached a career high of number 15 on 20 August.

Kanepi returned from injury at the Korea Open, she reached her third final of the year. This time she faced Caroline Wozniacki and lost in straight sets. At the Toray Pan Pacific Open, she lost in second round to Jamie Hampton.

2013

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Her continuing Achilles tendon bilateral injury caused Kanepi to withdraw from the Australian Open, Indian Wells, and Miami tournaments in 2013. However, she returned to the tour in April, playing the BNP Paribas Katowice Open, losing in the second round to Karolína Plíšková. Again, Kanepi lost in the second round at the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, this time to Mandy Minella. Kanepi failed to defend her title at Estoril when she lost to Carla Suárez Navarro in the semifinals.

She reached the quarterfinals at the Madrid Open where she lost to eventual finalist Maria Sharapova. Kanepi reached the final at the Brussels Open and defeated Peng Shuai for her fourth WTA title. She exited the French Open in the second round, losing to Swiss Stefanie Vögele in a tight three-setter. At Wimbledon, she played well and beat the home favourite Laura Robson in the fourth round before she was beaten in the quarterfinals by Germany's Sabine Lisicki.

At the US Open Kanepi was the 25th seed. She faced American wildcard Vania King in the first round, winning in three sets. She beat Anna Karolína Schmiedlová in the second round, but lost to Angelique Kerber in the third. Kanepi then lost to Lucie Šafářová in the second round at the Beijing. At the Kremlin Cup, she fell to Samantha Stosur in the first round. She ended 2013 with a loss to Jovana Jakšić of Serbia in the second round of an ITF tournament in Egypt.

2014

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Kanepi started 2014 by reaching the quarterfinals in Brisbane, where she was defeated by Maria Sharapova. In Sydney, she lost in the second round to Angelique Kerber. At the Australian Open, she was the 23rd seed but was defeated in the first round by Garbiñe Muguruza.

Kanepi defeated Varvara Lepchenko in the first round at Doha but fell to seventh seed and eventual champion Simona Halep in the next round. She then lost in the first round of the 2014 Dubai Tennis Championships to Flavia Pennetta. Kanepi reached the quarterfinals at Acapulco, she then lost to Christina McHale. Kanepi received a first round bye at the BNP Paribas Open, but lost to Yaroslava Shvedova in her opening match. She reached the third round at Miami, losing to 15th seed Carla Suárez Navarro in straight sets. At the 2014 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, she defeated lucky loser Johanna Konta in the first round but lost to Sara Errani in round two.

At the Portugal Open, she defeated Yvonne Meusburger in her opening match. She then lost to Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu. In Madrid, she lost in the first round to Alison Riske. She fell out of the top 30 after this tournament. Kanepi lost to Monica Niculescu in the first round at Roland Garros. She fell to Yvonne Meusburger in the first round at the Topshelf Open. At Wimbledon, she faced seventh seed Jelena Janković in the first round and won in straight sets but then lost to Yaroslava Shvedova in the following round. After failing to defend quarterfinal points, she fell out of the top 50. Kanepi then won her ninth ITF title in Biarritz, defeating Teliana Pereira in the final.

Kanepi defeated Johanna Larsson in the first round at the Swedish Open. She then reached her third quarterfinal of 2014 with a victory over Richèl Hogenkamp. Despite being the favourite, Kanepi lost to Mona Barthel in straight sets. She fell in qualifying for the Connecticut Open. At the US Open, Kanepi defeated Pauline Parmentier in the first round before narrowly defeating Samantha Stosur to face Spaniard Carla Suárez Navarro. Kanepi upset her in straight sets and set up a clash with world No. 1 Serena Williams in the round of 16. She lost in straight sets.

In September, Kanepi played at the Korea Open where she was the sixth seed. She cruised to the quarterfinals after defeating Elizaveta Kulichkova and Kristýna Plíšková.

2015

Kanepi began her saison at the Brisbane International. In the first round, she upset fifth seed Andrea Petkovic 6–4, 5–7, 6–4. In the second round, she defeated qualifier Madison Brengle 6–3, 7–6. In the quarterfinals, Kanepi lost to 2nd seed and eventual finalist Ana Ivanovic 4–6, 6–4, 6–3. After Brisbane, Kanepi competed at the Hobart International. She defeated Monica Puig in her first-round match 6–4, 6–1. Kanepi then withdrew from her second round match against Camila Giorgi due to a viral illness. Ranked 48 at the Australian Open, Kanepi lost in the first round to wildcard Irina Falconi 6–2, 4–6, 5–7.

After the Australian Open, Kanepi competed at the Dubai Tennis Championships. In the first round, Kanepi faced Svetlana Kuznetsova. Kuznetsova led 4–1 in the first set before Kanepi retired due to a back injury. Ranked 51 at the BNP Paribas Open, Kanepi lost in the first round to qualifier Ons Jabeur 5–7, 2–6. Kanepi had a better result at the Miami Open. She had her first win since Hobart by defeating wildcard Françoise Abanda in the first round 6–2, 6–3. In the 2nd round, she beat 28th seed Varvara Lepchenko 6–2, 6–4. In the third round, Kanepi took 4th seed Caroline Wozniacki to 3 sets, but Kanepi still lost 4–6, 6–1, 6–3. After Miami, Kanepi competed at the Katowice Open. Seeded fifth, she defeated qualifier Shahar Pe'er in the first round 6–1, 6–2. Lucky Loser Elizaveta Kulichkova defeated Kanepi in the second round 6–1, 6–2.

Kanepi started her clay-court season at the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem where she lost in the first round to qualifier Teliana Pereira 6–3, 6–2. At the Mutua Madrid Open, Kanepi beat Madison Keys in the first round 6–4, 6–3. In the second round, she lost to Samantha Stosur 6–3, 6–2. At the French Open, Kanepi lost in the first round to second seed, former world No. 1, and defending champion Maria Sharapova, 6–2, 6–4. After the French Open, Kanepi played the 100K tournament in Marseille. She lost in the first round to Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6–3, 5–7, 6–2.

At Wimbledon, Kanepi was defeated in the first round by qualifier Hsieh Su-wei 6–1, 6–4.

Kanepi played only one tournament during the US Open Series which was the Connecticut Open. She lost in the second round of qualifying to sixth seed Magdaléna Rybáriková 6–4, 1–6, 6–2. At the US Open, Kanepi won her first Grand Slam match of the year by beating Anna-Lena Friedsam in the first round 6–1, 6–1. Kanepi then lost in the second round to 17th seed Elina Svitolina 3–6, 4–6.

At the 100K tournament in Biarritz, Kanepi was defeated in the first round by Amra Sadiković 4–6, 6–3, 7–6. At the 50,000+H tournament in Saint-Malo, Kanepi lost in the quarterfinals to Daria Kasatkina 6–2, 1–6, 1–6. Kanepi then played qualifying at the Generali Ladies Linz. She lost in the final round of qualifying to seventh seed Aleksandra Krunić 3–6, 2–6. Kanepi's final tournament of the year was the Kremlin Cup where she was the 8th seed for qualifying. Kanepi ended up losing in the first round of qualifying to Paula Kania 6–1, 6–7, 3–6.

Kanepi ended 2015 ranked 122.

2016

Kanepi began the year by playing qualifying at the Brisbane International. In the first round of qualifying, she beat Virginie Razzano 6–4, 6–7, 6–1. In the second round of qualifying, she faced fourth seed Kateryna Bondarenko. Bondarenko led 7–5, 2–2 before Kanepi retired.

After Kanepi failed to win at least a match in this season, she searched for better luck in the ITF Women's Circuit. Her best result there was reaching the quarterfinals in Padova, Italy in June, followed by a longer break due to an injury.

2017: Second US Open quarterfinal

Kanepi returned from long injury break in June (having dropped to 630 in WTA rank), she tried herself in the ITF Circuit, winning two ITF titles in Essen, Germany, and Pärnu, Estonia. She then got into the qualification rounds of the Wimbledon Championships, but lost in the second round to Arina Rodionova. Unable to obtain a wild card or protected ranking for the main draw, the Estonian (then ranked No. 421 in the world) received a protected ranking to play in the qualifying for the US Open. She qualified to her first Grand Slam main draw in two years with victories over Nina Stojanović, Louisa Chirico and Hsieh Su-wei. Kanepi recorded victories in her first three main draw matches, defeating Francesca Schiavone (despite being bageled in the opening set), Yanina Wickmayer and Naomi Osaka, reaching the second week at a major since the 2014 US Open. She then defeated Russia's Daria Kasatkina 6–4, 6–4 to advance to her second US Open quarterfinal, her sixth Grand Slam quarterfinal overall, and her first quarterfinal at a major since Wimbledon 2013, where she was defeated in straight sets by Madison Keys. Nonetheless, she made history by becoming only the second qualifier in US Open history to make the quarterfinals and the first to do so since Barbara Gerken in 1981. Following the US Open, Kanepi's ranking skyrocketed from 418 to 110. She managed to finish the year ranked just outside the top 100 (at no. 107), her best end-of-year ranking since 2014.

2018

Kanepi reached the quarterfinals at the Brisbane International, beating Daria Kasatkina and Lesia Tsurenko along the way. This helped propel her back into the top 100 for the first time since August 2015. At the Australian Open, she upset 24th seed Dominika Cibulkova in the opening round. Kanepi followed that up with a straight sets victory over Monica Puig to advance to the third round of the Australian Open for the first time since 2009, losing in three sets to Carla Suárez Navarro. Despite losing her first-round match at the French Open to Kasatkina, Kanepi returned to the top 50 of the WTA rankings for the first time since May 2015.

She defeated Simona Halep 6–2, 6–4 in the first round of US Open, becoming the first player in US Open history and just sixth in Grand Slam history to beat the top-seeded player in the first round. It was followed by wins over Jil Teichmann and Rebecca Peterson in straight sets, before Kanepi was defeated in the fourth round by Serena Williams 6–0, 4–6, 6–3.

2019

Kanepi played her first tournament of 2019 at the Australian Open, where she again faced top seed Halep in the first round. After taking the first set in a tiebreak, Kanepi was defeated in three sets.

She defeated Elise Mertens in the first round of Charleston. At the French Open she reached the fourth round defeating 19th seed Julia Görges in the first round. She was defeated by Petra Martić in the fourth round.

She was defeated in the second round of Wimbledon by 13th seed Belinda Bencic.

Playing style

Kanepi builds up her game around her powerful groundstrokes. Her serve is considered to be one of the strongest on the WTA tour. Kanepi frequently hits 170 km/h to 180 km/h serves. She generally serves away from her opponent but sometimes prefers to hit a powerful body first serve in order to push back and pin her opponent behind the baseline. But on occasions her serve can break down, which affects her game. In 2008, she began to improve her volleying skills and under her coach Luca Appino begun to use sliced backhand more often, thus making her playing more versatile.

She likes to return serves mainly with her backhand which she hits flat and tries to position herself to receive with backhand but is also capable of hitting good service returns with her forehand as well. She generally ends points early but she is capable of playing long rallies and reducing her unforced error count. Overall, she is an offensive baseliner but depending on the game situation and scoreboard Kanepi can play a more defensive game.

Sponsorship

For a long time Kanepi was sponsored by Infortar, the largest shareholder of Tallink, a major ferry company in the Baltic Sea. Their sponsorship ended in February 2010, but later started again and finally ended in 2017.

WTA finals

Singles: 8 (4 titles, 4 runner–ups)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Nov 2006	Gaz de France Stars, Belgium	Tier III	Hard (i)	Kim Clijsters	3–6, 6–3, 4–6
Loss	0–2	Oct 2008	Japan Open, Japan	Tier III	Hard	Caroline Wozniacki	2–6, 6–3, 1–6
Win	1–2	Jul 2010	Palermo International, Italy	International	Clay	Flavia Pennetta	6–4, 6–3
Loss	1–3	Oct 2011	Kremlin Cup, Russia	Premier	Hard (i)	Dominika Cibulková	6–3, 6–7, 5–7
Win	2–3	Jan 2012	Brisbane International, Australia	Premier	Hard	Daniela Hantuchová	6–2, 6–1
Win	3–3	May 2012	Portugal Open, Portugal	International	Clay	Carla Suárez Navarro	3–6, 7–6, 6–4
Loss	3–4	Sep 2012	Korea Open, South Korea	International	Hard	Caroline Wozniacki	1–6, 0–6
Win	4–4	May 2013	Brussels Open, Belgium	Premier	Clay	Peng Shuai	6–2, 7–5

Doubles: 1 (1 runner–up)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Apr 2012	Danish Open, Denmark	International	Hard	Sofia Arvidsson	Kimiko Date-Krumm Rika Fujiwara	2–6, 6–4,

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 21 (15 titles, 6 runner–ups)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Jul 1999	ITF Tallinn, Estonia	$10,000	Clay	Anna Zaporozhanova	3–6, 3–6
Win	1–1	Jun 2000	ITF Tallinn, Estonia	$10,000	Clay	Margit Rüütel	6–1, 6–2
Win	2–1	Jun 2001	ITF Tallinn, Estonia	$25,000	Clay	Ľubomíra Kurhajcová	7–6, 6–3
Loss	2–2	Jul 2001	ITF Modena, Italy	$50,000	Clay	Maja Matevžič	5–7, 6–7
Loss	2–3	Jul 2001	ITF Ettenheim, Germany	$50,000	Clay	Maja Matevžič	2–6, 3–6
Win	3–3	Jun 2003	ITF Galatina, Italy	$25,000	Clay	María José Martínez Sánchez	6–3, 6–3
Win	4–3	Sep 2003	ITF Torino, Italy	$25,000	Clay	Mervana Jugić-Salkić	6–3, 6–3
Loss	4–4	Oct 2003	ITF Joué-lès-Tours, France	$25,000	Hard (i)	Dally Randriantefy	5–7, 4–6
Win	5–4	Feb 2004	ITF Sunderland, United Kingdom	$25,000	Hard (i)	Anna Chakvetadze	7–6, 6–0
Win	6–4	Jul 2005	ITF Fano, Italy	$75,000	Clay	Melinda Czink	3–6, 6–1, 7–5
Loss	6–5	Dec 2005	ITF Dubai, United Arab Emirates	$75,000+H	Clay	Marion Bartoli	2–6, 0–6
Win	7–5	May 2010	ITF Cagnes-sur-Mer, France	$100,000+H	Clay	Maša Zec Peškirič	6–3, 6–2
Win	8–5	May 2010	ITF Saint-Gaudens, France	$50,000+H	Clay	Zhang Shuai	6–2, 7–5
Loss	8–6	Jul 2014	ITF Contrexeville, France	$100,000	Clay	Irina-Camelia Begu	3–6, 4–6
Win	9–6	Jul 2014	ITF Biarritz, France	$100,000	Clay	Teliana Pereira	6–2, 6–4
Win	10–6	Dec 2015	ITF Bangkok, Thailand	$25,000	Hard	Patty Schnyder	6–3, 6–3
Win	11–6	Jun 2017	ITF Essen, Germany	$25,000	Clay	Patty Schnyder	6–3, 6–7, 2–0 ret.
Win	12–6	Jul 2017	ITF Pärnu, Estonia	$15,000	Clay	Polina Golubovskaya	6–1, 6–0
Win	13–6	Nov 2017	ITF Nantes, France	$25,000	Hard (i)	Richèl Hogenkamp	6–3, 6–4
Win	14–6	Jun 2018	ITF Brescia, Italy	$60,000	Clay	Martina Trevisan	6–4, 6–3
Win	15–6	Dec 2019	ITF Milovice, Czech Republic	W15	Hard (i)	Anastasia Kulikova	6–4, 6–3

Doubles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner–up)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Jun 2000	ITF Tallinn, Estonia	$10,000	Clay	Scarlett Werner	Agata Kurowska Maria Wolfbrandt	6–7, 4–6
Win	1–1	Oct 2003	ITF Jersey, United Kingdom	$25,000	Hard (i)	Sofia Arvidsson	Yvonne Meusburger Hanna Nooni	6–3, 7–5
Win	2–1	Jul 2007	ITF Biella, Italy	$100,000	Clay	Maret Ani	Mervana Jugić-Salkić Renata Voráčová	6–4, 6–1

Performance timelines

Singles

Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments and Olympic Games are included in Win–Loss records.

This table is current through the 2019 China Open.

Doubles

Wins over top 10 players

#	Player	Rank	Event	Surface	Round	Score
2008
1.	Anna Chakvetadze	No. 6	French Open, France	Clay	2nd Round	6–4, 7–6
2009
2.	Jelena Janković	No. 3	Dubai Championships, UAE	Hard	3rd Round	6–2, 7–5
2010
3.	Jelena Janković	No. 6	Pan Pacific Open, Japan	Hard	3rd Round	6–4, 6–4
4.	Jelena Janković	No. 5	US Open, United States	Hard	3rd Round	6–2, 7–6
5.	Samantha Stosur	No. 6	Wimbledon, United Kingdom	Grass	1st Round	6–4, 6–4
2011
6.	Caroline Wozniacki	No. 1	Pan Pacific Open, Japan	Hard	3rd Round	7–5, 1–6, 6–4
2012
7.	Caroline Wozniacki	No. 9	French Open, France	Clay	3rd Round	6–1, 6–7, 6–3
8.	Andrea Petkovic	No. 10	Brisbane International, Australia	Hard	Quarterfinals	6–1, 7–6
2013
9.	Angelique Kerber	No. 7	Wimbledon, United Kingdom	Grass	2nd Round	3–6, 7–6, 6–3
2014
10.	Jelena Janković	No. 8	Wimbledon, United Kingdom	Grass	1st Round	6–3, 6–2
2018
11.	Simona Halep	No. 1	US Open, United States	Hard	1st Round	6–2, 6–4

References

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5. Kanepi Named Best Female Athlete in Estonia WTAtour.com, 16 December 2008
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External links

• Official website
• Kaia Kanepi at the Women's Tennis Association
• Kaia Kanepi at the International Tennis Federation
• Kaia Kanepi at the Billie Jean King Cup

• 1985 births
• Living people
• Sportspeople from Haapsalu
• Estonian female tennis players
• French Open junior champions
• Olympic tennis players of Estonia
• Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics
• Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics
• Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles