Anna Vladimirovna Blinkova (Russian: Анна Владимировна Блинкова, IPA: [ˈanːə blʲɪnˈkovə](listen); born 10 September 1998)[1] is a Russian tennis player.
She has won one doubles title on the WTA Tour, one singles and doubles title each on tournaments of the WTA 125K series as well as three singles and ten doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. In February 2020, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 54. On 14 September 2020, she peaked at No. 45 in the doubles rankings.
She won her first main-draw match in a WTA Tour tournament at the Kremlin Cup in October 2016, and her first Grand Slam appearance was at the 2017 Australian Open, where she won her first-round match against Monica Niculescu. At the 2019 US Open, she took defending champion and top seed Naomi Osaka to three sets.[2]
Anna Blinkova was born on 10 September 1998 in Moscow to mother Elena and father Vladimir. During childhood, she played both tennis and chess to a high level. She prefers playing on hardcourts. Her favourite shot is forehand.[3] She speaks Russian, Slovak, French and English.[4]
Junior career[]
Blinkova is former junior world No. 3 player.[5] She was runner-up at the 2015 Wimbledon in girl's singles, where she lost to compatriot Sofya Zhuk.[6]
Blinkova made her debut at the ITF Women's Circuit at the $10K event in Kantaoui in February 2015. There she won her first ITF doubles title. In January 2016, she won her first ITF singles title at the $10K Stuttgart.[7] In April 2016, she turned pro[8] and made her WTA Tour debut at the Morocco Open, where she was defeated in the first round.[9] In October 2016, she won her first match on the WTA Tour, defeating Anastasija Sevastova in the first round of Kremlin Cup. In January 2017, she made Grand Slam debut at the Australian Open through qualifying, but then lost to Karolína Plíšková in the first round of the main draw. At the 2017 Wimbledon and US Open, she also reached main draw, but then lost to Elena Vesnina in the first round of both competition.[8][9] During the 2017 season, she won two $100K events on the ITF Circuit in doubles event, in Ilkley and St. Petersburg.[7]
In February 2018, she reached the third round of the Premier 5Qatar Open, defeating Elena Vesnina and Kristina Mladenovic, before she lost to world No. 7, Caroline Garcia.[9][4] In May, she won her first WTA doubles title at the Morocco Open, partnering with Raluca Olaru.[4] Blinkova entered top 100 for the first time in both singles and doubles in 2018.[10]
At the 2019 French Open, she reached third round after the major win over Caroline Garcia,[11] but then lost to Madison Keys.[12] In August, she reached her first WTA Tour quarterfinal in singles at the Bronx Open, where she lost to Wang Qiang.[9] She followed this with title in New Haven at the WTA Challenger.[13] Nearly after that, she reached semifinal of the Guangzhou Open, but then lost to Sofia Kenin.[14] In October, she reached another semifinal at the Luxembourg Open, but lost to later champion Jeļena Ostapenko.[15] During the year, she done even better in doubles. In February, she won the Hua Hin Championships, alongside Wang Yafan. After that, she reached semifinal of the Hungarian Open. In April, she reached another semifinal at the Premier-level Stuttgart Open.[9] She then won $60K, $80K and $100K events, respectivelly, on the ITF Circuit.[7] In September, she won the WTA Challenger New Haven.[13]
2020: US Open doubles semifinal, first top-ten win[]
Blinkova continued to made better results in doubles than singles. Despite not producing good results in singles during the season, Blinkova started year with her first career top 10 win, defeating Belinda Bencic in the first round of the Shenzhen Open.[16] In singles, her best result of the year came at the Italian Open, where she reached the third round, but then lost to world No. 4, Karolína Plíšková.[17] In doubles, her first significant result came in March at the Indian Wells Challenger, where she reached the semifinal.[9] Then, six month absence of the WTA Tour happened due to COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.[citation needed] When tennis came back in August, she first played at the Top Seed Open, where she reached the semifinal. She followed this with quarterfinal of the Cincinnati Open, alongside Veronika Kudermetova.[9] Things then went even better at the US Open, where Blinkova and Kudermetova reached the semifinal. They lost to eventual champions Laura Siegemund/Vera Zvonareva.[18]
Performance timelines[]
Key
W
F
SF
QF
#R
RR
Q#
P#
DNQ
A
Z#
PO
G
F-S
SF-B
NMS
P
NH
(W) Won; (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, (F-S) silver or (SF-B) bronze Olympic medal; a (NMS) downgraded Masters Series/1000 tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held. SR=strike rate (events won/competed)
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup /Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win/loss records.[19]
^The first Premier 5 event of the year has switched back and forth between the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Qatar Open since 2009. Dubai was classified as a Premier 5 event from 2009–2011 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 two tournaments have since alternated status every year.
During the years, Blinkova is climbing more and more on the money ranking list. As of the January 2021, she is ranked as 315th player with most career-earned money.[citation needed]
Russia
listen); born 10 September 1998)[1] is a Russian tennis player.
Raluca Olaru
Georgina García Pérez 
Fanny Stollár
Wang Yafan
Ankita Raina 
Usue Maitane Arconada
Oksana Kalashnikova
Valentini Grammatikopoulou
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Tessah Andrianjafitrimo
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Lidziya Marozava
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Maryna Zanevska
Belinda Bencic 
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Nao Hibino 
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Kathinka von Deichmann
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Chinese Taipei
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