Elena Vesnina captured the biggest singles title of her career and her first singles championship in four years Sunday, when she defeated 2004 US Open women's champion and fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-4, in the final of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif.
Vesnina bounced back from a set and 1-4 down to win the title in just over three hours. The 30-year-old from Sochi, Russia, was in fine form all week, upsetting reigning US Open champion and No. 2 seed Angelique Kerber in the round of 16 and winning a three-set thriller over Venus Williams in the quarterfinals.
Here’s a little more on the three-time major doubles winner who is now also making an impression in the singles world.
The Elena Vesnina File
Age: 30
Height: 5-7
Born: Lvov, Ukraine
Residence: Sochi, Russia
Current Rank: 15
Career-High Rank: 15 (Feb. 6, 2017)
Best US Open Finish: 3R (2009, 2014, 2016)
The Baseline
- Vesnina will appraoch the Top 10 when the latest WTA rankings are released on Monday. She climbed to No. 15 in the rankings last month, but she has been in and out of the Top 50 for more than a decade. She broke into the Top 100 back in 2006 and has finished the year inside the Top 30 twice, in 2009 and 2013. She finished 2015 at No. 111 but rose almost 100 spots to No. 16 by the start of 2017. In addition, she has finished each of the past six seasons ranked inside the Top 10 in doubles.
- Before winning the Indian Wells title, Vesnina had won two career singles titles, in Hobart and Eastbourne – both in 2013 – and reached seven other finals; her most recent final was in Charleston last summer. She has also captured two Grand Slam women’s doubles titles, at the 2014 US Open and 2013 French Open (both with Ekaterina Makarova), and been a runner-up six times with four different women. In mixed doubles, she won the 2016 Australian Open with Bruno Soares and previously reached three other finals.
- The 30-year-old Russian has been a staple of her country’s national team for more than 10 years. She has competed at three Olympics, in 2008, 2012 and 2016 – she won a doubles gold in Rio – and played on the Russian Fed Cup team for nine years, 2006-08 and 2011-16, winning the team crown in 2007 and 2008.
- Vesnina rode a surprise run to the 2016 Wimbledon semifinals with wins over seeds Andrea Petkovic and Dominika Cibulkova. In the 41 Grand Slam main draws she competed in before that, she had been past the third round just three times, falling in the fourth round of the Australian Open in her Slam debut in 2006, at Wimbledon in 2009 and the Australian Open in 2013.
- Almost half of Vesnina’s wins over Top 10 players have came in the past year. In addition to a third-round victory over Kerber and her final's win over Kuznetsova at Indian Wells this week, she has also beaten Belinda Bencic twice (on the grass of Eastbourne and on the clay of Charleston) and Simona Halep (in Doha) since late February 2016. Prior to that, she had notched victories over Top 10 opponents just six times in seven years.
They Said It!
"I cannot believe it, to be honest – to win such a big title against Svetlana, a Top 10 player. When I was down 4-1 in the second set, it seemed like so far away this title. Now I won it, and I'm so, so happy. I was playing a bit more free when I was down in the score. I took my chances." - Vesnina, after winning the Indian Wells title
