Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Akgul Amanmuradova

Akgul Amanmuradova (born June 23, 1984 in Tashkent) is a professional female tennis player from Uzbekistan.

In 2005, she reached her first ever WTA singles final in Tashkent, the capital of her home country. In the final she lost to 16–year old Michaëlla Krajicek of the Netherlands. Her first WTA Tour doubles win was 2009 AEGON International at Eastbourne, where she and partner Ai Sugiyama defeated Rennae Stubbs and Samantha Stosur in the final.

Amanmuradova began the year with three consecutive losses in qualifying at the 2010 Brisbane International and the 2010 Medibank International. She then followed this up with a first round loss at the 2010 Australian Open to Croatian Karolina Šprem 6–0, 7–66.

At the first round of the 2010 PTT Pattaya Open Amanmuradova was forced to retire with an abdominal strain whilst trailing Sabine Lisicki 6–0.

In doubles Amanmuradova had a successful start to the year, reaching the semi finals of the 2010 Brisbane International alongside Yung-Jan Chan. After this Amanmuradova rose to her career high in doubles: 36.

Ammanmuradova then had some recent success in singles as she has qualified for the 2010 BNP Paribas Open after defeating Chanelle Scheepers 6–3, 5–7, 6–1 and Patricia Mayr 6–2, 6–0. In the first round she was defeated by Tsvetana Pironkova 6–3, 6–2.

Amanmuradova then lost to Tsvetana Pironkova again the following week, this time in the first round of the qualifying draw of the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open 6–2, 6–2.

Amanmuradova then qualified for the main draw of the 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia by defeating Guilia Gatto Monticone 6–2, 6–1 and Chanelle Scheepers 6–0, 7–6(1). She then lost to 12th seed Flavia Pennetta in the first round 6–2, 6–3.

Akgul then qualified for a Premier Mandatory event in Madrid, the 2010 Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open by defeating Roberta Vinci 7–6(4), 6–3 and Ayumi Morita 6–3, 6–2. She again lost in the first round, this time to Alisa Kleybanova 6–3, 6–2.

At the 2010 Polsat Warsaw Open, Akgul Amanmuradova was upset by World No.537 Natalie Grandin in the first round of the qualifying draw 6–2, 3–6, 6–1.

Amanmuradova then flew to Paris to compete at the 2010 French Open, where her ranking enabled her to be directly entered into the main draw. In the first round, Amanmuradova caused one of the biggest upsets of the day by defeating 20th seed and well established clay court player María José Martínez Sánchez 6–2, 6–4. She then defeated Johanna Larsson 7–6(2), 6–2 to move into the third round for the first time in her career. She then lost to Chanelle Scheepers 6–3, 6–3.

Akgul was unable to shift her good form onto the grass and suffered a first round loss at the 2010 AEGON International at Eastbourne to Jill Craybas 6-1, 6-4 and a first round loss at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships to Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-4.

At the 2010 Swedish Open, Akgul defeated Mariana Duque Marino in the first round 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-0 before falling to Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova in the second 3-6, 6-4, 6-0.

Amanmuradova then suffered two more first round losses. At the 2010 Internazionali Femminili di Palermo she was defeated again by Jill Craybas. This time it was much closer with a score of 7-6(10), 7-5. She then lost in the first round of the 2010 İstanbul Cup to Sorana Cîrstea 7-6(4), 6-3.

Amanmuradova then flew to the USA to begin preparations for the US Open and entered the first tournament in the US Open Series, the 2010 Mercury Insurance Open in San Diego. Akgul's ranking was too low for her to gain direct entry into the main draw so she had to qualify. She won her first qualifying match against Yurika Sema 6-2, 6-1 but lost her second to Chanelle Scheepers 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 6-4.

Then next tournament Akgul entered was the 2010 Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati. Again, Akgul had to qualify to enter the main draw, and this time she successfully qualified by defeating Anna Tatishvili 6-4, 6-2 and Varvara Lepchenko 7-6(2), 6-4. In the first round of the main draw she upset Japanese veteran Kimiko Date Krumm, crushing her 6-1, 6-2. In the second round she defeated Bojana Jovanovski 6-2, 6-0 to book a third round encounter with top seed and World No.2 Jelena Janković. Despite being 112 places below Janković in the rankings, Amanmuradova won with an impressive 7-6(4), 6-4 score to record her first ever top 5 win. She ran out of steam in the quarterfinals, losing to resurgent Ana Ivanović 6-1, 6-3.

At the US Open, Amanmuradova successfully qualified by winning all 3 matches in the qualifying tournament. She defeated Dia Evtimova 6-1, 6-4, Fuda Ryoko 6-3, 6-3 and Valerie Tetreault 6-4, 6-3. In the first round of the main draw she defeated Chanelle Scheepers for the third time this year 6-3, 6-4. Her run was ended by No.31 seed Kaia Kanepi, losing in straight sets to the Estonian 6-2 and 6-4.

Akgul gained direct entry into the 2010 Guangzhou International Women's Open and defeated Olga Savchuk in the first round 7-5, 6-2. She was defeated in straight sets by Sania Mirza in the second round 6-4 and 6-3.

Seeded No.2 at her home tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where made the final in 2005 and 2009, Akgul defeated Eirini Georgatou 6-4, 6-3 in the first round. In the second round she defeated American veteran Jill Craybas for the first time in her career 7-5, 6-7(6), 6-2. In the quarterfinals she was defeated in straight sets by No.7 seed Alla Kudryavtseva 7-6(5), 6-3.

statics
Country : Uzbekistan
Residence : Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Date of birth : June 23, 1984 (1984-06-23)
Place of birth: Tashkent, Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union
Height: 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight : 74 kg (160 lb)
Turned pro : 2000
Plays : Right-handed (two-handed backhand)

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