Julia Vakulenko

Infobox Tennis player
playername= Julia Vakulenko


country= ESP
residence= Barcelona, Spain
datebirth= birth date and age|1983|7|10
placebirth= Yalta, Soviet Union
now Ukraine
height= 1.83m (6 ft)
weight= 69kg (152lbs)
turnedpro= 1998
plays= Right; Two-handed backhand
careerprizemoney= $778,944
singlesrecord= 227–165
singlestitles= 0 WTA, 4 ITF
highestsinglesranking= No. 32 (November 19, 2007)
AustralianOpenresult= 2nd (2004, 2007)
FrenchOpenresult= 3rd (2003, 2006)
Wimbledonresult= 2nd (2005)
USOpenresult= 4th (2007)
doublesrecord= 13–31
doublestitles = 0
highestdoublesranking= 136 (February 9, 2004)
updated = June 23, 2008

Julia Vakulenko ( _uk. Юлія Вакуленко) (born July 10, 1983 in Yalta) is a professional 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 lives for the last ten years. [http://korrespondent.net/sport/tenis/442457 Известная теннисистка отказалась от украинского гражданства] , "korrespondent.net", April 23, 2008] [ [Tennis - One of Ukraine's top players, Yulia Vakulenko, has opted to take out Spanish citizenship http://uk.reuters.com/article/tennisNews/idUKSP23286020080423?sp=true] , "Reuters", Apr 23, 2008]

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. 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 Amelie 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 to earn a spot in the semifinals against Ana Ivanović.

On August 28, 2007, in the first round of the US Open, Julia defeated number nine seed Daniela Hantuchova 6–4, 3–6, 6–1. She eventually reached the fourth round, her best performance at a major yet, 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 Rios, 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 won't be able to compete in 2008 Olympics due to lack of time to be included in Spain's application.

ingles 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."
*A = did not participate in the tournament
*¹ Doha became a Tier I tournament in 2008, replacing San Diego and Zürich

References

External links

*wta|id=220248|name=Julia Vakulenko
* [http://www.juliavakulenko.com Julia Vakulenko's official website]