Kaia Kanepi

Kanepi started her 2020 season at the Brisbane International. She lost in the first round of qualifying to Marie Bouzková. At the Australian Open, Kanepi was defeated in the first round by qualifier Barbora Krejčíková.

Kanepi played her first tournament of 2019 at the Australian Open. After taking the first set in a tiebreak, Kanepi was defeated in the first round by top seed Simona Halep.

This table is current through the 2019 China Open.

Kanepi began her 2018 season at the Brisbane International. Qualifying for the main draw, she reached the quarterfinal round beating Daria Kasatkina and Lesia Tsurenko. She lost her quarterfinal match to second seed and defending champion Karolína Plíšková. This helped propel her back into the top 100 for the first time since August 2015. At the Australian Open, Kanepi upset twenty-fourth seed Dominika Cibulková in the opening round. She then defeated Monica Puig in the second round to advance to the third round of the Australian Open for the first time since 2009. Her run ended as she was defeated in the third round by Carla Suárez Navarro.

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 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 began her 2016 year at the Brisbane International. She retired during her second round of qualifying match against Kateryna Bondarenko.

Kanepi began her clay-court season at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. She lost in the final round of qualifying to Zarina Diyas. Even though she successfully qualified for the Italian Open, Kanepi was defeated in the second round by ninth seed Sloane Stephens. Coming through the qualifying round at the Internationaux de Strasbourg, Kanepi lost in the first round to eighth seed Hsieh Su-wei. At the French Open, Kanepi was defeated in the first round by fourteenth seed Daria Kasatkina. Despite the loss, she returned to the top 50 of the WTA rankings for the first time since May 2015.

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.

Kanepi started 2014 at the Brisbane International. She reached the quarterfinals after wins over qualifier Alexandra Panova and eighth seed Carla Suárez Navarro. She lost her quarterfinal match to third seed Maria Sharapova. At the Apia International Sydney, Kanepi was defeated in the second round by fifth seed and eventual finalist Angelique Kerber. Seeded twenty-fourth at the Australian Open, Kanepi lost in the first round to Garbiñe Muguruza.

Unable to obtain a wild card or protected ranking for the main draw, Kanepi 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, Yanina Wickmayer and Naomi Osaka, reaching the second week at a major since the 2014 US Open. She then defeated Russia's Daria Kasatkina to advance to her second US Open quarterfinal, her sixth Grand Slam quarterfinal overall, and her first quarterfinal at a major since Wimbledon 2013. She lost her quarterfinal match to fifteenth seed and eventual finalist 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.

Kanepi managed to finish the year ranked just outside the top 100 at 107, her best end-of-year ranking since 2014.

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.

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.

In February, Kanepi competed at the Dubai Tennis Championships. In the first round, she faced Svetlana Kuznetsova. Kuznetsova led 4–1 in the first set before Kanepi retired due to a back injury. At the BNP Paribas Open, Kanepi lost in the first round to qualifier Ons Jabeur. Kanepi had a better result at the Miami Open. She had her first win since Hobart by defeating Françoise Abanda in the first round. In the second round, she beat twenty-eighth seed Varvara Lepchenko. In the third round, Kanepi took fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki to three sets, but she still lost the match. After Miami, Kanepi played at the Katowice Open. Seeded fifth, she beat qualifier Shahar Pe'er in the first round. She was defeated in the second round by lucky loser Elizaveta Kulichkova.

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

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 began her 2012 season at the Brisbane International. She advanced to the final defeating qualifier Alexandra Panova, seventh seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, second seed Andrea Petkovic, and third seed Francesca Schiavone. In the final, she beat Daniela Hantuchová to win her second WTA title. At the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open, Kanepi lost in second round to Ekaterina Makarova.

A Bilateral Achilles' heel injury caused Kanepi to withdraw from the Aegon Classic, Aegon International, Wimbledon Championships, 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 played one tournament before the US Open which was the Connecticut Open. She fell in the final round of qualifying to Sílvia Soler Espinosa. At the US Open, Kanepi reached the fourth round after victories over Pauline Parmentier, twenty-fourth seed and 2011 champion Sam Stosur, and fifteenth seed Carla Suárez Navarro. She lost in the fourth round to top seed, two-time defending champion, and eventual champion Serena Williams.

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.

Kanepi played one grass-court tournament before Wimbledon which was the Topshelf Open. She was defeated in the first round by top seed Roberta Vinci. At the Wimbledon Championships, Kanepi advanced to the quarterfinal for the first time since 2010 defeating British wildcard Tara Moore, seventh seed Angelique Kerber, Alison Riske, and home crowd favorite Laura Robson. She lost her quarterfinal match to twenty-third seed and eventual finalist Sabine Lisicki.

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.

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.

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

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

Kanepi began her clay-court season at the Volvo Car Open. She reached the third round beating Veronika Kudermetova and sixth seed Elise Mertens. She was defeated in her third-round match by eleventh seed Danielle Collins. At the Mutua Madrid Open, Kanepi lost in the final round of qualifying to Kristýna Plíšková. Ranked eighty-eight at the French Open, Kanepi advanced to the fourth round for the first time since 2008 after wins over eighteenth seed Julia Görges, Shuai Zhang, and Veronika Kudermetova. She was defeated in her fourth-round match by thirty-first seed Petra Martić.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.