Kaia Kanepi

Kaia Kanepi (pronunciation: KEYE-ah KA-nep-i; born June 10, 1985 in Tallinn) is an Estonian professional female tennis player. Her career-high was No. 28 on October 6, 2008. She is right-handed and play two-handed backhand. Her favourite surface is clay.

Career

Her father, Jaak (a real estate broker) and mother Anne (a homemaker) played tennis. They also have daughters Kadri, who won a tennis scholarship to study in the U.S. and Karin, a dedicated horse rider. Kaia, who always watched her parents and sisters play, discovered her love for tennis at an early age. She started playing at the age of 8. Her family has always supported her desire to play professional tennis. She reached world No.1 on ITF Junior Rankings, before turning professional in 2000. She has won six ITF singles titles and is now top-ranked Estonian female tennis player followed by Maret Ani and Margit Rüütel.

She currently lives in Haapsalu, Estonia. From the beginning of 2008 Kaia is coached by Pablo Giacopelli.

At the end of the 2006 season, 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 players such as Anne Kremer, Nathalie Dechy, Eleni Daniilidou, Francesca Schiavone and Michaella Krajicek to eventually play the final against Kim Clijsters, where she lost, 3–6, 6–3, 4–6.

2007

At 2007 Australian Open, Kaia struggled but defeated 28 seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy in straight sets 7–5, 7–6, before losing to Alicia Molik 6–1, 3–6, 2–6 in the second round. At Indian Wells she had a tough 1st round against wildcard Kristina Brandi but prevailed and won 3–6, 7–5, 6–0. In the 2nd round she came up against the 14th seed and eventual champion, Daniela Hantuchová. Kanepi went down in 3 sets, losing 2–6, 6–2, 6–1. At Miami, she stunned Patty Schnyder in the 2nd round before losing to qualifier Vera Dushevina in round 3.

In late July, Kanepi won though to the semi finals of the Bad Gastein tournament in Austria where she fell to Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6–4 6–2. This was her 3rd ever semi final and first of the year. Afterwards, she made her top 40 debut at #40.

2008

Kanepi got another major boost at the 2008 French Open where she managed to take out sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze in straight sets, 6-4 7-6(2). She defeated 29th seed Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-1, 6-7, 7-5 for a place in the fourth round; outplaying unseeded Petra Kvitova 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 took her to the quarter finals, where she was finally defeated by 4th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 6-2.

Kanepi was granted direct entry in the 2008 Wimbledon Championships where she lost in the first round to seed number 6 Serena Williams 5-7, 3-6.

At 2008 Summer Olympics Kanepi made it to the 3rd round defeating Flavia Pennetta and Virginie Razzano on her way before losing to Li Na 6-4, 2-6, 0-6.

At 2008 US Open she defeated Monica Niculescu 6-0, 6-3 in first round, and lost to Amélie Mauresmo 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 in second round.

Kaia has had a very successful Asian swing of the WTA tour in September where she reached the quarter finals as a qualifier of the Tier I Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Japan where she came defeated such players as Vera Dushevina, World #13 Anna Chakvetadze and Virginie Razzano before losing to #5 Dinara Safina of Russia 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3.

She continued with this success by reaching the semi final at the Hansol Women's Open in Seoul, South Korea where she was beaten by the eventual champion and #1 seed Maria Kirilenko of Russia 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

She then made only her 2nd final at the WTA level at the Tier III Japan Open event in Tokyo, Japan. She defeated Lucie Safarova, Yanina Wickmayer, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and #8 seed Aleksandra Wozniak before losing in the final Danish World #16 and #1 seed Caroline Wozniacki in 3 sets 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.

Playing style

Kanepi builds up her game around her powerful groundstrokes making her an overall offensive baseliner. 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 for power and places her serves at opponents' bodies but occasionally tries to hit at the lines. Lately she has improved her volleying skills.

WTA Tour singles finals (2)

Wins (0)

Legend Grand Slam (0) WTA Championships (0) Tier I (0) Tier II (0) Tier III (0) Tier IV (0)

Titles by surface Hard 0 Clay 0 Grass 0 Carpet 0

No.	Date	Tournament Name	Tournament Location	Surface	Opponent in Final	Score in Final

Runner-up (2)

Legend Grand Slam tournaments 0 WTA Championships 0 Tier I 0 Tier II 0 Tier III 2 Tier IV & V 0

Runner-ups by surface Hard 2 Clay 0 Grass 0 Carpet 0

No.	Date	Tournament Name	Tournament Location	Surface	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1.	November 5, 2006	Gaz de France Stars	Hasselt, Belgium	Hard	Kim Clijsters	3-6, 6–3, 4–6
2.	October 5, 2008	AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Caroline Wozniacki	2-6, 6-3, 1-6

External links

• Official website