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. Akgul played her first ever match on the WTA Circuit in her home town of Tashkent. She lost in the first round of qualifying.She received a wildcard into her home town tournament the Tashkent Open. However she lost to eventual finalst Seda Noorlander of the Netherlands 6–4, 6–2. She received a cheque for $1,000 after this match, the biggest of her tennis career. Akgul played her first ITF Tournaments in 2002, she managed to reach the semi finals in Mysore and finals in Manila and Hyderabad, both times losing to Sania Mirza. She played for Uzbekistan in the Fed Cup for the first time at the age of 18, she beat three of her four group opponents. Beating Thailand, The Philippines and Hong Kong but losing to Akiko Morigami of Japan. She ended 2002 with a Singles record of 18–7 and a ranking of 665.This was a successful year for Amanmuradova, winning four singles titles including a $25,000 ITF Tournament in Mumbai. She also secured victories in Incheon, Pune and another in Mumbai. She ended the year with a singles record of 36–8 and a singles ranking of 405.

Akgul played in the 2004 Fed Cup but lost all three of her matches including a defeat by India's Sania Mirza. Electing to play in more $25,000 tournaments Akgul experienced less success than the previous year. In August 2004 Akgul decided to play in another $10,000 tournament in Coimbra, Portugal, She battled through the first few rounds, experiencing a tricky three set match against Maša Zec Peškirič before reaching the final. Here she faced world no. 679 Irina Kotkina a player ranked almost three hundred places below Akgul. Akgul breezed through the match 6–2, 6–3 for her fifth title. The year kept getting better for Akgul as she reached two $25,000 semi finals in New Delhi and Mumbai and two more titles in Pune and Bangkok. She ended the year with a singles record of 25–13 and a ranking of 334.In 2005 Akgul qualified for her first ever WTA Tour tournament in Pattaya City, Thailand. She made it to the second round before falling to Shahar Pe'er 6–4, 6–2. Continuing her WTA success she headed to Hyderbad in India and qualified there, before falling to world no. 65 Tamarine Tanasugarn. With this success she broke into the top 300 for the first time. In the Fed Cup Akgul won all her matches easily, without dropping more than two games per match, including a double bagel over Syria. This moved Uzbekistan into Asia/Oceania group 1 for 2006

She reached semi finals in Phuket and Coimbra but her real success story came when she returned to her home town of Tashkent for the Tashkent Open. Receiving a wild card into the main draw, Amanmuradova dispatched no. 2 seed Alona Bondarenko in straight sets. She then proceeded to knock out Galina Voskoboeva, Elena Vesnina and Maria Elena Camerin all of whom were ranked much higher than her. This brought Akgul to her first WTA Final against Michaëlla Krajicek. Akgul fought hard for her homecrowd but ultimately wasn't skilled enough to win losing: 6–0, 4–6, 6–3. This run pushed Akgul into the top 200 for the first time. She ended 2005 with a singles record of 23–15 and a ranking of 193.Akgul received a wild card entry into the Australian Open where she defeated Dally Randriantefy in three sets in the first round. In the second round she faced 17th seed Daniela Hantuchová and was defeated 6–4, 6–1. Akgul then tried to qualify for Pattaya City and Bangalore but lost in the qualifying tournaments. Akgul represented Uzbekistan in the Fed Cup again this time playing in the Asia/Oceania Group 1. Akgul lost to Samantha Stosur of Australia and Mi Yoo of South Korea. Uzbekistan was made to play New Zealand in the relegation play-off and Akgul was matched up against Marina Erakovic. She lost 7–5, 6–1 and Uzbekistan was relegated. Akgul tried to qualify for Wimbledon, the French open and the US Open but lost in the qualifying tournaments. Akgul returned to Tashkent but failed to replicate her run from last year, falling to Tamarine Tanasugarn in the first round, this meant she would fall out of the top 200 for the first time in 2006. In November 2006 Akgul headed to Shanghai to play the Shanghai $50,000 tournament. She played very well here and defeated the first, third and fifth seeds to reach the final. Here she faced Tamarine Tanasugarn once again, and once again she was unable to defeat her, losing 6–3, 6–3. At the very end of 2006 Akgul reached the final at Pune a tournament she had won two times before. However she was forced to retire with a knee strain whilst trailing 7–6 (5) 4–2. She ended the year with a 21–21 record and a ranking of 227.

She began the year by losing in the qualifying tournament at the Australian Open, this meant a significant drop in rankings as she had reached the second round in the previous year. In March 2007 Akgul headed to the $25,000 ITF Mumbai Tournament, which she won for the third time in her career, dispatching Stefanie Vögele in the final. At the French Open she managed to qualify by defeating María José Argeri, Evgeniya Rodina and Gréta Arn. In the first round she faced world no. 74 Vania King who she defeated in a tight match 7–6 (5) 4–6, 6–3. In the second round Akgul came up against world no. 10 Nicole Vaidišová who she lost to 6–2, 6–4. This success boosted her ranking back into the top 200, reaching a career high of 141. In July 2007 Akgul headed to Cincinnati. Here she managed to qualify and make it to the semi finals defeating Bethanie Mattek along the way. However she lost to Akiko Morigami in the semi final 6–7 (8) 6–4, 6–3, the same girl she had lost to in the fed cup five years prior. This success pushed her ranking up to 108, she was knocking on the door of the top 100. After another good performance in Tashkent Amanmuradova moved into the top 100 for the first time. She ended the year with a record of 32–20 and a ranking of 97. She began the year with a direct acceptance into the Australian Open, the first time she had ever been accepted straight into a grand slam. She lost in the first round to 26th seed Victoria Azarenka 6–2, 7–5.
Playing in the fed cup Amanmuradova defeated Yung-Jun Chan of Chinese Taipei and Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand for a chance of promotion. However she lost to Marina Erakovic of New Zealand in the promotion play off. At Pattaya City Amanmuradova managed to make it to the semi finals, losing to American Jill Craybas 6–4, 6–0. After this she rose to a career high of 85. In Berlin Amanmuradova managed to qualify for the premier event. After knocking out Aravane Rezaï of France, Akgul faced world no. 2 Ana Ivanović, the first time she had played a top five player. She held her own, pushing the first set to a tie-break before losing the match: 7–6 (0) 6–2. Akgul was filled with confidence and playing some of her best tennis, at the 2008 İstanbul Cup she made it to the semi finals defeating Nadia Petrova en route. Here she fell to world no. 7 Elena Dementieva. After this she reached her highest ever ranking of 50. For the rest of the year she didn't excel as much as previously. She made it to the second round of the French Open for the second year running. She represented Uzbekistan at the Beijing Olympics losing to Francesca Schiavone in the first round. She ended the year with a 22–29 singles record and a ranking of 80.

Akgul began the year by reaching the second round at the Australian Open, defeating Melanie Oudin in the first round before falling to María José Martínez Sánchez. Her ranking slipped throughout the year as she had little success on the WTA Tour. She went to play at the $100,000 Biarritz event and reached the semi-finals, defeating world no. 86 Mathilde Johansson in the process, before falling to Julia Görges. The next week she reached another semi-final at a $50,000 tournament in Contrexéville. She returned to the WTA Tour, but had little success until her home tournament, the Tashkent Open where she reached her second WTA Tour final. She defeated Stefanie Vögele and Yaroslava Shvedova in straight sets en route to the final. In the final she was defeated by Shahar Pe'er 6–3, 6–4. Akgul and partner Ai Sugiyama won the 2009 AEGON International at Eastbourne. This is the only WTA Premier event played on grass. She also won the $100,000 ITF doubles tournament in Cueno alongside Darya Kustova. She ended the 2009 season ranked 85 with a win-loss record of 25–27. 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 Záhlavová-Strýcová 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 Valérie Tétreault 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. She ended the year in the 100 for the 4th year in a row with a ranking of 70.