Daria Gavrilova


Daria Alexeyevna Gavrilova is an Australian professional tennis player. She represented Russia until 2015, before emigrating to Australia.
Nicknamed Dasha, Gavrilova has won one singles and two doubles WTA titles, and has additionally won four singles and two doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 28 August 2017, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 20. On 25 September 2017, she peaked at No. 45 in the doubles rankings.
Gavrilova was an accomplished junior player, having won the 2010 Youth Olympic Games and 2010 US Open, also reaching a combined career-high junior ranking of world No. 1 in August 2010.
Throughout her career, Gavrilova has achieved victories against former Grand Slam champions Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, Angelique Kerber, and Petra Kvitová, with all of these players being ranked in the top 10 at the time.

Career

2010

Gavrilova was chosen to represent Russia at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games held in Singapore. Despite entering the draw unseeded, Gavrilova progressed to the gold medal match, beating Stefanie Tan, top seed Elina Svitolina, Tang Haochen and seventh seed Jana Čepelová. In the final, Gavrilova went a set down against Zheng Saisai of China, but rallied to win the gold medal. Following her win, Gavrilova became the top ranked junior player by the ITF.
In September, she competed in the junior event at the US Open as the top seed. She progressed through the draw with wins over Lauren Davis, Caroline Price, Tang Haochen, Robin Anderson and Sloane Stephens to set up an all-Russian final with Yulia Putintseva, emerging with a two sets victory. In addition, Gavrilova competed in the doubles event with fellow Russian Irina Khromacheva, progressing to the semifinal, before losing to eventual champions Tímea Babos and Sloane Stephens.
Following her success in junior tennis, Gavrilova was awarded a wildcard into the main draw of the WTA event in her hometown of Moscow. She faced Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko and lost her WTA debut in straight sets. She ended the year as the No. 1 junior player, and at No. 515 in the WTA rankings.

2011

Gavrilova suffered disappointment in her attempts to become the first junior player since Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to win two Grand Slam titles, with first-round defeats at the Australian Open and Wimbledon events, a quarterfinal defeat to eventual champion Ons Jabeur at the French Open and a second-round defeat to American Victoria Duval in her defence of her US Open title. As the reigning junior champion, Gavrilova was awarded a wildcard into the qualifying draw for the main event, but lost her first match against Kurumi Nara.
Beginning to compete on the ITF Women's Circuit, Gavrilova lost her first final in the $25k event in Moscow to Lyudmyla Kichenok, but later in the year, claimed her first professional title at the $10k event in Antalya, beating fellow Russian Ksenia Lykina in the final. Gavrilova ended the year ranked No. 383 on the WTA Tour.

2012

In April, Gavrilova won her first professional doubles title, claiming the title at a $25k event in Chiasso, Switzerland, along with partner Irina Khromacheva. The pair continued their partnership at the junior event at the French Open and claimed the title over Montserrat González and Beatriz Haddad Maia.
In June, Gavrilova qualified for the main draw at a WTA event for the first time at the UNICEF Open in the Netherlands, beating higher ranked players Anastasia Rodionova and Yuliya Beygelzimer to progress to the first round. Gavrilova then earned her career-best win, thrashing world No. 35 Yanina Wickmayer in straight sets but lost in the next round to Kirsten Flipkens.

2013

Gavrilova began her season by playing in the qualifying draw in Brisbane. She upset Mariana Duque-Mariño in the first round, before losing to Vania King. At the Australian Open, Gavrilova earned a place in the qualifying draw based on her ranking for the first time. In the first round, she beat Stephanie Vogt before upsetting 24th seed Eugenie Bouchard. In the final round of qualification, Gavrilova beat Zhou Yimiao in three sets, to earn a spot in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her career. In the first round, she faced American Lauren Davis and won in three sets. Gavrilova's maiden major run came to an end in the second round against fellow qualifier Lesia Tsurenko.
In February, Gavrilova competed at the Qatar Open, a Premier-5 level event. In the qualifying draw, Gavrilova defeated Kristina Barrois, before losing to Tadeja Majerič. However, following the withdrawal of Maria Kirilenko, Gavrilova returned to the draw as a lucky loser, and beat Anabel Medina Garrigues in the first round. In the second round, Gavrilova played her first match against a top-ten player in world, No. 2 Serena Williams, and lost in straight sets. Gavrilova underwent a knee reconstruction in October and finished 2013 ranked No. 144.

2014

Gavrilova resumed to play in July on the ITF Circuit ranked No. 368. At the $50k event in Sacramento, California, her first event of the year, she claimed the doubles title alongside Storm Sanders, her highest level win to date. In August, it was announced that Gavrilova would play at the US Open representing Australia. She made the second round of qualification rounds, beating Tadeja Majerič but falling to Chan Yung-jan. In September, Gavrilova qualified for the Pan Pacific Open. She reached the second round, where she was beaten by Carla Suárez Navarro. In early October, Gavrilova claimed the second singles title of her career, defeating Sabina Sharipova in straight sets to win the $25k event at Bangkok. She also reached the final of the doubles competition at the event with her partner Irina Khromacheva, but they lost in straight sets.
In December, Gavrilova competed at the internal wildcard playoff for the 2015 Australian Open. She advanced to the final by beating top seed Olivia Rogowska in the semifinal, before beating Arina Rodionova in straight sets to guarantee herself a place in the main draw of the first major of 2015.

2015

Gavrilova commenced the season by competing at the Brisbane International. Coming through qualifying, she lost in the second round to third seed Angelique Kerber.
In February, Gavrilova won the $50,000 tournament in Burnie, Australia, defeating top seed Irina Falconi in the final. It was her biggest title win to date. The following week, she competed at the $50,000 tournament in Launceston, and advanced to the semifinals in straight sets. There, she beat Falconi in three sets. Later that evening, she played the final against Tereza Mrdeža and won the title with a two-set victory, her second $50,000 title in two weeks.
In the Miami open, Gavrilova beat second seed Maria Sharapova in the second round, claiming her first victory over a top-ten player. She subsequently defeated Kurumi Nara in her next match before losing to Karolína Plíšková in the fourth round. Gavrilova then played at the $100,000 in Cagnes-sur-Mer as the third seed. She lost in the quarterfinals to Pauline Parmentier. Her next tournament was the Premier-5 Internazionali BNL d'Italia where she qualified by defeating higher ranked players Kurumi Nara and Sílvia Soler Espinosa. She then defeated world No. 33 Belinda Bencic in three sets in the first round, and world No. 7, Ana Ivanovic. After splitting the first two sets, Gavrilova defeated Ivanovic in the tiebreak on her eighth match point. This was Gavrilova's second top-10 win in a matter of months. She would then progress to the semifinals, losing there in straight sets to Maria Sharapova. It was Gavrilova's first semifinal on the WTA Tour.

2016: Hopman Cup champion and first WTA Premier final

Gavrilova began her season playing at the 2016 Hopman Cup in the Australia Green team, alongside Nick Kyrgios. In the round-robin stage of the tournament, her only singles win was over Sabine Lisicki, however she and Kyrgios were undefeated in the mixed-doubles stage of each tie. In their tie against France, Gavrilova saved a match point in the mixed doubles event when Australia was down 8–9 in the match tiebreak. They went on to win the match in three sets, securing their place in the final. Gavrilova and Kyrgios were the eventual champions of the tournament, defeating the Ukrainian team of Elina Svitolina and Alexandr Dolgopolov in both singles matches. This was only the second time that the Australian team has won the Hopman Cup, the first time being in 1999.
In the Australian Open, she had wins against Lucie Hradecká, Petra Kvitová, and Kristina Mladenovic, but then lost in the fourth round to tenth seed Carla Suárez Navarro. In April, Gavrilova made the quarterfinal of Madrid and the third round of Rome. At the French Open, Gavrilova lost to Mariana Duque-Mariño in round one and made the second round of Wimbledon. At the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Gavrilova drew world No. 1 Serena Williams and lost in round one. At the US Open, she lost to Lucie Šafářová, again in round one.
In October, Gavrilova reached the quarterfinal at China Open, semifinal in Hong Kong and a week later, her first Premier final in Moscow, in both doubles and singles.

2017: First WTA Premier title

In August, Gavrilova won her first WTA title at the Connecticut Open in New Haven, defeating Dominika Cibulková in three sets.

2019

Gavrilova kicked off her 2019 season at the Brisbane International. She lost in the first round to eighth seed Anastasija Sevastova. In Sydney at the Sydney International, Gavrilova was defeated in the first round by qualifier Yulia Putintseva. At the Australian Open, Gavrilova lost in the first round to Tamara Zidanšek.
In Russia at the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy, Gavrilova was defeated in the first round by Maria Sharapova. During the Fed Cup tie versus the USA, Gavrilova played one rubber and lost to Danielle Collins. Despite her loss, Australia ended up winning the tie 3-2. At the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, Gavrilova was defeated in the first round by fourth seed Mihaela Buzărnescu. In March, Gavrilova competed at the BNP Paribas Open. She reached the third round where she lost to sixth seed Elina Svitolina. At the Miami Open, Gavrilova was defeated in the first round by Viktória Kužmová.
Beginning her clay-court season at the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Gavrilova lost in the first round to second seed Hsieh Su-wei. At the Mutua Madrid Open, Gavrilova was defeated in the first round by ninth seed Ashleigh Barty. In Rome at the Italian Open, Gavrilova lost in the first round of qualifying to Irina-Camelia Begu. Playing her final tournament before the French Open at the Internationaux de Strasbourg, Gavrilova advanced to the quarterfinal where she was defeated by Chloé Paquet. At the French Open, Gavrilova retired from her first-round match against Aleksandra Krunić due to a thigh injury.
In Eastbourne at the Eastbourne International, Gavrilova lost in the final round of qualifying to Fiona Ferro. Despite the loss, she entered the main draw as a lucky loser. She reached the second round where she was defeated by Shuai Zhang. At the Wimbledon Championships, Gavrilova lost in the first round to eighth seed Elina Svitolina.
Seeded seventh at the Ladies Open Lausanne, Gavrilova was defeated in the second round by Natalia Vikhlyantseva. At the Internazionali Femminili di Palermo, Gavrilova lost in the first round to eighth seed and eventual champion Jil Teichmann. Seeded fifth at the first edition of the Karlsruhe Open, Gavrilova was defeated in the first round by Tereza Martincová.
At the last Grand Slam of the year, the US Open, Gavrilova lost in the first round to Fiona Ferro.
Gavrilova didn't play any more tournaments for the rest of the season due to injuries. She ended the season ranked 237.

2020

Gavrilova missed the Australian Open due to her recovering from her injuries.

Personal life

Gavrilova's relationship with Australian tennis player Luke Saville influenced her decision to become an Australian citizen.
Gavrilova and Saville became engaged on 6 December 2018.

WTA career finals

Singles: 4 (1 title, 3 runner-ups)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss0–12016 Kremlin Cup – Women's Singles|Kremlin Cup, RussiaPremierHard Svetlana Kuznetsova2–6, 1–6
Loss0–22017 Internationaux de Strasbourg – Singles|Internationaux de Strasbourg, FranceInternationalClay Samantha Stosur7–5, 4–6, 3–6
Win1–22017 Connecticut Open – Singles|Connecticut Open, United StatesPremierHard Dominika Cibulková4–6, 6–3, 6–4
Loss1–32017 Hong Kong Tennis Open – Singles|Hong Kong Open, Hong Kong SARInternationalHard Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova7–5, 3–6, 6–7

Doubles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runners-up)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Win1–02015 İstanbul Cup – Doubles|İstanbul Cup, TurkeyInternationalHard Elina Svitolina Çağla Büyükakçay
Jelena Janković		5–7, 6–1,
Loss1–12016 Kremlin Cup – Women's Doubles|Kremlin Cup, RussiaPremierHard Daria Kasatkina Andrea Hlaváčková
Lucie Hradecká		6–4, 0–6,
Loss1–22017 Toray Pan Pacific Open – Doubles|Pan Pacific Open, JapanPremierHard Daria Kasatkina Andreja Klepač
María José Martínez Sánchez		3–6, 2–6
Win2–22019 Internationaux de Strasbourg – Doubles|Internationaux de Strasbourg, FranceInternationalClay Ellen Perez Duan Yingying
Han Xinyun		6–4, 6–3

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 6 (4 titles, 2 runner-ups)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss0–1Mar 2011ITF Moscow, Russia25,000Hard Lyudmyla Kichenok2–6, 0–6
Win1–1Apr 2011ITF Antalya, Turkey10,000Hard Ksenia Lykina6–4, 4–6, 6–2
Loss1–2May 2012ITF Moscow, Russia25,000Clay Margarita Gasparyan6–4, 4–6, 6–7
Win2–2Oct 2014ITF Bangkok, Thailand25,000Hard Sabina Sharipova7–6, 6–3
Win3–22015 McDonald's Burnie International – Women's Singles|ITF Burnie, Australia50,000Hard Irina Falconi7–5, 7–5
Win4–22015 Launceston Tennis International – Women's Singles|ITF Launceston, Australia50,000Hard Tereza Mrdeža6–1, 6–2

Doubles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

Team finals: 1 (1 title)

Top-10 wins

Junior Grand Slam finals

Girls' Singles (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Girls' Doubles (1 title)

Summer Youth Olympic Games

Singles: 1 gold medal