Svetlana Parkhomenko
Svetlana Germanovna Parkhomenko is a retired Soviet and Russian tennis player and tennis coach. She was the winner of the Soviet singles tennis championships in 1985 and nine times Soviet champion in women's doubles and mixed doubles. On the international level, she was the winner of the 1983 European amateur championships in women's and mixeddoubles, bronze medalist of the 1983 Universiade in women's and mixed doubles, and winner of eight WTA doubles tournaments.
Parkhomenko also was the recipient of 1988 WTA Sportsmanship Award.
Biography
Svetlana Cherneva started playing tennis when she was 8 years old. Her first coach was the famous pre-war Soviet champion and coach Nina Teplyakova. In 1978, Svetlana won the singles and doubles title at European Junior Championships. In 1978, she also won the Soviet youth championships in singles, girls' and mixed doubles, and in 1980 in singles and girls' doubles. In 1980, she advanced with the Soviet girls team to the finals of Princess Sofia Cup.Starting in 1981, Svetlana won the senior Soviet doubles championships eight times. In addition, she became the singles champion in 1985 and mixed doubles champion in 1983. From 1981 she also played for the Soviet Union Federation Cup team. In total between 1981 and 1988, she played 28 rubbers for the Soviet team, mostly in doubles with Larisa Savchenko.
In 1983, Svetlana Cherneva won the European amateur championships in women's and mixed doubles and took bronze in the same disciplines at the 1983 Summer Universiade. From the same year she started playing in international professional tennis tournaments. In 1984 she won her first ITF titles is San Antonio and Delray Beach, and at the Wimbledon Championships advanced with Savchenko to quarterfinals after defeating 3rd seed Kathy Horvath and Virginia Ruzici, as well as Chris Evert and Catherine Tanvier. In the next three years Parkhomenko and Savchenko won seven Virginia Slims tournaments including four in 1987. They played three times in a row at the Virginia Slims Championships and in March 1986 advanced there to semifinals. In 1987 they reached Wimbledon semifinals after defeating world's best pair, recent Grand Slam winners Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver.
At the start of 1988 season, Svetlana Parkhomenko was ranked as high as eighth in the WTA doubles rankings. But in 1988, Larisa Savchenko broke with her to play doubles with young Natasha Zvereva. Without Savchenko, Parhomenko struggled to retain her best shape playing with other partners. She won one WTA tournament with Natalia Bykova and twice reached finals with Leila Meskhi, and at the end of the season she received WTA Sportsmanship Award.
After having completely missed 1989 season, Parkhomenko returned to play at the end 1990. In 1991, she was awarded the title of Honoured Master of Sports, becoming one of the last Soviet tennis players who received this title. In 1992, she returned to the top 10 of the Russian tennis and remained there for two more years. In 1993, she played three ties for the Russia Fed Cup team, winning her doubles games against Ukrainians and Lithuanians. After finishing her playing career in 1995, she coaches at the Moscow CSKA tennis club.
Virginia Slims and WTA Tour finals
Doubles (14)
Winner (8)
| No. | Date | Championship | Surface | Partnering | Opponents | Score |
| 1. | 1 April 1985 | Seabrook Island, USA | Clay |  Larisa Savchenko |  Elise Burgin Lori McNeil | 6–1, 6–3 |
| 2. | 9 September 1985 | Salt Lake City, USA | Hard | Larisa Savchenko |  Beverly Mould Rosalyn Fairbank | 7–5, 6–2 |
| 3. | 3 November 1986 | Little Rock, Arkansas, USA | Carpet | Larisa Savchenko |  Iva Budařová Beth Herr | 6–2, 1–6, 6–1 |
| 4. | 21 January 1987 | Wichita, USA | Carpet | Larisa Savchenko | Barbara Potter Wendy White | 6–2, 6–4 |
| 5. | 9 February 1987 | Oklahoma City, USA | Hard | Larisa Savchenko | Lori McNeil Kim Sands | 6–4, 6–4 |
| 6. | 16 February 1987 | Boca Raton, USA | Hard | Larisa Savchenko | Chris Evert Pam Shriver | 6–0, 3–6, 6–2 |
| 7. | 15 June 1987 | Eastbourne, Great Britain | Grass | Larisa Savchenko | Rosalyn Fairbank  Elizabeth Smylie | 7–6, 4–6, 7–5 |
| 8. | 29 February 1988 | Wichita, USA | Hard | Natalia Bykova | Jana Novotná  Catherine Suire | 6–3, 6–4 |
Runner-up (6)
ITF finals
Singles (3–5)
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Runner-up | 1. | 16 January 1984 | Delray Beach, United States | Hard | Anna Ivan | 3–6, 3–6 |
| Winner | 2. | 27 April 1992 | Sheffield, Great Britain | Hard | Angie Woolcock | 6–3, 4–6, 6–4 |
| Runner-up | 3. | 19 October 1992 | Moscow, Russia | Clay |  Elena Makarova | 5–7, 2–6 |
| Runner-up | 4. | 8 February 1993 | Sunderland, Great Britain | Carpet |  Gaby Coorengel | 6–3, 6–7, 3–6 |
| Runner-up | 5. | 3 May 1993 | Bracknell, Great Britain | Hard |  Marianne Vallin | 7–6, 3–6, 1–6 |
| Winner | 6. | 27 September 1993 | Bracknell, Great Britain | Hard |  Julie Pullin | 7–5, 6–2 |
| Winner | 7. | 4 October 1993 | Basingstoke, Great Britain | Hard | Emily Bond | 2–6, 6–3, 6–0 |
| Runner-up | 8. | 8 November 1993 | Swindon, Great Britain | Carpet | Emily Bond | 5–7, 3–6 |