Yulia Putintseva

Yulia Antonovna Putintseva (Ю́лия Анто́новна Пути́нцева;, puh-TEEN-tseh-vah; born 7 January 1995) is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player.

Putintseva began playing on the ITF Junior Circuit in 2008 at the age of 13.

In May 2009, she won her first junior title at the Grade 2 International Junior Tournament Citta' Di Prato in Prato in singles event.

The following week, she won Grade 1 International Junior Tournament "Citta' Di Santa Croce" in Santa Croce, also in singles.

She then played at the Grade A Trofeo Bonfiglio, but lost to Sloane Stephens in the first round.

She continued with good results, and reached two Grade 1 singles finals, but won only one of them.

At the 2009 US Open, she made her Grand Slam debut and also recorded her first Grand Slam win, defeating Anna-Lena Friedsam.

Later, she reached final of Grade 1 Kentucky International Junior Tennis Derby, but lost to Zheng Saisai.

In December 2009, she played at the Grade A Dunlop Orange Bowl, where she lost in the third round to Ajla Tomljanović.

In 2010, Putintseva continued to rise.

She started year with quarterfinal of the Grade 1 Loy Yang Traralgon International.

After the Australian Open second-round loss, she finished as runner-up at the Open International Juniors de Beaulieu sur Mer.

Soon after that, she won Grade 2 International Junior Tournament Citta' Di Prato, that was her second title there.

She then reached two Grade 1 semifinals.

At Wimbledon, she reached her first Grand Slam semifinal, but then lost to Kristýna Plíšková.

In August, she played for Russia at the Youth Olympic Games and reached quarterfinal.

She then reached semifinal of the Grade 1 Canadian Open Junior Championships.

In early September, she played her first Grand Slam final at the US Open, but lost to compatriot Daria Gavrilova.

In November, she reached final of the Grade-1 Eddie Herr International Junior Tennis Championships.

In December, at the Dunlop World Challenge, she reached quarterfinals, getting one step further than previous year.

In 2011, Putintseva was not less successful than in the previous years.

She started year with the final of the Grade-1 Loy Yang Traralgon International, where she lost to Monica Puig.

It followed the third round of the Australian Open and quarterfinals at the French Open.

She then had a successful grass-court season, finishing runner-up at the Grade-1 Junior International - Roehampton and as quarterfinalist of Wimbledon.

At the US Open, she reached her third Grand Slam quarterfinal of the year.

In early December, she won the Grade-1 Eddie Herr International Junior Tennis Championships, defeating compatriot Victoria Kan in the final.

Before June 2012, she played for her country of birth, Russia.

Yulia Putintseva was born to Anton Putintsev and Anna Putintseva, and has a brother named Ilya.

Born in Moscow, she currently resides in Boca Raton, Florida.

She was introduced to sport by her father.

She liked it and was soon practising at Spartak Club in Moscow.

Later, she moved to Paris to attend Mouratouglou Academy after winning a big Under 14s event.

Her favourite surface is clay, while her favourite tournaments are Australian Open and US Open.

Tennis idols were Martina Hingis and Justine Henin.

She also enjoys dancing, music, singing, Sudoku, playing cards and chess.

As of the start of June 2012, she represents Kazakhstan.

Putintseva was successful as junior.

She is former No. 3 junior player, that she achieved on the 21 May 2012.

She is a three-time major quarterfinalist (twice at the French Open and once at the US Open), and achieved her career-high singles ranking of world No. 27 in February 2017.

She has won two singles titles on the WTA Tour.