Julia Olehivna Vakulenko (; born 10 July 1983) is a Ukrainian-born Spanish former tennis player. She achieved her career-high singles ranking of world No. 32 in November 2007. Vakulenko reached one WTA Tour final and won seven ITF singles titles.
In April 2008, Vakulenko renounced her Ukrainian citizenship, and then announced her decision to acquire the citizenship of Spain where she had lived for the previous 10 years.Известная теннисистка отказалась от украинского гражданства, korrespondent.net, April 23, 2008, Reuters, Apr 23, 2008
Career At the 2006 French Open, Vakulenko reached the third round, losing to seventh seed Patty Schnyder.
Having entered the tournament as a qualifier, she defeated then world No. 4 Kim Clijsters in the second round of 2007 J&S Cup in Warsaw, Poland. Vakulenko retired due to injury while trailing by a set and a break of serve in her quarterfinal with fellow Ukrainian player Alona Bondarenko. A week later at the 2007 German Open in Berlin, Vakulenko defeated world No. 3 Amélie Mauresmo and world No. 10 Dinara Safina, both in three sets, on the same day after rain stoppages had caused havoc with the event's schedule. She retired in the first set of her semifinal match against 12th seed and eventual champion Ana Ivanovic due to a hand injury.
On 28 August 2007, in the first round of the US Open, Vakulenko defeated ninth seed Daniela Hantuchová in three sets. She eventually reached the fourth round, her best performance at a major, before falling to Ágnes Szávay.
Seeded third at the final event of the 2007 season, the Bell Challenge in Quebec City, Canada, Vakulenko reached the first WTA Tour final of her career. En route, she defeated Rossana de los Ríos, wildcard entrant Stéphanie Dubois, fifth seed Olga Govortsova and qualifier Julie Ditty. In the championship match, she lost in straight sets to three-time Grand Slam champion Lindsay Davenport, who was playing in only her third event since giving birth.
After changing her citizenship from Ukraine to Spain in April 2008, she planned to play for Spain in the Fed Cup, but was not able to compete in the 2008 Summer Olympics due to lack of time to be included in Spain's application.
WTA Tour finals Singles: 1 (runner-up) Winner – LegendGrand SlamTier ITier IITier III, IV & V (0–1)
ResultDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss Nov 2007 Bell Challenge, Canada Tier III Carpet (i) Lindsay Davenport 4–6, 1–6
ITF finals Legend$75,000 tournaments$50,000 tournaments$25,000 tournaments$10,000 tournaments
Singles (7–6) ResultNo.DateLocationSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss 1. 28 September 1998 Lerida, Spain Clay Mariam Ramón Climent 1–6, 3–6Win 2. 6 December 1998 Mallorca, Spain Clay Laura Pena 6–4, 6–1Loss 3. 3 April 2000 Dinan, France Clay Melanie Schnell 6–2, 1–6, 2–6Loss 4. 18 June 2000 Lenzerheide, Switzerland Clay Kira Nagy 2–6, 6–3, 6–7Loss 5. 10 July 2000 Getxo, Spain Clay María José Martínez Sánchez 4–6, 0–6Loss 6. 5 August 2001 Saint-Gaudens, France Clay Céline Beigbeder 4–6, 1–6Win 7. 17 November 2002 Deauville, France Clay (i) Virginie Pichet 6–2, 6–1Win 8. 3 December 2002 Daytona Beach, United States Hard Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6–4, 6–0Win 9. 29 September 2003 Girona, Spain Clay Barbora Strýcová 7–5, 2–0 ret.Win 10. 8 February 2009 Rancho Mirage, United States Hard Lauren Albanese 6–0, 6–1Loss 11. 16 February 2009 Surprise, United States Hard Yanina Wickmayer 7–6(0), 3–6, 3–4 ret.Win 12. 27 June 2009 Périgueux, France Clay Sophie Ferguson 6–2, 7–5Win 13. 10 August 2009 Koksijde, Belgium Clay Iryna Brémond 7–5, 6–1
Doubles (0–1) ResultDateLocationSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 23 November 2003 Barcelona, Spain Clay Núria Roig Marta Fraga Adriana González-Peñas 3–6, 3–6
Singles performance timeline
Tournament 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Career W-L Grand Slam tournaments Australian OpenQ1AQ32RAA2R1RAQ12–3 French OpenAQ23R1RA3R1R1RQ1A4–5 WimbledonQ3Q21R1R2R1R1R1RQ1A1–6 US OpenQ3A2R2RAA4R1RQ1A5–4GS Win–loss0–00–03–32–41–12–24–40–40–00–012–18 Tier I tournamentsDoha1 Not Tier I or Was Not HeldA0–0Indian WellsAA1RAA1RA0–2MiamiAA1RAA3RA2–2Charleston1RAAA3R1RA2–3BerlinAA1RA2RSFA5–3Rome2RAAAAA1R1–2Montreal/TorontoAAAAA1R0–1TokyoAA1RAAA0–1MoscowAAAAAA0–0San Diego1AAAAA1R-0–1Zurich1AAAAAA-0–0 Tier II tournamentsAmelia Island1AAAAA2R-1–1Warsaw1AAA2R2R3R-4–3Stanford1AAAAA1R-0–1Los Angeles1AAAAA1R-0–1Luxembourg1AAAAA1R-0–1Stuttgart1AAAAA2R-1–1Linz1AAAAAQF-3–1 Tier III tournamentsBirmingham1AAAAA3R-2–1 Tier IV tournamentsHyderabad1A1RAAAA-0–1 Tier V tournamentsCasablanca1AA1RAAA-0–1 Year-end ranking2097312918512032N/A 1 Doha became a Tier I tournament in 2008, replacing San Diego and Zürich
Head-to-head record
Dinara Safina 1–1 Jelena Kostanić 1–0 Svetlana Kuznetsova Flavia Pennetta 2–1 Daniela Hantuchová 1–1 Elena Dementieva 0–1 Patty Schnyder Francesca Schiavone Anna Chakvetadze 1–0 Maria Sharapova 0–1 Ai Sugiyama 1–0 Jelena Janković 1–1 Amélie Mauresmo 1–1 Kim Clijsters 1–1 Caroline Wozniacki 0–1 Anna Kournikova 0–1 Lindsay Davenport 0–1 Ana Ivanovic 0–1 Justine Henin 0–1 Serena Williams 0–1 Petra Kvitová 0–1 Mary Pierce 0–1 Kimiko Date-Krumm Paola Suárez Alicia Molik Marion Bartoli 0–1
Top 10 wins Season 2007 Total Wins 3 3
#PlayerRankEventSurfaceRoundScore2007 1. Kim ClijstersNo. 4Warsaw OpenClay2R 7–6(7–3), 6–3 No. 61 2. Amélie MauresmoNo. 3German OpenClay3R 2–6, 6–1, 6–2 No. 53 3. Dinara SafinaNo. 10German OpenClayQF 6–3, 5–7, 6–3 No. 53
References
External links