- Olga Puchkova
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Olga Puchkova
Ольга Пучкова
Olga at Sunfeast Open, 2006Country 
Russia
BelarusResidence Miami Shores, USA Born September 27, 1987
Moscow, USSR (now Russia)Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) Turned pro 2002 Plays Right-handed (two-handed backhand) Career prize money $449,484 Singles Career record 188–154 Career titles 5 ITF, 0 WTA Highest ranking No. 32 (June 11, 2007) Grand Slam results Australian Open 2nd (2007,(2008) French Open 2nd (2007) Wimbledon 1st (2007) US Open 1st (2006), (2007) Doubles Career record 14–28 Career titles 0 Highest ranking No. 336 (Oct 8, 2006) Last updated on: March 22, 2010. Olga Alekseyevna Puchkova (also Poutchkova; Rus: Ольга Алексеевна Пучкова) (born September 27, 1987) is a Russian professional tennis player and model.[1] As a junior she played for Belarus,[2] and is sometimes listed as Belarusian as a professional.[3]
Contents
Career
Early years
Olga Poutchkova, coached by her father Alex Poutchkov, was No 1 in the World in the ITF U12 rankings in 1999.[2] Olga won the U12 category in the Eddie Herr in 1999, where she beat Shahar Pe'er 6–2, 6–2 in the final,[4] and a week later was runner up in the U12 category at the Orange Bowl, where qualifier Tatiana Golovin beat her 6–4, 3–6, 6–4.[5]
Olga made her debut on the U18 circuit August 13, 2000 at the USTA Junior International Grass Court Championships where she was defeated in the first round.[6] Just a week later, at the USTA Junior International Hard Court Championships she secured her first win in a U18 doubles match playing alongside Brazilian Caroline Neves.[7] Alongside American Nicole Pitts she won her first U18 Junior tournament (out of 2 in doubles) in Ecuador, January 2001.[8] She won her only U18 Junior title in singles at the US Junior International Hard Court Championships in 2003, beating Jessi Robinson 6–2, 6–2 in the final.[9]
ITF Circuit
Poutchkova started her ITF professional career in March 2002, when she played in four tournaments in Australia, reaching the quarterfinals at Warnambool and Benalla.[10] In 2003 she reached the final at Miami in January and the semifinal at Houston in June, and won her first professional tournament at Baltimore in July 2003 when she beat Jewel Peterson 6–2, 6–4 in the final.[11] She won her second professional title July 11, 2004 in College Park, Maryland.[12][13] She defeated first seeded Maureen Drake in the second round and Rossana de los Ríos in the final: 7–5, 4–6, 6–2.[14] In Pelham, Alabama she reached another final, but was defeated 4–6, 6–4 6–0 by Slovak Zuzana Zemenová.[15] She reached her fifth ITF final in August 2005, beating Stéphanie Dubois en route. In the final, Ashley Harkleroad was too strong as she beat Poutchkova 6–2, 6–1 to claim the Washington, D.C. title.[16]
2006: Breakthrough Year
In 2006 she made her WTA Tour main draw debut in Hobart, Australia as a qualifier; however she lost in the first round to Mara Santangelo.[17] Afterwards she tried to qualify for the 2006 Australian Open, but failed. She returned to the ITF tour and reached another final in Hammond, Louisiana at the end of March. She comfortably won the final, beating Andrea Hlaváčková 6–3, 6–4 to win her third ITF Title.[18]
Her first WTA Tour main draw win in Birmingham followed in June, beating fellow qualifier Viktoriya Kutuzova. She then lost her second round match against 4th seed fellow Russian Elena Likhovtseva.[17] Back in the IFF Tour she cruised to the final in Felixstowe's grass tournament, where she turned out to be way too strong for Australian Trudi Musgrave who was beaten by 6–2, 6–1.[19] As being second seed in Bronx, New York she won yet another ITF title. First seed Melinda Czink was already beaten in the first round by Dutch Elise Tamaëla. Poutchkova herself won all her matches and faced Belarusian Tatiana Poutchek final, which was easily won by Poutchkova 6–3, 6–1.[20]
After failing to qualify for the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon earlier in 2006, she successfully qualified for the 2006 US Open, beating Virginie Pichet, Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro and Ryoko Fuda.[21] She then faced Marion Bartoli in the first round and was not able to excel against the 26th seed (6–4, 6–0).[22]
Poutchkova reached her first WTA Tour final in Kolkata, India, in September 2006, losing to Martina Hingis (6–0, 6–4), but beating seventh seed Nicole Pratt en route.[23] A week previously she had reached her first Tour singles quarter-final at the Tier III Bali, Indonesia notching up her first top 20 victory along the way when beating Ana Ivanović.[24]
At the end of the season, Olga reached her second WTA Tour final in Quebec City, Canada. She lost to Marion Bartoli 6–0 6–0, becoming the first woman since 1993 to lose by that scoreline in a Tour final, although she was injured during the final.[25]
2007 to present
Puchkova made her Top 100 debut in 2006, and peaked at a high of World No. 32 on June 17, 2007.[17] However, her results soon began to tail off, and she didn't reach another quarterfinal until her last tournament of the 2007 season in Bell Challenge. Prior to that she failed to win back-to-back matches on the season, although after the Bell Challenge she managed to reach the final of an ITF event in Pittsburgh, losing to Ashley Harkleroad in three sets. By the end of the season, Puchkova's ranking had fallen to 92, and her record
At the 2008 Australian Open, she won her first round match, but lost 6–1, 7–5 to World No. 1 Justine Henin in the second round. Her year would improve slightly as she finished runner-up in the Charlottesville ITF event falling to Alexis King ranked 640 in the world. She had to attempt to qualify for the 2008 French Open before falling to eventual quarterfinalist Carla Suárez Navarro of Spain in the qualifying playoff round. She then fell at the same stage in Wimbledon qualifying to Eva Hrdinová. She failed to qualify for another main draw of a tour-level tournament in 2008, but did receive direct entry into the Bell Challenge before losing in the second round to Melanie Oudin 6-1, 7-6(3). Her last event ended in a first round loss in San Diego, and her ranking dipped to 159. She went 15-28 on the season.
She fell in the final round of qualifying yet again in the 2009 Australian Open, and didn't enter into a WTA tournament until she was given the opportunity to qualify for the Bell Challenge. She did manage to qualify, but lost to Amra Sadikovic in the opening main draw round. 19-22 by the end of the season, Puchkova's woes continued and she was ranked 226 in her last tournament of the year in Toronto.
Career statistics
WTA Tour singles finals: 1 (0-1)
Legend (Singles) Grand Slam (0) Tour Championships (0) Tier I Event (0) Tier II Event (0) Tier III Event (1) Tier IV Event (0) Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score Runner-up 1. September 24, 2006 
Kolkata, IndiaCarpet 
Martina Hingis6–0, 6–4 ITF Circuit singles titles: 5
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score 1. July 20, 2003 Baltimore, Maryland, United States Hard 
Jewel Peterson6–2, 6–4 2. July 11, 2004 College Park, Maryland, United States Hard 
Rossana de los Ríos7–5, 4–6, 6–2 3. April 2, 2006 Hammond, Louisiana, United States Hard 
Andrea Hlaváčková6–3, 6–4 4. July 16, 2006 Felixstowe, Great Britain Grass 
Trudi Musgrave6–2, 6–1 5. August 20, 2006 Bronx, New York, United States Hard Tatiana Poutchek6–3, 6–1 References
- ^ Olga Poutchkova: Model and Professional Tennis Player, Poutchkova.com
- ^ a b Olga Poutchkova profile, Juniortennis.com
- ^ 2006 Wimbledon player record, For instance, Wimbledon listed her as Belarusian in 2006 when she played in the qualifiers
- ^ Eddie Herr 1999, Juniortennis.com
- ^ Orange Bowl 1999, Juniortennis.com
- ^ USTA Junior International Grass Court Championships 2000, International Tennis Federation
- ^ USTA Junior International Hard Court Championships 2000, International Tennis Federation
- ^ Nicolas Macchiavello Almeida Cup 2001, International Tennis Federation
- ^ US Junior International Hard Court Championships 2003, International Tennis Federation
- ^ Olga Poutchkova 2002 results, www.photo-tennisdatabase.com
- ^ Olga Poutchkova 2003 results, www.photo-tennisdatabase.com
- ^ $25,000 College Park, MD 2004, International Tennis Federation
- ^ Olga Puchkova 2004 results, www.photo-tennisdatabase.com
- ^ $25,000 College Park, MD 2004 Results, International Tennis Federation
- ^ $25,000 Pelham, AL 2004, International Tennis Federation
- ^ $75,000 Washington, DC 2005, International Tennis Federation
- ^ a b c Olga Poutchkova (Rus) 2006 in detail
- ^ $25,000 Hammond, LA 2006, International Tennis Federation
- ^ $25,000 Felixstowe 2006, International Tennis Federation
- ^ $50,000 Bronx, New York 2006, International Tennis Federation
- ^ U.S. Open 2006 qualification, International Tennis Federation
- ^ U.S. Open 2006 main, International Tennis Federation
- ^ Kolkata 2006, International Tennis Federation
- ^ Bali 2006, International Tennis Federation
- ^ Challengebell Open results, Challengebell.com
External links
Categories:- 1987 births
- Living people
- Belarusian expatriates in the United States
- Belarusian female tennis players
- Belarusian people of Russian descent
- People from Miami-Dade County, Florida
- People from Moscow
- Russian expatriates in the United States
- Russian female models
- Russian female tennis players
- Russian people of Belarusian descent
- Sportspeople from Moscow
- Tennis people from Florida
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