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Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova (born 27 June 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player and as of 18 March 2013 ranked No. 45 in the WTA singles and No. 216 in the doubles ranking. Kuznetsova has appeared in four Grand Slam singles finals, winning two, and has also appeared in seven doubles finals, winning twice. As a doubles player, Kuznetsova has reached the finals of each grand slam at least once, winning the Australian twice. She has qualified five times for the round-robin stage of the WTA Tour Championships but has never qualified for the semifinals.
Born to an athletic family, Kuznetsova moved at the age of seven to Spain to attend the Sanchez-Casal Academy. Since her first appearance as a tennis player in a 2000 junior tournament, she was coached by numerous people and was sometimes without a coach. In 2001 she first appeared on a major tournament, the Madrid Open, and a year later won her first WTA title at the Nordea Nordic Light Open in Helsinki, Finland. Her first appearance in a Grand Slam was at the 2002 Australian Open but her first Grand Slam title came at the 2004 US Open, making her the third Russian woman to win a Grand Slam title, after Anastasia Myskina and Maria Sharapova. Kuznetsova's second Grand Slam title was the 2009 French Open, defeating compatriot Dinara Safina in the final in straight sets. At the 2006 French Open and the 2007 US Open singles tournament she was the runner-up, both times to Belgian player Justine Henin. As a result, Kuznetsova obtained a career-high No. 2 WTA ranking, holding that position for 24 weeks in 2007 and 2008.
Apart from single tournaments, Kuznetsova was also successful in doubles matches. With Arantxa Sánchez Vicario she won her first five WTA doubles titles. After a series of disappointing results with her she paired with such well-known tennis players as Martina Navratilova, Elena Likhovtseva, Alicia Molik, Amélie Mauresmo. Pairing with Likhovtseva she climbed to No. 3 WTA in doubles in 2004, holding that position for 8 weeks (7 consecutive), which remains her career-high. Kuznetsova also played a few times in mixed doubles, most prominently in 2003, but never achieved a better result beyond quarter finals. In 2010 she fell from the top-10 singles rankings for the first time since 2006 and has not regained that position since. Kuznetsova has won a total of 13 WTA and 1 ITF singles titles and 15 WTA doubles titles to date and US$16,924,537 in prize money, making her the second top Russian earner on court, number 11 of all female tennis players to date and No. 5 of active players.
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova was born in Leningrad. Her father, Aleksandr Kuznetsov, has coached five Olympic and world cycling champions. Kuznetsova's mother, Galina Tsareva, is a six-time world champion and holder of 20 world records in cycling, and her brother, Nikolay Kuznetsov, was a silver medalist at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and coach of the Russian cycling team Lokomotiv. Kuznetsova never showed inspiration for cycling, but rather tennis. She later stated in an interview that she liked watching tennis at an early age on, preferring men's over female's tennis. "I had posters in my room of MaliVai Washington, Marcelo Ríos, and (Yevgeny) Kafelnikov. It's very weird but this is who I liked. Later I was a big fan of (Marat) Safin. I was like 'ohhh, Marat!' For me he was so cute", she said. Kuznetsova began to play tennis at the age of seven, and moved to Spain six years later to receive better training and coaching. While there, she became fluent in Spanish.
