Regina Kulikova Biography

Regina Aleksandrovna Kulikova (Russian: ?????? ????????????? ????????, born 30 January 1989) is a former professional Russian tennis player. Her highest WTA singles ranking is 65th, which she reached on May 3, 2010. Her career high in doubles is 417th, which she reached on 28 September 2009. Her best result on the WTA tour so far is the quarterfinal appearance at the 2010 Dubai Tennis Championships where she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova. Her biggest victory at a Grand Slam tournament came at the 2011 Australian Open, where she defeated former semi-finalist Daniela Hantuchov in the first round.

Tennis career

As a junior Kulikova reached a career high of 22 in October 2004.

2009

After a six-month lay off, Kulikova started her 2009 on the ITF Circuit in May, falling in her opening qualifying match. She then played in the qualifying event for the French Open, but lost in the first round to Vania King. Kulikova returned to the ITF Circuit with more success, reaching the quarterfinals of the singles and winning the doubles title at a tournament in Galatina. In her subsequent tournament, Kulikova qualified for her first grand slam at Wimbledon. She beat Karolina prem in the first round and then upset world number 27 Alisa Kleybanova in three sets. Kulikova's run came to an end against world number 4 Elena Dementieva in the third round, going down 6-1 6-2 to her compatriot. Despite the scoreline, Dementieva was full of praise for her opponent, commenting: "She is a very good player. She was very impressive through the whole week". The rest of Regina's summer was marred by injury, as she was forced to retire in the final round of qualifying for the Banka Koper Slovenia Open. She returned to action at the US Open but lost in her first qualifying match. At the Bell Challenge, Kulikova defeated Jorgelina Cravero before falling to Lucie af?ov 6-2 7-5. Kulikova finished 2009 by returning to the ITF Circuit where she won three titles"?Las Vegas, Kansas City and Dubai. Her win at the Las Vegas Open was all the more impressive as Kulikova was suffering from a back strain during the final. Regina's last match of 2009 was a win, as she defeated Sandra Zhlavov 7-6(6) 6-3 to take the 11th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge in Dubai. Kulikova ended the year ranked at 138.

2010

In 2010 Kulikova came through to qualify for the first time at the Australian Open. In the first round she lost to Barbora Zhlavov-Strcov 7-6(5) 6-7(10) 6-3 in four hours and nineteen minutes, which was the second-longest women's singles match in the Open Era.

Ranked 99 in the world, Kulikova entered one of the biggest events of the year at the 2010 Dubai Tennis Championships and had a tremendous run by reaching the quarter-finals. She qualified for the main draw by defeating Chanelle Scheepers 6-3, 6-0 and Alla Kudryavtseva 6-2, 7-5. She then reached the third round by defeating Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 6-0 and Stefanie Vgele 6-3, 6-0. In the third round she came from a set down and a 1-4 third set deficit to defeat World No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-4. She then lost in three sets to World No. 9 Agnieszka Radwa?ska in the quarterfinals with a score of 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. Due to her success, she jumped 31 places in the WTA rankings to a career high of No. 68.

Hoping to continue her recent good form, Kulikova entered the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. In the qualifying rounds she lost just 3 games, defeating Sharon Fichman 6-0, 6-1 and Kathrin Wrle 6-1, 6-1 to enter the main draw. She was then defeated by World No. 55 Roberta Vinci 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round. In the first set, Kulikova came back from 0-3 to win it 6-3 and attempted to launch a comeback from 1-5 in the third set and managed to get to 4-5 30-00 but could not push for the win.

She then entered the main draw of the 2010 Barcelona Ladies Open and defeated 8th seed Lucie af?ov in the first round 6-3, 7-6(4). She was then defeated by unseeded Timea Bacsinszky in the second round 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Despite an early loss, she rose to a new career high of No. 66.

After a short break, Kulikova resumed her clay court season with a direct entry into the 2010 Internationaux de Strasbourg. She was defeated by top seed Maria Sharapova in the first round 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.

Due to her ranking, Kulikova then competed in the main draw of the French Open without having to qualify. She drew 17th seed Francesca Schiavone in the first round and despite much determination, she was unable to beat the Italian, losing 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, the only player to take a set off the eventual champion in the tournament.

Personal life

Born in Almaty in Kazakhstan, Kulikova was six years old when she first played tennis; her mother took her to the tennis courts near their house to try the sport out. At 19 Regina married Simone Serges, she first met him at the tennis club in Italy where she used to train. On her marriage Kulikova has been quoted as saying: "He's not a tennis player but he was trying to play! He's a nice person, I'm very happy with my marriage".

Career finals

Singles: 18 (13-5)

$100,000 tournaments

$75,000 tournaments

$50,000 tournaments

$25,000 tournaments

$10,000 tournaments

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	August 23, 2005	Trecastagni, Italy	Hard	Giulia Meruzzi	6-1, 4-6, 6-4
Runner-up	2.	October 17, 2005	Settimo San Pietro, Italy	Clay	Anna Floris	4-6, 1-4 retired
Winner	3.	July 11, 2006	Imola, Italy	Carpet	Anas Laurendon	6-4, 6-2
Winner	4.	August 8, 2006	Jesi, Italy	Hard	Giulia Gatto-Monticone	6-3, 6-4
Runner-up	5.	August 21, 2006	Trecastagni, Italy	Hard	Anna Floris	7-6, 0-6, 2-6
Winner	6.	May 1, 2007	Incheon, Korea	Hard	Lee Ye-ra	6-3, 2-6, 6-3
Winner	7.	May 15, 2007	Changwon, Korea	Hard	Chan Chin-wei	6-3, 4-6, 6-2
Runner-up	8.	June 6, 2007	Changsha, China	Hard	Zhang Shuai	3-6, 4-6
Runner-up	9.	June 11, 2007	Guangzhou, China	Hard	Zhang Shuai	3-6, 1-6
Winner	10.	June 26, 2007	Noto, Japan	Carpet	Zhang Shuai	7-5, 6-1
Runner-up	11.	July 3, 2007	Nagoya, Japan	Hard	Zhang Shuai	3-6, 1-6
Winner	12.	February 18, 2008	Clearwater, United States	Hard	Yevgenia Savranska	6-4, 6-4
Winner	13.	September 22, 2008	Granada, Spain	Hard	Estrella Cabeza-Candela	6-3, 6-4
Winner	14.	September 28, 2009	Las Vegas, United States	Hard	Anik Kapros	6-2, 6-2
Winner	15.	October 12, 2009	Kansas City, United States	Hard	Valrie Ttreault	6-4, 6-1
Winner	16.	December 14, 2009	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Hard	Sandra Zhlavov	7-6(7-3), 6-3
Winner	17.	September 19, 2011	Albuquerque, United States	Hard	Anna Tatishvili	7-5, 6-3
Winner	18.	December 29, 2012	St. Petersburg, Russia	Carpet	Anastasiya Vasylyeva	6-0, 5-7, 6-4

Doubles: 5 (2-3)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	August 23, 2005	Trecastagni, Italy	Hard	Marina Shamayko	Leanne Baker Francesca Lubiani	2-6, 6-4, 3-6
Winner	2.	September 13, 2008	Ciampino, Italy	Clay	Claudia Giovine	Stefania Chieppa Lisa Sabino	6-4, 4-6, [10-7]
Runner-up	3.	September 22, 2008	Granada, Spain	Hard	Irena Pavlovi?	Leticia Costas-Moreira Maite Gabarrus Alonso	walkover
Winner	4.	June 6, 2009	Galatina, Italy	Clay	Elena Bovina	Beatriz Garcia-Vidagany Mara Emilia Salerni	6-2, 6-1
Runner-up	5.	June 6, 2011	Nottingham, United Kingdom	Grass	Evgeniya Rodina	Eva Birnerova Petra Cetkovska	3-6, 2-6