Zarina Diyas

At 31 years old, Zarina Diyas has this physical status:

Diyas reached a career-high ranking of No. 17 as a junior. She began playing on the ITF Junior Circuit, than is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), in January 2007 at the age of 13. In July of the same year, she won a low-level Grade 4 title at the Safina Cup in singles event, defeating Petra Krejsová in the final. That tournament also was her doubles debut, where she lost in the second round alongside Yuliana Umanets. She then continued to have good performances, reaching one semifinal and one final by the end of the year. The next year, she started with a strong result, winning the Grade 1 tournament Czech International Junior Indoor Championships, at her first participation of the year. In March 2008, she won her first doubles title at Grade 2 level Luxembourg Indoor Junior Open, partnering with Ksenia Lykina.

In June 2008, she made her debut at the French Open, recording her first Grand Slam match-win over Irina-Camelia Begu before she was defeated by Lykina in the second round. She also made her doubles Grand Slam tournament debut there, losing in the first round. She then reached only the second round at Wimbledon. On her debut at the 2008 US Open and the 2009 Australian Open, she was eliminated in the first round. In June 2009, she played the French Open, her last junior tournament in both singles and doubles, where she reached the third round in singles, and lost in the first round in doubles.

Professional career

Diyas began playing on the ITF Women's Circuit in 2007 at the age of 14. Her first attempt to play in a main draw of a professional tournament was at a $100K event in Bratislava, where she lost in the first round of qualifying. In April 2008, she received a wildcard for playing in qualification at the Prague Open but failed to qualify after a first round loss to Klaudia Jans-Ignacik. She then made her main-draw debut at the $25K event in Astana where she also won her first title.

At her first two appearances in 2009, she reached a quarterfinal before she won another ITF title at the $25K event in Stuttgart. She then made her WTA singles debut at the Prague Open as a wildcard player, where she also marked her first win and first quarterfinal. She defeated qualifier Kristina Mladenovic and sixth seed Petra Kvitová but later was eliminated by third seeded Iveta Benešová. The year of 2009 was important for Diyas, as it was the year when she made her first appearances at a Grand Slam tournament in qualification at the US Open. There she missed her chance to get to the main draw, losing to Chang Kai-chen in the first round of qualification.

In 2010, she continued to rise up the rankings, debuting in the top 200 in July. Following mixed results for the first half of the year, she reached the final at the $25K event in Rome, losing to Patricia Mayr-Achleitner. In October 2010, she left a mark at the Premier-level Kremlin Cup in Moscow. She qualified into the main draw and defeated world No. 49, Gisela Dulko, in the first round. Then, she achieved the biggest win of her career by defeating top seed and world No. 7, Jelena Janković, in the second round. However, she lost by a wide margin to Maria Kirilenko in the quarterfinal match.

During 2011, Diyas did not progress so much, having mostly modest results. Her most significant finish was a final at the $25K event in Kunming, where she lost to Iryna Brémond. She then reached the semifinals at the $50K event in Wenshan but was not advanced to the another quarterfinal for the rest of the year. On the WTA Tour, she won only one match, defeating Sun Shengnan in the first round of the Guangzhou Open; but she lost in the next match to Petra Martić.

In late 2011, Diyas underwent shoulder surgery and did not play tennis for the next seven months, which caused her to fall in the rankings, dropping her outside the top 300. The following year in May, she made her return on the ITF Circuit at the Kangaroo Cup where she failed to qualify for the main draw. A month later, she won her third ITF title at the $25K event in Bukhara, not dropping a set the whole tournament. Later that year, she was advanced to the final of a $25K event in Taipei, where she lost to Zheng Saisai. The next week, she participated in a new WTA Challenger event, also in Taipei. In the first round, she defeated the world No. 40 and top seed, Peng Shuai, in straight sets. The, in the following round, she made a lopsided win over Varatchaya Wongteanchai, losing just one game. She then lost in the quarterfinals to Kurumi Nara, which would mark her last quarterfinal of the season.

Diyas started season playing mostly in qualification for WTA tournaments. She began the successful year ranked world No. 264 and finished more than 100 spots higher. In February, she recorded a first win on the WTA Tour in 2013, prevailing over Kristýna Plíšková in the first round of the Malaysian Open. In the second round, she was eliminated by Ashleigh Barty. She then returned to the ITF Circuit, mostly achieving modest results. Her only ITF title of the year came in October at the $25K event in Makinohara, where she defeated rising Swiss junior and future top-ten player Belinda Bencic to clinch victory. She then advanced to another ITF final at the Caesar & Imperial Cup in Taipei but lost to Paula Kania, in straight sets.

The 2014 season was Diyas' breakthrough year. First she played at the $25K event in Hong Kong, reaching the final, where she lost to Elizaveta Kulichkova. Then, she entered Australian Open qualifying, registering a close three-set win over Aleksandra Krunić in the first round. In order to get to the main-draw she defeated Andreea Mitu, followed with win over Canadian Stéphanie Dubois. This resulted in her first Grand Slam main-draw entry. In the first round of the main draw, she beat fellow qualifier Kateřina Siniaková. In the second round, she breezed past world No. 52, Marina Erakovic, to book her place in the third round. In the third round, Diyas went down to world No. 11, Simona Halep, in straight sets. Nevertheless, her two early round wins helped boost her ranking to a then-career-high No. 112. Following the Australian Open, Diyas lost qualifying matches at the Pattaya Open and the Qatar Open. She bounced back quickly though, as she then easily won a $50K event in Quanzhou.

She then traveled to the United States to compete at the Miami Open, qualifying for the main draw and getting past Alexandra Cadanțu before losing to Sloane Stephens in the second round. Although she failed to qualify for the Charleston Open, she played at the Malaysian Open and advanced to the quarterfinals – her first WTA Tour quarterfinal since the 2010 Kremlin Cup. Diyas then went to Europe but lost early in the first two tournaments contested. At the Internationaux de Strasbourg, a French Open warm-up event, she returned to form with a win over world No. 22, Kirsten Flipkens, in the first round. She followed it up by dispatching Ajla Tomljanović before having to retire in her quarterfinal match against Christina McHale during the second set. Holding a world ranking of No. 86, Diyas was granted a spot in the main draw of the French Open but got a tough draw and was knocked out by Petra Kvitová in the first round. At the ITF grass-court tournament Nottingham Trophy, she advanced to the final but was narrowly beaten by Kristýna Plíšková. She played one more grass-court event before entering Wimbledon, at the Birmingham Classic, where she was eliminated by CoCo Vandeweghe in the first round. At Wimbledon, she got her first ever win by defeating Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic in a rain-delayed straight-sets match. She followed this up with three-set wins against 15th seed Carla Suárez Navarro and 2010 Wimbledon finalist Vera Zvonareva before losing in straight sets to third seed Simona Halep in the fourth round.

In late July, she returned to the United States to compete at the Washington Open, where she reached the second round. Then, at the Cincinnati Open, she was advanced to the another second round, losing there to Lucie Šafářová. Then, in her best result at the US Open to date, the unseeded Diyas advanced to the women's singles third round where she lost in straight sets to 17th seed Ekaterina Makarova, earning $105,090. There, she also played in the doubles event, where alongside Xu Yifan she reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. In Asia, she got to the second round at the Wuhan Open and the China Open, losing to Angelique Kerber in both second-round matches. After that, Diyas reached her first WTA Tour final at the Japan Open where she lost to Samantha Stosur in straight sets. All of these helped her rise into the top 50. She finished year as world No. 34.

Diyas came to the Shenzhen Open as part of Australian Open warm-up, where she got to the quarterfinal, losing to Zheng Saisai. Next week, she made another quarterfinal at the Hobart International, where Alison Riske stopped her from progressing further. Diyas was seeded 31st in singles at the Australian Open. She beat qualifier Urszula Radwańska of Poland in three sets in the first round and then unseeded Slovak Anna Karolína Schmiedlová in the second round in three sets, but she lost her third-round match against No. 2 seed and finalist Maria Sharapova, in straight sets. Diyas also played doubles with South African Chanelle Scheepers, and they advanced to the second round before losing to the 16th-seeded German team of Julia Görges and Anna-Lena Grönefeld, in straight sets.

In February, she traveled to Asia, playing at first in Pattaya at the Thailand Open, where she lost at the beginning of the tournament. At the Dubai Tennis Championships, a Premier 5 tournament, she won against two German players, Annika Beck and Andrea Petkovic, before she lost to Ekaterina Makarova in the next round. At the Qatar Open, she defeated Ons Jabeur in the first round, but Petkovic avenged her early Dubai exit by beating Diyas in the second round. At the Indian Wells Open, she got a bye in the first round for being seed No. 28. In the next round, she beat Donna Vekić before losing to Serena Williams. At the Miami Open, she also got a bye but lost in the second round to CiCi Bellis.

The clay-court season didn't start well for Diyas, as she lost in first round of the Charleston Open. Diyas followed up this performance by making double-bagel against Sabine Lisicki in the first round of the Premier-level Stuttgart Open but later did not make it to the quarterfinal, losing to Sara Errani. Her next step was Premier Mandatory Madrid Open, where she lost in round one to Carla Suárez Navarro. Next week, she played at the Italian Open, where she beat Tsvetana Pironkova before she lost to seed No. 6, Eugenie Bouchard. She finished clay season with playing at the French Open as 32nd seed. There, she defeated qualifier Dinah Pfizenmaier in the first round in straight sets, but lost to Alison Van Uytvanck in the following round.

Prior to Wimbledon, Diyas was defeated by lower-ranked players in two warm-up tournaments, losing to 129th-ranked Sachia Vickery at the Nottingham Open and to 146th-ranked Johanna Konta at the Eastbourne International. Diyas, however, reached the round of 16 at Birmingham by defeating Kateryna Bondarenko in straight sets and through the withdrawal of Victoria Azarenka. Diyas subsequently lost to 12th-ranked Karolína Plíšková. Despite the slow start on grass that left her unseeded at Wimbledon, Diyas managed to advance to the fourth round for the second consecutive year. She beat 24th seed Flavia Pennetta, qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich and 14th seed Andrea Petkovic. However, her stealthy run at Wimbledon was ended by the fourth seed Sharapova.

Her hardcourt season, did not go as well as her performance on grass. Diyas failed to win in all her pre-US Open tournaments. At Washington, Diyas had to retire against Lauren Davis after trailing a set and 2–1 down. She lost to lucky loser Julia Görges at the Canadian Open, to Venus Williams at the Cincinnati Open and to Irina-Camelia Begu at the Connecticut Open – all in the first round. In the first round of the US Open, Diyas was defeated by Polona Hercog. This meant that she failed to repeat her third-round appearance from the previous year.

By the end of the year, she was still not doing well. At the Japan Open, she defeated Kiki Bertens in the first round, her last win of the 2015 season. In the second round, she lost to Magda Linette. In her next three tournaments, she lost in the first round to Madison Brengle at the Pan Pacific Open, to Irina-Camelia Begu at the Wuhan Open and to Monica Puig at the China Open. Diyas finished the year ranked world No. 52.

Diyas started the year playing at the Shenzhen Open, where she recorded her first win of the season against qualifier Zhang Kailin. In the second round, she was eliminated by Kateřina Siniaková. In her next two tournaments, she lost in the first round, at the Hobart International to Camila Giorgi and at the Australian Open to Madison Keys. At the Qatar Open, she was eliminated by Jeļena Ostapenko.

In March, she traveled to the United States, where her first event was the Indian Wells Open. She beat Jamie Loeb in the first round, but could not beat Azarenka in the next round. At the Miami Open, she defeated Olga Govortsova and Daria Gavrilova and went one round further, where Serena Williams eliminated her from the tournament. On clay, she reached two second rounds: the Internationaux de Strasbourg, where she lost to Alla Kudryavtseva, and the French Open, where she lost to Simona Halep.

Diyas suffered a wrist injury in round one of Wimbledon, where she lost to Anna-Lena Friedsam. Later she underwent surgery. She did not play in any tournaments in 2016 after that. As a result, she fell out of the top 100.

Her attempt to return from her injury started with a series of losses. She lost in the opening rounds of her first four tournaments of the season before scoring her first wins at the Blossom Cup in Quanzhou, reaching the quarterfinals and losing to Zheng. Then, she won her first ITF title since June 2014 at a $25K tournament in Nanning. The following week, she managed to reach the quarterfinals of the WTA 125K Zhengzhou Open but then lost to the top seed Peng Shuai. Her next step was the $100K tournament in Anning, Kunming Open, where she reached the final but lost to Zheng again. She then came to Japan to play at the $80K Kangaroo Cup in Gifu but did not do well, losing to Luksika Kumkhum in the first round. Things get better in the following week, when she was advanced to the semifinals of the $60K Fukuoka International but lost to Magdaléna Rybáriková. Diyas then failed to qualify for the main draw of the French Open as she lost to Bethanie Mattek-Sands after defeating Sachia Vickery and Polona Hercog in the first two qualifying rounds.

Diyas started grass-court season with a first-round loss in Surbiton but then following week won the $100K Manchester Trophy, scoring victories against Emily Webley-Smith, Arina Rodionova, Magdalena Fręch, Naomi Broady and Aleksandra Krunić without dropping a set. At Wimbledon, Diyas was given a wildcard to the main draw. She won her first two matches against Han Xinyun and Arina Rodionova but lost to another returning player, Petra Martic, in the third round.

At the Japan Women's Open, Diyas won all her qualifying matches to reach the main draw. She went on to score victories against several higher-ranked players, namely local favourite Misaki Doi, top 30 player Zhang Shuai, compatriot Yulia Putintseva and defending champion Christina McHale. In the final, she beat fellow qualifier Miyu Kato to win her first ever WTA title.

Diyas chose Shenzhen Open as her Australian Open warm-up tournament. There she recorded two wins before she lost to Sharapova in the quarterfinal. Diyas was ranked well inside the top 100 on New Year's Day of 2018 at No. 66, and thus was directly accepted into the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open for the first time since the 2016 Wimbledon Championships. However, she lost in the first round to Sorana Cîrstea in three sets. In March, Diyas reached the fourth round of a Premier Mandatory event at the Miami Open but had to retire while a set down in her match against Karolína Plíšková.

In May, she reached the quarterfinals of a WTA Tour clay-court event for the first time in her career at Strasbourg, losing in straight sets to the eventual champion Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Subsequently, she won her opening match at the French Open, before losing in the second round to Naomi Osaka. In her first-round match against Sam Stosur at the Nottingham Open, Diyas suffered a serious knee injury that saw her miss the entire grass season. She returned for the US Open but lost in the first round to Karolína Plíšková. Diyas was also unsuccessful in defending her title at the Japan Open, losing in the quarterfinals to No. 1 seed, Zhang Shuai.

At the start of 2019, Diyas lost in the first round of the Australian Open to Aleksandra Krunić. First-round losses followed at the Dubai Championships and Indian Wells Open, and her failure to qualify for the Miami Open saw her once again drop out of the top 100. However, in May, Diyas won her eighth career ITF singles title at the Kangaroo Cup, which was enough to edge her back into the top 100.

Diyas began the new 2020 season at the Shenzhen Open, losing in the quarterfinals to Garbiñe Muguruza. She played at the Australian Open, facing No. 10, Kiki Bertens, in the third round but losing and missing a chance for her best finish at that tournament.

At the Cincinnati Open, she failed to qualify for the main draw. At the US Open, she lost in the first round to Bernarda Pera. Just like in her previous Premier-5 appearance, she failed to qualify for the main draw at the Italian Open. At her last event of 2020, she lost at the French Open in the first round to Ons Jabeur.

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