Vera Yevgenyevna Dushevina (; born 6 October 1986) is a Russian former professional tennis player.
She won one singles title and two doubles titles on the WTA Tour. As a junior, she won the Wimbledon Championships, beating Maria Sharapova in the final, while she reached the final of the French Open losing to Anna-Lena Grönefeld.
Dushevina was born in Moscow. Beside tennis, Vera also played football and basketball.
She played her first main-draw match at the 2002 Warsaw Open by qualifying, but lost to Virginia Ruano Pascual 1âÂÂ6, 6âÂÂ7. Her first WTA Tour match she won at the 2003 Miami Open. After qualifying, she defeated Patricia Wartusch 6âÂÂ0, 6âÂÂ3 but lost to fourth seed Justine Henin 3âÂÂ6, 2âÂÂ6 in the second round. She then won her first professional title at the ITF event in Innsbruck, Austria coming through the qualifying draw and defeating Melinda Czink in the final. In her next tournament, she reached her first WTA Tour semifinals at the Nordic Light Open, defeating her first top-50 player, then-world No. 35 Denisa Chládková, 6âÂÂ2, 6âÂÂ3 but losing to Jelena Kostaniàin the semifinals. She then played her first Grand Slam main-draw match after qualifying but she lost to Ashley Harkleroad in the first round, in straight sets. At the Kremlin Cup, she upset then-world No. 28, Lisa Raymond, 6âÂÂ2, 7âÂÂ6, but lost to seventh seed Vera Zvonareva, 2âÂÂ6, 1âÂÂ6.
Dushevina began her 2005 campaign by losing in the first round at the Canberra International to Anna-Lena Grönefeld. At the Australian Open, she reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time, before losing to fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. Along the way, she realized her first top-20 victory over then-world No. 11 Vera Zvonareva, 6âÂÂ3, 6âÂÂ3 in the second round. She qualified for the Open Gaz de France and Dubai Championships but fell to Dinara Safina 2âÂÂ6, 4âÂÂ6 in the second round and to Nathalie Dechy, 7âÂÂ6, 4âÂÂ6, 6âÂÂ7 in the first round, respectively. She then lost four straight matches in the second round of the Miami Open and the first rounds of Amelia Island, Warsaw and Berlin. However, she bounced back by reaching the quarterfinals of the Internationaux de Strasbourg losing to eventual champion Anabel Medina Garrigues in three sets. At the French Open, she lost to 21st seed Mary Pierce. Dushevina reached her first WTA Tour singles final at the Eastbourne International as a qualifier where she finished runner-up to former world No. 1, Kim Clijsters. In the said tournament, she realized her first top-5 victory over then-world No. 3, Amélie Mauresmo, 6âÂÂ4, 6âÂÂ4 in the second round. However, she fell in the first round of Wimbledon to Ana Ivanovic, in straight sets. She then bounced back to reach the semifinals of the Nordic Light Open, losing to Katarina Srebotnik in two. She reached the second round of the Connecticut Open losing to Elena Dementieva. Dushevina then suffered back-to-back to losses to Shahar Pe'er at the second round of the US Open and first round of the China Open. At the quarterfinals of the Korea Open, she fell to top seed Jelena JankoviÃÂ, followed by a first-round loss at the Kremlin Cup to Elena Likhovtseva in three sets, respectively. She then avenged her loss to Jankoviàat the Linz Open, defeating her 7âÂÂ6, 3âÂÂ6, 6âÂÂ0 in the first round, but fell to Sybille Bammer in the next.
Dushevina had a poor 2006 season. She reached the second rounds of the Auckland Open and the Sydney International losing to top-ten players Nadia Petrova and Justine Henin, respectively. She then fell in the first round of the Australian Open to Catalina Castaño in straight sets, and also fell in the second rounds of the WTA indoor event in Paris and the Dubai Tennis Championships to then-world No. 2, Amélie Mauresmo, and then-world No. 4, Maria Sharapova, respectively. She suffered a back-to-back first-round loss at the Qatar Ladies Open and Miami Open. Later, earned her best performance of the year by reaching the third round of the Amelia Island Championships, losing to Patty Schnyder 3âÂÂ6, 5âÂÂ7. At the Estoril Open, she was upset by Antonella Serra Zanetti 6âÂÂ4, 6âÂÂ4 in the first round. She then suffered four consecutive second-round exits at the German Open and French Open to then-world No. 1, Amélie Mauresmo, at the Italian Open to Patty Schnyder, and the Eastbourne International to Anna-Lena Grönefeld. She then fell five consecutive first-round main-draw matches, at Wimbledon, at the LA Championships, Rogers Cup, US Open, and the China Open. She reached the second rounds of the Korea Open and Japan Open, and then suffered back-to-back main-draw match to compatriot Vera Zvonareva at the Kremlin Cup and Hasselt Cup.
Two years later, she reached her second final at the Nordic Light Open, losing in straight sets to Agnieszka Radwaà Âska. Dushevina reached the final of the Stockholm event again in 2007, losing to Caroline Wozniacki. Dushevina has won one doubles title, the Warsaw Open, playing with Tatiana Perebiynis in 2007. She was also a part of the winning Russian team in the 2005 Fed Cup, winning doubles ties in the quarterfinals and semifinals partnering Dinara Safina. Dushevina began writing a blog for Eurosport about her time on the tour in 2009.
In June 2009 at the Eastbourne International, she lost in 45 minutes to Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak in the quarterfinals, 1âÂÂ6, 0âÂÂ6, winning only 17 of the 69 points in the match, and losing every one of her service games.https://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5g-cN8xBWhye6OJe36wDKeACrenSg. Dushevina upset world No. 22, Alizé Cornet, in the first round at Wimbledon, but fell to Elena Vesnina in the second. Dushevina won her first WTA Tour career title at the ðstanbul Cup, defeating Lucie Hradecká 6âÂÂ0, 6âÂÂ1 in the final.
Dushevina started 2010 by qualifying for the Sydney International where she reached the quarterfinals with wins over Casey Dellacqua and Elena Vesnina, but lost to then world No. 1, Serena Williams, in the quarterfinals. She then fell in the first round of the Australian Open to compatriot and fifth seed Elena Dementieva, 2âÂÂ6, 1âÂÂ6. At the Pattaya Open, she was upset in the second round by world No. 121, Ekaterina Bychkova, 6âÂÂ4, 6âÂÂ1. She then fell in the first rounds of the Dubai Tennis Championships and Miami Open and the second round of the Indian Wells Open.
She reached the third round of the Charleston Open losing to eventual champion, Samantha Stosur, 1âÂÂ6, 6âÂÂ3, 1âÂÂ6, but fell early in the Italian Open to Andrea Petkovic, 3âÂÂ6, 0âÂÂ6. In the second round of the Madrid Open, Dushevina lost the most competitive match of her career against world No. 1, Serena Williams. Williams finally won 6âÂÂ7, 7âÂÂ6, 7âÂÂ6, after 3 hours and 26 minutes despite being 5âÂÂ2 up in the final set. Dushevina had match point at 7âÂÂ6, 6âÂÂ5 but could not close out the match. She was also 4âÂÂ0 up in the final set tie-break before losing. It was also Williams' longest match. She then fell in the first rounds of the French Open and Eastbourne International. At Wimbledon, she upset French Open champion Francesca Schiavone in the first round in three sets, but fell to eventual semifinalist Tsvetana Pironkova in the following round.
She reached the back-to-back quarterfinals in the Slovenia Open and ðstanbul Cup, losing to Anna Chakvetadze 6âÂÂ2, 3âÂÂ6, 5âÂÂ7 and Jarmila Groth 5âÂÂ7, 2âÂÂ6, respectively. She then fell in the second round of the Cincinnati Open to Jelena Jankovià4âÂÂ6, 6âÂÂ3, 1âÂÂ6, and in the qualifying rounds of Rogers Cup and Connecticut Open. In the US Open, she lost in the first round to Alona Bondarenko. In the Korea Open, she upset former world No. 1, Ana Ivanovic, 2âÂÂ6, 6âÂÂ4, 6âÂÂ2 but was beaten in the next round by Klára Zakopalová. She then reached the third round of the China Open as a qualifier losing to Francesca Schiavone. In her final tournament of the year, at the Kremlin Cup, she was able to reach her first semifinal since winning in the 2009 ðstanbul Cup, after defeating three consecutive compatriots, Ekaterina Makarova, Elena Vesnina and Anna Chakvetadze, before falling to another, Maria Kirilenko, 1âÂÂ6, 1âÂÂ6.
Vera started 2011 by losing in the qualifying draw of the Sydney International. At the Australian Open, she was able to pick up her first win in six years by defeating Maria Elena Camerin 6âÂÂ3, 3âÂÂ6, 6âÂÂ1 but lost to fifth seed Sam Stosur in the next round. She also fell in the first rounds of Paris and Dubai. At Doha, she qualified and defeated MarÃÂa José MartÃÂnez Sánchez before losing to Daniela Hantuchová.
Dushevina announced her retirement from professional tour on 15 August 2017 due to several injuries. She said she would like to concentrate on coaching.
Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup and Olympic Games are included in winâÂÂloss records.