Nadezhda (abbr. Nadia) Petrova (Russian: Nadezhda Viktorovna Petrova; born June 8, 1982 in Moscow, Soviet Union) is a Russian professional tennis player. Overall, she has won 27 WTA Titles, nine in singles and eighteen in doubles. In singles, Petrova has reached a career high ranking of World No. 3 in May 2006 and has reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2003 and 2005. In doubles, she won the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in 2004 with Meghann Shaughnessy. As of 7 June 2010 (2010 -06-07)[update], Petrova is ranked World No. 13 in singles, making her the Russian No. 2 and World No. 11 in doubles.

Early life

Petrova was born in Moscow. Her parents were both very athletic - her father Viktor was a leading hammer thrower, while her mother Nadezhda Ilyina won a bronze medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics in the 400 meter relay. Both her parents are still athletics coaches. As a child, Nadia did a lot of travelling around the world with her parents. She eventually settled in Egypt, where she trained with Mohammed Seif and her parents.

Career

As a junior, Petrova won the 1998 French Open, beating Jelena Dokic in the final. The same year she finished runner-up at the Orange Bowl to Elena Dementieva and she also finished runner-up at the junior 1999 US Open to Lina Krasnoroutskaya. In May 1998, she played her first WTA tournament at the J&S Cup as a wildcard entrant. She also received a wildcard for her home event in Moscow, the Kremlin Cup, where she picked up her first top twenty win over Iva Majoli. By the end of 1999, Petrova had reached the top 100.

In 2000, she reached the third round of the Australian Open and the quarterfinals of the Ericsson Open, beating Julie Halard-Decugis for her first top ten win before losing to Lindsay Davenport. She finished the season at No. 50. She reached the fourth round of both French Open and the US Open in 2001 and her ranking hit a high of No. 38 during the season. However, her 2002 season was marred by injuries causing her ranking to drop out of the top 100.

2010

Petrova's started her year at the Brisbane International in Australia. After drawing comeback queen Justine Henin as the number two seed, Petrova lost in a close 5–7, 5–7 match. She then competed in the Medibank International Sydney but lost again in the opening round to 39 year-old Kimiko Date Krumm 3–6, 7–5, 4–6.

Seeded 19th at the 2010 Australian Open, Petrova reached the third round by defeating Edina Gallovits 6–3, 6–4 and Kaia Kanepi 6–4, 6–4. In the third round, Petrova caused a huge upset as she crushed the 15th seed Kim Clijsters in a 52-minute onslaught, winning 6–0, 6–1. Clijsters was the bookmaker's second favourite to win the tournament. She followed that with another upset in the 4th round over 3rd seed Svetlana Kuznetsova with a score of 6–3, 3–6, 6–1. This was the second time in Petrova's career that she had reached the Quarterfinals at the Australian Open. She fell to former World No. 1 Justine Henin 6-7, 5-7 in a tight match after leading 3-0 in the second set.

After a first round defeat to Stefanie Vögele in Dubai, Petrova next competed at the Premier Mandatory events in Indian Wells and Miami. At the 2010 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Petrova was seeded 16th. After receiving a bye to the second round, she dispatched Patty Schnyder 6-3,5-7,6-4, and then Shuai Peng 6-1, 7-5, before losing in the fourth round to second seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 3-6, 6-0. At the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Petrova was again seeded 16th but fell in the third round to 19th seed Daniela Hantuchová 6-2, 6-4.

Petrova began her clay court season in Charleston and won her first two matches in straight sets against Vania King and Aleksandra Wozniak before losing to Wozniacki in the quarter-finals.

On European clay, Petrova was seeded 14th at the Italian Open. She advanced to the quarter-finals by defeating Tathiana Garbin, Katarina Srebotnik and Alexandra Dulgheru but lost here to World No. 58 Ana Ivanovic 6-2, 7-5. Petrova was seeded 16th at the 2010 Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open. where she beat Elena Vesnina 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 7-5 to advance to the third round. Here, Petrova had a fantastic win as she upset World No. 1 Serena Williams 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. However she fell to World No. 30 Lucie Safarova in the quarter-finals.

Petrova was seeded 19th at the 2010 French Open. She defeated Zhang Shuai 6-0, 6-3 in the first round and the talented Ágnes Szávay 6-1, 6-2 in the second round. In the third round, Petrova fell a set behind against the in-form 15th seed and recent Madrid champion Aravane Rezaï before coming back to take the second set. In the third set, Petrova saved three match points as Rezai served for the match at 5-4 before Petrova came back to serve for the match herself at 7-6 where she too held three match points. Rezaï, however, broke back and the match was abandoned due to bad light. The match was completed the following day where Petrova eventually won, causing the upset 6-7(2), 6-4, 10-8. She continued her success in the fourth round where she stunned the World No. 2 Venus Williams 6-4, 6-3. Petrova led by a set in the semi-final against fifth seed Elena Dementieva but required treatment twice by the trainer during the match and limped to the finish line with Dementieva winning 2-6, 6-2, 6-0. Despite this loss, Petrova's quarter-final run caused her ranking to increase to World No. 13.

Petrova is seeded 12th at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships. She defeated Tatjana Malek in the first round and faces Yung-Jan Chan in the second.

Doubles

Petrova has also had success in doubles, reaching a career high of No. 3 in the doubles rankings. She has eighteen doubles titles, eight of them with Meghann Shaughnessy including the prestigious year-ending WTA Tour Championships in 2004, where they beat Cara Black and Rennae Stubbs in the final. She also has victories at the Tier I events in Moscow, Key Biscayne, Berlin, Rome, and Montreal, with all but the Montreal title being with Meghann Shaughnessy and the aforementioned other one being with Martina Navrátilová. In 2002 and 2003, she also reached the finals of three Tier I events with Jelena Dokic. In 2010, Petrova is partnered with a top 10 doubles player Samantha Stosur and Liezel Huber.