Elena Likhovtseva

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Elena Likhovtseva bigraphy, stories - Tennis player

Elena Likhovtseva : biography

8 September 1975 –

Elena Alexandrovna Likhovtseva ( born 8 September 1975 in Alma-Ata, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union, now Kazakhstan) is a Russian former tennis player. She turned professional in January 1992 at the age of 16.

Likhovtseva’s career best appearance in a Grand Slam was when she reached the semi finals of the French Open 2005 before she was defeated by Mary Pierce, 6–1 6–1. Elena is also one of the few people in either the men’s or women’s game to have lost a tiebreaker from 6–0 up (this was also against Mary Pierce, in Moscow; Pierce went on to win the tournament). Together with Mahesh Bhupathi, she won the Wimbledon Mixed Doubles championship in 2002. She has also been a runner-up in a number of other contests, including the Australian Open women’s doubles event in 2004, French Open Women’s Doubles in 2004 and Mixed Doubles in 2003, and the 2000 and 2004 US Open Women’s Doubles. In the 2004 Summer Olympics, she won the first round of the Women’s Doubles with partner Svetlana Kuznetsova, but was defeated in the second. She won the 2007 Australian Open Mixed Doubles championship with Daniel Nestor. After losing all four singles of the year, Likhovtseva’s best performance in 2008 was the quarter-finals at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami with Lisa Raymond.

Major finals

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 4 (0–4)

Outcome Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents in the final Score in the final
Runner-up 2000 US Open Hard ZIM}} Cara Black FRA}} Julie Halard-Decugis Ai Sugiyama 6–0, 1–6, 6–1
Runner-up 2004 Australian Open Hard RUS}} Svetlana Kuznetsova ESP}} Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez 6–4, 6–3
Runner-up 2004 French Open Clay RUS}} Svetlana Kuznetsova ESP}} Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez 6–0, 6–3
Runner-up 2004 US Open Hard RUS}} Svetlana Kuznetsova ESP}} Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez 6–4, 7–5

Mixed doubles: 5 (2–3)

Outcome Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents in the final Score in the final
Winner 2002 Wimbledon Grass IND}} Mahesh Bhupati SVK}} Daniela Hantuchová Kevin Ullyett 6–2, 7–5
Runner-up 2003 French Open Clay IND}} Mahesh Bhupathi USA}} Lisa Raymond Mike Bryan 6–3, 6–4
Runner-up 2006 Australian Open Hard CAN}} Daniel Nestor SUI}} Martina Hingis Mahesh Bhupathi 6–3, 6–3
Runner-up 2006 French Open Clay CAN}} Daniel Nestor SLO}} Katarina Srebotnik Nenad Zimonjić 6–3, 6–4
Winner 2007 Australian Open Hard CAN}} Daniel Nestor BLR}} Victoria Azarenka Max Mirnyi 6–4, 6–4Source: Note that other sources, including Australian Open homepage () say 6–4, 6–4, but this one says 7–5, 6–4. The source is a highlights reel.

Singles performance timeline

Tournament 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Career W–L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open A 3R 1R 4R 1R 3R 3R QF 1R 1R 1R 3R 3R 2R 1R 18–14
French Open A A 2R 3R 2R 3R 3R 1R 1R 3R 1R 2R SF 1R 2R 17–13
Wimbledon A 1R 1R 4R 2R 3R 3R 2R 3R QF 2R 2R 4R 3R 2R 23–14
US Open 2R 4R 1R 3R 3R 1R 4R 3R 4R 2R 4R 1R 4R 3R 2R 29–15