Yulia Putintseva

Personal life

Yulia Putintseva was born to Anton Putintsev and Anna Putintseva, and has a brother named Ilya. She was born on 7 January 1995 in Moscow, Russia, but she currently resides in Boca Raton, Florida. Her favourite surface is clay. She speaks English and Russian fluently. As of the start of June 2012, Putintseva represents Kazakhstan.

Junior career

In 2009, she played the second round of 2009 US Open in Girls' Singles, and the first round of Girls' Doubles event, partnering Tamara Čurović. Putintseva also won three junior tournaments. She wins 17th International Junior Tournament Citta' Di Prato 2009 in Italy, 31st International Junior Tournament Citta di Santa Croce also in Italy and 15th ITF Junior Open in Austria.

In 2010, she lost in the second round of the girls' singles event at the 2010 Australian Open. Putintseva advanced to the semi-final at Wimbledon and represented Russia in the Youth Olympic Games in August, where she lost in the semi-final. In the last junior grand slam of this season the US Open she reached the final but lost to Daria Gavrilova in straight sets.

2012

In 2012, she won another ITF tournament in Australia. She also received a wildcard to the 2012 e-Boks Open where she won her first round match, but then lost to former world No. 1 Jelena Janković 3–6, 1–6. In May Putintseva won the 2012 Open GDF SUEZ de Cagnes-sur-Mer Alpes-Maritimes a $100,000 tournament in France as a qualifier. She jumped to world No. 122 as a result.

2013

At the 2013 Australian Open, Putintseva defeated the American Christina McHale in three sets. She then lost to Carla Suárez Navarro in three tight sets. At the next Grand Slam, the 2013 French Open, she stomped the world No. 44, Ayumi Morita. Her next opponent was the 2012 French Open finalist, Sara Errani, who defeated her in straight sets.

2014

At the PTT Pattaya Open, Putintseva was defeated in the first round by a qualifier, Alexandra Dulgheru, in three sets. Putintseva reached the quarterfinals of the Swedish Open, losing to Jana Čepelová, and of the Japan Women's Open, losing to Samantha Stosur.

2015

Putintseva reached the second round at the French Open and Wimbledon, losing to eventual quarterfinalist Elina Svitolina and to Venus Williams, respectively.

2016: First Grand Slam quarterfinal

At the 2016 Australian Open, Putintseva upset former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the first round, winning in three sets. She lost in the third round to Margarita Gasparyan. Putintseva reached semifinals in Kaohsiung, where she lost to the eventual winner Venus Williams. At her next tournament, the Qatar Open, Putintseva earned a straight sets win over Anna Karolína Schmiedlová, but lost to Timea Bacsinszky in the following match. At Indian Wells, Putintseva defeated Shuai Peng and earned another upset in 2016 by defeating world No. 27 Kristina Mladenovic in straight sets. She then lost to world No. 1 Serena Williams.

At the 2016 French Open, Putinseva beat Aleksandra Wozniak in the first round in straight-sets, before going on to beat the No. 28 seed Andrea Petkovic and Italy's Karin Knapp en route to the fourth round, where she upset world No. 14 and No. 12 seed Carla Suárez Navarro before losing to eventual finalist Serena Williams in three sets in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Prior to Wimbledon, she played at the inaugural Mallorca Open and the Eastbourne International, losing both in the first round. At the third Grand Slam of the year, Putintseva was defeated in round 2 by the hard hitting Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets. The following week, she was chosen as part of the Kazakhstan Olympic Tennis team for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.

To start off the US Open series tournaments, Putintseva started with a semifinal run at the 2016 Citi Open. Seeded 6th, she lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Yanina Wickmayer. She lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round of the 2016 Rogers Open. She was scheduled to compete at the 2016 Brasil Tennis Cup, but withdrew because of injury. This would also cause her to miss the 2016 Olympics.

After returning from injury, Putintseva lost in the first round of the 2016 Western & Southern Open to qualifier Annika Beck. As a result of her injury before the Olympics, Putintseva was forced to play in the qualifying tournament before the 2016 Connecticut Open. Seeded number one in qualifying, she was stunned in the first round by Carina Witthöft. Putintseva next competed at the 2016 US Open. She had an easy first round win over Sabine Lisicki. However, for the second week in a row, she was beaten by Carina Witthöft in three sets. Had early round losses in many tournaments after the US Open. She lost in the second round of both the 2016 Toray Pan Open and the 2016 China Open. She finished her season with another second round loss to Elina Svitolina at the 2016 Kremlin Cup.

2017:First WTA final

Putintseva started her season off with a first round loss to the 2016 US Open Finalist, Karolína Plíšková in Brisbane. However, she did compete at the 2016 Australian Open as the 31st seed. It was the first time she was seeded at a grand slam. She beat Lara Arruabarrena in the first round, but lost to Jeļena Ostapenko in the second. She then competed at the 2017 St. Petersburg Open, beating Johanna Larsson (who retired in the second set) and Annika Beck before beating No.3 and No.2 seeds Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dominika Cibulková en route to her first WTA final. Her win over Cibulková was her first over a Top 5 player. She then lost to Kristina Mladenovic in three sets. However, her campaign in St. Petesburg ensured a career-high ranking of world No. 27.