2011 Sony Ericsson Open WTA Part 17: Yanina Wickmayer and Maria Kirilenko
World Number 20 Yanina Wickmayer
Yanina Wickmayer is currently the second-highest ranked Belgian tennis player on the Women’s Tennis Association, after World Number 2 Kim Clijsters. She is ranked World Number 20, after making a five-spot jump on the rankings in the past week. The
pro, who resides in Monaco, has been part of the WTA Tour since 2004 and has won three WTA singles titles so far. Her highest ranking is World Number 12, which she achieved in 2010.
Despite the number of years which she has been on tour for, Wickmayer’s first appearance at Miami was in 2009. She was ranked World Number 75 at the time, and fell in easy straights to Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in the first round.
In spite of this dismal first showing, the player managed to redeem herself at the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open. She was seeded twelfth at the tournament, and received a bye into the second round against Elena Baltacha. She defeated the British player and
went on to defeat Croatian pro Petra Martic and Swiss player Timea Bacsinszky in the next two rounds. Her run was put to a stop by thirteenth seed Marion Bartoli in the quarterfinals.
She was seeded twenty-third at the tournament this year, but could not make it past her first match against Russian pro Elena Vesnina, who defeated her in three sets.
World Number 27 Maria Kirilenko
Maria Kirilenko is one of the many Russian players on the Women’s Tennis Association tour, entering the charts as World Number 27. The player, who is 24 years old, joined the WTA Tour in 2001 and has played as a pro for almost ten years. she has won
five WTA career titles so far, and her highest singles ranking is World Number 18.
Kirilenko made her first main draw debut in Miami in 2004, when she was ranked World Number 117. The player entered the draw as a qualifier, and defeated Belgian pro Els Callens in the first round before falling to eighth seed Nadia Petrova in the
second round.
Her best run at the tournament was in 2006, when she was ranked World Number 22. The player was seeded twentieth at the event, and received a bye into the second round. She defeated players Vania King and Viktoriya Kutuzova to reach the fourth round
against fourth seed Maria Sharapova, who ended her run in three sets.
This year, Maria Kirilenko was seeded twenty-fourth at the Sony Ericsson Open. She proceeded directly to the second round, where she faced and defeated Indian tennis player Sania Mirza in three sets. The player was ousted by ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanska
in the third round.
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