Anastasia Ivanovna Rodionova (; born 12 May 1982) is a Russian-born Australian former professional tennis player.
Rodionova won eleven doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as eight singles and 13 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 16 August 2010, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 62. On 8 September 2014, she peaked at No. 15 in the doubles rankings.
Her greatest career achievements came in doubles, having reached the finals of the mixed-doubles event at the 2003 Wimbledon Championships with Andy Ram and the semifinals of the women's doubles event at the 2010 US Open with Cara Black.
Rodionova suffers the ignominious distinction of being one of just four players in WTA history to be defaulted from a tournament, after hitting a ball towards spectators at the 2007 Western & Southern Open.
Her younger sister Arina is also a tennis professional, and the two sisters have intermittently contested doubles tournaments together, with modest success. Their most notable achievements as a team came at the 2010 Malaysian Open and 2015 Monterrey Open, succumbing in the super tie-break in the finals of both tournaments.
Biography Rodionova started to play tennis at age seven, but she was introduced to tennis much earlier. Her father Ivan was an amateur player so instead of toys, Rodionova had tennis balls in her pram. He coached her until 18 years old when she left Tambov and moved to Germany to practice for three years before returning to Moscow in 2003. She has resided in Melbourne since 2005. Her sister Arina has also been a professional tennis player since 2004.
Career
2006–2007 In 2006, after reaching the second round in the second tournament in Los Angeles, Rodionova entered the top 100 for the first time in her career. At the US Open, she became one of the leading players after making it to the third round (her best result in singles at a Grand Slam tournament to date). This catapulted Rodionova to 81 in the world. In doubles with Elena Vesnina, she also reached the WTA tournament final in Bangalore, India and she captured her 11th ITF title in Italy in partnership with her sister Arina. In 2007, Rodionova played a whopping 28 WTA tournaments. At the Australian Open, she reached the second round but lost to world No. 2 and eventual finalist, Maria Sharapova. In Miami's Tier-I tournament, Rodionova took more games off the eventual tournament champion Serena Williams in her second-round defeat than any other player in that tournament. At the Estoril Open, Rodionova won her second title in doubles with Andreea Ehritt-Vanc from Romania. Together they also made the finals in Morocco. In the first Tier-level tournament in Los Angeles, Rodionova made the semifinals, partnering Tatiana Poutchek. In Guangzhou, she reached the singles semifinal but was unable to finish the match due to heat stroke. At the Tashkent Open, Rodionova once again teamed up with Tatiana Poutchek making the final, but lost in three sets to Ekaterina Dzehalevich and Anastasiya Yakimova. She ended the year ranked 78th place in singles.
2008 Rodionova started the new season in New Zealand, but she was forced to retire in the opening round due to eye problems, where she was experiencing double vision. After a short-course of treatment in Melbourne, Rodionova began preparations for the Australian Open. There, she played under the Australian flag for the first time and reached the second round, losing to Katarina Srebotnik. ((cn)) In the next few tournaments of Pattaya, Doha and Dubai, Rodionova struggled with her vision with three first-round defeats in singles, but made a doubles semifinal with Arina at the Pattaya Open. Then success increased remarkably, resulting in her gaining several considerable victories over the multiple top-30 players. In India, she defeated the No. 20 in the world, Sybille Bammer from Austria, on the way to the quarterfinal, where she went down to Serena Williams. She carried that confidence through the US series, passing qualification in Miami and reaching the second round, and making the third round in Charleston, losing to Jelena Janković.
May 2008 saw the beginning of a spate of injuries that significantly hampered the rest of the year, taking first-round honours in tournaments that she would have otherwise performed much more brightly. Movement did not restrict her as much in doubles and she made quarterfinals in a Moscow ITF, semifinals in New Haven, third round in the US Open, and semifinals in Guangzhou. However, it was clear that without major hip surgery, her career would forever be handicapped.
So Rodionova underwent major hip surgery in September 2008 in Melbourne"Injured Rodionova on the mend for Open" to treat an injury that she had carried since Wimbledon 2003.
2009 Results were restricted significantly for the first half of the year, while Rodionova strengthened her hip and built on-court fitness following the hip operation. She sustained a badly sprained ankle during first-round singles at Los Angeles in July and was forced to retire. Rodionova represented Australia at the US Open and equalled her career-best third round in singles before returning home to Melbourne to receive intensive treatment on a heavily injured ankle and torn leg muscle. She withdrew from the tournament in Seoul to complete treatment and rejoined the WTA Tour in Tokyo. Her final tournament for 2009 was in Poitiers, France and she ended the season ranked back inside the top 100 at No. 97.
2010 Rodionova started the year at the Brisbane Open, falling in qualifying but making the doubles final. Then she played Sydney, where she fell in the last round of qualifying to Kimiko Date-Krumm. At the Australian Open, Rodionova lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova 1–6, 2–6, but partnered with Vera Dushevina to make the third round of doubles, knocking off fifth seeds Nadia Petrova and Sam Stosur en route. Rodionova then played numerous tournaments in Asia and Arab Emerates highlighted by a quarterfinal showing at Kuala Lumpur, and second round loses at Dubai and Pattaya City. Rodionova lost in qualifying for the Indian Wells Masters but qualified for the main draw of the Miami Masters.
In doubles, she and her sister Arina reached the finals of the Malaysian Open. The Rodionova sisters defeated top seeds Yan Zi and Alisa Kleybanova in straight sets in the second round. However, in the finals, they lost to second seeds Zheng Jie and Chan Yung-jan in a close two-setter and match tie-breaker.
Rodionova's debut for the Australian Fed Cup team was in Kharkov, Ukraine, on 24 April 2010, where she opened the tie with an emphatic win over Alona Bondarenko, coming back from losing the first seven games. This gave Australia a commanding 1–0 lead that set up Sam Stosur for two straight forward wins in her singles matches for a 3–0 defeat of Ukraine, securing Australia's place in World Group I for 2011. Rodionova also partnered with Rennae Stubbs to win the final rubber of doubles after Alicia Molik won her substituted singles match, giving Australia a decisive 5–0 victory in the tie.
In the French Open, Rodionova defeated Ekaterina Makarova in the first round in straight sets. Then caused an upset in the second round by defeating the 22nd seed Vera Zvonareva. However, she lost in the third round against fellow Australian Jarmila Groth, in three sets.
At Wimbledon, Rodionova defeated Anne Keothavong in the first round and then upset the 19th seed Kuznetsova in the second round, before falling to the ninth seed Li Na, 1–6, 3–6.
Rodionova's next tournament was at the Cincinnati Open, where she entered as a qualifier, but lost in the first round to Vera Dushevina. However, in the doubles tournament, she partnered with Cara Black, as the eighth seeds. They won their first-round match against the Spanish pair Nuria Llagostera Vives and Arantxa Parra Santonja. In the second round, Rodionova and Black defeated Meghann Shaughnessy and Elena Vesnina. They were defeated in the quarterfinals by the second seeds Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta. Rodionova reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 62 on 16 August 2010. Immediately following the Cincinnati Masters, she played at the Connecticut Open, where she entered as a qualifier and defeated Tsvetana Pironkova in the first round, but lost to sixth seed Marion Bartoli in the second. In doubles, she paired with Cara Black, and as the fourth seeds they lost in the first round to Anabel Medina Garrigues and Yan Zi.
At the US Open, Rodionova defeated Bojana Jovanovski in the first round, and fell to fellow Australian Sam Stosur in the second. In doubles, she continued her partnership with Cara Black as ninth seeds. The pair defeated alternative pair Alberta Brianti and Urszula Radwańska in the first round. In the second round, they defeated Alla Kudryavtseva and Darya Kustova. They defeated their German opponents Julia Görges and Anna-Lena Grönefeld to advance to the quarterfinals, where they beat the 14th seeds Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva in three sets. Black and Rodionova were finally defeated by sixth seeds Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova in the semifinals. Advancing into the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time, Rodionova has reached her career-high doubles ranking of world No. 28.
Following her US Open appearance, Rodionova returned home to Melbourne before flying to South Korea to compete in the Hansol Korea Open. She lost to former compatriot and second seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round, before failing to qualify for the Pan Pacific Open.
Rodionova represented Australia at the Commonwealth Games as the top seed in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles (along with compatriots Sally Peers and Paul Hanley, respectively). In singles, she received a bye into the second round, where she crushed Larikah Russell 6–1, 6–3. Rodionova then defeated Heather Watson 6–0, 6–2. She booked a spot into the final defeating her doubles partner Sally Peers. In the final, after a good start, Rodionova came close to defeat with growing Indian support for the home favourite Sania Mirza, but was able to win in three sets. In doubles, Peers and Rodionova won gold, beating compatriots Olivia Rogowska and Jessica Moore in an all-Australian final. In mixed doubles, Rodionova and Hanley encountered a tough first-round match against Indian pair Nirupama Sanjeev and Rohan Bopanna but ended up winning in three sets. They followed up this win by beating Mhairi Brown and Jamie Murray 6–3, 6–4, and following that, defeated Sarah Borwell and Ken Skupski, earning their place in the gold-medal final match but went down to Scot's Colin Fleming and Jocelyn Rae. Rodionova ended the 2010 season with a ranking of No. 64 in the world.
2011 Anastasia made her 2011 debut at the Brisbane International. She drew Bojana Jovanovski in the first round and lost in three sets. She continued her partnerships with Cara Black as they advanced to the semifinals before losing to Alisa Kleybanova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. She was next granted a wildcard to play in the Sydney International where she lost to eighth seed and eventual champion Li Na. At the Australian Open, she played Flavia Pennetta in the first round and lost. Anastasia and Cara beat three doubles teams before losing to Nadia Petrova and Liezel Huber. In mixed doubles, she partnered with Mahesh Bhupathi and won two matches. They were unable to play in the quarterfinals due to an injury Bhupathi sustained in his men's doubles game.