Anastasia Sergeyevna "Nastia" Pavlyuchenkova (; born 3 July 1991) is a Russian professional tennis player. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 on 8 November 2021. Pavlyuchenkova has won twelve singles titles on the WTA Tour, and contested a major final at the 2021 French Open.
A junior prodigy, Pavlyuchenkova won three junior major titles and became the junior world No. 1 aged just 14. She was continuously ranked inside the world's top 50 from November 2008 to June 2022. Her biggest singles titles to date came at two Premier-level tournaments, the 2014 Open GDF Suez and the 2014 Kremlin Cup. In addition to her 2021 French Open final appearance, Pavlyuchenkova has contested nine other major quarterfinals.
Pavlyuchenkova has also had success in doubles, having won six doubles titles on the WTA Tour and achieving a career-high ranking of No. 21 on 16 September 2013. She has reached six major doubles quarterfinals, as well as winning two WTA 1000 titles at the 2013 Madrid Open with Lucie Šafářová and the 2022 Italian Open with Veronika Kudermetova. Furthermore, she won the gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in mixed doubles with Andrey Rublev.
In team competition, Pavlyuchenkova was part of the winning Russian team at the 2020–21 Billie Jean King Cup, alongside Ekaterina Alexandrova, Daria Kasatkina, Veronika Kudermetova, and Liudmila Samsonova.
Early life Pavlyuchenkova was born in Samara in the Soviet Union to Sergey and Marina on 3 July 1991, as one of two children. Her father was a rower and her mother a swimmer. Her brother Alexander also played professional tennis for a time. Her grandmother played professional basketball, and her grandfather was an elite referee in that sport in the USSR.
Pavlyuchenkova started playing tennis at age six, with her parents helping her. Her brother Alexander often travels with her and provides advice for her play. She also trained at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy during her early career.
Career 2006–2008: Junior success, debut in top 50 Pavlyuchenkova first made headlines in 2006 by winning the Australian Open junior title, defeating Caroline Wozniacki in the final. She reached another junior Grand Slam final at the French Open where she lost to Agnieszka Radwańska. She then won the US Open junior title by beating Tamira Paszek in the final. Her successful career as a junior also saw her reach the world No. 1 ranking on 30 January 2006. She accumulated an overall win/loss of record of 131–23 and 87–22 in singles and doubles, respectively. Her success in juniors enabled her to enter ITF and WTA tournaments, winning an ITF event in Italy in May 2006. Five months later, Pavlyuchenkova received a wildcard into her maiden WTA Tour main-draw appearance at the Kremlin Cup. She lost in the first round to rising Czech, Nicole Vaidišová, in straight sets.
Pavlyuchenkova also played for the Sacramento Capitals of the World TeamTennis league in the summer of 2006.
In 2007, Pavlyuchenkova barely missed out on qualifying for the main draw of the Australian Open, losing to Julia Vakulenko in the final round of qualifying. However, she successfully defended her junior title by defeating Madison Brengle in the final. That same year, she received a wildcard into Wimbledon, her maiden Grand Slam appearance, but was overwhelmed by 10th seed Daniela Hantuchová in the first round in forty minutes.
The following year, she entered Wimbledon as the youngest player in the women's draw. She won her first round match against 17th seed Alizé Cornet and went on to defeat Li Na before falling to 11th seed Radwańska. At the US Open, the first Grand Slam at which she was able to gain direct entry, she won against American Vania King in the opening round in three sets, but was defeated in the second round by Patty Schnyder. Throughout 2008, Pavlyuchenkova captured four ITF singles, two of them coming at the end of the season in Poitiers and Bratislava. She ended the year inside the top 50 for the first time in her career, at world No. 45.
2009: Indian Wells semifinals and top 30 debut Pavlyuchenkova began 2009 season at the Auckland Open where she lost to Aravane Rezaï in the second round. At the Australian Open, she lost to Italian Tathiana Garbin in the first round in three sets. The following month at the Indian Wells Open, she enjoyed a breakthrough where she made her first Premier Mandatory semifinal. Along the way, she had defeated the likes of Marta Domachowska, world No. 2 Jelena Janković, Karin Knapp, Nuria Llagostera Vives, and world No. 10 Agnieszka Radwańska. However, she was defeated by the fifth seed and defending champion Ana Ivanovic. Pavlyuchenkova made her top 30 debut following the end of the tournament. In Miami, she defeated Rezaï in the first round but then fell to eventual champion Victoria Azarenka in straight sets.
The following week, Pavlyuchenkova made her Fed Cup debut, where Russia faced Italy in the semifinals, dropping her sole match to Francesca Schiavone. The Italian team eventually advanced to the final. Pavlyuchenkova ended 2009 as world No. 41, her second top-50 finish in a row. At the French Open where she was seeded at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time, 27th-seeded Pavlyuchenkova advanced to the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time as well after defeating both Raluca Olaru and Julie Coin in straight sets before losing to world No. 1, Dinara Safina. She then reached the second round at Wimbledon where she fell to Roberta Vinci. However, she lost in the first round of the US Open to eventual quarterfinalist Melanie Oudin.
2010: First WTA Tour titles
Pavlyuchenkova started the 2010 season by reaching the last eight at the Brisbane International where she was defeated by Ivanovic. At Melbourne, she lost in the second round of the Australian Open to fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova. She then reached her first Premier-5-level quarterfinal, at the Dubai Championships by defeating Katarina Srebotnik, Tathiana Garbin and Daniela Hantuchová. There, she fell short to defending champion Venus Williams in straight sets. She then made the third round in Indian Wells and the round of 16 in Miami, losing to Samantha Stosur and Caroline Wozniacki, respectively.
Pavlyuchenkova then won her maiden career title at the Monterrey Open. En route to the final, she moved past the likes of Anna Tatishvili, Polona Hercog and Klára Zakopalová to reach the semifinals where she beat Anastasija Sevastova. In the final, she overcame second seed Hantuchová in three sets to win the title. Pavlyuchenkova was the 29th seed at the French Open and reached the third round where she lost to top seed Serena Williams, in three sets. She also made the third round at Wimbledon where she lost to Wozniacki.
After a quarterfinal appearance at the Slovenia Open where she lost to eventual runner-up Johanna Larsson, Pavlyuchenkova entered the İstanbul Cup seeded third. She reached the last four after seeing off Marta Domachowska, Magdaléna Rybáriková and Sorana Cîrstea, all in straight sets. She then reached the final by beating Jarmila Groth. She faced Elena Vesnina in the final and defeated her elder Russian opponent in three sets to win her second career title.
Pavlyuchenkova continued her good form in Cincinnati, beating Hantuchová and defending champion Elena Dementieva to advance to the third round where she moved past 13th seed Shahar Pe'er. In the quarterfinals, she scored a comeback win over 12th seed Yanina Wickmayer to advance to her first Premier 5 semifinal. There, she fell to Maria Sharapova in three sets. She then lost in the opening round of the Rogers Cup to Kuznetsova, in three sets.
At the US Open, 22nd seed Pavlyuchenkova posted her best major result at that time by reaching the round of 16. There, she lost to Francesca Schiavone Schiavone in straight sets. Pavlyuchenkova's last tournament of the season was the Tournament of Champions in Bali. It was her debut appearance after winning two International titles throughout the year in Monterrey and İstanbul. However, she lost to eventual champion Ivanovic at the first hurdle. She finished the year inside the top 30 for the first time ever, at world No. 21.
2011: Two major quarterfinals
Pavlyuchenkova opened her 2011 season in Brisbane where she was seeded fifth. Despite being pushed to three sets in two prior matches, she managed to reach the semifinals where she fell to eventual champion Petra Kvitová. She made her top 20 debut following her good result there. The following week, in Hobart, Pavlyuchenkova was forced to retire in the opening round against Bethanie Mattek-Sands. At the Australian Open, she was the 18th seeded and advanced to the third round after defeating Kirsten Flipkens and Kristina Barrois, before losing to Iveta Benešová in a three-setter.
In Fed Cup competition, Pavlyuchenkova helped Russia rally from an 0–2 deficit against France by winning her reverse singles match against Alizé Cornet and the decisive doubles match, partnering with Svetlana Kuznetsova, thus allowing the Russian team to advance to the semifinals. After an early exit in Dubai, she successfully defended her title at the Monterrey Open, prevailing over top seed Jelena Janković in the final, in three sets. She then reached the third round of the Indian Wells Open, falling to tenth seed Shahar Pe'er. This was followed by a fourth-round loss to eventual champion, Victoria Azarenka, in three sets at the Miami Open. Pavlyuchenkova then helped Russia beat Italy to advance to the Fed Cup final. She beat Sara Errani in her singles rubber match and then teamed up with Ekaterina Makarova to defeat Alberta Brianti and Maria Elena Camerin in the decisive doubles rubber.
Pavlyuchenkova began the clay-court season at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix where she lost to second seed Vera Zvonareva in the round of 16. She then defeated Zheng Jie, Marion Bartoli and Samantha Stosur to reach the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open where she lost to Julia Görges. The following week in Rome, Pavlyuchenkova advanced to the round of 16 where she lost to third seed Victoria Azarenka, in three sets. Pavlyuchenkova was the 14th seed at the French Open and advanced to her first ever Grand Slam quarterfinal after racking in wins over Yaroslava Shvedova, qualifiers Mona Barthel and Nuria Llagostera Vives and third seed Zvonareva. There, she came up short to defending champion Francesca Schiavone in three sets despite having been two games away from upsetting the Italian.
Pavlyuchenkova had a dismal grass-court campaign, dropping her opening match in Eastbourne to Bojana Jovanovski and falling in the second round of the Wimbledon Championships to Nadia Petrova in straight sets. Nevertheless, she hit her career-high ranking of world No. 13 after the conclusion of Wimbledon. She then competed at the Baku Cup but crashed out to Galina Voskoboeva in the quarterfinals, hitting a bizarre 27 double faults in the process.
After opening round losses in Toronto and Cincinnati to María José Martínez Sánchez and Flavia Pennetta, respectively, Pavlyuchenkova advanced to the quarterfinals at the New Haven Open where she lost to Li Na. At the US Open, Pavlyuchenkova was the 17th seed and defeated Anna Tatishvili, Petra Martić and Janković to reach the fourth round. There, she avenged her earlier two losses to Schiavone to cruise into her second Grand Slam quarterfinal where she lost to eventual runner-up Serena Williams, in straight sets. At Tokyo, she overcame Arantxa Rus in the first round but was then upset by Vania King in the following round in straight sets.