Sonja Zhiyenbayeva (born 2 July 2006) is a Kazakh tennis player. She achieved career-high WTA rankings of world No. 382 in singles and No. 377 in doubles.
She played college tennis at Pepperdine University.
Early life Born in Almaty, Sonia has a Kazakh mother and a German father. Sonia moved to Germany with her family at a very young age. She acquired Kazakh citizenship in 2024.
Career In September 2024, she won the ITF W15 singles tournament in Madrid.
In November 2025, she and American Savannah Broadushas won ITF W50 the women's doubles Final at the World Tennis Tour in Austin, defeating American paring Victoria Osuigwe and Alana Smith, Zhiyenbayeva's first ITF doubles title.
In August 2026, she defeated Bulgarian Isabella Shinikova in three sets in the final of the ITF W75 event in Ourense, Spain, the biggest title of her career, thus far.
ITF Circuit finals Singles: 5 (4 titles, 1 runner-up) LegendW60/75 tournamentsW25/35 tournamentsW15 tournaments Finals by surfaceHard (3–1)Clay (1–0) ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreWin 1–0 Apr 2024ITF Antalya, TurkiyeW15 Clay İlay Yörük 7–6(4), 6–4Loss 1–1 Aug 2024ITF Ust-Kamenogorsk, KazakhstanW15 Hard Alisa Kummel 6–7(1), 3–6Win 2–1 Sep 2024ITF Madrid, SpainW15 Hard Alice Gillan 6–1, 5–7, 6–1Win 3–1 Aug 2026ITF Ourense, SpainW75 Hard Isabella Shinikova 7–6(2), 3–6, 6–1Win 4–1 Aug 2026ITF Vigo, SpainW35 Hard Ren Yufei 7–6(6), 7–5
Doubles: 3 (1 titles, 2 runner-ups) LegendW50 tournamentsW25/35 tournamentsW15 tournamentsFinals by surfaceHard (1–1)Clay (0–1) ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentScoreLoss 0–1 Apr 2023ITF Antalya, TurkeyW15 Clay Başak Eraydın Katharina Hering Natalia Siedliska 3–6, 2–6Win 1–1 Nov 2025ITF Austin, United StatesW50 Hard Savannah Broadus Victoria Osuigwe Alana Smith 6–3, 6–3Loss 1–2 Jun 2026ITF Zhengzhou, ChinaW35 Hard Ekaterina Yashina Huang Yujia Zheng Wushuang 3–6, 2–6Loss 1–3 Aug 2026ITF Vigo, SpainW35 Hard Ekaterina Yashina Victoria Gómez O'Hayon Arantxa Rus 3–6, 4–6
References