Elina Araratovna Avanesyan (; ; born 17 September 2002) is a Russian-born Armenian tennis player.
[ She has career-high WTA rankings of No. 36 in singles, achieved on 17 March 2025, and 163 in doubles, achieved in August 2024.] Avanesyan has won five singles and nine doubles titles at tournaments of the ITF Circuit.
Personal information
Early life
Avanesyan was born in Pyatigorsk
Pyatigorsk (; Circassian languages, Circassian: Псыхуабэ, ''Psıxwabæ'') is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Stavropol Krai, Russia, located on the Podkumok River, about from the town of Mineralnye Vody, which has an i ...
, Russia, to an Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
family. Her parents are from Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh (, ; ) is a region in Azerbaijan, covering the southeastern stretch of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range. Part of the greater region of Karabakh, it spans the area between Lower Karabakh and Syunik Province, Syunik. Its ter ...
and moved to Russia in 1992 during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War
The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was an ethnic conflict, ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nag ...
. She has a brother and a sister.
Nationality change
In June 2024, it was announced that Avanesyan had begun the process of applying for Armenian citizenship and planned to compete under the flag of Armenia. She had previously completed in several junior tournaments in the Armenian capital Yerevan
Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...
, winning four of them.
In August 2024, Avanesyan became an Armenian citizen and began representing Armenia.
Career
2021: First ITF title
She won her first W60 title at the Reinert Open as a lucky loser.
2022: WTA Tour, major and WTA 1000 debuts
She made her WTA Tour
The WTA Tour (also known as the Hologic WTA Tour for sponsorship reasons) is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women and organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125 series, and third-tier is the ITF Wome ...
debut at the 2022 Copa Colsanitas, where she reached the quarterfinals, and her Grand Slam debut as a qualifier at the US Open.
She also made her debut at the WTA 1000 level at the Italian Open as a qualifier, and also entered the main draw of the new WTA 1000 Guadalajara Open as a lucky loser.
2023: French Open fourth round, top 65
Ranked No. 134, Avanesyan made her debut at the French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
as a lucky loser. In the first round, she upset 12th seed Belinda Bencic
Belinda Bencic (; born 10 March 1997) is a Swiss professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA rankings, ranking of world No. 4 which she achieved in February 2020. Bencic has won nine career singles titles, including Tennis at the 2020 ...
for her first major and top-20 win. She defeated French wildcard Léolia Jeanjean
Léolia Jeanjean (born 14 August 1995) is a French tennis player.
She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 92 by the WTA, achieved on 9 June 2025. She reached her best doubles ranking of No. 162 on 18 March 2024.
Early life
Jeanjean w ...
in the second round and qualifier Clara Tauson
Clara Tauson (born 21 December 2002) is a Danish professional tennis player. Her career-high rankings are world No. 21 in singles, achieved on 3 March 2025 and No. 124 in doubles, on 16 June same year. Tauson has won three WTA Tour titles, all o ...
in the third, becoming the first lucky loser at Roland Garros in the last 16 in 35 years since 1988 and only the fifth overall at this major. As a result, she reached the top 80 rising 54 positions in the rankings on 12 June 2023.
She made her WTA 500 debut at the German Open, also as a lucky loser and defeated eighth seed Daria Kasatkina
Daria Sergeyevna Kasatkina (born 7 May 1997) is a Russian-born Australian professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 8 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA, achieved in October 2022. Kasatkina ha ...
. As a result, she reached a new career-high ranking of No. 64, on 26 June 2023.
She reached the second round of the US Open by defeating Alizé Cornet
Alizé Cornet (; born 22 January 1990) is a French professional tennis player. She has won six singles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as three singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, ITF Circuit. ...
in the first round.
She finished the year ranked No. 75.
2024: Australian Open debut, first top 10 win & WTA Tour final, top 50
On her debut at the Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, she recorded two wins over Bai Zhuoxuan and eighth seed Maria Sakkari
Maria Sakkari (, ; born 25 July 1995) is a Greek professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 3 by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA, which she first achieved on 21 March 2022, making her the highest-ranked Greek player ...
, her first top 10 win. On her debut at Indian Wells, she lost to Océane Dodin
Océane Dodin (, born 24 October 1996) is a French professional tennis player. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 46 and in doubles of No. 375 in 2017, by the WTA. Dodin has won one WTA Tour singles title at the 2016 Coupe B ...
. On another debut at the Miami Open, she recorded her first WTA 1000-level win over wildcard Erika Andreeva
Erika Aleksandrovna Andreeva ( rus, Эрика Александровна Андреева, p=ˈɛrʲɪkə ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvnə ɐnˈdrʲe(j)ɪvə, born 24 June 2004) is a Russian tennis player.
She has a career-high singles ranking of world N ...
, and her second top 10 and biggest win of her career, over sixth seed Ons Jabeur
Ons Jabeur (born 28 August 1994) is a Tunisian professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking by the WTA of No. 2, achieved on 27 June 2022, making her the highest-ranked African and Arab tennis player in WTA and ATP ranking ...
, to reach her first third round at this level.
At the French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, she reached a consecutive fourth round with wins over Zhu Lin, Anna Blinkova
Anna Vladimirovna Blinkova ( rus, Анна Владимировна Блинкова, , ˈanːə blʲɪnˈkovə, Ru-Anna Blinkova.ogg; born 10 September 1998) is a Russian professional tennis player. On 7 August 2023, she reached her best single ...
and seventh seed Zheng Qinwen
Zheng Qinwen ( zh, , p=Zhèng Qīnwén, s=郑钦文; IPA: ; born 8 October 2002) is a Chinese professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 4 in women's singles by the WTA, achieved in June 2025, and is only the second Chinese pla ...
. Her run was ended by 12th seed Jasmine Paolini
Jasmine Paolini (; born 4 January 1996) is an Italian professional tennis player. She is ranked world No. 4 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), the joint-highest-ranked Italian woman in singles (alongside Francesca Schiavone). Sh ...
.
At Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, she reached the second round for the first time with a win over Anhelina Kalinina
Anhelina Serhiyivna Kalinina ( ; born 7 February 1997) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. On 22 May 2023, she reached her career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 25. She peaked at No. 92 in the doubles rankings in January 2025. She has ...
in her opening match. She lost in round two against 15th seed Liudmila Samsonova
Liudmila Dmitrievna Samsonova ( rus, Людмила Дмитриевна Самсонова, , lʲʊdˈmʲiɫə sɐmˈsonəvə; born 11 November 1998) is a Russian professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of No. 12 in singles ...
.
Avanesyan made it through to the quarterfinals at the Budapest Grand Prix
The Hungarian Grand Prix (previously ''Budapest Grand Prix'') was a women's tennis tournament held in Budapest, Hungary. It was a WTA 250 tournament played on the WTA Tour on outdoor clay court since 1996.
The tournament was formerly known as '' ...
, defeating fifth seed Magdalena Fręch
Magdalena Fręch (; born 15 December 1997) is a Polish professional tennis player.
She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 22, achieved on 28 October 2024. On 8 August 2022, she peaked at No. 174 in the doubles WTA rankings, rankings.
...
and Rebeka Masarova
Rebeka Masarova (, ; born 6 August 1999) is a Swiss professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of No. 62 in singles and No. 125 in doubles achieved in 2023. She is the current No. 4 Swiss player.
Masarova won the juniors' 2016 ...
before losing to Anna Karolína Schmiedlová
Anna Karolína Schmiedlová (; born 13 September 1994) is a Slovak inactive professional tennis player. On 12 October 2015, she reached her best WTA singles ranking of world No. 26. She has won three singles titles on the WTA Tour, two singles t ...
in three sets. She reached her first WTA Tour semifinal at the Iași Open
The Iași Open is a professional tennis tournament played on clay courts. It is currently part of the WTA Tour and the ATP Challenger Tour. It is held annually in Iași
Iași ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative n ...
, defeating third seed Jaqueline Cristian
Jaqueline Adina Cristian (born 5 June 1998) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 49 in singles and No. 108 in doubles. She is currently the No. 1 Romanian player. Cristian has won one WTA 125 tit ...
in the quarterfinals. In the last four, Avanesyan defeated Chloé Paquet
Chloé Paquet (; born 1 July 1994) is a French professional tennis player. She has achieved career-high WTA rankings of No. 96 in singles on 5 August 2024, and 247 in doubles on 12 June 2017.
Career 2010–2013: Early career
Paquet made her d ...
and advanced into her maiden WTA Tour final which she lost to Mirra Andreeva when she retired injured while trailing in the third set.
She recorded her first tour main-draw win under her new Armenian nationality at the Cincinnati Open
The Cincinnati Open (also known as the Cincinnati Masters) is an annual professional tennis event held in Cincinnati, United States. Due to previous sponsorship, it has also been known as: the Thriftway ATP Championships, the Great American I ...
as a lucky loser, making history for her country as the first player to do so, over wildcard Bianca Andreescu
Bianca Vanessa Andreescu (; born June 16, 2000) is a Canadian professional tennis player. She has been WTA rankings, ranked world No. 4 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Andreescu has won two singles titles on the WTA T ...
. Next, she defeated eighth seed Jeļena Ostapenko
Jeļena "Aļona" Ostapenko (born 8 June 1997) is a Latvian professional tennis player. She has career-high rankings of world No. 5 in singles and No. 4 in doubles by the WTA. Ostapenko has won nine WTA Tour-level singles and eleven doubles tit ...
to reach her second WTA 1000 third round, where she lost to tenth seed Liudmila Samsonova.
At the Wuhan Open
The Wuhan Open (currently sponsored by Dongfeng Voyah) is a WTA 1000 tennis tournament held in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China and organized for female professional tennis players. It is one of the WTA 1000 tournaments on the WTA Tour and made its ...
, she lost a three-setter to 13th seed Marta Kostyuk
Marta Olehivna Kostyuk ( ; born 28 June 2002) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 16 in singles, achieved on 17 June 2024 and No. 27 in doubles, achieved on 8 May 2023. On the WTA Tour, she h ...
in the first round. Seeded fifth at the 2024 Japan Women's Open, Avanesyan defeated defending champion Ashlyn Krueger, before going out to local wildcard Sara Saito.
She finished the year ranked inside the top 50 in the singles rankings.
2025: First Armenian in WTA 500 semifinal
Avanesyan started her 2025 season at the Brisbane International
The Brisbane International established in 2009 is a professional tennis tournament played on Tennis court#Hard courts, outdoor hardcourts in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia. It is a WTA 500 tournaments, WTA 500 tournament and an ATP World T ...
, defeating Rebecca Šramková
Rebecca Šramková (; born 19 October 1996) is a Slovak professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA rankings, singles ranking of world No. 36, achieved on 31 March 2025, and a best doubles ranking of No. 209, reached on 9 June 2025. Sh ...
and fourth seed Paula Badosa
Paula Badosa Gibert () (born 15 November 1997) is a Spanish professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 2 in singles by the WTA and No. 124 in doubles, achieved on 25 April 2022. She has won four WTA Tour singles titl ...
, before losing to Ons Jabeur
Ons Jabeur (born 28 August 1994) is a Tunisian professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking by the WTA of No. 2, achieved on 27 June 2022, making her the highest-ranked African and Arab tennis player in WTA and ATP ranking ...
in the third round. The following week, at the Hobart International
The Hobart International is a women's professional tennis tournament held at the Hobart International Tennis Centre in Hobart, Australia. The tournament was founded in 1994 as the Tasmanian International Open, it forms a part of the Women's Te ...
, she overcame qualifiers Wang Xiyu
Wang Xiyu (; ; born 28 March 2001) is a Chinese professional tennis player. She reached a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 49 on 9 January 2023, and a best doubles ranking of No. 98 on 19 August 2024.
Wang became junior world No. 1 on ...
and Greet Minnen
Greet Minnen (born 14 August 1997) is a Belgian tennis player.
Minnen has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 59 in singles and No. 45 in doubles, achieved on 16 October 2023 and on 8 January 2024, respectively.
Career Juniors
In her last yea ...
, then benefitted from the withdrawal of third seed Amanda Anisimova
Amanda Kay Victoria Anisimova ( ; ; born August 31, 2001) is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles WTA rankings, WTA ranking of world No. 13, achieved on 16 June 2025. Anisimova has won three WTA Tour titles, inc ...
to reach the semifinals, where she lost to eventual champion McCartney Kessler.
At the Mérida Open
The Mérida Open, also known as Mérida Open Akron for sponsorship reasons, is a women's tennis event held in Mérida, Mexico. Mérida Open is part of the WTA Tour and is listed as a WTA 500 tournament as of 2025.
The tournament is held at the ...
in Mexico, Avanesyan became the first Armenian player to reach a WTA 500 semifinal with a win over Maya Joint.[ ]
Performance timeline
''Only main-draw results in WTA Tour
The WTA Tour (also known as the Hologic WTA Tour for sponsorship reasons) is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women and organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125 series, and third-tier is the ITF Wome ...
, Grand Slam tournaments, Billie Jean King Cup
The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was chan ...
, United Cup
The United Cup is an international hard court tennis competition featuring mixed-gender teams from 18 countries. The first event was held in December 2022 into January 2023. The event is played across multiple Australian cities over 11 days in ...
, Hopman Cup
The Hopman Cup is an international tennis tournament that plays mixed teams (one male and one female) on a country-by-country basis. It was first held in Perth, Western Australia each year from 1989 to 2019, played on indoor hardcourt, before b ...
and Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...
are included in win–loss records.''
Singles
''Current through the 2025 Madrid Open.''
WTA Tour finals
Singles: 1 (runner-up)
ITF Circuit finals
Singles: 12 (5 titles, 7 runner–ups)
Doubles: 16 (9 titles, 7 runner-ups)
Top 10 wins
Notes
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Avanesyan, Elina
2002 births
Armenian expatriate sportspeople in Russia
Armenian female tennis players
Living people
Naturalized citizens of Armenia
Sportspeople from Pyatigorsk
Russian sportspeople of Armenian descent