Anna Kalinskaya is a Russian professional tennis player who was born on December 2, 1998, in Moscow, Russia. After it became apparent early on that she was destined for a career on tennis’ biggest stages, the Russian enjoyed a dazzling junior career.
It was one that took her to the 2016 Australian Open girls' doubles title, the 2015 Roland Garros girls’ final, and to world number 3 in the junior rankings. Before long, she was ready to make a switch to the WTA level.
Her main tour debut came at the 2014 Kremlin Cup, which helped her gain more and more experience amongst the sport’s best. The transition to the WTA Tour full-time was not immediate, though, with her only making the step up on a more permanent basis in 2017.
This was the year she made her Grand Slam debut after qualifying Down Under. Slowly but surely, she started to rack up some valuable wins amongst the women, and her ranking position started reflecting her hard work.
In August of 2019, she really put her practice into action, reaching her career-first WTA semifinal at the Citi Open in Washington. This result was backed up by a quarterfinal appearance at the Tashkent Open, really proving she was where she was meant to be.
After 2020 badly affected her chances to push on up, 2021 and 2022 brought some more stability with it. Despite being outside of the Top 100, 2023 proved the year she won her first title at the WTA 125 level, beating Jana Fett in the final of the Midland Open in the United States.
2024 was certainly a year to remember for the Russian, and it got off to the best possible start for her. At the season-opening Grand Slam in Australia, a magical run took her all the way to the quarterfinals, defeating Katie Vloynets, Arantxa Rus, and Sloane Stephens on the way.
This result did absolute wonders for her rankings, qualifying her for a whole host of events in the following weeks. As a result, her ranking shot up to the Top 25 in February, ready for her to build on that in the remainder of her tennis career.
