 | Born: 8/6/82 Nationality: Russian Seeded: 10 World ranking: 12 Australian Open best:
3rd round (2003 & 2000) Recent record:
2003: 3rd round
2002: n/a
2001: 2nd round |
Petrova made up for lost time in 2003 by closing in on a place in the top 10 and making a Grand Slam semi-final for the first time. Of all the young Russians making their way up the rankings, none serve faster or hit the ball harder than the 21-year-old from Moscow.
That was best demonstrated during a run to the last four at Roland Garros.
She thrashed Monica Seles in the first round before seeing off Jennifer Capriati and Vera Zvonareva on her way to a semi-final defeat to Kim Clijsters.
It was all a far cry from the previous season, when a foot injury forced Petrova to miss nearly the whole year.
At number 12 in the world she is now ranked higher than ever before and looks ready to break into the top 10 for the first time.
However, Petrova is still prone to inconsistency and has to improve her record against the world's very best players.
MMIX
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