Ayana Akli

Ayana Akli

Akli playing for the South Carolina Gamecocks in 2023
Country (sports)	United States
Born	(2001-07-06) July 6, 2001 (age 25) Silver Spring, Maryland, US
Height	1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Plays	Right (two-handed backhand)
College	Maryland South Carolina
Prize money	$238,937
Singles
Career record	102–66
Career titles	2 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 234 (April 20, 2026)
Current ranking	No. 279 (September 28, 2026)
Grand Slam singles results
French Open	Q1 (2026)
US Open	Q3 (2025)
Doubles
Career record	66–44
Career titles	8 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 127 (June 22, 2026)
Current ranking	No. 159 (September 28, 2026)
Last updated on: October 2, 2026.

Ayana Akli (born July 6, 2001) is an American professional tennis player. She has career-high rankings of No. 234 in singles, achieved on April 20, 2026, and world No. 127 in doubles, achieved on June 22, 2026. She played collegiate tennis at the University of Maryland and the University of South Carolina.

Early life

Akli was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, to Komi and Linda Akli. ^[1] Her father is a former professional tennis player who immigrated to the United States from Togo in 1996; he was the childhood coach of Frances Tiafoe. ^{[2] [3]} She began playing tennis at the age of four and trained at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park. ^[1] She attended Wheaton High School, where she was a three-time state champion in girls' singles. ^{[4] [5] [6]} She later received a degree in civil engineering from the University of South Carolina. ^[7]

Career

In 2019, Akli signed a letter of intent to play collegiate tennis for the Maryland Terrapins. ^[1] After two years, she transferred to the University of South Carolina. ^[8] Playing for the South Carolina Gamecocks, she reached career-high national rankings of No. 3 in singles and No. 10 in doubles. She also received ITA All-American and All-SEC honors and was named the SEC Women's Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year. ^[7]

In October 2023, she reached the semifinals of the Christus Health Pro Challenge as a qualifier. ^[9] In July 2024, she reached the semifinals of the Championnats de Granby as a qualifier. ^[10] Later that year, she won her first professional doubles title at the W35 USTA Pro Circuit event in Redding, partnering Eryn Cayetano. ^[11]

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 5 (2 titles, 3 runner-ups)

Legend
W75 tournaments (0–1)
W35 tournaments (2–2)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Apr 2025	ITF Charlotte, United States	W35	Clay	Alicia Herrero Liñana	1–6, 6–7(1)
Loss	0–2	May 2025	ITF Boca Raton, US	W35	Clay	Monika Ekstrand	2–6, 1–6
Win	1–2	May 2025	ITF Bethany Beach, US	W35	Clay	Ana Sofía Sánchez	6–2, 7–5
Win	2–2	Jun 2026	Georgia's Rome Open, US	W35	Clay	Amelia Honer	7–6(3), 6–4
Loss	2–3	Aug 2026	Lexington Open, US	W75	Hard	Anastasia Kulikova	5–7, 4–6

Doubles: 15 (8 titles, 7 runner-ups)

Legend
W100 tournaments (2–1)
W75 tournaments (3–2)
W50 tournaments (1–1)
W25/35 tournaments (2–2)
W15 tournaments (0–1)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Oct 2023	ITF Florence, US	W25	Hard	Nicole Khirin	Abigail Rencheli Alana Smith	6–3, 6–7(9), [6–10]
Win	1–1	Sep 2024	ITF Redding, US	W35	Hard	Eryn Cayetano	Clervie Ngounoue Himeno Sakatsume	6–2, 6–2
Loss	1–2	Jan 2025	ITF Palm Coast, US	W35	Clay	Abigail Rencheli	Jasmijn Gimbrère Lisa Zaar	4–6, 6–3, [8–10]
Loss	1–3	Mar 2025	ITF Hagetmau, France	W15	Hard	Mia Horvit	Sarah Iliev Emma Léné	6–7(2), 6–3, [8–10]
Loss	1–4	Mar 2025	ITF Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic	W50	Hard	Clervie Ngounoue	Anastasia Tikhonova Mariia Tkacheva	6–7(5), 7–6(2), [7–10]
Win	2–4	Apr 2025	ITF Boca Raton, US	W35	Clay	Diae El Jardi	Despina Papamichail Gergana Topalova	7–6(1), 7–5
Win	3–4	Jun 2025	Cary Tennis Classic, United States	W100	Hard	Abigail Rencheli	Gabriella Broadfoot Maddy Zampardo	6–3, 6–2
Loss	3–5	Jul 2025	Evansville Classic, US	W100	Hard	Victoria Osuigwe	Arianne Hartono Prarthana Thombare	3–6, 3–6
Win	4–5	Jul 2025	Lexington Open, US	W75	Hard	Eryn Cayetano	Elvina Kalieva Alana Smith	4–6, 6–2, [10–4]
Win	5–5	Oct 2025	Tennis Classic of Macon, United States	W100	Hard	Eryn Cayetano	Rasheeda McAdoo Angella Okutoyi	6–7(4), 6–2, [16–14]
Loss	5–6	May 2026	Zaragoza Open, Spain	W75	Clay	Lara Salden	Yvonne Cavallé Reimers Ángela Fita Boluda	4–6, 4–6
Win	6–6	Jul 2026	ITF Columbus, United States	W50	Hard (i)	Diae El Jardi	Ava Hrastar Victoria Mulville	6–3, 1–6, [10–7]
Win	7–6	Jul 2026	Lexington Open, US	W75	Hard	Fiona Crawley	Savannah Broadus Kylie Collins	2–6, 7–6(3), [12–10]
Win	8–6	Sep 2026	The Campus Open, Portugal	W75	Hard	Reese Brantmeier	Kylie Collins Carson Tanguilig	7–5, 6–4
Loss	8–7	Oct 2026	Tevlin Women's Challenger, Canada	W75	Hard (i)	Madison Sieg	Ariana Arseneault Raphaëlle Lacasse	1–6, 6–7(3)

References

1. Soong, Kelyn (January 10, 2019). "Elite Junior Tennis Player Ayana Akli Is Paving Her Own Path". Washington City Paper . Retrieved July 7, 2025.
2. Jiménez, Jesus (September 8, 2022). "In Maryland, Frances Tiafoe's Former Home Rallies Behind Him" . The New York Times . Retrieved July 7, 2025.
3. Tennery, Amy; Chavez, Julio-Cesar (September 10, 2022). "Early mentors cheer Tiafoe's 'unbelievable' U.S. Open run". Reuters . Retrieved July 7, 2025.
4. Haufe, William (March 31, 2018). "KI girls, Easton boys ready to defend titles". The Star Democrat . Retrieved July 8, 2025.
5. Soong, Kelyn (May 26, 2018). "Wheaton's Ayana Akli, Wootton's Joseph Brailovsky defend Maryland state tennis titles" . The Washington Post . Retrieved July 7, 2025.
6. Oyefusi, Daniel (May 5, 2019). "Wheaton's Ayana Akli wraps high school career with third straight Maryland 4A tennis title". The Washington Post . Retrieved July 7, 2025.
7. Muller, Brad (April 26, 2024). "Akli Looks Forward to Finishing What She Started, On and Off the Court". University of South Carolina Athletics . Retrieved July 7, 2025.
8. "Ayana Akli Set to Join Women's Tennis Team". University of South Carolina Athletics . May 27, 2021. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
9. Kapetanakis, Arthur (October 30, 2023). "Bektas set for Top 100 debut after WTA 125 title; Navarro wins on USTA Pro Circuit". USTA . Retrieved July 8, 2025.
10. Tassé, Michel (July 20, 2024). "La Canadienne Cross affrontera la favorite en finale". Le Soleil (in Canadian French). Retrieved July 8, 2025.
11. Kapetanakis, Arthur (October 8, 2024). "Jovic, Basavareddy lead American singles sweep on USTA Pro Circuit". USTA . Retrieved July 7, 2025.

External links

• Ayana Akli at the Women's Tennis Association
• Ayana Akli at World Tennis
• Ayana Akli at ESPN.com