Valentina Ivanov

Valentina Ivanov

Country (sports)	New Zealand
Residence	Sydney, Australia
Born	(2001-03-27) 27 March 2001 (age 23) Christchurch, New Zealand [1]
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Plays	Right (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$20,556
Singles
Career record	50–46
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 738 (28 January 2019)
Current ranking	No. 1,001 (3 March 2025)
Doubles
Career record	42–26
Career titles	4 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 614 (31 October 2022)
Current ranking	No. 725 (3 March 2025)
Team competitions
Fed Cup	13–8 (singles 7–7, doubles 6–1)
Last updated on: 3 March 2025.

Valentina Sergeyevna Ivanov (born 27 March 2001) is a New Zealand tennis player, although she has lived in Sydney since she was two years old. ^[2]

Ivanov's mother Oksana (née Yarikova) was a member of the Uzbekistan Fed Cup team in 1995 and 1997, being joined in the latter by her younger sister Irina. The Uzbekistan team captain that year was Oksana's future husband (and Valentina's father), Sergey Ivanov. Valentina was coached by both parents until she was 12.

On the ITF Junior Circuit, Ivanov has a career-high combined ranking of 85, achieved on 2 April 2018.

Tennis career

Junior highlights

Ivanov won two Grade-4 singles titles in 2017, and five junior doubles titles in 2017 and 2018, four with Australian Amber Marshall and one, the Grade-2 2017 Lee Duk Hee Cup Chuncheon International Junior Tennis Championships, with Supapitch Kuearum.

2019

Ivanov made her WTA Tour main-draw debut as a wildcard, with fellow New Zealand junior Elys Ventura, in the ASB Classic in Auckland. They lost in the first round of doubles to the eventual runners-up, Paige Hourigan and Taylor Townsend, after Ivanov had defeated Hourigan in the first round of singles qualifying, repeating the result of the New Zealand Championships final. ^[3] She lost in the second qualifying round to Bibiane Schoofs. She then came through qualifying to reach the first round of the girls' singles draw at the Australian Open, where she lost to the fifth seed Mananchaya Sawangkaew. She also lost in the first round of doubles.

Ivanov's first senior title came in Port Pirie, South Australia, in February, when she and Marshall defeated the top seeds Jennifer Elie and Alicia Smith in the semifinals before beating Patricia Böntgen and Lisa Mays in the doubles final. ^[4] A poor run of form in qualifying for singles main draws was only slightly alleviated by reaching the doubles semifinal at a tournament in Heraklion. However, she made her Fed Cup debut for New Zealand in June in the best possible manner, defeating Meheq Khokhar of Pakistan, 6–0, 6–0. She won two singles and three doubles matches as New Zealand finished a disappointing fourth in the tournament.

Although she and Mylène Halemai reached the doubles semifinal of her first tournament when back in Europe, at Alkmaar, she got past the first round of doubles only once more in the season, whilst also getting to the singles main draw only once more in Europe. It took until her last event for the year, in Tucson, Arizona, before she got any further, making it to the quarter-finals but having to default through injury.

In August, Ivanov enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley.

2020

Ivanov began the year at the Auckland Open where her original wildcard into qualifying was upgraded to one in the main draw. Ranked 1,014 at the time of entry, she lost in straight sets to 63rd ranked Jil Teichmann. ^[5]

She was unbeaten in three singles matches when New Zealand hosted one pool in the 2020 Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group II in Wellington, before heading back to UC Berkeley to continue her studies. She did not play again before international play was suspended in early March because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and soon afterwards returned to Sydney. Her only subsequent competitive matches were in UTR tournaments in her home city reaching one final, after beating Destanee Aiava in a round-robin match.

ITF finals

Doubles: 5 (4 titles, 1 runner-up)

Legend W15 tournaments (4–1)

Finals by surface Hard (2–0) Clay (2–1)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Feb 2019	ITF Port Pirie, Australia	W15	Hard	Amber Marshall	Patricia Böntgen Lisa Mays	7–5, 6–2
Win	2–0	Jul 2022	ITF Monastir, Tunisia	W15	Hard	Lisa Mays	Cho I-hsuan Yao Xinxin	6–4, 6–7(2), [10–8]
Win	3–0	Jul 2022	ITF Vejle, Denmark	W15	Clay	Hannah Viller Møller	Klaudija Bubelyte Patricija Paukstyte	6–2, 7–6(4)
Loss	3–1	Jun 2024	ITF Alkmaar, Netherlands	W15	Clay	Rebecca Munk Mortensen	Michaëlla Krajicek Sarah Van Emst	4–6, 4–6
Win	4–1	Jul 2024	ITF Kuršumlijska Banja, Serbia	W15	Clay	Lisa Zaar	Michaela Bayerlová Jelena Cvijanovic	6–4, 6–7(1), [10–8]

Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup participation

Singles

Edition	Stage	Date	Location	Against	Surface	Opponent	W/L	Score
2019	Z2 R/R	Jun 2019	Kuala Lumpur (MAL)	Pakistan	Hard	Meheq Khokhar	W	6–0, 6–0
	Z2 P/O			Malaysia		Sara Nayar	L	5–7, 5–7
2020	Z2 R/R	Feb 2020	Wellington (NZL)	Mongolia		Bolor Enkhbayar	W	6–0, 6–0
				Singapore		Sarah Pang	W	6–1, 6–1
	Z2 P/O			Philippines		Shaira Hope Rivera	W	7–5, 6–1
2022	Z1 R/R	Apr 2022	Antalya (TUR)	Korea	Clay	Jang Su-jeong	L	3–6, 2–6
				Japan		Yuki Naito	L	2–6, 1–6
				India		Rutuja Bhosale	L	1–6, 6–7(3)

Doubles

Edition	Stage	Date	Location	Against	Surface	Partner	Opponents	W/L	Score
2019	Z2 R/R	Jun 2019	Kuala Lumpur (MAL)	Pakistan	Hard	Erin Routliffe	Meheq Khokhar Noor Malik	W	6–0, 6–1
				Hong Kong		Erin Routliffe	Ng Kwan-yau Wu Ho-ching	W	6–2, 6–2
	Z2 P/O			Malaysia		Erin Routliffe	Sara Nayar Jawairiah Noordin	W	6–3, 4–6, 6–3
2020	Z2 R/R	Feb 2020	Wellington (NZL)	Pakistan		Erin Routliffe	Mahin Qureshi Ushna Suhail	W	6–1, 6–0
2022	Z1 R/R	Apr 2022	Antalya (TUR)	China	Clay	Erin Routliffe	Wang Yifan Yang Zhaoxuan	L	3–6, 1–6

References

1. "About Me - Valentina Ivanov".
2. "Kiwi Valentina Ivanov brings eastern European flavour". New Zealand Herald. 28 December 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
3. "2018 NZ Tennis Championships - Women's Singles". Tennis New Zealand. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
4. "ITF W15 2019 Port Pirie International drawsheet". International Tennis Federation. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
5. "Top Kiwi out but not disgraced". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 3 January 2025.

External links

• Valentina Ivanov at the Women's Tennis Association
• Valentina Ivanov at the International Tennis Federation
• Valentina Ivanov at the Billie Jean King Cup (archived)