Titled Russian tennis player Vera Zvonareva is now in the best shape in recent years. The former second racket of the world triumphantly returned to the court after numerous injuries and effortlessly deals with rivals at the US Open.

The second wind of the Russian champion

The best years of Zvonareva’s tennis career came at the end of the 2000s and the beginning of the 10s. In 2010, the Russian woman took second place in the WTA rankings, then she twice reached the finals at the Grand Slam tournaments in singles (Wimbledon and US Open). Three times Zvonareva won victories at the BS tournaments in doubles. In total, she has 12 titles in singles and 13 in doubles.

Now the 38-year-old athlete is far from her previous positions. Since the end of 2022, she has been outside the top 300. The Russian woman is on the 672nd place in the world ranking.

Recently, the athlete has specialized more in doubles. Together with the German Laura Siegemund, she recently won a prestigious tournament in Washington. The duet is going to perform at the US Open.

But Vera decided to test her strength in singles. The low rating did not allow the Russian woman to start immediately in the main draw. The organizers also did not want to provide a wild card to the 2010 finalist. I had to start with qualification, and even here, 120 out of 128 participants were higher than Zvonareva in the WTA ranking.

The start of the qualifying tournament was impressive. Vera took out Australian Jamie Furlis in straight sets. Moreover, in the second game, the Russian woman hung the “steering wheel” on her opponent, winning with a score of 6:3, 6:0.

The second match dragged on due to constant transfers caused by rain. But Vera also coped with her opponent in two games. However, the 30-year-old Greek Despina Papamihail put up a decent resistance: in both sets, they had to play 12 games each (7:5, 7:5).

Vera Zvonareva / Photo: © Julian Finney / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Dismantled the favorite in two batches

In the finals of the qualification, Zvonareva was expected to have a match with 22-year-old Japanese Moyuka Uchijima. The athlete previously climbed to the top hundred of the WTA rankings, but now she has fallen back to 173rd position. But in the selection for the US Open, the Japanese tennis player performed confidently. She also did not give a single set to her opponents in the first two games.

Experts considered the young Japanese woman to be the favorite. She had a higher rating and youth on her side. Plus, Moyuki didn’t have that shaft of serious injuries behind him, which pursued Zvonareva. After all, Vera started competing in international tournaments before Uchijima even started school.

The first set was pretty even. The Japanese woman was noticeably more powerful in attack, but she lacked accuracy. Vera, on the other hand, acted more cunningly, waiting for her opponent’s mistakes. The Japanese woman performed them in large numbers, even in simple situations.

In the second game, Moyuka completely crumbled, and Vera tirelessly ran around the court. As a result, the match ended with a score of 7:5, 6:3. After the end of the meeting, the Russian woman was waiting for enthusiastic applause from the American audience. Vera thanked the audience for their support.

Now Zvonareva is sent to the main draw of the US Open. Her opponent in the first round will be another winner of the qualification, Janina Wickmayer from Belgium.