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Olga Puchkova

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Olga Puchkova

Olga Alekseyevna Puchkova (also Poutchkova; Russian: Ольга Алексеевна Пучкова; Belarusian: Вольга Аляксееўна Пучкова; born 27 September 1987) is a Russian former professional tennis player. As a junior, she played for Belarus, and was sometimes listed as Belarusian professional.

Olga Puchkova, coached by her father Alex Poutchkov, was No. 1 in the world in the ITF U12 rankings in 1999. She won the U12 category in the Eddie Herr in 1999, where she beat Shahar Pe'er 6–2, 6–2 in the final, and a week later was runner up in the U12 category at the Orange Bowl, where qualifier Tatiana Golovin beat her 6–4, 3–6, 6–4.

Puchkova made her debut on the U18 circuit 13 August 2000 at the USTA Junior International Grass Court Championships where she was defeated in the first round. Just a week later, at the USTA Junior International Hard Court Championships she secured her first win in a U18 doubles match playing alongside Brazilian Caroline Neves. Alongside American Nicole Pitts, she won her first U18 tournament (out of two in doubles) in Ecuador, January 2001. She won her only U18 title in singles at the US Junior International Hard Court Championships in 2003, beating Jessi Robinson 6–2, 6–2 in the final.

Puchkova started her ITF Women's Circuit career in March 2002 when she played in four tournaments in Australia, reaching the quarterfinals at Warrnambool and Benalla. In 2003, she reached the final at Miami in January and the semifinal at Houston in June, and won her first professional tournament at Baltimore in July 2003 when she beat Jewel Peterson 6–2, 6–4 in the final. She won her second professional title 11 July 2004 in College Park, Maryland. She defeated top-seeded Maureen Drake in the second round and Rossana de los Ríos in the final. In Pelham, Alabama, she reached another final, but was defeated by Slovak Zuzana Zemenová in three sets. She reached her fifth ITF final in August 2005, beating Stéphanie Dubois en route. In the final, Ashley Harkleroad was too strong as she beat Puchkova to claim the Washington, D.C. title.

In 2006, she made her WTA Tour main-draw debut in Hobart, Australia as a qualifier; however she lost in the first round to Mara Santangelo. Afterwards she tried to qualify for the 2006 Australian Open, but failed. She returned to the ITF Circuit and reached another final in Hammond, Louisiana at the end of March. She comfortably won the final, beating Andrea Hlaváčková for her third ITF title.

Her first WTA Tour main-draw win in Birmingham followed in June, beating fellow qualifier Viktoriya Kutuzova. She then lost her second-round match against fourth seed fellow Russian Elena Likhovtseva. Back in the ITF Circuit, she cruised to the final in Felixstowe's grass tournament, where she turned out to be way too strong for Australian Trudi Musgrave who was beaten in straight sets. As the second seed in the Bronx, New York, she won yet another ITF title. Top seed Melinda Czink was already beaten in the first round by Dutch Elise Tamaëla. Puchkova herself won all her matches and faced Belarusian Tatiana Poutchek in the final, which was easily won by Puchkova.

After failing to qualify for the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon earlier in 2006, she qualified for the US Open, beating Virginie Pichet, Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro and Ryōko Fuda. She then faced Marion Bartoli in the first round and was not able to excel against the 26th seed (6–4, 6–0).

Puchkova reached her first tour final in Kolkata, India, in September 2006, losing to Martina Hingis but beating seventh seed Nicole Pratt en route. A week previously she had reached her first Tour singles quarterfinal at the Tier III Bali, Indonesia notching up her first top 20 victory along the way when beating Ana Ivanovic.

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