Background
Anastasiya Yakimova was born November 1, 1986 in Minsk, Soviet Union.
Anastasiya Yakimova was born November 1, 1986 in Minsk, Soviet Union.
Started playing tennis at the age of 6.
She made it to the third round of the 2007 Australian Open, defeating Ai Sugiyama of Japan, a seeded player, on the way in the second round. Yakimova began the year by qualifying for the Medibank International. She defeated Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro, Sophie Ferguson and Klára Zakopalová en route to qualifying. She then headed to the Australian Open. She was accepted straight into the main draw and drawn against Gisela Dulko, she lost this match. She then played her first ITF tournament of the year at the $50,000 Cali event in Colombia. As the no 4 Seed Yakimova battled through to the final where she defeated Rossana de los Ríos to take her seventh ITF title. She then qualified for both Indian Wells and Miami, two premier mandatory events. In Indian Wells she defeated American Varvara Lepchenko before falling to reigning champion Ana Ivanović. In Miami she defeated fellow Belarussian Olga Govortsova and then 13th seed Marion Bartoli to reach the third round. Here she lost to Alisa Kleybanova . At the 2009 Barcelona Ladies Open Yakimova qualified and managed to make it to her first WTA quarter final of the year. She defeated Sorana Cîrstea and Magdaléna Rybáriková before falling to eventual champion Roberta Vinci . She then played in the $50,000 Saint-Gaudens event as the no 1 seed. She made it to the final where she defeated Yanina Wickmayer for her second title of the year. In Strasbourg she received main draw entry without qualifying. She defeated Maret Ani in the first round before falling to eventual finalist Aravane Rezaï. At the 2009 French Open she has been drawn against Maria Sharapova.