Vitalia Anatolyevna Diatchenko (Russian: Виталия Анатольевна Дьяченко, IPA:[vʲɪˈtalʲɪjədʲjɪˈtɕenkə]ⓘ; born 2 August 1990) is a Russian tennis player. Her career-high singles ranking is world No. 71, achieved on 17 November 2014.[1] On 21 February 2011, she peaked at No. 60 in the WTA doubles rankings.[1]
Career
Diatchenko in 2008
2009: Grand Slam debut
Diatchenko's first Grand Slam tournament was Roland Garros, where she 2009 qualified for the main draw. In the tournament, she upset world No. 75 player Mathilde Johansson before she lost to then-world No. 1, Dinara Safina.
Seeded first at the GB Pro-Series event in Foxhills, she defeated fifth seed Marta Sirotkina in the quarterfinals. In her semifinal match, she retired whilst trailing 2–6, 0–2 to Johanna Konta.
On July 30, Diatchenko won the biggest singles title of her career so far at the President's Cup, an $100k tournament held in Astana. She beat sixth seed Akgul Amanmuradova in the final. She also won the women's doubles title with Galina Voskoboeva. They defeated Amanmuradova and Alexandra Panova in the final, also in two sets.
Vitalia participated in the Tatarstan Open in singles and doubles. Alexandra Panova was her doubles partner. Diatchenko was seeded fifth in the singles and first in the doubles. In the first round of the singles, she defeated Eugeniya Pashkova, in the second round Pemra Özgen, and in the quarterfinals Valentyna Ivakhnenko, all in straight sets. In the semifinals, Vitalia retired against wildcard and eventual champion, Yulia Putintseva, after suffering an ankle injury. In the doubles, after winning their first round and quarterfinal matches, Vitalia and Alexandra upset third seeds Evgeniya Rodina and Valeria Solovyeva in the semifinals. Due to suffering an injury in the semifinal match of the singles, Vitalia was unable to play the doubles final.
Playing doubles at the Kremlin Cup, Vitalia suffered a knee injury which ruled her out from playing tennis for six months.
2014: First WTA 125 title and career-high singles ranking
After a brief appearance on the WTA Tour and a return to the ITF Circuit, she played her first notable game for years at the Kremlin Cup, where the 140-ranked Vitalia eliminated No. 14, Dominika Cibulková, in the round of 16, until being knocked down by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Diatchenko completed the year by winning her first WTA 125 singles title at Taipei.
2018: Wimbledon 3rd round
In the first round of Wimbledon, she defeated former world No. 1, Maria Sharapova (ranked 22nd at the time).[4] Diatchenko then defeated Sofia Kenin, advancing to the third round of a major tournament for the first time but Jeļena Ostapenko defeated her in straight sets.[5]
2023
In April 2023, LOT Polish Airlines refused to board Diatchenko on a flight from Egypt to Corsica via Warsaw to play at a tournament, in line with travel restrictions for Russian passport holders introduced after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[6] Diatchenko confirmed that she was unable to reach her destination and then returned to Moscow.[6]
Performance timelines
Key
W
F
SF
QF
#R
RR
Q#
P#
DNQ
A
Z#
PO
G
S
B
NMS
NTI
P
NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.[7]
^The first Premier 5 event of the year has switched back and forth between the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Qatar Ladies Open since 2009. Dubai was classified as a Premier 5 event from 2009 to 2011 before being succeeded by Doha for the 2012–2014 period. In 2015, Dubai regained its Premier 5 status while Doha was demoted to Premier status. The Premier 5 tournaments were reclassified as WTA 1000 tournaments in 2021.