2000 - Played first two events of career on ITF Circuit.
2001 - Played first Tour qualifying at Madrid and Moscow; won one singles title and one doubles title on ITF Circuit.
2002 - First Top 100 season; played first Tour main draw at Estoril, reaching SF (l. to Barna); won first Tour singles title at Sopot (d. Nagyova in final); made Top 100 debut afterwards on July 29 (rose from No.169 to No.90); reached 2r in four other Tour main draws (incl.
US Open); fell in Tour qualifying twice (incl.
Wimbledon); won three singles titles and two doubles titles on ITF Circuit.
2003 - Another Top 100 season; won second Tour singles title at Palermo (d. Srebotnik in final); made Top 50 debut on July 14 (rose from No.64 to No.50); QF three times, at Doha, Sopot and Shanghai; best Grand Slam was 4r at
US Open (l. to Henin).
2004 - First Top 50 season; runner-up at Luxembourg (l. to Molik in final); SF at Paris [Indoors] (l. to Clijsters); QF twice, at Gold Coast and Guangzhou; best Grand Slam was 3r at
Australian Open (l. to Clijsters); one Tour doubles title.
2005 - First Top 20 season; won third and fourth Tour singles titles at Paris [Indoors] (d. Mauresmo in final) and Prague (d. Ondraskova in final); SF four times, at Estoril (l. to Li), Luxembourg (l. to Groenefeld), Moscow (l. to Pierce) and Hasselt (l. to Clijsters); made Top 20 debut on October 17 (after Moscow; rose from No.24 to No.20); QF at 's-Hertogenbosch; best Grand Slam was 3r at
Wimbledon (l. to Davenport); won one Tour doubles title; member of winning Russian Fed Cup team, most notably partnering Dementieva to win decisive doubles rubber vs. France in final (d. Mauresmo/Pierce).
2006 - Second straight Top 20 season; runner-up twice, at Rome (l. to Hingis in final) and 's-Hertogenbosch (l. to Krajicek in final); SF twice, at Gold Coast (l. to Safarova) and Montréal (l. to Ivanovic); QF nine times, incl. first two Grand Slam QF at
Roland Garros (l. to Kuznetsova) and
US Open (l. to Mauresmo) but also at Paris [Indoors], Antwerp, Indian Wells, Charleston, Berlin, Los Angeles and Luxembourg; made Top 10 debut on October 2 (after Luxembourg; rose from No.11 to No.10); won two Tour doubles titles.
2007 - Third straight Top 20 season; won fifth Tour singles title at Gold Coast (d. Hingis in final); runner-up at Charleston (l. to Jankovic in final); SF twice, at 's-Hertogenbosch (l. to Jankovic) and Moscow (l. to Dementieva); QF seven times, at Paris [Indoors], Antwerp, Amelia Island, Berlin, Rome, New Haven and Linz; best Grand Slams were 4r at
Roland Garros (l. to S.Williams) and
US Open (l. to Henin); won two Tour doubles titles, incl. first Grand Slam title of any kind at
US Open (w/Dechy).
2008 - Breakthrough season culminating in No.3 finish (after Jankovic, S.Williams); slow start, going 11-10 before Berlin, a stretch highlighted by two QF at Gold Coast (l. to Peer 46 61 76(3); held 5mp in third set) and Miami (l. to Zvonareva); seven pre-QF exits in that stretch, at Sydney (l. to Hantuchova 57 64 64 in 1r; led 4-2 third set),
Australian Open (l. to Lisicki in 1r), Doha (l. to Zvonareva in 3r), Dubai (l. to Chakvetadze in 2r), Indian Wells (l. to Harkleroad in 3r), Amelia Island (l. to A.Bondarenko 76(5) 06 75 in 3r; led 4-1 third set) and Charleston (l. to Szavay in 3r) and went 0-1 in singles in Russia's Fed Cup 1r tie vs. Israel (l. to Peer); stellar turnaround at Berlin, going 44-7 during rest of regular season, a stretch highlighted by sixth through ninth Tour singles titles at Berlin (d. Dementieva in final), Los Angeles (d. Pennetta in final), Montréal (d. Cibulkova in final) and Tokyo [Pan Pacific] (d. Kuznetsova in final); runner-up three times, at
Roland Garros (l. to Ivanovic in first Grand Slam singles final), 's-Hertogenbosch (l. to Tanasugarn in final) and Olympics (l. to Dementieva in final); SF twice, at
US Open (l. to S.Williams) and Moscow (l. to Zvonareva); QF at Stuttgart (l. to V.Williams); only two pre-QF exits since Berlin, falling in 3r at
Wimbledon (l. to Peer 75 67(4) 86; led 5-3 third set) and in RR portion of first Tour Championships (went 0-3 in RR stage); having fallen out of Top 10 in May 2007, made Top 10 return on June 9 (after
Roland Garros; rose from No.14 to No.9, her previous career-high), then made consistent moves up Top 10 throughout season, peaking at No.2 on October 13 (after Moscow); won seventh and eighth Tour doubles titles at Gold Coast (w/Szavay) and Indian Wells (w/Vesnina); made doubles Top 10 debut on March 15 (rose from No.15 to No.10); withdrew from Rome (May), Birmingham (June) and Beijing (September) w/low back injury.
2009 - Best season to date, finishing at No.2 (after S.Williams); on April 20, became 19th player to rise to No.1 since 1975 inception of computer rankings (rose from No.2 to No.1); would spend 26 weeks at No.1 (25 weeks between April 20 and October 11 and one week between October 26 and November 1); won 10th through 12th Tour singles titles at Rome (as top seed, d. No.7 seed Kuznetsova in final), Madrid (as top seed, d. No.9 seed Wozniacki in final) and Portoroz (as top seed, d. No.5 seed Errani in final); runner-up five times, at Sydney (as No.2 seed, l. to No.3 seed Dementieva in 3s in final),
Australian Open (as No.3 seed, l. to No.2 seed S.Williams in final), Stuttgart (as top seed, l. to No.5 seed Kuznetsova in final),
Roland Garros (as top seed, l. to No.7 seed Kuznetsova in final; now 0-3 in Grand Slam singles finals) and Cincinnati (as top seed, l. to No.5 seed Jankovic in final); SF twice, both on grass, at 's-Hertogenbosch (as top seed, l. to eventual champion Tanasugarn) and
Wimbledon (as top seed, l. to No.3 seed V.Williams; has now reached SF or better at all four majors); QF once, at Indian Wells (as top seed, l. to No.8 seed Azarenka in 3s); had seven pre-QF exits during regular season: 3r three times, at Miami (as No.2 seed, l. to Stosur), Los Angeles (as top seed, l. to No.14 seed Zheng in 3s) and
US Open (as top seed, l. to Kvitova 64 26 76(5); held 3mp at 6-5 third set); 2r four times, at Dubai (as No.2 seed w/1r bye, l. to Razzano), Toronto (as top seed w/1r bye, l. to Rezai in 3s), Tokyo (as top seed, l. to qualifier Chang 75 third set) and Beijing (as top seed, l. to WC Zhang); qualified for Tour Championships but fell in RR stage (as top seed, ret. vs. No.8 seed Jankovic w/low back injury in first match then withdrew from tournament).
