Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova (born 27 June 1985) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as high as world No. 2 in singles and No. 3 in doubles by the WTA. During her career, Kuznetsova won 18 singles and 16 doubles titles, including two singles majors at the 2004 US Open and 2009 French Open, and two doubles majors at the 2005 and 2012 Australian Opens.
Kuznetsova first took part in a WTA Tour event in 2001. Her first major title came at the 2004 US Open over compatriot Elena Dementieva, making her the third Russian woman to win a major. Kuznetsova's second major singles title was the 2009 French Open, defeating compatriot Dinara Safina in the final. At the 2006 French Open and the 2007 US Open singles tournaments she was the runner-up, both times to Justine Henin, raising her to a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2. After 2010, Kuznetsova's results declined, but slowly recovered through 2016, when she re-entered the top ten and reached the semifinals of the WTA Finals. She retired from the sport in 2021.
Kuznetsova was also successful in doubles. She won her first five career doubles titles with Arantxa Sánchez Vicario. Partnering Elena Likhovtseva, she climbed to No. 3 in doubles in 2004. She won the Australian Open twice in doubles, in 2005 alongside Alicia Molik and in 2012 partnering Vera Zvonareva.
Early life
Kuznetsova was born in Leningrad. Her father, Aleksandr Kuznetsov, coached five Olympic and world cycling champions. Kuznetsova's mother, Galina Tsareva, is a six-time world champion and holder of 20 world records in cycling, and her brother, Nikolay Kuznetsov, was a silver medalist at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and coach of the Russian cycling team Lokomotiv. Kuznetsova never showed interest in cycling, but rather tennis. She liked watching tennis from an early age, preferring men's over women's tennis. "I had posters in my room of MaliVai Washington, Marcelo Ríos, and (Yevgeny) Kafelnikov. It's very weird but this is who I liked. Later I was a big fan of (Marat) Safin.", she said. Kuznetsova began to play tennis at the age of seven, and moved to Spain six years later to receive better training and coaching. While there, she became fluent in Spanish.
Career
2000: ITF Junior career
Kuznetsova debuted in her first ITF Circuit tournament in Mallorca on 31 January. In the first round, she defeated Katia Altilia from Italy in straight sets, 6–0, 6–4. However, she lost in the quarterfinal to Oana Elena Golimbioschi. Her next appearance was in Talence in April. She defeated Aurore Desertin in the first round, but lost in the second round to Berengere Karpenschif, both from France. In Minsk, Belarus, in a tournament using the short sets scoring system, she reached the quarterfinal, after defeating the unranked Vera Zvonareva in the first round in four sets, and Daria Panova in three sets in the second round. In the quarterfinal, she lost to 574th ranked Elena Voropaeva in four sets, after losing two tie breaks in the two earlier sets. However, Kuznetsova was ranked in the top 900, receiving her first ranking of 889 during the week ending 20 November 2000. She moved to Mallorca again and lost in the first round to Dinara Safina after winning the first set. Her last tournament of the year was again in Mallorca, but now played in a minimum of four sets. In the round of 32, she defeated Silvia Disderi. However, she fell to eighth seeded Mihaela Moldovan in the last round. She ended the season ranked 889.
2001–2002: First WTA titles
Kuznetsova began playing in tournaments on the ITF Circuit in 2000, winning her first title on the circuit in April 2001. Her first appearances in the main draws of tournaments on the main WTA Tour were at the Madrid Open in May of that year and at the Waikoloa Championships in September, losing in the second round on both occasions. She finished the year 2001 ranked 259.
Kuznetsova made her major main-draw debut at the 2002 Australian Open, where, as a qualifier, she reached the second round, before losing to 16th seed Iroda Tulyaganova. However, she previously lost in the qualifying rounds of both the 2001 French Open and 2001 Wimbledon.
As a qualifier at the clay-court Nordic Light Open in Helsinki, Finland in August, Kuznetsova won her first WTA singles title, defeating world No. 24 Patty Schnyder in the quarterfinals for her first win over a top 40 player, before defeating Denisa Chládková in the final. Kuznetsova entered the top 100 for the first time as a result of that victory. Kuznetsova qualified for the US Open, defeating 19th seed Anne Kremer in the first round for her first win over a top 20 player, before losing in the third round to 13th seed Silvia Farina Elia. In September, Kuznetsova won her second title at the hardcourt Bali Tennis Classic in Indonesia, defeating former major champions Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and Conchita Martínez. Also during 2002, she teamed up with Sánchez Vicario to win the first WTA Tour doubles titles of her career, in Sopot, Poland, Helsinki and Kyōtō, Japan. Kuznetsova finished the 2002 season as world No. 43 in singles.
2003: First major quarterfinal
Kuznetsova began her season at the Brisbane International. She received a wildcard, but fell in the first round in the singles to Elena Bovina. In the doubles competition, she paired with Martina Navratilova, with whom she would play throughout the year (except on the Indian Wells Open, partnering with Janette Husárová), and won against Nathalie Dechy and Émilie Loit in straight sets. In the Australian Open, she lost to second seed Venus Williams in the first round. With Navratilova, they lost against ninth seed Daniela Hantuchová and Chanda Rubin in the third round. She paired with Australian Jeff Coetzee but lost to Mark Knowles and Elena Likhovtseva in two tight sets in the first round. In the singles event of the Dubai Tennis Championships, Kuznetsova won the first round against sixth seeded Francesca Schiavone, but was beaten by Dinara Safina in the second round. In the doubles event she and Navratilova were beaten by eventual runners-up María Vento-Kabchi and Angelique Widjaja. She did not reach the quarterfinals of any tournament during the first half of the year. Her win over world No. 11, Anastasia Myskina, in the second round of the Indian Wells Open in California was her highest up to that date.
In the first round of the French Open, Kuznetsova lost to Meghann Shaughnessy. She was also unsuccessful with Jared Palmer in the mixed doubles, losing to Nadia Petrova and Paul Haarhuis in the round of 16. Kuznetsova paired with Navratilova in the doubles match, but lost to Kim Clijsters and Ai Sugiyama in three sets in the quarterfinal. Kuznetsova participated at Wimbledon, where in the fourth round, she defeated wildcard Maria Sharapova to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, losing to third seed Justine Henin. At the doubles, they were again defeated by Clijsters and Sugiyama. Kuznetsova paired with Australian Todd Woodbridge in the mixed doubles, but lost against Leoš Friedl and Liezel Huber in the quarterfinal. She then made her first semifinal appearance of the year in San Diego, before losing to Henin. At the US Open singles tournament, Kuznetsova lost in the third round to top seed Kim Clijsters. However, in the doubles competition, she again partnered with Navratilova and reached the first Grand Slam final of her career but were beaten by Paola Suárez and Virginia Ruano Pascual in two straight sets. She entered the Sparkassen Cup in Leipzig, losing to fifth seeded Daniela Hantuchová in the first round. Kuznetsova and Navratilova won the doubles title against Elena Likhovtseva and Nadia Petrova. In the doubles competition at the Kremlin Cup, they reached the semifinals before losing to Russian couple and runners-up Anastasia Myskina and Vera Zvonareva. Her last appearance of the year was at the WTA Championships doubles competition in Los Angeles. In her first Tour Championships participation she and Navratilova lost in the first round to eventual champions Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suárez. She finished the 2003 season as world No. 36.
2004: US Open title
Kuznetsova reached the third round of the singles competition at the Australian Open, before losing to top seed Justine Henin. She reached her second major doubles final with new partner Elena Likhovtseva before losing to Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suárez. Several weeks later, playing singles at Dubai, Kuznetsova defeated former world No. 1, Venus Williams, in the quarterfinals before defeating world No. 8, Ai Sugiyama, in the semifinals for her first win over a top-10 player. Kuznetsova lost the final to world No. 1 Henin. The following week, Kuznetsova defeated Henin for the first time in the semifinals of Doha, before losing in the final to compatriot Myskina in three sets, pushing her into the top 20 for the first time. In April, Kuznetsova reached her third singles final of the year at the start of the clay-court season at the J&S Cup in Warsaw, losing to Venus Williams in the final. Kuznetsova climbed to No. 11 by the time of the French Open. There, she reached the fourth round before losing to eventual champion Myskina, after holding a match point in the third set. In doubles Kuznetsova and Likhovtseva reached the final, losing to Suarez and Ruano Pascual. Following the French Open, Kuznetsova climbed to career-highs of world No. 9 in the singles rankings, her first time in the top ten, and on 7 June 2004, world No. 3 in the doubles rankings. Kuznetsova won her third title at the Eastbourne International, defeating Hantuchová in the final in three sets. At Wimbledon, Kuznetsova suffered a first-round loss to 118th–ranked Virginie Razzano. She fell to No. 4 in the doubles on 26 July, losing in the LA Women's Tennis Championships to 113th ranked Gisela Dulko and Patricia Tarabini.
Representing Russia at the Olympics, Kuznetsova reached the quarterfinals before losing to silver-medallist Amélie Mauresmo. She went into the US Open seeded ninth. There, she defeated 14th seed Petrova in the quarterfinals, and in her first Grand Slam tournament semifinal, defeated fifth seed and former champion Davenport, ending the American's 22-match winning streak. In the final, Kuznetsova defeated sixth seed Dementieva. Kuznetsova was the first female Russian to win the US Open and the third to win a Grand Slam singles title, following the successes of Myskina and Maria Sharapova earlier in the year. Meanwhile, Kuznetsova teamed with Likhovtseva to reach the final of the doubles tournament before losing there to Suarez and Ruano Pascual, marking Kuznetsova's fourth consecutive defeat by the pair in Grand Slams. Kuznetsova, however, climbed again to No. 3 on 13 September, after her loss in Los Angeles in early July.
Kuznetsova continued her success by winning the Wismilak International in Bali, Indonesia defeating Marlene Weingärtner in the final. In the doubles she reached with Arantxa-Sánchez Vicario the final, losing to Anastasia Myskina and Ai Sugiyama. This improved her singles ranking to a new high of world No. 5, but worsen her doubles ranking to No. 4 on 20 September. The following week, at the China Open in Beijing, Kuznetsova defeated Wimbledon champion Sharapova in the semifinals to extend her winning streak to 14 matches. However, she lost in the final to Serena Williams. Making her debut at the season-ending WTA Championships in Los Angeles, Kuznetsova lost two of three matches in the preliminary round-robin stage and exited before the semifinals. Kuznetsova finished the season as world No. 5.
2005: Out of the top 10
Kuznetsova began the year by reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, losing to fourth seed Sharapova in three sets. Kuznetsova teamed with Australian Alicia Molik to win her first Grand Slam doubles title, defeating Davenport and Corina Morariu. In the first round she received a bye at the Pan Pacific Open and was defeated by runner-up Lindsay Davenport in the semifinal. Kuznetsova did not reach any finals during the spring hard-court season, with defeats including one to No. 97 Sania Mirza in the first round at Dubai. She received a first-round bye at the Indian Wells Open and reached the quarterfinal before losing to Elena Dementieva. She joined the next event, the NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami, and progressed to the fourth round after receiving a bye in the first round. There she was defeated by Ana Ivanovic.
She made her first final of the year at the J&S Cup in Warsaw, defeating former world No. 1 Clijsters in the semifinals. In the final, Kuznetsova lost to Henin. At the French Open, Kuznetsova lost again to eventual champion Henin in a tightly contested fourth round match, having wasted a match point in the third set. At Wimbledon, Kuznetsova reached the quarterfinals for the second time before losing to top seed Davenport. She teamed up with Mauresmo to reach her sixth Grand Slam doubles final but suffered a heavy defeat by Cara Black and Liezel Huber.
At the US Open, she lost to No. 97 Ekaterina Bychkova in the first round, becoming the first female defending US Open champion to lose in the first round. This defeat dropped her out of the top ten. She defeated Zvonareva in the quarterfinal of the Kremlin Cup but was beaten by Francesca Schiavone in the semifinal. At the Zurich Open, Kuznetsova lost in the first round to the unseeded Nathalie Dechy. She finished the year ranked world No. 18.
2006: Return to form
Kuznetsova started her season at the Australian Open and reached the fourth round before losing there to top seed Davenport. Several weeks later, Kuznetsova rebounded at Dubai, defeating world No. 2 Mauresmo in the quarterfinals for her first win over a top ten player since 2004. She lost to Henin in the semifinals. In March, Kuznetsova defeated former world No. 1, Martina Hingis, in the third round of the Miami Open, before going on to defeat world No. 1 Mauresmo in the semifinals. In the final, she defeated Sharapova to win the first Tier I title of her career and her first singles title in 18 months. This win returned her to the top ten.
Kuznetsova reached her second final of the year at the clay-court J&S Cup in Warsaw, defeating Venus Williams en route. In the final, she lost to world No. 2, Clijsters, marking third consecutive runner-up finish at that event. At the French Open, Kuznetsova reached the quarterfinals for the first time, where she defeated 14th seed Dinara Safina. In the semifinals, she defeated 17-year-old Czech Nicole Vaidišová after saving a match point. In her second Grand Slam final, Kuznetsova lost to Henin. Kuznetsova reached only the third round at Wimbledon, losing to 27th seed Li Na.
At the US Open, Kuznetsova lost in the fourth round to 19th seed Jelena Janković. In September, she won her second title of the year at the $225,000 Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in Bali as the top seeded – for the first time in her career – defeating Davenport in the semifinals and Marion Bartoli in the final. The following week, she won the China Open in Beijing, after defeating world No. 1 Mauresmo in the final.
Competing at the season-ending Tour Championships, played in Madrid, for the second time Kuznetsova again failed to advance past the preliminary round-robin stage, winning just one of her three matches. She finished the season as world No. 4.
2007: Continued success, world No. 2
Kuznetsova began the year by losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open to 16th seed Israeli Shahar Pe'er. She rebounded to reach her first final of the year in February at the Qatar Open in Doha, losing to world No. 1 Henin in two sets. She was seed first and made the final of the Tier I Indian Wells Open but lost to Hantuchová, in straight sets. Reaching the final improved her ranking to third during the week ending 18 March, a career high.
Kuznetsova continued on form during the clay-court season. At the J&S Cup in Warsaw, she defeated Venus Williams for the first time in her career in the quarterfinals before losing to Alona Bondarenko in the semifinals. She made the final of another Tier I tournament, at the German Open in Berlin, after defeating world No. 1 Henin for only the second time in the semifinals. In the final, the 1st seeded Kuznetsova lost to 12th seeded Ana Ivanovic. The following week, Kuznetsova reached the final of the Tier I Italian Open in Rome, losing to third seed Janković. As the third seed at the French Open, Kuznetsova advanced to the quarterfinals without dropping a set but lost there to runner-up Ivanovic. Kuznetsova reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon for the third time in which she lost to eventual champion Venus Williams.
In August, the top-seeded Kuznetsova won her first title of the year at New Haven, after three of her opponents retired due to injury or illness, including her finals opponent Ágnes Szávay. At the US Open, Kuznetsova defeated sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze in the semifinals to advance to her third Grand Slam final. She lost to Henin in straight sets. As a result of this run, Kuznetsova reached world No. 2 during the week ending 9 September.
At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, Kuznetsova recorded her first career win over Serena Williams, before losing in the semifinals to Tatiana Golovin. The following week she was seeded first in the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, but lost to Serena Williams in the semifinals. Kuznetsova completed the year by competing at the Year-ending championships in Madrid, but once again failed to progress beyond the preliminary round-robin stage, losing all three matches. She finished the season as world No. 2, and as the highest-ranked Russian player for the first time.
2008: Steady ranking
Kuznetsova began the season by reaching the final at the Sydney International, losing to world No. 1 Henin in the final set. At the Australian Open, Kuznetsova was seeded second, but fell in the third round to 29th seed Agnieszka Radwańska. After her defeat at the Qatar Ladies Open to 15th seeded Sybille Bammer, she fell after 15 weeks to No. 3 on 25 February. Kuznetsova made her second final of the season in Dubai, defeating former world No. 1, Mauresmo, in the quarterfinals and world No. 4, Janković, in the semifinals. In the final Kuznetsova lost to Elena Dementieva. At the Tier I Indian Wells Open, Kuznetsova defeated Radwańska in the quarterfinals, before defeating Australian Open champion Sharapova. In the final, Kuznetsova lost to top-seeded Ivanović. This marked her eighth defeat in her nine most recent final appearances. At the Tier I Miami Open the next fortnight, Kuznetsova defeated Venus Williams in the quarterfinals but then lost to her sister Serena in the semifinals.
Kuznetsova's form dipped following the conclusion of the spring hardcourt season, as she won just three of five matches on clay leading up to the French Open. She advanced to the semifinals without dropping a set, but then lost to Safina. At Wimbledon, Kuznetsova lost in the fourth round to Agnieszka Radwańska, after leading by a break in the third and final set.
In the summer, she competed at the Beijing Olympics, losing to local favorite Li Na in the first round. Seeded third in the US Open, she fell to Katarina Srebotnik in the third round in three sets. After the latter loss, she dropped out of the top five in the world rankings for the first time in two years. The following week, Kuznetsova made her first final since March at the Tier I Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, defeating world No. 2 Janković in the quarterfinals, before losing to Safina in the final. The following week, Kuznetsova reached the final at the China Open in Beijing, but lost to Janković. This marked Kuznetsova's 10th defeat in her last eleven finals.
She mirrored her earlier performance at the season-ending WTA Championships in Doha, losing all three of her matches. Kuznetsova finished the year ranked No. 8, the only woman in the top ten not to have won a title that year.
2009: French Open title
At the Australian Open, Kuznetsova reached the quarterfinals for the second time in her career, but lost to eventual champion Serena Williams, after being within two points of winning the match in the second set. After that, Kuznetsova did not win another match for nearly two months. She broke her losing streak in Miami reaching the semifinals, losing to Victoria Azarenka.
At the Porsche Grand Prix, Kuznetsova defeated world No. 3 Dementieva in the semifinals to reach her first final that year. She defeated world No. 1 Safina to win her first singles title since August 2007. The following week, Kuznetsova also reached the final at the Premier 5 Internazionali d'Italia in Rome, having defeated No. 4 Janković en route. She lost the championship to Safina. In the quarterfinals of the French Open, she defeated Serena Williams in three sets, before defeating Samantha Stosur to reach her fourth major final. There she beat top seed Safina to win her second Grand Slam title. At Wimbledon, Kuznetsova fell in the third round to unseeded German Sabine Lisicki.
She pulled out of the LA Women's Tennis Championships, citing a foot injury. Her next event was the Cincinnati Open, where she fell to Clijsters in the third round. She then played in the Rogers Cup and lost to Samantha Stosur in the second round. She received a wildcard entrance to the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven, but lost in the quarterfinals to Mauresmo. This became her last tournament as first seeded. At the US Open she won in straight set wins over Görges, Sevastova, and Peer, but lost against Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round. At the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, seeded fifth, she lost to Andrea Petkovic.
A week later, she played at China Open as the sixth seed. She advanced to the final beating Petrova in the semifinal and won against Agnieszka Radwańska in the final. Soon after, she played at the Tour Championships in Doha. She entered the Maroon group along with Dementieva, Serena and Venus Williams, and lost both her matches against the Williams sisters. She defeated Dementieva, breaking her eight–match losing streak at the Championships. Kuznetsova ended the year ranked No. 3.
2010–11: Struggles with form
Kuznetsova began the year at the Sydney International. She defeated Alisa Kleybanova in the first round before falling to Dominika Cibulková in the second. Kuznetsova was seeded third for the Australian Open. She advanced to the fourth round, losing to 19th seeded Petrova. Following the tournament, Kuznetsova's ranking dropped to world No. 4. Kuznetsova was seeded second for the Dubai Championships but fell in a third round upset to qualifier and No. 99 ranked Regina Kulikova. At the Billie Jean King Cup exhibition, Kuznetsova lost her match to Williams. For the first as the top seed, due to Serena Williams and Safina's withdrawal at Indian Wells, she was upset by Carla Suárez Navarro in the second round after receiving a first round bye. Kuznetsova was seeded, for the sixth and last time to date, top at the Miami Open and after receiving a bye in the first round, managed to prevent another upset by defeating Peng Shuai in the second round. She then defeated 27th seed Ágnes Szávay to book a fourth round encounter with Marion Bartoli, losing to the French No. 1 in the quarterfinal.
Kuznetsova was the defending champion at the Porsche Grand Prix, but fell to Li Na in the second round, after defeating Srebotnik. At the Italian Open, where she had reached the final the year before, she lost in the second round to Maria Kirilenko, after receiving a first round bye. As the defending champion at the French Open, Kuznetsova was the sixth seed. She defeated Sorana Cîrstea and Andrea Petkovic in the early rounds. In the third round she lost to 30th seeded Kirilenko. Kuznetsova advanced to the quarterfinals of the Eastbourne International, losing to Ekaterina Makarova. Kuznetsova was seeded 19th at the Wimbledon. She defeated Akgul Amanmuradova in the first round, before falling to Anastasia Rodionova in the second round.
Kuznetsova rallied by winning the San Diego Open. She defeated Yanina Wickmayer, Sara Errani, CoCo Vandeweghe, and Flavia Pennetta en route to the final which she won in three sets against Agnieszka Radwańska. She then played at the Cincinnati Open suffering an early exit to Sharapova in the first round. At the Rogers Cup, Kuznetsova made it to the semifinals before falling to Caroline Wozniacki in two sets. Kuznetsova was seeded 11th at the US Open. She defeated Kimiko Date-Krumm, Anastasija Sevastova, and 23rd seed Kirilenko before falling in the fourth round to unseeded Cibulková. Kuznetsova was the 10th seed at the Pan Pacific Open, but lost to Petkovic in the second round.
As the defending champion, Kuznetsova exited in the first round of the China Open to Roberta Vinci. She finished the year ranked world No. 27, her lowest since 2003.
Kuznetsova's first tournament of 2011 was the Auckland Open in New Zealand where she was the third seed. She fell to Peng Shuai in the second round, although initially up a set. She then headed to Sydney where she lost in the quarterfinals to eight-seeded Li. Kuznetsova was seeded 23rd at the Australian Open where she lost in the fourth round to Francesca Schiavone, squandering six match points in the final set. The match was the longest recorded women's Grand Slam match in the Open Era, with a final scoreline of 6–4, 1–6, 16–14, and the second-longest women's match in the Open Era. Her next tournament was the Dubai Tennis Championships. The 16th seed set up a date in the final with Caroline Wozniacki by beating Flavia Pennetta in the semifinal. Kuznetsova was defeated by the top-seed. In doubles, she teamed up with Vera Zvonareva, but pulled out before the semifinal against Liezel Huber and María José Martínez Sánchez due to a right elbow injury of Zvonareva. She lost in the Qatar Ladies Open tournament against Shahar Pe'er in the first round. Kuznetsova received a bye in the first round at the Indian Wells Open, but was defeated by wildcard Christina McHale in two tie-breaks in the second round. At the doubles event, Kuznetsova teamed up with Vera Zvonareva. They received a wildcard in the first round, but were defeated by fourth seed Vania King and Shvedova. In the singles tournament of Miami, Kuznetsova was 11th-seeded and lost in the third round to Peng Shuai in straight sets. In the doubles tournament, again with Zvonareva and receiving a wildcard entry, they exited in the second round against María José Martínez Sánchez and Anabel Medina Garrigues.
Kuznetsova was seeded second at the Andalucia Tennis Experience, after receiving a wildcard. She succeeded to move to the semifinal where she lost against qualifier Irina-Camelia Begu. She failed to reach the second round in both the Madrid Open and Italian Open, losing to Dominika Cibulková and Gréta Arn, respectively. In Madrid, she partnered with Zvonareva and received a wildcard. They moved into the second round, but lost against King and Shvedova. Kuznetsova was seeded 13th at the French Open singles event where she lost against Marion Bartoli in the quarterfinal, her first in a Grand Slam tournament since 2009. At the doubles event she paired with Zvonareva and defeated unseeded Klaudia Jans and Alicja Rosolska from Poland. They lost against third seeds King and Shvedova. She lost against Dominika Cibulková in the quarterfinal of the Rosmalen Open. At Wimbledon, she defeated Zhang Shuai and Alexandra Dulgheru but lost against Yanina Wickmayer.
Kuznetsova was the defending champion at the San Diego Open but withdrew due to a groin strain. She recovered quickly from the injury and entered the Rogers Cup, but lost to Simona Halep in the first round. As 14th-seed, she made it to the third round of the Western & Southern Open and was beaten by eventual champion Maria Sharapova. Kuznetsova reached the fourth round of the US Open in which she lost to top-seeded Wozniacki.
2012: Injuries and out of top 50
Kuznetsova began her season at Auckland where she reached the semifinal, losing in three sets to Chinese Zheng Jie. At the Australian Open, she was defeated in the third round of the singles event by Sabine Lisicki. In contrast, she partnered with Vera Zvonareva as in the previous season and won her second Grand Slam doubles title against the Italian duo Errani and Vinci, defeating them in a three sets final. It was her best doubles result since 2009. It was the first time since 2008 that an unseeded pair won the Australian Open doubles title.
Kuznetsova was seeded 26th at the French Open. She upset world No. 3, Agnieszka Radwańska, in the third round but subsequently lost in the fourth to eventual runner-up, Sara Errani.
Kuznetsova then suffered a first-round loss at Wimbledon, falling to Yanina Wickmayer in straight sets. It was the first time she lost in the first round of any Grand Slam since the 2005 US Open where she was the defending champion. She withdrew from the US Open, ending a streak of 40 consecutive Grand Slam appearances dating back to 2002.
2013: Comeback from injury, return to form
Kuznetsova began her comeback at Sydney, where she had to qualify to enter the main draw. In the second round, she upset former world No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki, in three sets for her first win in a main draw of any tournament since the previous year's French Open.
Kuznetsova entered the Australian Open unseeded, but she was able to reach the quarterfinals for the third time, after defeating Wozniacki for the second time this year, in the fourth round. She subsequently lost in the quarterfinals to world No. 1, defending and eventual champion, Victoria Azarenka, in two sets. She next played at the Qatar Ladies Open and defeated ninth seed Marion Bartoli in the second round, before losing in the third to Sam Stosur.
Kuznetsova then entered Indian Wells as an unseeded player. She matched her 2012 performance by reaching the third round, defeating former champion Janković in the second round, before losing to Marion Bartoli in the third. At Miami, Kuznetsova was again unseeded, but she managed to reach the third round, losing to Ana Ivanovic in straight sets.
At the French Open, Kuznetsova reached her second consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal, where she lost to world No. 1 and eventual champion, Serena Williams, in three sets. The second set which Kuznetsova won was the only one dropped by Williams during the tournament. She had defeated 22nd-seed and compatriot Ekaterina Makarova and sixth seed Angelique Kerber en route.