Kaia Kanepi (pronunciation: KEYE-ah ka-NEP-I; born June 10, 1985 in Tallinn) is an Estonian professional female tennis player. Her career-high was No. 50 on April 2nd, 2007. She is right-handed and play two-handed backhand. Her favourite surface is clay.
Her father, Jaak (A real estate broker) and Mother Anne (a homemaker) played tennis. They introduced their daughters Kadri, who won a tennis scholarship to study in USA and Karin, a dedicated horse rider. Kaia, who always watched her parents and sisters play, discovered her love for tennis at an early age. She started playing at the age of 8. Thanks to her family, who have always supported her desire to play pro tennis, she reached world No.1 on ITF Junior Rankings, before turning pro in 2000. She’s won six ITF singles titles on the way and is now top-ranked Estonian female tennis player followed by Maret Ani and Margit Rüütel.
Kaia’s dream is to be world No. 1 someday. She is a great admirer of Anna Kournikova, Martina Hingis, Marat Safin, Andy Roddick and Roger Federer. She currently lives in Haapsalu, Estonia, but trains with her coach Andrei Luzgin in Tallinn.
At the end of the 2006 season, she reached her very first WTA-tour final during the Gaz de France Stars tournament in Hasselt, Belgium. She came through three qualification rounds and beat players like Anne Kremer, Nathalie Dechy, Eleni Daniilidou, Francesca Schiavone and Michaella Krajicek to eventually play the final against Kim Clijsters, where she lost, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6.
At 2007 Australian Open, Kaia struggled but defeated 28 seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy in straight sets 7-5 7-6, before losing to Alicia Molik 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the second round. At Indian Wells she had a tough 1st round against WC Kristina Brandi but prevailed and won 3-6 7-5 6-0. In the 2nd round she came up against the 14th seed and eventual champion, Daniela Hantuchova. Kanepi went down in 3 sets, losing 2-6 6-2 6-1. At Miami, she stunned Patty Schnyder in the 2nd round before losing to qualifier Vera Dushevina in round 3.
