Zarina Diyas


Zarina Diyas is a Kazakh tennis player.
Diyas has won one WTA title at 2017 Japan Women's Open as well as eight singles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 12 January 2015, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 31. On 8 June 2015, she peaked at No. 89 in the doubles rankings.
Playing for Kazakhstan at the Fed Cup, Diyas has a win-loss record of 18–8.

Early life

Diyas was born on October 18, 1993 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. From the ages of five through seventeen she lived in the Czech Republic with her mother and sister. There she began playing tennis at the age of six. Around 2010 she played as member of a tennis club in Prague. Her coach was Jaroslav Jandus. Since then she has returned to her native Kazakhstan and also spent time training in Guangzhou under the tutelage of her new coach Alan Ma.
She has named Justine Henin, Martina Hingis, and Serena Williams as her tennis idols and also enjoys playing chess, listening to music, and watching movies as some of her favorite hobbies.
Diyas is fluent in Russian, Czech, and English.

Career

2007–2011: Early career

Diyas played her first professional tournament at a $100K ITF event in Bratislava, losing in the first round of qualifying. She did not play any more tournaments in 2007.
In 2008, Diyas played three tournaments, losing in qualifying of the first two events. She won her first title at a $25K tournament in Astana, where as a wildcard she defeated Tetyana Arefyeva in the final.
In 2009, Diyas battled through qualifying and advanced to two quarterfinals in Gifu and Fukuoka. She won her second title beating second seed Katalin Marosi to win another $25K tournament in Stuttgart. The best result of the year came at a WTA tournament in Prague, where she advanced to the quarterfinals with straight-set wins over Kristina Mladenovic and Petra Kvitová. Diyas went on to lose to Iveta Benešová. In September, she played her first grand slam, losing to Chang Kai-chen of Taiwan in the first round of the US Open Women's Singles qualifying. She ended her season playing three tournaments in Japan with modest results.
In 2010, she continued to rise up the rankings. Following mixed results for the first half of the year, she reached the final at Rome, losing to Patricia Mayr-Achleitner. Diyas played two more quarterfinals and one semifinal before reaching the quarterfinals of the Premier-level Kremlin Cup in Moscow. She qualified into the main draw and defeated world No. 49 Gisela Dulko in the first round. She then achieved the biggest win of her career by defeating top seed and world No. 7 Jelena Janković in the second round. However, she lost easily to Maria Kirilenko in the next match.
In 2011, Diyas reached the final at Kunming. She then reached the semifinals at Wenshan but did not reach another quarterfinal for the rest of the year.

2012-2013: Established player

At the start of 2012, Diyas was ranked No. 352. She made two quarterfinals and one semifinal. In June, she won her third title in Bukhara, not dropping a set the whole tournament. Later that year, she reached the final of a $25K event in Taipei. The next week, she participated in a new WTA 125 event, also in Taipei. She drew top seed Peng Shuai and defeated the world No. 40 in straight sets. She followed this up by dismantling Varatchaya Wongteanchai, losing just one game. She then lost in the quarterfinals to Kurumi Nara, which would mark her final quarterfinal of the season.
2013 was successful for Diyas – she began the year ranked world No. 264 and would finish the year ranked more than 100 spots higher. She began the year contesting many ITF events with modest results, before recording a big win over Kristýna Plíšková in the first round of the Malaysian Open. Her only tournament win came in Makinohara, where she defeated talented Swiss junior Belinda Bencic to clinch victory. She then advanced to another final in Taipei, but lost to Paula Kania in straight sets. She competed in one more event before finishing the year ranked world No. 163.

2014: Breakthrough and top 50

2014 was Diyas' breakthrough season. She made her season debut in Hong Kong, reaching the final of a 25K tournament, losing in the final to Elizaveta Kulichkova of Russia. She then entered Australian Open qualifying, registering a hard-fought three-set win over Aleksandra Krunić in the first round. She then came from a set down to defeat Andreea Mitu and get to the finals, where she beat Canadian Stéphanie Dubois. This resulted in the first main-draw berth in her career, as well as her first Grand Slam entry. In the first round of the main draw, she proceeded to beat fellow qualifier Kateřina Siniaková. In the second round, she breezed past world No. 52 Marina Erakovic to book her place in the third round. Diyas' run was ended there; however, as she went down to world No. 11 Simona Halep in straight sets. Nevertheless, her two early round wins helped boost her ranking to a career-high No. 112. Following the Australian Open, Diyas lost qualifying matches in Pattaya City and Doha. She would bounce back quickly, though, as she then easily won a 50K event in Quanzhou.
She then traveled to the United States to compete in the Miami, qualifying for the main draw and getting past Alexandra Cadanțu before losing to Sloane Stephens in the second round. Although she failed to qualify for the Family Circle Cup, she played at the Malaysian Open and advanced to the quarterfinals – her first WTA quarterfinal since the 2010 Kremlin Cup.
Diyas then went to Europe but lost early in the first two tournaments contested. At the French Open warm-up event in Strasbourg; however, she returned to form with a win over world No. 22 Kirsten Flipkens in the first round. She followed it up by dispatching Ajla Tomljanović before having to retire in her quarterfinal match. Holding a world ranking of No. 86, Diyas was granted a spot in the main draw of the French Open, but got a tough draw and was knocked out by Petra Kvitová in the first round. At the ITF grass-court tournament in Nottingham, she advanced to the final but was narrowly beaten by Kristýna Plíšková.
She played one more grass-court event before entering Wimbledon. There, she got her first ever win by defeating Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic in a rain-delayed straight-sets match. She followed this up with three-set wins against 15th seed Carla Suárez Navarro and former world No. 2 and 2010 Wimbledon finalist Vera Zvonareva, before losing in straight sets to third seed Simona Halep in the fourth round.
In August, in her best result at the US Open to date, unseeded Diyas advanced to the women's singles third round where she lost in straight sets to 17th seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia, earning $105,090.
In October, Diyas reached her first WTA final at the Japan Open where she lost to Samantha Stosur in straight sets.

2015: Continued success (first half); results slump (second half)

In January, Diyas was seeded 31st in singles at the Australian Open. She beat qualifier Urszula Radwańska of Poland in three sets in the first round and then unseeded Slovak Anna Karolína Schmiedlová in the second round in three sets, but lost her third round match against No. 2 seed and finalist Maria Sharapova in straight sets. Diyas also played doubles with South African Chanelle Scheepers and they advanced to the second round before losing to the 16th-seeded German team of Julia Görges and Anna-Lena Grönefeld in straight sets.
At the French Open, Diyas was seeded 32nd. She defeated qualifier Dinah Pfizenmaier in straight sets but eventually lost to Alison Van Uytvanck in the second round.
Prior to Wimbledon, Diyas was defeated by lower-ranked players in two warm-up tournaments, losing to 129th-ranked Sachia Vickery in Nottingham and to 146th-ranked Johanna Konta in Eastbourne. Diyas, however, reached the round of 16 at Birmingham, by defeating Kateryna Bondarenko in straight sets and through the withdrawal of Victoria Azarenka. Diyas subsequently lost to 12th-ranked Czech Karolína Plíšková 2–6, 2–6.
Despite the slow start on grass that left her unseeded at the Wimbledon Championships, Diyas managed to advance to the fourth round for the second consecutive year. Diyas beat 24th seed Flavia Pennetta, qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich and 14th seed Andrea Petkovic. However, her stealthy run at Wimbledon was ended by the fourth seed Maria Sharapova, 6–4, 6–4.
Her hardcourt season, however, did not fare as well as her performance on grass. Diyas failed to win in all her pre-US Open tournaments. In Washington, Diyas had to retire against Lauren Davis after trailing 7–5, 2–1. She lost to lucky loser Julia Görges 6–2, 1–6, 5–7 in Toronto, to Venus Williams 6–7, 4–6 in Cincinnati and to Irina-Camelia Begu in New Haven 5–7, 7–5, 2–6 - all in the first round.
At the first round of the US Open, Diyas was defeated by Polona Hercog 6–2, 7–5. This meant that she failed to repeat her third-round appearance in the previous year.

2016: Wrist injury

Diyas suffered a wrist injury in round one of Wimbledon and underwent surgery. She did not play in any tournaments in 2016 after that. As a result, she fell out of top 100.

2017: Return to tour & first WTA title

Diyas' attempt to return from her injury started with a series of losses. She lost in the opening rounds of her first four tournaments of the season before scoring her first wins at Quanzhou, reaching quarterfinals and losing to Zheng Saisai 2–6, 0–6. She then won her first ITF title since June 2014 in a 25K tournament in Nanning. At Zhengzhou, she managed to reach quarterfinals before losing to the first seed Peng Shuai 3–6, 3–6. At Anning, she reached final but lost to Saisai again 5–7, 4–6. At Gifu she lost in the first round to Luksika Kumkhum. She then lost to another returning player Magdaléna Rybáriková twice, in Fukuoka and Surbiton. Diyas then failed to qualify for the main draw of French Open as she lost to Bethanie Mattek-Sands 4–6, 1–6, despite having defeated Sachia Vickery and Polona Hercog in the first two qualifying rounds.
Diyas then won a 100K tournament in Manchester, scoring victories against Emily Webley-Smith, Arina Rodionova, Magdalena Fręch, Naomi Broady and Aleksandra Krunić without dropping a set.
At Wimbledon, Diyas was given a wild card to the main draw. She won her first two-round matches against Han Xinyun and Arina Rodionova. She lost to another returning player, Petra Martic in the third round 6–7, 1–6.
At the Japan Open, Diyas won all her qualifying matches to reach the main draw. She went on to score victories against higher-ranked players such as local favourite Misaki Doi, top 30 player Zhang Shuai, compatriot Yulia Putintseva and defending champion Christina McHale to reach final. She eventually beat fellow qualifier Miyu Kato 6–2, 7–5 to win her first ever WTA title.

2018: Return to top 100 and further injury

Diyas was ranked well into the top 100 on the New Year's Day of 2018, thus automatically qualified into the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time since 2016 Wimbledon Championships at the Australian Open, but she lost in the first round to Sorana Cîrstea in three sets. In March, Diyas reached the 4th round of a WTA Premier Mandatory event at the Miami Open, but had to retire while a set down in her match against Karolina Pliskova. In May she reached the quarterfinals of a WTA clay court event for the first time in her career at the Internationaux de Strasbourg, losing in straight sets to eventual champion Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Subsequently, she won her first round match at the French Open, losing in the second round to Naomi Osaka. Unfortunately, in her first round match against Sam Stosur at the Nottingham Open Diyas suffered a serious knee injury which saw her miss the entire grass season. She returned for the US Open, but lost in the first round to Karolina Pliskova. Diyas was also unsuccessful in defending her title at the Japan Open losing the quarterfinals to No. 1 seed Zhang Shuai.

2019

At the start of the year Diyas lost in the first round of the Australian Open. First-round losses followed in Dubai and 2019 BNP Paribas Open and failure to qualify for the 2019 Miami Open and the subsequent loss of ranking points saw her once again drop out of the top 100. However in May, Diyas won the eighth ITF singles title of her career at the Kangaroo Cup, which was enough to edge her back into the top 100.

2020

Diyas reached the final in the first tournament of the calendar at ITF Hong Kong where she defeated Lin Zhu in straight sets.

Playing style

Diyas is primarily an aggressive baseliner whose game is centered around powerful and accurate groundstrokes. Her forehand, which generates a considerable amount of pace, is often used to move her opponents around the court and out of position, which therefore allows her to dominate and win points from or around the back of the court. Her serve, while not necessarily a weapon in her arsenal, is quite effective when placed properly and she employs a tactic of a delayed service motion, which often disables her opponents from appropriately timing a return. While not a great mover on court, she is able to somewhat compensate for it with her tenacious fighting qualities.

Apparel and equipment

Dunlop sponsors Diyas, providing her racquets, clothing and shoes.

Performance timelines

Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup and Olympic Games are included in Win–Loss records.

Singles

Current through the suspension of the 2020 WTA Tour.

Doubles

Notes

Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss0–12014 Japan Women's Open – Singles|Japan Women's Open, JapanInternationalHard Samantha Stosur6–7, 3–6
Win1–12017 Japan Women's Open – Singles|Japan Women's Open, JapanInternationalHard Miyu Kato6–2, 7–5

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 18 (9 titles, 9 runner–ups)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Win1–0Nov 2008ITF Astana, Kazakhstan25,000Hard Tetyana Arefyeva7–5, 6–4
Win2–0Jul 2009ITF Stuttgart, Germany25,000Clay Katalin Marosi6–1, 6–2
Loss2–1Jun 2010ITF Rome, Italy25,000Clay Patricia Mayr6–7, 4–6
Loss2–2Mar 2011ITF Kunming, China25,000Hard Iryna Brémond6–1, 2–6, 3–6
Win3–2Jun 2012ITF Bukhara, Uzbekistan25,000Hard Lyudmyla Kichenok6–0, 6–0
Loss3–3Oct 2012ITF Taipei, Taiwan25,000Hard Zheng Saisai4–6, 1–6
Win4–3Oct 2013ITF Makinohara, Japan25,000Grass Belinda Bencic6–3, 6–4
Loss4–42013 Caesar & Imperial Cup – Singles|Caesar & Imperial Cup, Taiwan50,000Hard Paula Kania1–6, 3–6
Loss4–5Jan 2014ITF Hong Kong, China25,000Hard Elizaveta Kulichkova2–6, 2–6
Win5–52014 Blossom Cup – Singles|Industrial Bank Cup, China50,000Hard Noppawan Lertcheewakarn6–1, 6–1
Loss5–62014 Aegon Trophy – Women's Singles|Aegon Trophy, United Kingdom75,000Grass Kristýna Plíšková2–6, 6–3, 4–6
Win6–6Apr 2017ITF Nanning, China25,000Hard Lee Ya-hsuan6–2, 6–3
Loss6–72017 Kunming Open – Women's Singles|Kunming Open, China100,000+HClay Zheng Saisai5–7, 4–6
Win7–72017 Aegon Manchester Trophy – Singles|Manchester Trophy Challenger, United Kingdom100,000Grass Aleksandra Krunic6–4, 6–4
Win8–72019 Kangaroo Cup – Singles|Kangaroo Cup, Japan80,000Hard Liang En-shuo6–0, 6–2
Loss8–82019 Fukuoka International Women's Cup – Singles|Fukuoka International, Japan60,000Carpet Heather Watson6–7, 6–7
Loss8–92019 Manchester Trophy – Singles|Manchester Trophy Challenger, United Kingdom100,000Grass Magda Linette6–7, 6–2, 3–6
Win9–9Jan 2020ITF Hong Kong, China25,000Hard Zhu Lin6–4, 7–5

Doubles: 1 (1 runner–up)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Loss0–1Jan 2014ITF Hong Kong, China25,000Hard Zhang Ling Misa Eguchi
Eri Hozumi		4–6, 2–6

Fed Cup participation

Singles

Doubles

Wins over top-10 players