Anna Blinkova About

Twenty-two to 20: the tiebreak that made Blinkova's career

Blinkova turned professional in 2015, the same year she reached the Wimbledon girls' singles final and rose to No. 3 in the ITF combined junior rankings. She competes under a neutral flag, with no national affiliation.

At 1.79 m the right-hander gets less free money from the serve than the frame suggests, as evidenced by a 3.1 percent career ace rate and 60 percent of service games held since 2017, which leaves the return to carry her at 43.5 percent of points won. The ball-striking is high-risk by construction, a 0.74 winners-to-unforced-errors ratio that swings matches both directions, and it is why she is a tough out on a good day and gone in 55 minutes on a bad one.

The peak arrived on 7 August 2023 at WTA No. 34, built on third rounds at both the French Open and Wimbledon that season. Six months later came the result that still frames her: third-ranked Elena Rybakina held eight match points in the Australian Open second round and lost all of them. Blinkova won the longest tiebreak in women's Grand Slam history, 22-20 after 31 minutes, then added fifth-ranked Jessica Pegula at Indian Wells two months on.

As of August 2026 the 27-year-old sits WTA No. 94, down from a No. 61 start to the season and 4-14 across it, with no wins against opponents ranked inside the top 32. The level surfaces in patches: at the Cincinnati Open she came from a set down against Mananchaya Sawangkaew, then took the opener off Ekaterina Alexandrova before losing 5-7 in the third.

Anna Blinkova at a glance

Anna Blinkova is 28 years old; was born in Moscow, Russia; lives in Pavlovsky Posad, Russia; stands 1.79 m; plays right-handed; and is ranked No. 89 in the WTA rankings.