Vania King

Vania King (traditional Chinese: 金久慈, simplified Chinese: 金久慈, Hanyu Pinyin: Jīn Jiǔcí) (born February 3, 1989) is an American tennis player. King won both the 2010 Wimbledon and 2010 US Open women's doubles titles with Kazakhstani partner Yaroslava Shvedova.

King's parents moved to the United States from Taiwan in 1982. She is the youngest of four children. Her brother Phillip was a four-time All-American at Duke University and two-time US junior champion.

2006–2009

In 2006 King won her only WTA singles title at the PTT Bangkok Open, a Tier III tournament. She defeated Tamarine Tanasugarn in the final. On November 6, 2006, King achieved her career-high singles ranking of world no. 50.

In 2009, she reached the mixed doubles final at the French Open alongside Brazilian player Marcelo Melo, losing to top seeds Liezel Huber/Bob Bryan.

King lost in the second round of the 2009 Wimbledon Championships to no. 15 Flavia Pennetta. She played in the ladies doubles with Anna-Lena Grönefeld, losing in the quarterfinals to eventual champions Venus and Serena Williams.

At the 2009 U.S. Open, King was granted a wild card and had her best singles Grand Slam performance. She was defeated in the third round by world no. 22 Daniela Hantuchová.

2010

King began the year ranked no. 80 in the world at the Brisbane International. She reached the second round of the singles tournament, losing to Andrea Petkovic. In doubles, she partnered with Anna-Lena Grönefeld and lost in the first round to Timea Bacsinszky and Tathiana Garbin. King and Grönefeld fared better at the Medibank International in Sydney, where they were seeded fourth. They lost in the semifinals to Garbin and Nadia Petrova. In the singles tournament, King failed to qualify, losing in the first round of the qualifying tournament to top seed Ágnes Szávay, who went on to defeat Jelena Janković in the first round of the tournament.

At the 2010 Australian Open, King lost in the second round to Roberta Vinci. In doubles, she partnered with Grönefeld again and entered the tournament seeded 14th. They lost in the second round to Svetlana Kuznetsova and Victoria Azarenka.

King's next major tournament was the Memphis international in mid-February. She entered the singles tournament seeded seventh and lost in the second round to Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden. In the doubles tournament, she and partner Michaëlla Krajicek were seeded third and won the tournament without dropping a set, defeating Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Shaughnessy in the final.

King then traveled to the Monterrey Open. In doubles, she reunited with Groenefeld and reached the finals as the top seed, falling to second-seeded Benešová/Záhlavová. In singles, she lost in the quarterfinals to second seed Daniela Hantuchová.

At the BNP Paribas tournament in Indian Wells, King lost in the second round to second seed Caroline Wozniacki. She did not enter the doubles tournament. King fared better in the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami later that month. She partnered with Julie Coin and reached the quarterfinals of the doubles tournament, before losing to third seeds Petrova and Samantha Stosur, who went on to become the runners-up.

King's next Premier was the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, where she reunited with Krajicek and reached the final, before falling to top seeds Liesel Huber and Petrova. In singles, she lost to Petrova in the second round.

At the Madrid Masters, King paired with Chuang Chia-jung for the first time for the doubles tournament. They defeated fourth seeds Huber and Anabel Medina Garrigues, before falling in the quarterfinals to Pe'er and Francesca Schiavone. In singles, King lost in the first round to Karolina Šprem.

King then entered the Strasbourg International. In the doubles tournament, she partnered with Alizé Cornet and won the tournament after an injury to Lucie Hradecká forced top seeds Hradecká/Chuang to retire in the second round. King/Cornet defeated second seeds Rodionova/Kudryavtseva in the final for her 10th tour doubles title. In singles, King defeated second seed Elena Vesnina in the first round and reached the semifinals, before falling to Kristina Barrois.

At the 2010 French Open, she lost in the first round to Bethanie Mattek-Sands. She entered the mixed doubles tournament with Christopher Kas, reaching the semifinals, before falling to Shvedova and Julian Knowle. In women's doubles, she reunited with Michaëlla Krajicek and reached the second round, losing to fourth-seeded Petrova and Stosur.

At Wimbledon, King won the 2010 ladies' doubles title in straight sets with Kazakh partner Yaroslava Shvedova. They defeated Russians Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva in the final.

At the 2010 US Open, King and Shvedova won their second Grand Slam doubles title, defeating the second-seeded pair Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova in a rain-delayed final.

At the Stanford Classic, Vania lost to Romanian Sorana Cîrstea.

2011

King and Shvedova made the finals of the US Open, losing to Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond.

King made it to the finals of five other WTA tournaments in the course of the year, one in Monterrey with Anna-Lena Grönefeld and in Rome, Cincinnati, Osaka, and Moscow with Shvedova. She and Shvedova won the events in Cincinnati in August and Moscow in October.

2012

King reached the third round of the Australian Open at the start of the year, losing to Ana Ivanovic. She had defeated Kateryna Bondarenko in the first round.

She reached the second round of the Mercury Insurance Open in Carlsbad in July, losing to Marion Bartoli.

In doubles, she reached the final in Stanford with Jarmila Gajdošová and in Carlsbad with Nadia Petrova, but lost to Marina Erakovic and Heather Watson in Stanford and to Americans Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears in Carlsbad.

2013

In singles action in 2013, King lost in the Guangzhou final to Shuai Zhang. King lost in the second round of the French Open and in the first round of the other three Slans. In doubles that year, her best finish was a finals loss in Guangzhou.

2014

In doubles, King made the second round at the Australian Open partnering Galina Voskoboeva. They lost to the Czech/Dutch pair of Lucie Hradecká and Michaëlla Krajicek.

She partnered with Barbora Strýcová in Florianópolis, and they made it to the semifinals before being defeated by Anabel Medina Garrigues and Yaroslava Shvedova. She was eliminated in the first round in Indian Wells, and the second round in Miami, but made it to the final in Bogotá, partnering Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa.

Partnering Jie Zheng of China, she made a quarterfinal appearance in Madrid, losing to Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci. Then followed a series of first-round losses, including Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

She had some success in the late summer, making the quarterfinals in Washington, D.C. partnering Taylor Townsend and the third round at the US Open partnering Lisa Raymond.

In singles, she made the semifinals in Shenzhen, but had to concede a walkover. She made a first-round exit at the Australian Open at the hands of Carla Suárez Navarro. At the Pattaya Open, she was defeated by Elena Vesnina in the first round. A series of first-round defeats followed in Rio de Janeiro, Florianópolis, and Indian Wells.

She made the second round in Miami and Charleston, but it was not until April in Bogotá that she found some form and made it to the semifinals. She went down in the first round in both Roland Garros and Wimbledon, but she did make the quarterfinals in Washington, D.C..

At the US Open, she defeated Francesca Schiavone in the first round, but lost to eventual champion Serena Williams in the second round.

2015

King missed the first three Slams of 2015 due to injury. She lost in the first round of singles and the second round of doubles there in Flushing. The highlight of her year came on hard courts in Waco, where King and Nicole Gibbs won in November, defeating Julia Glushko and Rebecca Peterson 6-4, 6-4.

2016

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	2010	Wimbledon	Grass	Yaroslava Shvedova	Elena Vesnina Vera Zvonareva	7–6(8–6), 6–2
Winner	2010	US Open	Hard	Yaroslava Shvedova	Liezel Huber Nadia Petrova	2–6, 6–4, 7–6(7–4)
Runner-up	2011	US Open	Hard	Yaroslava Shvedova	Liezel Huber Lisa Raymond	6–4, 6–7(5–7), 6–7(3–7)

Mixed doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Outcome	Date	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	2009	French Open	Clay	Marcelo Melo	Bob Bryan Liezel Huber	7–5, 6–7(5–7), [7–10]

Premier Mandatory/Premier 5 finals

Doubles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runners-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	2007	Tokyo	Hard	Rennae Stubbs	Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur	6–7(6-8), 6–3, 5–7
Winner	2008	Tokyo	Hard	Nadia Petrova	Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur	6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	2011	Rome	Clay	Yaroslava Shvedova	Peng Shuai Zheng Jie	2–6, 3–6
Winner	2011	Cincinnati	Hard	Yaroslava Shvedova	Natalie Grandin Vladimíra Uhlířová	6–4, 3–6, [11–9]

Singles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-up)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	October 15, 2006	PTT Bangkok Open, Bangkok, Thailand	Hard	Tamarine Tanasugarn	2–6, 6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	1.	September 22, 2013	Guangzhou International Women's Open, Guangzhou, China	Hard	Shuai Zhang	6–7(1–7), 1–6
Runner-up	2.	August 7, 2016	Jiangxi Open, Nanchang, China	Hard	Duan Yingying	6–1, 4–6, 2–6

Doubles: 33 (15 titles, 18 runners-up)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	October 1, 2006	Guangzhou International Women's Open, Guangzhou, China	Hard	Jelena Kostanić Tošić	Li Ting Sun Tiantian	4–6, 6–2, 5–7
Winner	1.	October 8, 2006	Japan Open Tennis Championships, Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Jelena Kostanić Tošić	Chan Yung-Jan Chuang Chia-Jung	7–6(7–2), 5–7, 6–2
Winner	2.	October 15, 2006	PTT Bangkok Open, Bangkok, Thailand	Hard	Jelena Kostanić Tošić	Mariana Díaz Oliva Natalie Grandin	7–5, 2–6, 7–5
Runner-up	2.	February 4, 2007	Toray Pan Pacific Open, Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Rennae Stubbs	Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur	6–7(6-8), 6–3, 5–7
Winner	3.	May 14, 2007	Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Fes, Morocco	Clay	Sania Mirza	Andreea Ehritt-Vanc Anastasia Rodionova	6–1, 6–2
Winner	4.	September 19, 2007	Sunfeast Open, Kolkata, India	Hard	Alla Kudryavtseva	Alberta Brianti Mariya Koryttseva	6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	3.	October 2, 2007	Guangzhou International Women's Open, Guangzhou, China	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Peng Shuai Yan Zi	3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	4.	October 7, 2007	Japan Open Tennis Championships, Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Chuang Chia-jung	Sun Tiantian Yan Zi	6–1, 2–6 [6–10]
Runner-up	5.	February 10, 2008	Pattaya Women's Open, Pattaya, Thailand	Hard	Hsieh Su-wei	Chan Yung-Jan Chuang Chia-Jung	4–6, 3–6
Winner	5.	September 21, 2008	Toray Pan Pacific Open, Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Nadia Petrova	Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur	6–1, 6–4
Winner	6.	November 2, 2008	Bell Challenge, Quebec City, Canada	Hard	Anna-Lena Grönefeld	Jill Craybas Tamarine Tanasugarn	7–6(7–3), 6–4
Winner	7.	January 11, 2009	Brisbane International, Brisbane, Australia	Hard	Anna-Lena Grönefeld	Klaudia Jans Alicja Rosolska	3–6, 7–5, [10–5]
Winner	8.	September 14, 2009	Bell Challenge, Quebec City, Canada	Hard	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Sofia Arvidsson Séverine Beltrame	6–1, 6–3
Winner	9.	February 14, 2010	Cellular South Cup, Memphis, United States	Hard	Michaëlla Krajicek	Bethanie Mattek-Sands Meghann Shaughnessy	7–5, 6–2
Runner-up	6.	March 7, 2010	Monterrey Open, Monterrey, Mexico	Hard	Anna-Lena Grönefeld	Iveta Benešová Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	6–3, 4–6, [8–10]
Runner-up	7.	April 18, 2010	Family Circle Cup, Charleston, United States	Clay	Michaëlla Krajicek	Liezel Huber Nadia Petrova	3–6, 4–6
Winner	10.	May 22, 2010	Internationaux de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France	Clay	Alizé Cornet	Alla Kudryavtseva Anastasia Rodionova	3–6, 6–4, [10–7]
Runner-up	8.	June 19, 2010	Ordina Open, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Yaroslava Shvedova	Alla Kudryavtseva Anastasia Rodionova	6–3, 3–6, [6–10]
Winner	11.	July 3, 2010	Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom	Grass	Yaroslava Shvedova	Elena Vesnina Vera Zvonareva	7–6(8–6), 6–2
Winner	12.	September 13, 2010	US Open, New York, United States	Hard	Yaroslava Shvedova	Liezel Huber Nadia Petrova	2–6, 6–4, 7–6(7–4)
Runner-up	9.	March 6, 2011	Monterrey Open, Monterrey, Mexico	Hard	Anna-Lena Grönefeld	Iveta Benešová Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	7–6(10–8), 2–6, [6–10]
Runner-up	10.	May 15, 2011	Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Rome, Italy	Clay	Yaroslava Shvedova	Peng Shuai Zheng Jie	2–6, 3–6
Winner	13.	August 21, 2011	Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati, United States	Hard	Yaroslava Shvedova	Natalie Grandin Vladimíra Uhlířová	6–4, 3–6, [11–9]
Runner-up	11.	September 11, 2011	US Open, New York, United States	Hard	Yaroslava Shvedova	Liezel Huber Lisa Raymond	6–4, 6–7(5–7), 6–7(3–7)
Runner-up	12.	October 16, 2011	HP Open, Osaka, Japan	Hard	Yaroslava Shvedova	Kimiko Date-Krumm Zhang Shuai	5–7, 6–3, [9-11]
Winner	14.	October 22, 2011	Kremlin Cup, Moscow, Russia	Hard (i)	Yaroslava Shvedova	Anastasia Rodionova Galina Voskoboeva	7–6(7–3), 6–3
Runner-up	13.	July 16, 2012	Bank of the West Classic, Stanford, United States	Hard	Jarmila Gajdošová	Marina Erakovic Heather Watson	5–7, 6–7(7–9)
Runner-up	14.	July 23, 2012	Mercury Insurance Open, Carlsbad, United States	Hard	Nadia Petrova	Raquel Kops-Jones Abigail Spears	2–6, 4–6
Runner-up	15.	September 23, 2012	Hansol Korea Open, Seoul, South Korea	Hard	Akgul Amanmuradova	Raquel Kops-Jones Abigail Spears	6–2, 2–6, [8–10]
Runner-up	16.	September 21, 2013	Guangzhou International Women's Open, Guangzhou, China	Hard	Galina Voskoboeva	Hsieh Su-wei Peng Shuai	3-6, 6-4, [10-12]
Runner-up	17.	April 12, 2014	Copa Colsanitas, Bogotá, Colombia	Clay	Chanelle Scheepers	Lara Arruabarrena Caroline Garcia	6–7(5–7), 4–6
Winner	15.	January 9, 2016	Shenzhen Open, Shenzhen, China	Hard	Monica Niculescu	Xu Yifan Zheng Saisai	6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	18.	June 19, 2016	Aegon Classic, Birmingham, United Kingdom	Grass	Alla Kudryavtseva	Karolína Plíšková Barbora Strýcová	3–6, 6–7(1–7)

^{KU=with Kevin Ullyett
FC=with František Čermák
MM=with Marcelo Melo
CK=with Christopher Kas
VS=with Vincent Spadea
DM=with David Martin
JK=with Jordan Kerr
HT=with Horia Tecău
DN=with Daniel Nestor
DB=with Dustin Brown
RB=with Rohan Bopanna
TB=with Tomasz Bednarek}