Liudmila Samsonova

Liudmila Samsonova is a Russian tennis player, who has career-high WTA rankings of world No 63 in singles, achieved on June 21, 2021. She competed for Italy from 2014 to 2018. She has won one WTA and three ITF singles titles.

Liudmila Samsonova was born on November 11, 1998 (age 22), in Olenegorsk, Russia, but grew up in Italy. She started playing tennis at the age of six, joining Riccardo Piatti’s tennis academy in Sanremo after the local tennis federation helped her financially with that. Until 2018, Liudmila represented Italy in professional tennis, before switching to the Russian flag. She is playing a right-handed forehand and two-handed backhand.

Liudmila Samsonova reached her highest ITF junior ranking on July 18, 2016, peaking at the 65th position. Her biggest achievements were winning consecutive ITF Junior Circuit Grade 2 tournaments in 2016, defeating notable players such as Kaja Juvan and Marta Kostyuk.

Also she had won $10,000 Rome – Reale Circolo Canottieri Tevere Remo in 2013, Tunisia Junior ITF – Cité Nationale Sportive in 2015, and the $10,000 W15 Solarino – Zaiera Tennis Resort in 2016. She had a great start to her career with several trophies and her young age put high expectations for future performance.

In 2018, she reached the final of the $15,000 W15 Sharm El Sheikh but lost from the Bulgarian Julia Terziyska. By the end of the year she played at higher-rated tournaments, reaching the quarter-finals of the $25,000 W25 Caserta (Italy), the semi-finals of the $25,000 Imola (Italy), and the finals of $25,000 W25 Padova (Italy). In August, she won the trophy of the $25,000 W25 El Espinar in Segovia, Spain, eliminating in the quarter-finals Paula Badosa. In September, Liudmila Samsonova reached even bigger success winning the $60,000 W60+H Saint-Malo in France.

Liudmila Samsonova debuted in the WTA tour in 2019. She reached the semi-finals of the WTA 250 Palermo Ladies Open in July. In May, she debuted in the Grand Slam, losing in the first round of the French Open / Roland Garros from Donna Vekic. Later the same year, she reached the final of the $80,000 W80 Poitiers in France, as well as the quarter-finals of the WTA 125 Open BLS De Limoges in France.

In 2020, Liudmila Samsonova continues with her great performance, taking part in the WTA 500 Brisbane International in Australia, where eliminate Petra Kvitova in the first round but lost from Sloane Stephens in the second. She took part at the Australian Open but again failed to cross the first round and lost from Jelena Ostapenko. She also played at the US Open (losing from Tsvetana Pironkova in the first round) and the French Open / Roland Garros (losing from Sofia Kenin in the first round). At the end of this not much successful year, Liudmila Samsonova reached the finals of the $25,000 W25 Reims in France but lost from Oceane Dodin.

In 2021, she had a pretty better start of the year, reaching the second round of the Australian Open, eliminating Paula Badosa, and losing from Garbine Muguruza. She also reached the third round of the WTA 1000 Miami Open. In June, Liudmila Samsonova achieved her highest success, winning the trophy of the WTA 500 Berlin Open, eliminating players like Madison Keys, Victoria Azarenka, and Belinda Bencic. At Wimbledon, she made another perfect game, reaching the fourth round, being eliminated by Karolina Pliskova.