Margarita Gasparyan

Margarita Gasparyan

Margarita Gasparyan at the 2015 US Open
Full name	Margarita Melikovna Gasparyan
Country (sports)	Russia
Residence	Moscow, Russia
Born	(1994-09-01) 1 September 1994 (age 22) Moscow, Russia
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Turned pro	2010
Retired	Active
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Coach(es)	Elena Makarova
Prize money	$ 817,890
Singles
Career record	153–86
Career titles	1 WTA, 9 ITF
Highest ranking	41 (15 February 2016)
Current ranking	116 (2 January 2016)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	4R (2016)
French Open	1R (2015, 2016)
Wimbledon	1R (2015, 2016)
US Open	Q2 (2015)
Doubles
Career record	101–50
Career titles	3 WTA, 8 ITF
Highest ranking	25 (6 June 2016)
Current ranking	41 (2 January 2017)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2016)
French Open	SF (2016)
Wimbledon	2R (2015)
US Open	2R (2015)
Last updated on: 2 January 2017.

Margarita Melikovna Gasparyan (Russian: Маргари́та Ме́ликовна Гаспаря́н; born 1 September 1994) is a Russian tennis player.

Gasparyan has won one singles and two doubles titles on the WTA tour, as well as nine singles and eight doubles titles on the ITF tour in her career. On 21 March 2016, she reached her best singles ranking of world number 41, and on 6 June she reached her best doubles ranking of world number 25.

She is considered to possess one of the strongest one-handed backhands among young Russian players. In 2015, she won both her first singles and doubles titles during the same week, a feat she achieved at the Baku Cup. She is currently coached by Elena Makarova.

Gasparyan is noted for her extremely powerful backhand. Her forehand is stable yet is more prone to break down under pressure and cause erratic errors. Gasparyan's movement is also targeted because of her height which is often associated with poor movement in tennis.

Born to an Armenian father, Melik, and a Russian mother, Lyudmyla, Gasparyan began playing tennis at age five. Her father was for a time weightlifter, her mother a biathlonist. Margarita's home club is CSKA Moscow.

Gasparyan started her pro career at the $10,000 ITF tournament in St. Petersburg in mid-March 2010, losing in the first qualification round. Her first successful appearance was in another $10,000 tournament in Minsk, reaching the quarterfinals in singles and semifinals in doubles, respectively. Her first final was in Tyumen in doubles with Natela Dzalamidze in the very end of 2011, losing 0–6, 2–6 to Darya Kustova and Olga Savchuk.

In 2012, Gasparyan won four singles ITF titles, all under the category 25K. All of her singles titles came from Russia. She was awarded a wildcard into the 2012 Kremlin Cup but lost to Lucie Šafářová in three sets.