Daria Saville (née Gavrilova; born 5 March 1994) is an Australian professional tennis player who previously represented Russia until 2015.[1] She competed under her maiden name until her marriage to Luke Saville in 2021. On 28 August 2017, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 20. On 25 September 2017, she peaked at No. 45 in the doubles rankings.
Saville has won one singles title and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, and has additionally won four singles and two doubles titles on the ITF Circuit.
Saville was an accomplished junior player, having won the 2010 Youth Olympic Games and 2010 US Open, also reaching a combined career-high junior ranking of world No. 1 in August 2010.[2]
In her career, Saville has achieved victories against former Grand Slam champions Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, Angelique Kerber (her first victory over a reigning world No. 1), and Petra Kvitová (three times), with all of these players being ranked in the top 10 at the time.
Personal life
Daria's relationship with Australian tennis player Luke Saville influenced her decision to become an Australian citizen.[3][4]
They became engaged on 6 December 2018 and married on 4 December 2021, and she took his surname.[5][6][7]
Career
2010: No. 1 Junior
Saville was chosen to represent Russia at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games held in Singapore. Despite entering the draw unseeded, Saville progressed to the gold medal match, beating Stefanie Tan, top seed Elina Svitolina, Tang Haochen and seventh seed Jana Čepelová. In the final, Saville went a set down against Zheng Saisai of China, but rallied to win the gold medal.[8] Following her win, Saville became the top ranked junior player by the ITF.[2]
In September, she competed in the junior event at the US Open as the top seed. She progressed through the draw with wins over Lauren Davis, Caroline Price, Tang Haochen, Robin Anderson and Sloane Stephens to set up an all-Russian final with Yulia Putintseva, emerging with a two-sets victory.[9] In addition, Saville competed in the doubles event with fellow Russian Irina Khromacheva, progressing to the semifinal, before losing to eventual champions Tímea Babos and Sloane Stephens.
Following her success in junior tennis, Saville was awarded a wildcard into the main draw of the WTA Tour event in her hometown of Moscow. She faced Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko and lost her WTA debut in straight sets. She ended the year as the No. 1 junior player, and at No. 515 in the WTA rankings.
2011
Saville suffered disappointment in her attempts to become the first junior player since Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to win two Grand Slam titles, with first-round defeats at the Australian Open and Wimbledon events, a quarterfinal defeat to eventual champion Ons Jabeur at the French Open and a second-round defeat to American Victoria Duval in her defence of her US Open title. As the reigning junior champion, Saville was awarded a wildcard into the qualifying draw for the main event, but lost her first match against Kurumi Nara.
Beginning to compete on the ITF Women's Circuit, Saville lost her first final in the 25k event in Moscow to Lyudmyla Kichenok, but later in the year, claimed her first professional title at the 10k event in Antalya, beating fellow Russian Ksenia Lykina in the final. Saville ended the year ranked world No. 383.
2012: WTA Tour debut
In April, Saville won her first professional doubles title, claiming the title at a 25k event in Chiasso, Switzerland, along with partner Irina Khromacheva. The pair continued their partnership at the junior event of the French Open and claimed the title with a win over Montserrat González and Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Saville began her season by playing in the qualifying draw in Brisbane. She upset Mariana Duque Mariño in the first round, before losing to Vania King. At the Australian Open, Saville earned a place in the qualifying draw based on her ranking for the first time. In the first round, she beat Stephanie Vogt before upsetting 24th seed Eugenie Bouchard. In the final round of qualifying, she beat Zhou Yimiao in three sets, to earn a spot in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her career. In the first round, she faced Lauren Davis and won in three sets. Saville's maiden major run came to an end in the second round against fellow qualifier Lesia Tsurenko.
In February, she competed at the Qatar Ladies Open, a Premier-5 level event. In the qualifying draw, she defeated Kristina Barrois, before losing to Tadeja Majerič. However, following the withdrawal of Maria Kirilenko, Saville returned to the draw as a lucky loser, and beat Anabel Medina Garrigues in the first round. In the second round, she played her first match against a top-ten player in world No. 2, Serena Williams, and lost in straight sets. Saville underwent a knee reconstruction in October and finished 2013 ranked No. 144.
2014
She resumed to play in July on the ITF Circuit ranked No. 368. At the 50k event in Sacramento, California, her first event of the year, she claimed the doubles title alongside Storm Sanders, her highest level win to date. In August, it was announced that Saville would play at the US Open representing Australia.[1] She made the second round of qualifying rounds, beating Tadeja Majerič but falling to Chan Yung-jan.
In September, she qualified for the Pan Pacific Open. She reached the second round, where she was beaten by Carla Suárez Navarro. In early October, Saville claimed the second singles title of her career, defeating Sabina Sharipova in straight sets to win the 25k event at Bangkok. She also reached the final of the doubles competition at the event with her partner Irina Khromacheva, but they lost in straight sets.
In December, Saville competed at the internal wildcard playoff for the 2015 Australian Open. She advanced to the final by beating top seed Olivia Rogowska in the semifinal, before beating Arina Rodionova in straight sets to guarantee herself a place in the main draw of the first major of 2015.
In February, Saville won the 50k Burnie International in Australia, defeating top seed Irina Falconi in the final.[11] It was her biggest title win to date. The following week, she competed at the $50k Launceston International, and advanced to the semifinals, in straight sets. There, she beat Falconi in three sets. Later that evening, she played the final against Tereza Mrdeža and won the title with a two-set victory, her second 50k title in two weeks.
In the Miami Open, Saville beat second seed Maria Sharapova in the second round, claiming her first victory over a top-ten player. She subsequently defeated Kurumi Nara in her next match, before losing to Karolína Plíšková in the fourth round. Saville then played at the 100k Open de Cagnes-sur-Mer as the third seed. She lost in the quarterfinals to Pauline Parmentier. Her next tournament was the Premier-5 Italian Open where she qualified by defeating higher ranked players Kurumi Nara and Sílvia Soler Espinosa. She then defeated world No. 33, Belinda Bencic, in three sets in the first round, and world No. 7, Ana Ivanovic. After splitting the first two sets, Saville defeated Ivanovic in the tiebreak on her eighth match point. This was her second top-ten win in a matter of months. She would then progress to the semifinals, losing there in straight sets to Maria Sharapova. It was Saville's first semifinal on the WTA Tour.
2016: Hopman Cup champion and first WTA Premier final
She began her season playing at the 2016 Hopman Cup in the Australia Green team, alongside Nick Kyrgios. In the round-robin stage of the tournament, her only singles win was over Sabine Lisicki, however she and Kyrgios were undefeated in the mixed-doubles stage of each tie. In their tie against France, Saville saved a match point in the mixed doubles event when Australia was down 8–9 in the match tiebreak. They went on to win the match in three sets, securing their place in the final. Saville and Kyrgios were the eventual champions of the tournament, defeating the Ukrainian team of Elina Svitolina and Alexandr Dolgopolov in both singles matches. This was only the second time that the Australian team has won the Hopman Cup, the first time being in 1999.
In the Australian Open, she had wins against Lucie Hradecká, Petra Kvitová, and Kristina Mladenovic, but then lost in the fourth round to tenth seed Carla Suárez Navarro. In April, Saville made the quarterfinal of Madrid and the third round of Rome. At the French Open, she lost to Mariana Duque Mariño in round one and made the second round of Wimbledon. At the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Saville drew world No. 1, Serena Williams, and lost in round one. At the US Open, she lost to Lucie Šafářová, again in round one.
In October, Saville reached the quarterfinal at China Open, semifinal in Hong Kong and a week later, her first WTA Premier final in Moscow, in both doubles and singles.
2017: First WTA Premier title
Starting the year out in the Hopman cup partnering with Nick Kyrgios. They made it to the semifinals before losing to Team USA. Saville played in Sydney but fell in the round of 16 to eventual champion Johnna Konta. For the second year in a row, Saville made it to the fourth round at the Australian Open beating Naomi Broady, Ana Konjuh and Timea Bacsinszky. She lost to Karolína Plíšková in straight sets. In Indian Wells, Saville fell in the third round while in Miami, she fell in the second round to Lucie Šafářová. She began her clay-court season at the Charleston Open with a win over Alison Riske but losing in the round of 16 to the eventual champion and good friend, Daria Kasatkina. Her best result on clay was at the Italian Open where she had to play the qualifying and reached the quarterfinals, before losing to Kiki Bertens.
Beginning her clay-court season at the Morocco Open, she lost in the first round to second seed Hsieh Su-wei.[21] At the Madrid Open, she was defeated in the first round by ninth seed Ash Barty.[22] In Rome, she lost in the first round of qualifying to Irina-Camelia Begu. Playing her final tournament before the French Open, she advanced to the quarterfinals of the Internationaux de Strasbourg being defeated by Chloé Paquet.[23] At the French Open, she retired from her first-round match against Aleksandra Krunić due to a thigh injury.[24]
In Eastbourne, Saville lost in the final round of qualifying to Fiona Ferro. Despite the loss, she entered the main draw as a lucky loser where she reached the second round and was defeated by Zhang Shuai.[25] At the Wimbledon Championships, she lost in the first round to eighth seed and eventual semifinalist, Elina Svitolina.[26]
At the US Open, Saville lost in the first round to Fiona Ferro.[29]
She didn't play any more tournaments for the rest of the season due to injuries.[30] She ended the season ranked No. 237.
2020–2021
Saville missed the Australian Open due to recovering from an achilles tendon injury and plantar fasciitis.[31][32]
She started 2021 season at the first edition of the Yarra Valley Classic where she lost in the second round to fifth seed Serena Williams.[35] At the Australian Open, she was defeated in the second round by top seed Ashleigh Barty.[36]
After the championship, Saville announced that she was going to get surgery on her achilles tendon.[37]
In November, Saville represented Australia at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals defeating world No. 70, Greet Minnen, in her first professional match since February.[38] Australia lost in the semifinals against Switzerland.[39]
Saville ended the season ranked 419.
2022: Lowest ranked quarterfinalist in Miami Open history, return to top 50, second ACL injury
In March, Saville made it through qualifying at Indian Wells, defeating Kamilla Rakhimova and Magdalena Fręch. She beat Zhang Shuai in the first round before defeating ninth seed Ons Jabeur in the second; this was Saville's first top-10 win since 2018. She then defeated 20th seed Elise Mertens, before retiring in the fourth round against eventual finalist and sixth seed Maria Sakkari. The following week, she received a main-draw wildcard to compete at the Miami Open. She reached the quarterfinals, defeating Greet Minnen, lucky loser Harmony Tan, Kateřina Siniaková, and lucky loser Lucia Bronzetti. She became the lowest ranked Miami quarterfinalist in history, ranked No. 249 at the time.[40] She lost to 22nd seed Belinda Bencic in the quarterfinals.
At the German Open, she reached the second round as a qualifier. As a result, she returned to the top 100 in the singles rankings.
At the Washington Open, Saville reached the semifinals, beating the top seed and world No. 7, Jessica Pegula, en route. Next, she lost to sixth seed Kaia Kanepi. As a result, she reached her highest ranking since her return from injury.[citation needed]. At the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Saville tore her ACL while playing against home favourite Naomi Osaka in her opening-round match. She has since undergone surgery and has now returned to playing at the WTA event in Birmingham.
2023: Return to the WTA Tour
Saville returned to tour after a long absence due to ACL injury at Wimbledon. She lost to Katie Boulter in the first round.[41] Saville was leading 4–2 in the first set tie-break when a protester invaded the court and threw puzzle pieces and confetti which disrupted play.[41] After both Saville and Boulter helped clean up the mess, play continued with Boulter winning the next five points to win the first set, ahead of a straight-sets victory.[41] Saville later said she was upset by the distraction, stating: "Oh my God, why on my court out of all of them? I'm the worst with being able to refocus.".[41]
Saville then played the Hungarian Open losing to Maria Timofeeva in a tight three sets. Saville then played the German Open in Hamburg where she reached semifinals, after beating the likes of Jasmine Paolini, Tamara Korpatsch and Jule Niemeier as well as other players in the qualifying rounds. Saville fell short to Arantxa Rus in that semifinal.
During the American hardcourt swing, Saville lost in qualifying to Kimberly Birrell at the Canadian Open. She then beat Clervie Ngounoue in round one of the US Open, before losing to top seed Iga Swiatek.
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
^Edition is split into the two years due to COVID-19.
^The first Premier 5 event of the year has switched back and forth between the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Qatar Ladies Open since 2009. Dubai was classified as a Premier 5 event from 2009 to 2011 before being succeeded by Doha for the 2012–2014 period. In 2015, Dubai regained its Premier 5 status while Doha was demoted to Premier status. The Premier 5 tournaments were reclassified as WTA 1000 tournaments in 2021.