General information. Place of birth: Krivoy Rog (Ukraine, Dnepropetrovsk region).
Residence: Kharkov (Ukraine).
Physical data: height – 1 m 75 cm, weight – 60 kg.
Plays with the right hand. Two-handed backhand.
Favorite surface is soil.
She started playing tennis at the age of 4.
Professional status: since 1999.
Coach: Natalia Bondarenko (Ukraine), mother.
Member of the national team of Ukraine.
Sports achivments. Winner of one Grand Slam tournament in doubles (Australian Open-2008); winner of five WTA tournaments (two in singles); former first racket of the world in the junior rankings; winner of one junior Grand Slam tournament in singles (Wimbledon 2004).
Sports career. She made her debut at the WTA tournaments in early 2003, in Colombia, where she went through qualifications and lost in the first round of the main draw to one of the tennis players seeded in this tournament, Colombian Catalina Castano.
She won her first WTA tournament victory in November 2003 at the Volvo Women’s Open in Thailand, defeating China’s top 100 tennis player Ji Zheng in straight sets.
Performance at the XXIX Olympic Games in 2008 in Beijing was unsuccessful. There was a good chance to win medals in the doubles event. In a duet with her sister Alena, she made it to the semi-finals of the competition, but in the end, in the match for a set of bronze medals, the Ukrainians lost to the Chinese pair Yang/Jeng in two sets – 2:6, 2:6.
In 2012, Catherine left tennis for a while due to pregnancy. After giving birth to a daughter, she returned in 2014. Upon returning to the court, Bondarenko was gaining game form at the ITF cycle tournaments and in October 2014 she was able to win one 25-thousander and one 50-thousander.
In early May 2015, she was able to reach the doubles final of the tournament in Prague in an alliance with Eva Grdinova. In July, having won the qualifying round, Bondarenko made it to the quarterfinals at the tournament in Istanbul and was able to beat the first seeded Venus Williams in the first round. In August, she qualified for the US Open and competed in the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time since her return. After the tournament, Bondarenko was able to return to the Top 100 of the world ranking. In September, she played in the 1/4 finals in Tokyo.
At the 2016 Australian Open, Bondarenko defeated Ayla Tomlyanovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova. In the third round, she lost to Swiss tennis player Belinda Bencic. In March, at the Premier Mandatory series tournament in Indian Wells, given the qualifications, Katerina was able to win five matches in a row, reaching the fourth round, where she was stopped by world No. 1 Serena Williams. At the French Open, she defeated world No. 7 Roberta Vinci in the first round, but then fell short of Germany’s Annika Beck. At Wimbledon, the Ukrainian loses already at the start of the tournament, and at the US Open she made her way to the third round. In the summer, she was able to play in one doubles final with Zhuang Jiarong at the New Haven tournament.
At the 2017 Australian Open, Bondarenko is eliminated after their first round match.
In 2018 on Australian Open Tennis Championship in singles Kateryna Bondarenko reached the third round, where she lost to the 20th seed Magdalene Rybarikovoi from Slovakia.
As of 2019, WTA rankings (singles): 93. Doubles: 90.
Family. Married. On May 20, 2013, her first child, daughter Karina, was born to her and her husband Denis.
Ekaterina has two sisters: Valeria and Alena are also professional tennis players.
07/29/2021