10 Biggest Prospects On The WTA Tour

6. Elizaveta Kulichkova

Elizaveta Kulichkova 2
© DAVID CROSLING/epa/Corbis

Elizaveta Kulichkova slipped outside of the world's top 100 in March 2016 but there is no doubting that she has the potential to become one of the stars of the sport.

Her first ITF title was won shortly after her 16th birthday and she has since gone on to win six second-tier events. However, Kulichkova's biggest breakthrough came on her Wimbledon debut as she defeated Yanina Wickmayer before losing a close contest with Madison Keys.

Breaking her Grand Slam duck acted as the springboard for the remainder of the year as she qualified for the US Open before making the last eight of WTA events in both Seoul and Tianjin.

2016 began with a run to the third round of the Australian Open before she was forced to retire injured against Carla Suarez Navarro but she showed more signs that she had the potential to be a top-20 player and above.

Russian tennis traditionally has players making their way along the vastly-populated production line every year but there will be plenty of anticipation surrounding the progress of Kulichkova. 

 
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