Kanepi reached her first final in 2006, becoming the first Estonian female player to do so, at the Gaz de France Stars where she lost to Kim Clijsters.

They also have daughters Kadri, who won a tennis scholarship to study in the United States, and Karin, a dedicated horse rider.

At the end of 2006, she reached her first WTA Tour final during the Gaz de France Stars tournament in Hasselt, Belgium.

She came through three qualification rounds and beat Anne Kremer, Nathalie Dechy, Eleni Daniilidou, Francesca Schiavone, and Michaëlla Krajicek to eventually play the final against Kim Clijsters, to whom she lost in three sets.

In late July 2007, Kanepi reached the semifinals of the Gastein Ladies tournament in Austria, where she fell to Francesca Schiavone.

Outplaying unseeded Petra Kvitová she reached the quarterfinals, where she was defeated by fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Kanepi reached the third round, defeating Flavia Pennetta and Virginie Razzano, before losing to Li Na.

In September, Kanepi reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier of the Tier I Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, where she defeated Vera Dushevina, world No.

She defeated Lucie Šafářová, Yanina Wickmayer, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and eighth seed Aleksandra Wozniak, before losing in the final to Danish then world No.

Kanepi ended her losing streak at an ITF tournament Dubai in December, where she defeated Yuliana Fedak in straight sets in the first round.

Kanepi then qualified for the Wimbledon Championships, defeating Olga Savchuk, Elena Bovina, and Ajla Tomljanović in straight sets.

Kanepi, as the third seed, reached the semifinal in Open GdF Suez, where she beat Anastasija Sevastova, Sofia Arvidsson and Dominika Cibulková.

At the French Open, seeded 16th, she beat Sofia Arvidsson and Britain's Heather Watson in straight sets, before being upset in the third round by unseeded Ekaterina Makarova.

[16] Seeded sixth at the Estoril Open, Kanepi won her third WTA title defeating Carla Suárez Navarro in the final.

[20] A bilateral achilles' heel injury caused Kanepi to withdraw from the Birmingham Classic, Eastbourne International, Wimbledon Championships,[21][22] and eventually also from the Summer Olympics in London.

[28] Kanepi failed to defend her title at the Portugal Open; she lost in the semifinal to fourth seed Carla Suárez Navarro.

[30] Kanepi won her fourth WTA title at the Brussels Open beating eighth seed Peng Shuai in the final.

[33] At the Wimbledon Championships, Kanepi advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2010 defeating British wildcard Tara Moore, seventh seed Angelique Kerber, Alison Riske, and home crowd favorite Laura Robson.

[43] Seeded 24th at Indian Wells, Kanepi received a first-round bye; she lost to qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova in her second-round match.

[45] Starting her clay-court season at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Kanepi lost in the second round to eighth seed Sara Errani.

She qualified to her first Grand Slam main draw in two years with victories over Nina Stojanović, Louisa Chirico and Hsieh Su-wei.

Kanepi recorded victories in her first three main-draw matches, defeating Francesca Schiavone, Yanina Wickmayer and Naomi Osaka, reaching the second week at a major since the 2014 US Open.

[91] Seeded eighth at the first edition of the Moscow River Cup, Kanepi was defeated in the second round by lucky loser and eventual champion, Olga Danilović.

Ranked 88 at the French Open, Kanepi advanced to the fourth round for the first time since 2008 after wins over 18th seed Julia Görges, Zhang Shuai, and Veronika Kudermetova.

[104] As the top seed at the first edition of the Oeste Ladies Open, Kanepi lost in her quarterfinal match to eventual champion Isabella Shinikova.

[106] Her final tournament of the season was at the Open de Limoges in France where she lost in the first round to fourth seed Jennifer Brady.

[147] At the Canadian Open in Toronto, she won her first-round match when her opponent, Naomi Osaka, retired due to a back injury.

In 2008, she began to improve her volleying skills and under her coach Luca Appino begun to use sliced backhand more often, thus making her playing more versatile.

She generally ends points early but she is capable of playing long rallies and reducing her unforced error count.

For a long time Kanepi was sponsored by Infortar, the largest shareholder of Tallink, a major ferry company in the Baltic Sea.