[citation needed] Kuznetsova made her debut in the main draw of a Grand Slam at the 2002 Australian Open, where, as a qualifier, she reached the second round before losing to 16th seed Iroda Tulyaganova.

[citation needed] As a qualifier at the clay-court Nordic Light Open in Helsinki, Finland in August, Kuznetsova won her first WTA singles title, defeating world No.

[7] In September, Kuznetsova won her second title at the hard court Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in Bali, Indonesia, defeating former Grand Slam champions Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and Conchita Martínez.

In the doubles competition, she paired with Martina Navratilova, with whom she would play throughout the year (except on the Pacific Life Open, partnering with Janette Husárová), and won against Nathalie Dechy and Émilie Loit in straight sets.

[13] Kuznetsova participated at Wimbledon, where in the fourth round, she defeated wildcard Maria Sharapova to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, losing to third seed Justine Henin.

However, in the doubles competition, she again partnered with Navratilova and reached the first Grand Slam final of her career but were beaten by Paola Suárez and Virginia Ruano Pascual in two straight sets.

The following week, at the China Open in Beijing, Kuznetsova defeated Wimbledon champion Sharapova in the semifinals to extend her winning streak to 14 matches.

[31] Making her debut at the season-ending WTA Championships in Los Angeles, Kuznetsova lost two of three matches in the preliminary round-robin stage and exited before the semifinals.

She teamed up with Mauresmo to reach her sixth Grand Slam doubles final but suffered a heavy defeat by Cara Black and Liezel Huber.

[50] In September, she won her second title of the year at the $225,000 Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in Bali as the top seeded – for the first time in her career –[51] defeating Davenport in the semifinals and Marion Bartoli in the final.

[53] Competing at the season-ending Tour Championships, played in Madrid, for the second time Kuznetsova again failed to advance past the preliminary round-robin stage, winning just one of her three matches.

At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, Kuznetsova recorded her first career win over Serena Williams before losing in the semifinals to Tatiana Golovin.

At the Australian Open, Kuznetsova reached the quarterfinals for the second time in her career, but lost to eventual champion Serena Williams, after being within two points of winning the match in the second set.

She defeated Yanina Wickmayer, Sara Errani, CoCo Vandeweghe, and Flavia Pennetta en route to the final which she won in three sets against Agnieszka Radwańska.

In the doubles tournament, again with Zvonareva and receiving a wildcard entry, they exited in the second round against María José Martínez Sánchez and Anabel Medina Garrigues.

In contrast, she partnered with Vera Zvonareva as in the previous season and won her second Grand Slam doubles title against the Italian duo Errani and Vinci, defeating them in a three sets final.

[137] In Roland Garros, Kuznetsova repeated her success in the previous year, climbing to the quarterfinals, before that defeating fifth-seeded Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitová in the third round.

She eventually received her first trophy this season at the Kremlin Cup with a straight sets victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the final, becoming the 15th title in her career.

Being the favourite for the title in Tianjin after top seed Agnieszka Radwańska withdrew from her quarterfinal match, Kuznetsova disappointingly lost to Alison Riske in the semifinals.

Kuznetsova handled the pressure well; defeating Alizé Cornet, Tímea Babos, Elina Svitolina and Daria Gavrilova in the final to win the title.

She then lost to eventual champion Dominika Cibulková Kuznetsova as fifth seeded started well at the Brisbane International, reaching the quarterfinals but losing there to Muguruza.

Her first tournament back from the injury, she won her opening round match at the Indian Wells Open against Johanna Larsson, before following it up with impressive victories over Roberta Vinci, Caroline Garcia, taking revenge for her two losses this year against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and then earned an excellent victory over the in-form Karolína Plíšková to reach her first final at Indian Wells since 2008 – she ultimately ended up losing to compatriot Elena Vesnina in three sets.

By the end of the season, Kuznetsova showed low results due to her hand injury, twice losing in the second round in a total of three tournaments, after receiving a bye.

[citation needed] After half a year off battling injury, Kuznetsova made a comeback at the Ladies Open Lugano, reaching the quarterfinals.

[167] After defeating Barbora Strýcová in the first round of the Australian Open, Kuznetsova lost to Belinda Bencic in a tight match after leading by a break in the deciding set.

Due to the recurring nature of her elbow injury, Henin retired immediately following her match with Kuznetsova, making the Russian the final person to play against and defeat her.

[218] Kuznetsova received training at the Sanchez-Casal Academy in Barcelona, Spain from the age of 14 and was coached under direction of club president Emilio Sánchez and Sergio Casal.

[220] After a series of poor finals' results Kuznetsova ended her relationship with the Sanchez-Casal academy in 2009 and moved to Moscow on the advice of Roger Federer to start training with experienced Russian coach Olga Morozova.

[225] After the loss in the Italian Open, Kuznetsova has switched to Morozova, then to Amos Mansdorf[citation needed] and finally in May 2012 to Argentine Hernán Gumy, former coach of Marat Safin.

According to Richard Pagliaro of ESPN, "Kuznetsova can alter the spin, speed and height of her shots and owns the variety that plays well on clay" but since her recent failures, "consistency has eluded her, and she's prone to flakiness and frustration under pressure.