Destanee Gabriella Aiava (born 10 May 2000) is an Australian professional tennis player.

Destanee Aiava

Aiava at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships
Full name	Destanee Gabriella Aiava
Country (sports)	Australia
Residence	Narre Warren, Victoria, Australia
Born	(2000-05-10) 10 May 2000 (age 22) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Turned pro	2015
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Coach	Nicole Kriz[1]
Prize money	$548,745[2]
Singles
Career record	127–95 (57.2%)
Career titles	4 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 147 (11 September 2017)
Current ranking	No. 501 (27 June 2022)[3]
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	1R (2017, 2018, 2019, 2021)
French Open	Q1 (2017, 2018)
Wimbledon	Q3 (2017)
US Open	Q2 (2017)
Doubles
Career record	59–47 (55.7%)
Career titles	3 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 192 (21 October 2019)
Current ranking	No. 364 (27 June 2022)[3]
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	1R (2017, 2019, 2020, 2021)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open	1R (2017)
Last updated on: 1 July 2022.

She has career-high WTA rankings of 147 in singles, achieved on 11 September 2017, and of 237 in doubles, achieved on 10 June 2019. Aiava so far has won four singles titles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit.

She made her Grand Slam main-draw debut after winning the 2016 U18 Australian Championships, granting her a wild card into the 2017 Australian Open. She thus became the first player, male or female, born in 2000 or later to participate in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament.[4]

Early life

Aiava is Samoan descent; her father, Mark, was born in New Zealand to Samoan parents, and her mother, Rosie, was born in American Samoa.[5]

Junior career

2012–2016

In 2012, at the age of 12, Aiava represented Australia at Roland Garros in the Longines Future Tennis Aces Tournament. Competing against fifteen of the top under-13 female tennis players, Aiava won the tournament and won the right to play alongside Steffi Graf in an exhibition match.[6] The years following, Aiava mainly played on the junior circuit. In 2014, she won the Tecnifibre Tennis Central Championships and NZ ITF Summer Championships in New Zealand as well as Australian International's in Queensland and Victoria. At the age of 14, she won the U18 Canadian world ranking event in Montreal, Quebec.

Professional career

2015–2016

In early 2015, Aiava made her professional debut at the Burnie International after receiving wildcards in the singles and doubles, where she lost early in both. At the Launceston Tennis International, Aiava won her first professional main-draw match against Lu Jiajing. She also made the quarterfinals of a 15K tournament in Melbourne in April 2015. In March 2016, Aiava made her first career final at a $25K tournament in Canberra. In December 2016, she won the U18 Girls' Australian Championships and earned a wildcard into the 2017 Australian Open. She thus became the first player born in the 21st century to play at a Grand Slam championship.[7]

2017: First ITF titles and Grand Slam debut

Aiava commenced the year by qualifying for the Brisbane International to make her maiden WTA main-draw appearance.[8] Aiava defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the first round[9] before losing to two-time Grand Slam champion and world No. 9, Svetlana Kuznetsova. Aiava made her Grand Slam debut at the Australian Open as a wildcard, losing in round one to Mona Barthel.

In February, Aiava won the first ITF title of her career, winning the 25K event in Perth by defeating Viktória Kužmová in the final. The following month, she won another 25K title, this time in Mornington, beating Barbora Krejčíková in the final. In April, Aiava was named in the Australia Fed Cup team for the first time.[10] In May, she reached the semifinal of the Open Saint-Gaudens, before losing the first round of qualifying at the French Open. In June, Aiava lost in the final round of qualifying for Wimbledon. In September, she reached the second round of qualifying for the US Open before granting a wildcard into Tournoi de Québec, where she lost in the first round. In October, Aiava reached the final of the Canberra International. In December, she was unable to defend her girls' title, losing to Jaimee Fourlis in a reversal of the result from 2016.[11] The following week, Aiava won the Australian Open Wildcard Playoff.[12][13]

2018: Third ITF title

Aiava was awarded a wild card to Brisbane International[14] where she lost in the first round to another wild-card entry, Ajla Tomljanović.[15]

Aiava received another wild card for the Australian Open, where she was defeated in the first round by world No. 1 and top seed Simona Halep. Aiava had two set points in the first set before going off-court to receive a medical time out. She subsequently lost the match in straight sets.[16] Aiava reached the quarterfinal of Burnie International and Zhuhai before reaching the final of ACT Clay Court International.[17] In April, Aiava won the Osaka ITF title; her third ITF and first title outside Australia.[18]

In May, Aiava lost in the first round of French Open qualifying.

2019

Aiava began her season at the Brisbane International. She qualified for the main draw with victories over Vania King, Mandy Minella and Christina McHale. She then defeated Kristina Mladenovic in the first round before falling to second seed Naomi Osaka. Aiava received her third Australian Open wildcard entry, losing to 17th seed Madison Keys. She then won the Clay Court International title on March 24 by defeating world No. 289, Risa Ozaki.[19]

2022

In January 2022, Aiava lost in the first round of the 2022 Australian Open – Women's singles qualifying.[20]

Grand Slam performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 14 (4 titles, 10 runner-ups)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	May 2016	ITF Canberra, Australia	25,000	Clay	Eri Hozumi	3–6, 6–3, 6–7
Loss	0–2	Sep 2016	ITF Tweed Heads, Australia	25,000	Hard	Lizette Cabrera	3–6, 7–5, 2–6
Win	1–2	Feb 2017	ITF Perth, Australia	25,000	Hard	Viktória Kužmová	6–1, 6–1
Win	2–2	Mar 2017	ITF Mornington, Australia	25,000	Clay	Barbora Krejčíková	6–2, 4–6, 6–2
Loss	2–3	Nov 2017	Canberra International, Australia	60,000	Hard	Olivia Rogowska	1–6, 2–6
Loss	2–4	Mar 2018	ACT Clay Court International, Australia	60,000	Clay	Dalila Jakupović	4–6, 4–6
Win	3–4	Apr 2018	ITF Osaka, Japan	25,000	Hard	Rebecca Marino	6–3, 7–6(2)
Loss	3–5	Sep 2018	ITF Cairns, Australia	25,000	Hard	Astra Sharma	6–0, 6–7(5), 1–6
Win	4–5	Mar 2019	ITF Canberra, Australia	25,000	Clay	Risa Ozaki	6–2, 6–2
Loss	4–6	Feb 2020	Launceston International, Australia	25,000	Hard	Asia Muhammad	4–6, 3–6
Loss	4–7	Feb 2020	ITF Perth, Australia	25,000	Hard	Maddison Inglis	4–6, 6–7(4)
Loss	4–8	Jul 2022	ITF Caloundra, Australia	15,000	Hard	Talia Gibson	6–7(4–7), 4–6
Loss	4–9	Jul 2022	ITF Caloundra, Australia	15,000	Hard	Talia Gibson	4–6, 2–3, ret.
Loss	4–10	Sep 2022	ITF Darwin, Australia	25,000	Hard	Alexandra Bozovic	1–6, 4–6

Doubles: 9 (4 titles, 5 runner-ups)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Aug 2018	ITF Nonthaburi, Thailand	25,000	Hard	Naiktha Bains	Xinyu Wang Xiyu Wang	5–7, 7–5, [4–10]
Loss	0–2	Nov 2018	ITF Canberra, Australia	60,000	Hard	Naiktha Bains	Ellen Perez Arina Rodionova	7–6(5), 3–6, [7–10]
Loss	0–3	Mar 2019	ITF Canberra, Australia	25,000	Clay	Ellen Perez	Naiktha Bains Tereza Mihalikova	6–4, 2–6, [4–10]
Loss	0–4	Apr 2019	Hardee's Pro Classic, U.S.	80,000	Clay	Astra Sharma	Caroline Dolehide Usue Maitane Arconada	6–7(5), 4–6
Win	1–4	Sep 2019	Darwin International, Australia	60,000	Hard	Lizette Cabrera	Alison Bai Jaimee Fourlis	6–4, 2–6, [10–3]
Win	2–4	Oct 2019	ITF Brisbane, Australia	25,000	Hard	Naiktha Bains	Alison Bai Paige Hourigan	6–3, 6–3
Win	3–4	June 2021	ITF Madrid, Spain	25,000	Hard	Olivia Gadecki	Mana Ayukawa Han Na-lae	6–3, 6–3
Loss	3–5	Oct 2022	ITF Cairns, Australia	25,000	Hard	Lisa Mays	Naiktha Bains Alexandra Bozovic	4–6, 4–6
Win	5–5	Nov 2022	ITF Sydney, Australia	60,000	Hard	Lisa Mays	Alexandra Osborne Jessy Rompies	5–7, 6–3, [10–6]

Top 10 wins

#	Player	Rank	Tournament	Surface	Rd	Score	DAR
2019
1.	Aryna Sabalenka	No. 10	Rosmalen Championships, Netherlands	Grass	1R	7–6(3), 1–6, 6–4	No. 214

Notes

References

Further reading

• Herald Sun
• The Sydney Morning Herald
• The Sydney Morning Herald
• Herald Sun
• Courier Mail
• UBI Tennis

External links

• Destanee Aiava at the Women's Tennis Association
• Destanee Aiava at the International Tennis Federation
• Destanee Aiava at Tennis Australia

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