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ASIAN-AMERICAN SPOTLIGHT: VANIA KING
May is Asian Pacific-American Heritage Month. To celebrate, USTA.com is taking a look back at Asian-Americans past, present and future who have shaped the game – and who could soon cement their place in it.
Here's a closer look at 28-year-old Vania King, who broke onto the scene as a teenager and later captured two Grand Slam doubles titles.
- King, whose parents moved to the U.S. from Taiwan six years before she was born, has one career tour singles title and 15 tour doubles titles to her name. Her lone singles crown came at the PTT Bangkok Open in Thailand in October, 2006. She also reached the final of the Guangzhou International Women’s Open in China in September 2013 and the Jiangxi Open last August.
- King has reached the third round of every Grand Slam except Wimbledon, where she twice advanced to the second round.
- The 5-foot-5 right-hander is an accomplished doubles player. Ranked as high as No. 3 in the world doubles rankings (in June 2011), King teamed up with Yaroslava Shvedova to win the women’s doubles at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2010. King also reached the semifinal of the women’s doubles at the 2011 French Open and the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in 2012 and 2016. In 2009, King and Marcelo Melo reached the French Open mixed doubles final.
- Between 2006 and 2012, King ended the year among the Top 10 Americans in the world rankings. She reached a career-high of No. 50 in the world in November 2006, just four months after turning pro.
- King represented the U.S. in eight Fed Cup ties between 2006 and 2011. She compiled a 5-7 overall record, including a 4-3 mark in doubles. At Delray Beach in April 2007, King defeated Kirsten Flipkens in three sets to help Team USA clinch a World Group quarterfinal victory over Belgium.
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