Astra Sharma

Astra Sharma (born 11 September 1995) is a Singaporean-born Australian professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of 84 in singles and 91 in doubles. Sharma has won one singles title and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as seven singles and four doubles titles on the ITF Circuit.

Astra Sharma
Sharma at the 2019 French Open
Country (sports) Australia
ResidencePerth, Western Australia
Born (1995-09-11) 11 September 1995
Singapore[1]
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
CoachDavid Taylor
Prize moneyUS$ 1,338,166
Singles
Career record157–105 (59.9%)
Career titles1
Highest rankingNo. 84 (21 February 2022)
Current rankingNo. 90 (11 April 2022)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open2R (2019)
French Open2R (2020, 2021)
Wimbledon1R (2019, 2021)
US Open1R (2019, 2020, 2021)
Doubles
Career record77–62 (55.4%)
Career titles3
Highest rankingNo. 91 (21 February 2022)
Current rankingNo. 106 (11 April 2022)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open1R (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021)
French Open1R (2019, 2020, 2021)
Wimbledon2R (2019)
US Open1R (2021)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian OpenF (2019)
Last updated on: 11 April 2022.

In December 2017, she won the Australian Open Wildcard Playoff alongside Belinda Woolcock, their main-draw entry into the 2018 Australian Open.

The highlight of her career came in the 2019 Australian Open, when she and fellow Australian John-Patrick Smith reached the final of the mixed-doubles competition, after receiving a wildcard to enter.

Personal life

Sharma's father, Devdutt Sharma, is a Singaporean Indian with roots from Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Northern India.[2] He was a high jumper.[3] He attended Raffles Institution and National University of Singapore.[3] He worked as an acoustic engineer.[3] Astra's mother, Susan Tan, is a Singaporean Chinese. She was a sprinter from CHIJ Saint Theresa's Convent.[3] Astra, named after the Astras wielded by the Hindu gods, has a younger brother Ashwin who also went into a tennis career.[2]

Astra was born and raised in Singapore, before her parents emigrated to Perth, Western Australia in 2005, when she was ten years old.[4] She attended Applecross Senior High School.[5] As a junior, she did some of her training at Bullcreek Tennis Club, located near Willeton.

Career

2011–2014: Career beginnings and first title

Sharma made her ITF Circuit debut in October 2011, after qualifying in Kargoorlie. In 2012, Sharma played just four tournaments, without a win. In March 2013, she reached the quarterfinals in doubles at an ITF event in Sydney. In 2014, she competed in qualifying in three tournaments across the U.S., making the main draw in just one, where she lost in the first round.

In 2015, Sharma played just three tournaments on the ITF Circuit, reaching the quarterfinal of better in all three. She won her first title in July 2015 at Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Sharma ended the season with a singles rank of 787. She also received a scholarship to Vanderbilt University, graduating in 2018, majoring in Medicine, Health and Society, along the way helping the Commodores win their first NCAA team tournament in 2015, with various honors such as a selection to the 2014 SEC All Freshman team and being the 2017 SEC Player of the Year.[6] Originally intent on becoming an orthopedic surgeon, she decided not to continue in medical school as her professional tennis career took off.[7] Still, in 2022 she used a partnership between the WTA and the University of Florida to earn a master's degree in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology.[8]

2016–2018: ITF Circuit

In 2016, Sharma competed on the European ITF Circuit. She experienced little singles success but partnering Frances Altick, won two doubles titles in July.

She commenced the next season in June, qualifying and making the main draw in Sumter, USA. Across July and August 2017, Sharma won her second and third ITF titles in Târgu Jiu and Graz. She ended the year with a singles rank of 440.

In 2018, Sharma competed mostly on the ITF Circuit across North America. In March, she reached the final of the ITF Orlando. In June and July, she won her fourth and fifth singles titles in Baton Rouge and Gatineau, Canada. In October, she returned to Australia and reached the quarterfinals in three consecrative tournaments. Sharma ended 2018 with a singles rank of 225.

2019: First WTA final

In January 2019, Sharma qualified for the Australian Open and won her first-round match over fellow Australian Priscilla Hon, before losing in the second round.[9] In mixed doubles, she and John-Patrick Smith made it through to the final after they defeated the second seed team of Bruno Soares and Nicole Melichar in the semifinals, but lost to the third seeds, Barbora Krejčíková and Rajeev Ram.[10] In March, Sharma won the $25k singles and doubles at Irapuato, Mexico. In April, Sharma reached her first WTA Tour final, losing to Amanda Anisimova at the Copa Colsanitas. In May, she qualified for and reached the second round of the Strasbourg International, and later lost in the first round at the French Open. Sharma competed in qualifying events across the European grass-court season and lost in the first round of Wimbledon. In August, she travelled to North America and qualified for Cincinnati. At the US Open, Sharma lost in the first round. She ended the year with a singles rank of 108 and a doubles rank of 136.

2020

Sharma commenced 2020, losing in the singles and doubles first rounds of both Hobart International and Australian Open. For the mixed doubles, she partnered with JP Smith again, and they reached the semifinals in Melbourne. In March, Sharma reached the second round of the Monterrey Open and the quarterfinal of the ITF event in Irapuato, Mexico, before the tour was stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[11]

At the US Open, Sharma lost in the first round to 19th seed Dayana Yastremska in a third set tie-breaker. She qualified for and reached the second round of the French Open.

2021: First WTA title

Sharma commenced 2021, losing in the first round of the Gippsland Trophy. She defeated top seed Ons Jabeur to win the Charleston Open, her first WTA Tour-level title.

In May, Sharma made the second round of the French Open.

In June, she entered Wimbledon as a lucky loser and was defeated by Kristýna Plíšková in the first round. Sharma lost in the first round of qualifying for both Canadian Open and Cincinnati. At the US Open, she qualified before losing to eighth seed Barbora Krejčíková in the first round. Sharma ended 2021 with a singles rank of 98 and a doubles rank of 107.

Performance timelines
Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# P# DNQ A Z# PO G S B NMS P NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.[12]

Singles

Current through the 2022 Miami Open.

Tournament 2019 2020 2021 2022 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open 2R 1R 1R 1R 0 / 4 1–4 20%
French Open 1R 2R 2R 0 / 3 2–3 40%
Wimbledon 1R NH 1R 0 / 2 0–2 0%
US Open 1R 1R 1R 0 / 3 0–3 0%
Win–loss 1–4 1–3 1–4 0–1 0 / 12 3–12 20%
WTA 1000
Dubai / Qatar Open[lower-alpha 1] A A A Q1 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Indian Wells Open A NH 2R 2R 0 / 2 2–2 50%
Miami Open A NH Q1 1R 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Madrid Open A NH A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Italian Open A A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Canadian Open Q1 NH Q1 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Cincinnati Open 1R Q2 Q1 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Wuhan Open A NH 0 / 0 0–0  – 
China Open Q1 NH 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Career statistics
Tournaments 10 5 12 5 Career total: 32
Titles 0 0 1 0 Career total: 1
Finals 1 0 1 0 Career total: 2
Overall win–loss 7–10 2–5 12–11 1–5 1 / 32 22–31 42%
Year-end ranking 108 128 98 $1,153,014

Doubles
Tournament 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 SR W–L Win %
Australian Open 1R 1R 1R 1R A 0 / 4 0–4 0%
French Open A 1R 1R 1R 0 / 3 0–3 0%
Wimbledon A 2R NH A 0 / 1 1–1 50%
US Open A A A 1R 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Win–loss 0–1 1–3 0–2 0–3 0–0 0 / 9 1–9 10%

Mixed doubles
Tournament 2019 2020 2021 2022 SR W–L Win %
Australian Open F SF 1R 1R 0 / 4 7–4 64%
French Open A NH A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Wimbledon A NH A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
US Open A NH A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Win–loss 4–1 3–1 0–1 0–1 0 / 4 7–4 64%

Grand Slam tournament finals

Mixed doubles: 1 (runner-up)
Result Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss2019Australian OpenHard John-Patrick Smith Barbora Krejčíková
Rajeev Ram		6–7(3–7), 1–6

WTA career finals

Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Legend
Grand Slam
WTA 1000
WTA 500
International / WTA 250 (1–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Clay (1–1)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Apr 2019 Copa Colsanitas, Colombia International Clay Amanda Anisimova 6–4, 4–6, 1–6
Win 1–1 Apr 2021 Charleston Open, United States WTA 250 Clay (green) Ons Jabeur 2–6, 7–5, 6–1

Doubles: 4 (3 titles, 1 runner-up)
Legend
Grand Slam
WTA 1000
WTA 500
International / WTA 250 (3–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–0)
Grass (0–0)
Clay (2–1)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Apr 2019 Copa Colsanitas, Colombia International Clay Zoe Hives Hayley Carter
Ena Shibahara		 6–1, 6–2
Win 2–0 Mar 2021 Abierto Zapopan, ​Mexico WTA 250 Hard Ellen Perez Desirae Krawczyk
Giuliana Olmos		 6–4, 6–4
Loss 2–1 Jul 2021 Hamburg European Open, Germany WTA 250 Clay Rosalie van der Hoek Jasmine Paolini
Jil Teichmann		 0–6, 4–6
Win 3–1 Apr 2022 Copa Colsanitas, Colombia (2) WTA 250 Clay Aldila Sutjiadi Emina Bektas
Tara Moore		 4–6, 6–4, [11–9]

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 9 (7 titles, 2 runner–ups)
Legend
$25,000 tournaments (4–1)
$15,000 tournaments (2–1)
$10,000 tournaments (1–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (5–1)
Clay (2–1)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Jul 2015 ITF Sharm El Sheikh, ​Egypt 10,000 Hard Ola Abou Zekry 6–3, 2–6, 6–0
Win 2–0 Jul 2017 ITF Târgu Jiu, ​Romania 15,000 Clay Belinda Woolcock 1–6, 6–2, 7–5
Win 3–0 Aug 2017 ITF Graz, ​Austria 15,000 Clay Vendula Žovincová 2–6, 6–3, 6–2
Loss 3–1 Oct 2017 ITF Toowoomba, ​Australia 25,000 Hard Eri Hozumi 5–7, 2–6
Loss 3–2 Mar 2018 ITF Orlando, ​United States 15,000 Clay Sophie Chang 3–6, 6–7(6–8)
Win 4–2 Jun 2018 ITF Baton Rouge, ​United States 25,000 Hard Maria Mateas 6–2, 6–1
Win 5–2 Jul 2018 ITF Gatineau, ​Canada 25,000 Hard Victoria Rodríguez 3–6, 6–4, 6–3
Win 6–2 Sep 2018 ITF Cairns, ​Australia 25,000 Hard Destanee Aiava 0–6, 7–6(7–5), 6–1
Win 7–2 Mar 2019 ITF Irapuato, ​Mexico 25,000 Hard Verónica Cepede Royg 6–7(3–7), 6–4, 6–3

Doubles: 8 (4 titles, 4 runner–ups)
Legend
$100,000 tournaments (0–1)
$80,000 tournaments (0–1)
$25,000 tournaments (2–2)
$10,000 tournaments (2–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (2–2)
Clay (2–2)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Jul 2016 ITF Amstelveen, ​Netherlands 10,000 Clay Frances Altick Erika Vogelsang
Mandy Wagemaker		 6–4, 6–2
Win 2–0 Jul 2016 ITF Knokke, ​Belgium 10,000 Clay Frances Altick Déborah Kerfs
Kelly Versteeg		 6–4, 6–4
Loss 2–1 Oct 2017 ITF Cairns, ​Australia 25,000 Hard Belinda Woolcock Naiktha Bains
Abigail Tere-Apisah		 6–4, 2–6, [6–10]
Win 3–1 Jun 2018 ITF Sumter, ​United States 25,000 Hard Luisa Stefani Julia Elbaba
Xu Shilin		 2–6, 6–3, [10–5]
Loss 3–2 Jun 2018 ITF Baton Rouge, ​United States 25,000 Hard Gabriela Talabă Hayley Carter
Ena Shibahara		 3–6, 4–6
Win 4–2 Mar 2019 ITF Irapuato, ​Mexico 25,000 Hard Paige Hourigan Verónica Cepede Royg
Renata Voráčová		 6–1, 4–6, [12–10]
Loss 4–3 Apr 2019 ITF Dothan, ​United States 80,000 Clay Destanee Aiava Usue Maitane Arconada
Caroline Dolehide		 6–7(5–7), 4–6
Loss 4–4 Nov 2020 ITF Charleston, ​United States 100,000 Clay Mayar Sherif Magdalena Fręch
Katarzyna Kawa		 6–4, 4–6, [2–10]

Notes
  1. The first Premier 5 event of the year has switched back and forth between the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Qatar Open since 2009. Dubai was classified as a Premier 5 event from 2009–2011 before being succeeded by Doha for the 2012–2014 period. In 2015, Dubai regained its Premier 5 status while Doha was demoted to Premier status. The Premier 5 tournaments were reclassified as WTA 1000 tournaments in 2021.

References
  1. Tennis Australia. "Astra Sharma: "I'm super thrilled at my progress"".
  2. Reddy, Vishnu (29 June 2019). "I chose the name 'Astra' which means the weapon of God and she has indeed lived up to that name!' – Mr Devdutt Sharma shares a brief perspective as a parent on the journey of Astra Sharma". Indian Tennis Daily.
  3. Brijnath, Rohit (26 January 2019). "A Grand Slam finalist with Singapore links". The Straits Times.
  4. "Australian Open: Singapore-born Astra Sharma through to mixed doubles final". The Straits Times. 25 January 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  5. "Specialist Tennis Program". Applecross Senior High School. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  6. Astra Sharma: From Currey Tennis Center to the Australian Open Finals
  7. Medical school? Vanderbilt star Astra Sharma is going pro in tennis after postseason
  8. GAME, SET, MATCH: WTA AND UF'S WINNING PARTNERSHIP
  9. "SHARMA, HIVES, BIRRELL OPEN WITH AO VICTORIES". Tennis Australia. 14 January 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  10. "'Who's got my beers?': Australian doubles delight". The Age. 25 January 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  11. "ITF ANNOUNCES POSTPONEMENT OF ALL ITF EVENTS UNTIL 20 APRIL". www.itftennis.com.
  12. "Astra Sharma [AUS] | Australian Open". ausopen.com. Archived from the original on 26 June 2020.
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