Evgeniya Rodina - 2006

2006

Returning to competition towards the end of February, she gained direct entry into a $50,000 tournament at St. Paul, Minnesota, and won her first-round tie before losing a close three-setter to American Ahsha Rolle, 6–2 4–6 3–6.

In her next two $25,000 tournaments, she endured early losses, but on returning from a month's break early in May to compete in a $25,000 event at Antalya-Manavgat, Turkey, she reached the quarter-finals after beating Aurélie Védy of France in a close three-set second-round clash, but then was demolished 1–6 1–6 by on-form Italian star Romina Oprandi.

The following week, she gained entry into the qualifying draw of her first $75,000 tournament at Jounieh, Indonesia, and won through all three qualifying rounds in close three-set matches against little-known opponents to score her career-best qualifying achievement yet, but finally succumbed to compatriot Alla Kudryavtseva in the first round of the main draw in an even closer contest, 6–7 6–4 4–6.

In July, she suffered another relatively early loss in the main draw of a $25,000 tournament at Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, as she was trounced by unheralded Ukrainian Galyna Kosyk in the second round 0–6 2–6.

But in August she returned to form by breezing through into the finals of a $25,000 tournament at Moscow and then vanquishing up-and-coming compatriot Ekaterina Makarova in a closely fought final, 7–6 6–3, to win the first ITF title of her career at any level.

The following month, she qualified for her second $75,000 draw, and this time came away with two main-draw victories also to extend her winning streak to ten, at the expense of Jorgelina Cravero of Argentina and Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada. In the quarter-finals, she faced experienced Peruvian veteran Kristina Brandi; and the match went down to the wire with a third-set tiebreak, but it was Brandi who emerged victorious, 6–2 1–6 7–6.

The very next week, she won through qualifying into a $50,000 event at Ashland, Kentucky, and defeated Varvara Lepchenko of Uzbekistan in the second round of the main draw before losing to future Top-20 star Ágnes Szávay of Hungary in the quarter-finals.

As a direct entrant into the main draw of her next $50,000 tournament the following week, in early October, she was stopped in the second round by Ahsha Rolle, who this time defeated her easily for the loss of just two games.

Back in action again the week after at a $50,000 event at San Francisco, California, she lost in three sets at the first hurdle to American Neha Uberoi.

After returning to Russia, she reached another $25,000 quarter-final at Podolsk at the end of that month before losing to compatriot Eugenia Grebenyuk 2–6 5–7.

But the very next week, at the start of November, she turned the tables on Grebenyuk in the quarter-finals of a $25,000 tournament at Minsk, dismissing her 6–2 6–2, and then narrowly defeated compatriot Anna Lapushchenkova 7–6 7–5 at the semi-final stage, before sealing a comprehensive straight-sets tournament victory with a 6–4 6–3 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the final, to take her career ITF singles title tally to two.

Later that month at Přerov in the Czech Republic, she cruised to the semi-finals of another $25,000 event before losing to prominent British player Anne Keothavong 6–7 2–6 in what would be the Russian's last match of the year.

Despite a few hiccoughs along the route, Rodina had ended the year ranked 90 places higher than she began, at World No. 233, and had compiled an outstanding win-loss record for the year of 34–12.