İpek Soylu

İpek Soylu (born 15 April 1996) is a Turkish former tennis player.^[1]

İpek Soylu

Soylu at the 2016 Wimbledon
Country (sports)	Turkey
Residence	Istanbul, Turkey
Born	(1996-04-15) 15 April 1996 (age 29) Adana, Turkey
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Retired	2022
Plays	Right (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$ 399,180
Singles
Career record	245–165
Career titles	0 WTA, 12 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 151 (31 October 2016)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	Q1 (2016, 2017, 2018)
French Open	1R (2016)
Wimbledon	Q2 (2017)
US Open	1R (2017)
Doubles
Career record	166–90
Career titles	3 WTA, 18 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 63 (17 April 2017)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	1R (2017)
French Open	1R (2017)
Wimbledon	2R (2017)
Team competitions
Fed Cup	13–10

In her career, Soylu won three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, her biggest coming at the 2016 year-end Elite Trophy. She also won 12 singles and 18 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 31 October 2016, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 151. On 17 April 2017, she peaked at No. 63 in the WTA doubles rankings.^[2]

Her sole major title as a junior came in 2014, when she partnered Jil Teichmann of Switzerland to win the doubles title at the US Open.^[3]

Playing for Turkey Fed Cup team, Soylu has accumulated a win–loss record of 13–10. She has been a member of the Enkaspor tennis team.^[4]

Soylu who was coached by Erhan Oral announced her retirement from professional tennis September 2022.^[5]

Personal life and background

Soylu was born on 15 April 1996 in Istanbul and began playing tennis at the age of six. Her favorite shot is forehand, while her favourite surface is clay. Her favorite players were Roger Federer and Li Na.^[6]

Career

2016: Elite Trophy doubles title

In 2016, Soylu won her first three WTA Tour titles, all in the doubles discipline, the biggest coming at the Elite Trophy in Zhuhai where she partnered with Xu Yifan.^[7] That year, she also won two other doubles titles, one on home soil at the İstanbul Cup and the other at the Tashkent Open, partnering Andreea Mitu and Raluca Olaru, respectively.

That same year, she also made her Grand Slam main-draw debut, after qualifying for the French Open. She drew wildcard Virginie Razzano in the first round and lost to the French veteran, in three sets.

2017

Soylu at the 2017 Birmingham Classic

At Wimbledon, Soylu made her first match win at a Grand Slam championship, reaching the second round together with Varatchaya Wongteanchai in which they lost to Chan Hao-ching/Monica Niculescu.^[8] In August at the US Open, Soylu lost in the first round to Carla Suárez Navarro.^[9]

Significant finals

WTA Elite Trophy

Doubles: 1 (title)

Result	Year	Location	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	2016	Zhuhai, China	Hard (i)	Xu Yifan	Yang Zhaoxuan You Xiaodi	6–4, 3–6, [10–7]

WTA Tour finals

Doubles: 3 (3 titles)

Legend WTA Elite Trophy (1–0) Premier M & Premier 5 Premier International (2–0)

Finals by surface Hard (2–0) Clay (1–0) Grass (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Apr 2016	İstanbul Cup, Turkey	International	Clay	Andreea Mitu	Xenia Knoll Danka Kovinić	w/o
Win	2–0	Sep 2016	Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan	International	Hard	Raluca Olaru	Demi Schuurs Renata Voráčová	7–5, 6–3
Win	3–0	Oct 2016	WTA Elite Trophy, Zhuhai	Elite	Hard (i)	Xu Yifan	Yang Zhaoxuan You Xiaodi	6–4, 3–6, [10–7]

WTA Challenger finals

Doubles: 1 (runner–up)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	May 2016	Bol Open, Croatia	Clay	Raluca Olaru	Xenia Knoll Petra Martić	3–6, 2–6

ITF Circuit finals

Legend
$75,000 tournaments
$50/60,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10/15,000 tournaments

Singles: 21 (12 titles, 9 runner–ups)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Dec 2012	ITF İstanbul, Turkey	10,000	Hard (i)	Isabella Shinikova	4–6, 2–6
Win	1–1	May 2013	ITF Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt	10,000	Hard	Camilla Rosatello	7–5, 6–1
Win	2–1	Aug 2013	ITF İzmir, Turkey	10,000	Hard	Gabriela van de Graaf	7–5, 6–3
Win	3–1	Sep 2013	ITF Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt	10,000	Hard	Giulia Bruzzone	4–6, 6–0, 6–2
Loss	3–2	Oct 2013	ITF Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt	10,000	Hard	Anna Morgina	3–6, 6–3, 5–7
Win	4–2	Jan 2014	ITF Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt	10,000	Hard	Despina Papamichail	6–3, 7–6(0)
Win	5–2	Apr 2014	ITF Antalya, Turkey	10,000	Hard	Deniz Khazaniuk	7–5, 4–6, 6–1
Win	6–2	Jun 2014	ITF Adana, Turkey	10,000	Hard	Başak Eraydın	4–6, 6–1, 6–2
Win	7–2	Jun 2014	ITF İstanbul, Turkey	10,000	Hard	Melis Sezer	6–3, 6–4
Loss	7–3	Aug 2014	ITF İstanbul, Turkey	10,000	Hard	Yang Zhaoxuan	6–7(4), 1–6
Loss	7–4	Aug 2014	ITF Antalya, Turkey	10,000	Hard	Clothilde de Bernardi	4–6, 6–2, 3–6
Loss	7–5	May 2015	ITF Caserta, Italy	25,000	Clay	Daria Kasatkina	6–7(4), 1–6
Win	8–5	Jul 2015	Bursa Cup, Turkey	50,000	Clay	Anastasija Sevastova	7–5, 3–6, 6–1
Loss	8–6	Jun 2016	ITF Padua, Italy	25,000	Clay	Xu Shilin	7–5, 4–6, 3–6
Loss	8–7	Sep 2016	Zhuhai Open, China	50,000	Hard	Olga Govortsova	1–6, 2–6
Loss	8–8	Jul 2017	Bursa Cup, Turkey	60,000	Clay	Sofya Zhuk	6–4, 3–6, 6–7(5)
Win	9–8	Mar 2019	ITF Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt	15,000	Hard	Nadja Gilchrist	6–3, 6–3
Win	10–8	Apr 2019	ITF Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt	15,000	Hard	Magali Kempen	7–6(2), 6–4
Win	11–8	May 2019	ITF Nonthaburi, Thailand	25,000	Hard	Yuan Yue	7–6(2), 6–1
Win	12–8	Jun 2019	ITF Figueira da Foz, Portugal	25,000+H	Hard	Katherine Sebov	6–7(2), 7–6(5), 6–3
Loss	12–9	Jul 2019	ITS Cup, Czech Republic	25,000	Clay	Jesika Malečková	3–6, 4–6

Doubles: 29 (18 titles, 11 runner–ups)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	May 2012	ITF İstanbul, Turkey	10,000	Clay	Başak Eraydın	Liu Chang Zhang Nannan	3–6, 6–2, [10–5]
Win	2–0	Jun 2013	ITF İstanbul, Turkey	10,000	Hard	Melis Sezer	Başak Eraydın Jasmina Tinjić	6–4, ret.
Loss	2–1	Aug 2013	ITF İzmir, Turkey	10,000	Hard	Julia Stamatova	Khristina Kazimova Christina Shakovets	4–6, 1–6
Win	3–1	Dec 2013	ITF İstanbul, Turkey	10,000	Hard (i)	Elise Mertens	Yuuki Tanaka Ekaterina Yashina	6–0, 7–6(3)
Win	4–1	Jan 2014	ITF Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt	10,000	Hard	Melis Sezer	Despina Papamichail Gaia Sanesi	4–6, 6–4, [10–3]
Loss	4–2	Jan 2014	ITF Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt	10,000	Hard	Melis Sezer	Valentyna Ivakhnenko Veronika Kapshay	6–3, 4–6, [5–10]
Loss	4–3	Mar 2014	ITF Antalya, Turkey	10,000	Hard	Barbora Krejčíková	Susanne Celik Kotomi Takahata	4–6, 3–6
Loss	4–4	Apr 2014	ITF Antalya, Turkey	10,000	Hard	Melis Sezer	Denisa Allertová Chantal Škamlová	2–6, 1–6
Win	5–4	Jun 2014	ITF Adana, Turkey	10,000	Hard	Başak Eraydın	Alona Fomina Ekaterina Tsiklauri	6–3, 6–1
Win	6–4	Jun 2014	ITF İstanbul, Turkey	10,000	Hard	Ayla Aksu	Elke Lemmens Julia Stamatova	4–6, 6–3, [10–4]
Win	7–4	Oct 2014	ITF İstanbul, Turkey	25,000	Hard (i)	Xenia Knoll	Ayla Aksu Müge Töpsel	6–2, 6–4
Loss	7–5	Dec 2014	ITF Istanbul, Turkey	10,000	Hard (i)	Ayla Aksu	Jana Fett Adrijana Lekaj	3–6, 4–6
Loss	7–6	Feb 2015	Rancho Santa Fe Open, United States	25,000	Hard	Nina Stojanović	Samantha Crawford Asia Muhammad	0–6, 3–6
Win	8–6	May 2015	ITF La Marsa, Tunisia	25,000	Clay	Pemra Özgen	Sofia Shapatava Anastasiya Vasylyeva	3–6, 6–3, [10–4]
Loss	8–7	May 2015	ITF Caserta, Italy	25,000	Clay	Alice Matteucci	Ekaterine Gorgodze Sofia Shapatava	0–6, 6–7(6)
Win	9–7	Jul 2015	ITF Denain, France	25,000	Clay	Elise Mertens	Xenia Knoll Florencia Molinero	7–6(3), 6–3
Loss	9–8	Nov 2015	Dubai Tennis Challenge, UAE	75,000	Hard	Elise Mertens	Çağla Büyükakçay Maria Sakkari	6–7(6), 4–6
Win	10–8	Feb 2016	ITF Beinasco, Italy	25,000	Clay (i)	Arantxa Rus	Lina Gjorcheska Dea Herdželaš	6–4, 6–2
Loss	10–9	May 2016	Nana Trophy, Tunisia	50,000	Clay	Irina Khromacheva	Arina Rodionova Valeriya Strakhova	1–6, 2–6
Win	11–9	Jul 2016	Internazionale di Roma, Italy	50,000	Clay	Xu Shilin	Réka Luca Jani Sofia Shapatava	7–5, 6–1
Win	12–9	Apr 2017	Lale Cup, Turkey	60,000	Hard	Veronika Kudermetova	Ksenia Lykina Polina Monova	4–6, 7–5, [11–9]
Win	13–9	Aug 2017	ITF Bad Saulgau, Germany	25,000	Clay	Anna Kalinskaya	Nicoleta Dascalu Cristina Dinu	6–2, 6–2
Win	14–9	Jun 2018	ITF Padua, Italy	25,000	Clay	Anastasia Zarycká	Dea Herdželaš Tereza Mrdeža	6–4, 6–1
Loss	14–10	Aug 2018	ITF Las Palmas, Spain	25,000	Clay	Başak Eraydın	Yana Sizikova Ulrikke Eikeri	2–6, 4–6
Win	15–10	Jan 2019	ITF Monastir, Tunisia	15,000	Hard	Zhang Ying	Claudia Hoste Ferrer Julia Terziyska	6–3, 6–3
Win	16–10	Mar 2019	ITF Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt	15,000	Hard	Jacqueline Cabaj Awad	Gozal Ainitdinova Ekaterina Kazionova	6–2, 6–4
Win	17–10	May 2019	ITF Nonthaburi, Thailand	25,000	Hard	Aleksandrina Naydenova	Haruka Kaji Risa Ozaki	6–1, 6–3
Win	18–10	Jun 2019	ITF Akko, Israel	25,000	Hard	Silvia Njirić	Shelly Bereznyak Yekaterina Dmitrichenko	6–2, 6–0
Loss	18–11	Aug 2019	Verbier Open, Switzerland	25,000	Clay	Kathinka von Deichmann	Xenia Knoll Simona Waltert	4–6, 3–6

Junior Grand Slam finals

Girls' doubles: 1 (title)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	2014	US Open	Hard	Jil Teichmann	Vera Lapko Tereza Mihalíková	5–7, 6–2, [10–7]