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Astra Sharma
Australian tennis player From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Astra Sharma (born 11 September 1995) is an 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. In addition, she has won one singles title on the WTA Challenger Tour as well as eight titles in singles and seven in doubles on the ITF Circuit.
In December 2017, she won the Australian Open Wildcard Playoff alongside Belinda Woolcock, their main-draw entry into the 2018 Australian Open.
At the 2019 Australian Open, she and fellow Australian John-Patrick Smith reached the final of the mixed-doubles competition after receiving a wildcard to enter the main draw.
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Early 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 Astron 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 training at Bull Creek Tennis Club, near Willetton.
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Career
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2011–2014: Career beginnings
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 or 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
![]() | This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. (October 2024) |
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 ITF events 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 Tour 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: French Open match win
Sharma started 2020, losing in the singles and doubles first rounds of both Hobart International and Australian Open. For the mixed doubles, she partnered again with John-Patrick Smith, 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 the French Open and reached the second round of this year's much later held event.
2021: WTA Tour title, rank No. 98
Sharma defeated top seed Ons Jabeur to win the MUSC Health Women's Open (Charleston II), her first career title.[12]
In May, she made the second round of the French Open for a second consecutive year. In June, she entered Wimbledon as a lucky loser and was defeated by Kristýna Plíšková in the first round.[citation needed]
At the US Open, she qualified before losing to eighth seed Barbora Krejčíková in the first round.[citation needed] In October, she reached the second round at the Indian Wells Open.[citation needed]
Sharma ended 2021 with a singles ranking of 98, a career year-end high, and a doubles ranking of world No. 107.[citation needed]
2022–2024
In 2022, Sharma reached the second round at Indian Wells with a win over Magda Linette,[13] before losing to 13th seed Victoria Azarenka.[14]
In 2024, she entered the Charleston Open as a lucky loser and defeated compatriot Arina Rodionova[15] and 16th seed Lesia Tsurenko[16] to reach the round of 16 where she lost to third seed Maria Sakkari.[17]
Partnering Veronika Erjavec, Sharma was runner-up in the doubles at the WTA 125 2024 Canberra Tennis International, losing to Veronika Erjavec and Darja Semeņistaja in the final.[18]
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Performance timelines
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W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | P# | DNQ | A | Z# | PO | G | S | B | NMS | NTI | 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; (NTI) not a Tier I 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, Billie Jean King Cup, United Cup, Hopman Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.[19]
Singles
Current through the 2025 Australian Open.
Doubles
Current through the 2024 US Open.
Mixed doubles
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Grand Slam tournament finals
Mixed doubles: 1 (runner-up)
WTA Tour finals
Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Doubles: 4 (3 titles, 1 runner-up)
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WTA Challenger finals
Singles: 1 (title)
Doubles: 1 (runner-up)
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ITF Circuit finals
Singles: 15 (9 titles, 6 runner–ups)
Doubles: 12 (7 titles, 5 runner–ups)
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Notes
- The first Premier 5 event of the year has switched back and forth between the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Qatar Ladies Open since 2009. Dubai was classified as a Premier 5 event from 2009 to 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.
- The WTA International tournaments were reclassified as WTA 250 tournaments in 2021.
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References
External links
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