Destanee Aiava

In 2012, at the age of 12, Aiava represented Australia at Roland Garros in the Longines Future Tennis Aces Tournament. Competing against fifteen of the top under-13 female tennis players, Aiava won the tournament and won the right to play alongside Steffi Graf in an exhibition match.[3] The years following, Aiava mainly played on the junior circuit. In 2014, she won the Tecnifibre Tennis Central Championships and NZ ITF Summer Championships in New Zealand as well as Australian International's in Queensland and Victoria. At the age of 14, she won the U18 Canadian world ranking event in Montreal, Quebec.

In early 2015, Aiava made her professional debut at the Burnie International after receiving wild cards in the singles and doubles, where she lost early in both. At the Launceston Tennis International, Aiava won her first professional main-draw match against Lu Jiajing. She also made the quarterfinals of a 15K tournament in Melbourne in April 2015. In March 2016, Aiava made her first career final at a $25K tournament in Canberra. In December 2016, she won the U18 Girls' Australian Championships and earned a wild card into the 2017 Australian Open. She thus became the first player born in the 21st century to play at a Grand Slam championship.[4]

Aiava commenced the year by qualifying for the Brisbane International to make her maiden WTA main-draw appearance.[5] Aiava defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the first round[6] before losing to two-time Grand Slam champion and world No. 9 Svetlana Kuznetsova. Aiava made her Grand Slam debut at the Australian Open as a wild card, losing in round one to Mona Barthel.

In February, Aiava won the first ITF women's title of her career, winning the 25K event in Perth by defeating Viktória Kužmová in the final. The following month, she won another 25K title, this time in Mornington, beating Barbora Krejčíková in the final. In April, Aiava was named in the Australia Fed Cup team for the first time.[7] In May, she reached the semifinal of Saint-Gardens, before losing the first round of qualifying at the French Open. In June, Aiava lost in the final round of qualifying for Wimbledon. In September, she reached the second round of qualifying for the US Open before granting a wild card into Quebec International, where she lost in the first round. In October, Aiava reached the final of the Canberra International. In December, she was unable to defend her 18/u championship title, losing to Jaimee Fourlis in a reversal of the result from 2016.[8] The following week, Aiava won the Australian Open Wildcard Playoff.[9][10]

Aiava was awarded a wild card to Brisbane International[11] where she lost in the first round to another wild-card entry, Ajla Tomljanović.[12]

Aiava received another wild card for the Australian Open, where she was defeated in the first round by world No. 1 and top seed Simona Halep. Aiava had two set points in the first set before going off-court to receive a medical time out. She subsequently lost the match in straight sets.[13] Aiava reached the quarterfinal of Burnie International and Zhuhai before reaching the final of ACT Clay Court International.[14] In April, Aiava won the Osaka ITF title; her third ITF and first title outside Australia.[15]

In May, Aiava lost in the first round of French Open qualifying.

Aiava began her season at the Brisbane International. She qualified for the main draw with victories over Vania King, Mandy Minella and Christina McHale. She then defeated Kristina Mladenovic in the first round before falling to second seed Naomi Osaka. Aiava received her third Australian Open wild-card entry, losing to 17th seed Madison Keys. She then won the ACT Clay Court International 25K title on March 24 by defeating world No. 289, Risa Ozaki.[16]

Canberra – 24 March 2019: Destanee Aiava (right) after winning the ACT Clay Court International #1 final against Risa Ozaki (left). Aiava was the runner-up in 2016 and 2018 (photo by Rob Keating, http://robiciatennis.com)