Zarina Diyas: The Kazakh tennis queen
From 352nd in 2012 and 264th a year and a half ago to 32nd currently. 21-year old Zarina Diyas 
has come a long way. In a country where the fairer sex are not at all involved with the sport, Kazakhstan-born Diyas has made a mark for herself in the world of tennis. She gave Maria Sharapova a run for her money in the 4th round at Wimbledon with her blistering ground strokes and incredible court coverage before going down fighting 4-6, 4-6 to the World No.4.The Kazakh girl under the tutelage of Chinese Olympic team coach,Alan Ma,has shown an amazing penchant for flat ground strokes and hitting on the rise, qualities that came to the fore when she disposed off Andrea Petkovic of Germany (ranked 14th currently) in the 3rd round of the Wimbledon.
While representing her country Kazakhstan in the Federation Cup, she has won 5 of the 7 matches she featured in.The 5ft7in Diyas started playing tennis at an early age of 14 and won her first laurel in 2008 when she won a $25,000 tournament in Astana, Kazakhstan,beating Tetyana Arefyeva of Ukraine 7-5, 6-4. Since then, she has come a long way and her consecutive entries into the 4th round of Wimbledon in 2014 and 2015 indicates that she has arrived in the world of Grand Slam tennis.Zarina Diyas says that it was her mother who introduced her to tennis at the age of six. Even now, it is she who watches every rally her daughter makes, takes pictures and encourages her for every point won or lost. It was she who initiated Diyas's move to Czech Republic at the age of 5. Although growing up in Prague she kept in touch with her roots. In August 2014 she overtook Yaroslava Shvedova to become the No. 1 Kazakh female player. She displayed calm nerves at the US Open that year when she disposed off American teen sensation Cici Bellis in the 2nd round in front of parochial home crowds before bowing out to World No.8 Ekaterina Makarova in the next round.
After spending a decade in Prague, Czech Republic, Diyas moved base to Guangzhou in Southern China where she is currently being coached by Alan Ma and the likes of Peng Shuai (currently World No.20) and Rendy Lu Yen-hsun (Asia's 2nd ranked player). We are bound to see more of this Kazakh tennis queen on court. Way to go, Zarina Diyas!

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