The WTA has released the names of the finalists of the WTA Rising Star of the Year. The nominations for the WTA Rising Star of the Year are Margarita Gasparyan, Daria Gavrilova, Nao Hibino and Daria Kasatkina.
Gasparyan was the only player with a one-handed backhand to win a WTA title in 2015. After winning three titles in the ITF Circuit the 21-year-old player from Moscow qualified for her first Grand Slam at the Roland Garros. She clinched her first WTA title in Baku before reaching the quarter finals in Linz and Moscow to end the year in the top-59.
Gavrilova, a former World Junior Number 1, pulled off a major upset when she beat Maria Sharapova in Miami before reaching the semifinal in Rome as a qualifier. She has ended the season inside the top 50.
Japanese Neo Hibino made a major breakthrough in Tashkent, where she beat Donna Vekic to clinch her first WTA title. She reached the semifinal in Hua Hin to end the year as the World Number 78 in the WTA Ranking.
Finally Daria Kasatkina reached the semifinal in the home tournament at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. The young Russian player has been often compared to her famous compatriot Maria Sharapova after winning the Roland Garros Junior title at the age of 17 and reaching the third round at the US Open at senior level. She also reached the quarter finals at Bad Gastein and a series of ITF Circuit titles which have helped her to climb positions in the WTA Ranking’s from outside the Top 300 to World Number 71.
