Lauren Davis

Junior career

Davis made her junior debut via wild card at the 2008 US Open, losing to Ajla Tomljanović.

After a third-round appearance in a Grade 1 tournament in Carson, California, she won her first junior tournament at a Grade 3 tournament in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, defeating Brooke Bolender in three sets. She finished 2009 with a quarter-final appearance at the US Open, before a third-round loss at the Dunlop Orange Bowl.

In 2010, Davis reached one quarter-final in the first four months, before reaching the final of the Easter Bowl, losing to Krista Hardebeck. She again lost in the final of a tournament, this time in the 51st Trofeo Bonfiglio to Beatrice Capra. In November 2010, she went on an 18-match winning streak, winning the Grade 1 tournaments Yucatán World Cup and the Eddie Herr youth tournament, as well as the Grade A Orange Bowl tournament. She finished the year a career-high world number three on the junior tour.

While still a junior, Davis won her first professional title on clay at a United States Tennis Association tournament in Williamsburg, Virginia in 2010. She then went on a 27-match win streak, and won her second pro title in Puerto Rico.^[3] She ended her junior career after a third-round appearance at the 2011 Australian Open.

2011

Davis was awarded a wildcard into the Australian Open, where she lost her first Grand Slam appearance against fifth-seeded Samantha Stosur in the first round.^[4] She officially turned professional in 2011 and won her first WTA match at the 2011 Miami Masters qualifiers by beating Jill Craybas in three sets. She then lost to Anastasiya Yakimova.

In qualifying for the Charleston Open on 4 April, Davis lost to Stéphanie Foretz. While waiting to give a post-match interview in a corporate booth, she was knocked unconscious when lighting equipment fell on her head. She suffered a concussion that kept her out of competition for months and left her suffering from occasional migraines for several months after that.^[5]

It was a windy day, and a whole big camera just blew onto my head. I didn't do anything physical for a long time. I didn't read anything. The only thing I could do was watch TV, eat and sleep. I had a headache, 24-7, that never went away. — Davis, on her injury^[5]

In October 2013, Davis filed a lawsuit against Production Design Associates and High Output, who had been hired by sponsors Dove to provide and install video and lighting equipment for the interview booths.^[6] Her complaint stated:

While plaintiff was waiting to be interviewed, a piece of lighting and video equipment selected, provided and installed by defendants fell and struck plaintiff in the head, knocking her unconscious. [Plaintiff] continues to suffer from serious, severe and painful head trauma and injuries including a concussion, post-concussion syndrome with its resulting emotional effects, and severe and long-term headaches. [Plaintiff] has required expensive and long term medical treatment including multiple emergency room visits, evaluation and treatment by specialists, diagnostic tests such as CT scans and MRI, prescription medications, and other treatments and will continue to require medical care in the future.^[7]

She sought actual and punitive damages for negligence and gross negligence.^[8]

2012

In the 2012 BNP Paribas Open, she defeated Petra Martić in the first round and then lost to Nadia Petrova in the round of 64. Davis lost in the first round of the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open to Vera Dushevina.

Davis made it through the qualifying rounds to get her into the main draw of the 2012 French Open, where she won her first main draw Grand Slam match against 30th seed Mona Barthel in straight sets.^[9] In the second round, she lost to compatriot Christina McHale in straight sets.^[10]

2013

Davis reached her second career quarter-final at the Hobart International, where she lost to Sloane Stephens. In February, she won the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Dow Corning Tennis Classic title by defeating Alja Tomljanović in the final.^[11] She replaced an injured Victoria Azarenka at the Miami Masters, where she defeated Madison Keys in the second round. In the third round, she faced Alizé Cornet and lost in three sets. During the match, Davis was stung on the buttocks by a wasp in the third set. Though it caused her significant pain, Davis refused to blame her loss on it. The overwhelming heat affected Davis and Cornet as both players left the court in wheelchairs.^{[12][13][14][15]}

Davis then reached the quarterfinals of the Monterrey Open, where she lost to the eventual champion, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. She was knocked out in the first round of the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. Her furthest advance for the remainder of the year was a quarterfinal appearance at the Bell Challenge in September, where she lost to Lucie Šafářová.^[16]

2014: Top 50

At the Australian Open, Davis beat Julia Görges to advance to the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. There, she was defeated by Eugenie Bouchard. At the BNP Paribas Open, Davis defeated world No. 4 Victoria Azarenka in the second round, marking her first victory over a top-10 player and a Grand Slam champion.^[17] She then defeated Varvara Lepchenko, but withdrew in the fourth round due to illness. At the Sony Open in Miami, she won her first-round match against Zhang Shuai, but lost in the second round to Ana Ivanovic.^[18] Following an early exit at the French Open, she advanced to the quarterfinals of the Aegon International, where she lost to Madison Keys.

At Wimbledon, Davis upset Flavia Pennetta in straight sets and advanced to the third round of the tournament for the first time. She ended the year ranked world number 57.^[1][19]

2015

Davis reached the semi-finals of the ASB Classic in Auckland, her greatest success in a WTA tournament at the time, where she lost to Venus Williams.^[20] Following the conclusion of the early hard-court season, she entered the Family Circle Cup in Charleston. Playing on clay, one of her best surfaces,^[2] she avenged her loss to Eugenie Bouchard at the previous year's Australian Open, defeating her in straight sets. She then advanced to the third round against Mona Barthel, who retired from the match while down a set. Davis exited the tournament in the quarterfinals.^[20]

2016: First two WTA finals

Davis reached her first WTA final at the 2016 Citi Open, where she was runner-up against Yanina Wickmayer. She reached her second career final at the Coupe Banque Nationale in September, and was runner-up to Océane Dodin.^[21]

2017: Ascent into Top 30, Auckland title

Davis won her first WTA title at the 2017 ASB Classic in Auckland, defeating Ana Konjuh in the final. She also reached the quarter-finals of the Qatar Total Open in Doha and the Dubai Duty Free Championships.^[22] As a result, she achieved a career-high of world number 37 in the Women's Tennis Association rankings. Steve Tignor of Tennis.com noted, "Lauren Davis is playing the tennis of her life."^[23]

Davis reached the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open, equalling her result in 2014.^[22] She was also part of the United States team that reached the Fed Cup final with a victory over the Czech Republic.^[24]

Playing her first red clay-court tournament of the year, she easily advanced to the quarterfinals of the Morocco Open in Rabat, winning each of her victories in straight sets before dropping a three-set match to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.^[22] In May, she reached a new career-best ranking of world number 26. However, she lost in the first round of all four Grand Slam tournaments in 2017, including defeats to fellow Americans Varvara Lepchenko at Wimbledon and Sofia Kenin at the US Open, and by the end of the year her singles ranking had dropped to 48.^[2]

2018

To start the year, Davis was unable to defend her title at the ASB Classic after losing to compatriot Sachia Vickery in the first round. Nonetheless, she put together an excellent tournament at the Australian Open, matching her career-best result at a Grand Slam after not winning a match at any of the four majors the previous year. In the 3rd round, she pushed World No. 1 Simona Halep to a nearly four-hour match, losing 15–13 in the third set and tying the tournament record for most games played in a match at 48.^[25][26]

Singles: 3 (1 title, 2 runners-up)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Jul 2016	Citi Open, USA	International	Hard	Yanina Wickmayer	4–6, 2–6
Loss	0–2	Sep 2016	Tournoi de Québec, Canada	International	Carpet (i)	Océane Dodin	4–6, 3–6
Win	1–2	Jan 2017	ASB Classic, New Zealand	International	Hard	Ana Konjuh	6–3, 6–1

Singles (7–4)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	June 14, 2010	Mount Pleasant, United States	Clay	Petra Rampre	3–6, 2–6
Winner	1.	October 4, 2010	Williamsburg, United States	Clay	Līga Dekmeijere	6–0, 6–0
Winner	2.	October 25, 2010	Bayamón, Puerto Rico	Hard	Madison Keys	7–6(7–5), 6–4
Winner	3.	June 27, 2011	Buffalo, United States	Clay	Nicole Gibbs	5–7, 6–2, 6–4
Winner	4.	July 11, 2011	Atlanta, United States	Hard	Alexis King	1–6, 6–2, 6–2
Winner	5.	January 16, 2012	Plantation, United States	Clay	Gail Brodsky	6–4, 6–1
Runner-up	2.	January 30, 2012	Rancho Santa Fe, United States	Hard	Julia Boserup	0–6, 3–6
Runner-up	3.	September 17, 2012	Albuquerque, United States	Hard	Maria Sanchez	1–6, 1–6
Winner	6.	September 24, 2012	Las Vegas, United States	Hard	Shelby Rogers	6–7(5–7), 6–2, 6–2
Winner	7.	February 4, 2013	Midland, United States	Hard (i)	Ajla Tomljanović	6–3, 2–6, 7–6(7–2)
Runner-up	4.	30 October 2016	Poitiers, France	Hard (i)	Océane Dodin	4–6, 2–6

Singles performance timeline

Women's Doubles performance timeline

Women's Doubles partners: ^AR Alison Riske ^CM Christina McHale ^CWC Chan Chin-wei ^GM Grace Min ^KN Kurumi Nara ^LDL Lourdes Domínguez Lino ^MML Megan Moulton-Levy ^MP Monica Puig ^NG Nicole Gibbs ^NM Nicole Melichar ^RV Renata Voráčová ^XH Han Xinyun

Mixed Doubles performance timeline

Mixed Doubles partners: ^NM Nicholas Monroe