Elina Ararati Avanesyan (Armenian: Էլինա Արարատի Ավանեսյան; Russian: Элина Араратовна Аванесян; born 17 September 2002) is a Russian-born Armenian tennis player. She has a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 36, achieved on 17 March 2025 and a best doubles ranking of No. 163, achieved on 12 August 2024.
Avanesyan has won six singles and nine doubles titles at tournaments of the ITF Circuit.
Avanesyan was born in Pyatigorsk, Russia, to an Armenian family. Her parents are from Artsakh ( Nagorno-Karabakh ) and moved to Russia in 1992 during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. She has a brother and a sister.
In June 2024, it was announced that Avanesyan had begun the process of applying for Armenian citizenship and planned to compete under the flag of Armenia. She had previously completed in several junior tournaments in the Armenian capital Yerevan, winning four of them.
In August 2024, she joined the Talent Pool program of the Keron Development Foundation and Avanesyan became an Armenian citizen and began representing Armenia.
She won her first W60 title at the Reinert Open as a lucky loser.
2022: WTA Tour, major and WTA 1000 debuts
She made her WTA Tour debut at the 2022 Copa Colsanitas, where she reached the quarterfinals, and her major debut as a qualifier at the US Open.
She also made her debut at the WTA 1000 level at the Italian Open as a qualifier, and also entered the main draw of the new WTA 1000 Guadalajara Open as a lucky loser.
2023: French Open fourth round, top 65
Ranked No. 134, Avanesyan made her debut at the French Open as a lucky loser. In the first round, she upset 12th seed Belinda Bencic for her first major and top-20 win. She defeated French wildcard Léolia Jeanjean in the second round and qualifier Clara Tauson in the third, becoming the first lucky loser at Roland Garros in the last 16 in 35 years since 1988 and only the fifth overall at this major. As a result, she reached the top 80 rising 54 positions in the rankings on 12 June 2023.
She made her WTA 500 debut at the German Open, also as a lucky loser and defeated eighth seed Daria Kasatkina. As a result, she reached a new career-high ranking of No. 64, on 26 June 2023.
She reached the second round of the US Open by defeating Alizé Cornet in the first round. At the same tournament, she reached the third round in doubles, partnering Kamilla Rakhimova as an alternate pair, defeating 10th seeded pair of Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok, but lost to eight seeds Hsieh Su-wei and Wang Xinyu.
She finished the year ranked No. 75.
2024: Australian Open debut, first top 10 win & WTA Tour final, top 50
On her debut at the Australian Open, she recorded two wins over Bai Zhuoxuan and eighth seed Maria Sakkari, her first top 10 win. On her debut at Indian Wells, she lost to Océane Dodin. On another debut at the Miami Open, she recorded her first WTA 1000-level win over wildcard Erika Andreeva, and her second top 10 and biggest win of her career, over sixth seed Ons Jabeur, to reach her first third round at this level.
At the French Open, she reached a consecutive fourth round with wins over Zhu Lin, Anna Blinkova and seventh seed Zheng Qinwen. Her run was ended by 12th seed Jasmine Paolini.
At Wimbledon, she reached the second round for the first time with a win over Anhelina Kalinina in her opening match. She lost in round two against 15th seed Liudmila Samsonova.