Jessika Ponchet (born 26 September 1996) is a French professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 104 in singles, achieved on 9 September 2024, and No. 101 in doubles, reached on 28 November 2022.
Ponchet played the singles events of four tournaments and the doubles event of one tournament on the 2011 ITF Circuit, starting with a $100k tournament held in early July in the French city of Biarritz. She played a total of 11 and 18 ITF tournaments in 2012 and 2013, respectively.[2]
2014–2016
Ponchet played a total of 17 tournaments on the ITF Circuit in 2014. She suffered a major setback when torn knee ligaments forced her to miss tournaments in the first eight months of 2015. She played the singles events of seven tournaments and one doubles event on the 2015 ITF Circuit.[1][2]
In 2016, Ponchet played a total of 22 tournaments on the ITF Circuit in the 2016 season.[2]
Ponchet made her WTA 125 debut at the Open de Limoges, entering only its singles event. She received a wildcard for the main draw, where she defeated her compatriot, Chloé Paquet, in the first round and lost to the No. 7 seed, Kaia Kanepi, in the second.[2][3]
Ponchet finished 2017 with a final win–loss record of 42–24 for singles matches.[1]
2018–2019: Grand Slam debut
She made her Grand Slam singles main draw debut at the Australian Open, after receiving a wildcard,[4] but she lost in the first round to third seed Garbiñe Muguruza.[5] Prior to the Australian Open, Ponchet had in her entire career played in the singles main-draw event of just one tournament that was at a higher level than the ITF Women's Circuit (the 2017 Open de Limoges) and had never even faced a player ranked in the top 100 of the WTA singles rankings.[6]
On 9 April 2019, in her first-round match at the $25k tournament in Sunderland, Ponchet was leading Tara Moore 6–0, 5–0 and had a match point to achieve a double bagel, but Moore staged a comeback to win 0–6, 7–6, 6–3.[8]
2023: Grand Slam debut, first WTA 125 doubles title
Ponchet qualified for the Rosmalen Open but lost to Aleksandra Krunić in the first round.[11] Ranked No. 143, Ponchet made her singles main draw debut at the US Open after winning all three of her qualifying matches in straight sets.[citation needed] In the main draw, she defeated Zheng Saisai in the first round to win her first Grand Slam match.[12] and reached a Grand Slam tournament third round for the first time after receiving a walkover in the second round when fourth seed Elena Rybakina withdrew because of injury.[13] As a result, she moved close to 40 positions up in the WTA rankings to a new career-high at No. 104 on 9 September 2024.[14] She lost to Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets.[15]
After entering the singles main draw of the Japan Women's Open as a lucky loser, she failed to convert a match point in the third set in her first round loss to eighth seed Elisabetta Cocciaretto.[16] In the first round of the Hong Kong Open, the unseeded Ponchet posted her second career Top 50 win by defeating fourth seed Wang Xinyu to reach the second round,[17][18]where she lost to wildcard entrant Sofia Kenin.[19]
Performance timelines
Key
W
F
SF
QF
#R
RR
Q#
P#
DNQ
A
Z#
PO
G
S
B
NMS
NTI
P
NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
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