Jessika Ponchet

Ponchet did not play any ITF Junior Circuit tournaments, plunging straight into the ITF Women's Circuit at the age of 14.^[1]

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]

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]

She made her major debut in the French Open qualifying, after having been handed a wildcard; however, after defeating Dalma Gálfi (the 2015 ITF World Champion in the girls' combined category), she lost to fourth seed, Richèl Hogenkamp, in the second round.^[2][3]

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]

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]

Ponchet made her French Open debut, after receiving a wildcard for the singles main draw, where she lost in the first round to the unseeded Lucie Šafářová, in straight sets.^{[citation needed]}

At the 2019 Australian Open, Ponchet reached the singles main draw where she lost in the first round to 19th-seeded Caroline Garcia,^[7] after winning all her three qualifying matches without dropping a set.^{[citation needed]}

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]

Ponchet received wildcards for the French Open for the singles main draw, and in doubles partnering Elixane Lechemia.^{[citation needed]} She entered the Guangzhou Open main draw as a lucky loser but lost to qualifier Moyuka Uchijima.^[9]

Partnering Maia Lumsden, Ponchet won her first WTA 125 doubles title at the Open de Rouen, defeating top seeds Anna Bondár and Kimberley Zimmermann in straight sets in the final.^[10]

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. In the main draw, she defeated Zheng Saisai in the first round to win her first Grand Slam match.^[12] She 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]

Gaining entry to the main-draw as a lucky loser, Ponchet defeated qualifiers Margaux Rouvroy^[20] and Fiona Ferro^[21] to reach her first WTA Tour quarterfinal at the Rouen Open, where she lost to Elena-Gabriela Ruse.^[22]

Once again entering the main-draw as a lucky loser at the Prague Open, she made it through to the quarterfinals with wins over fellow lucky loser Nina Stojanović^[23] and wildcard entrant Barbora Palicová.^[24] Ponchet lost to Tereza Valentová in the last eight.^[25]

In December, teaming up with Tamara Korpatsch, Ponchet won her second WTA 125 doubles title at the Open Angers Arena Loire, defeating Jesika Malečková and Miriam Škoch in the final.^[26] The following week at the Open de Limoges, she combined with fellow French player Elsa Jacquemot to reach the doubles final, but they lost to top seeds Cristina Bucșa and Zhang Shuai.^[27]

Current through the 2024 US Open.