Ann Li is a 26-year-old American from Pennsylvania who won her first WTA title in Tenerife at 21, fell outside the Top 200 after injuries, and rebuilt her career after moving to Alicante, Spain, in January 2025. She won her second title in Guangzhou that October, reached the fourth round of the US Open, and in October 2026 beat top seed Aryna Sabalenka at the Wuhan Open on her 10th match point.
Junior finalist and a first title in Tenerife
Li is a former Wimbledon girls’ singles finalist. She stands 1.70 metres and plays right-handed.
Her first tour-level final came at the Grampians Trophy in Melbourne in early 2021, against Anett Kontaveit, but the final went unplayed before the Australian Open. Her second final was in Tenerife in October 2021. She dropped the first set of the week, against Nuria Parrizas Diaz, won the next 10 sets she played and beat Camila Osorio 6-1, 6-4 in 70 minutes for her first WTA title. She was 21.
Li reached the Top 50 that year and climbed to a career-high No. 44 in January 2022. Her first win over a top-10 player came against Kontaveit in the second round of the Miami Open.
Injuries and a WTA 125 title in Valencia
An abdominal injury in 2021 and a pectoral injury in 2022 interrupted her progress,and she slid out of the Top 200. “I lost a little bit of joy in playing,” she has said of that period.
The way back started at a lower level. In June 2024, unseeded in Valencia, she beat the top three seeds, finishing with a 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 1 seed Viktoriya Tomova in the final for her first WTA 125 title. It lifted her from No. 172 to No. 140.
Alicante, a new coach and the 2025 turnaround
In January 2025 Li moved from the United States to Alicante, where she had no friends or family, and began working with Spanish coach Carlos Boluda. She had previously been based in Orlando, Atlanta, Delray Beach and Charleston, and had worked with Henner Nehles for nearly three years. Of the training block in Spain, she said: “I’ve never been more sore in my life.”
She started 2025 just inside the Top 100. Unseeded, she reached finals in Singapore and Cleveland and lost both. At the US Open she beat No. 16 seed Belinda Bencic in the second round, played on Arthur Ashe Stadium for the first time and reached the fourth round, where Jessica Pegula beat her. It is her best Grand Slam result.
In October, seeded second at the Guangzhou Open on her first trip to Asia, she won the title without dropping a set. In the final she saved all five break points she faced in the first set, came from 0-3 down in the tiebreak and beat Lulu Sun 7-6(6), 6-2. It was her sixth career final and her first title in four years, and it ended a run of three straight lost finals. She was the first American to win Guangzhou since Sofia Kenin in 2019. Li reached No. 33 after the title and finished 2025 at No. 38.
Swiatek in Madrid, Sabalenka in Wuhan
In the third round in Madrid on April 25, 2026, Li led Iga Swiatek 7-6(4), 2-6, 3-0 when Swiatek retired with a gastrointestinal illness. It was Li’s second win over a top-10 player and, at the time, her highest-ranked win. She landed 62 percent of her first serves and won nearly 70 percent of those points,and set up a fourth-round match with Leylah Fernandez.
In the second round in Wuhan on October 14, she lost the first set to Sabalenka after the top seed won the last eight points of it, and trailed 4-2 in the second. She won nine of the next 11 games to force a decider and led 5-2. Sabalenka saved five match points in one game to hold, broke back, saved two more on her serve at 4-5 to level at 5-5, and saved two more in the tiebreak. Li won it 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) in 2 hours 27 minutes with a forehand winner on her 10th match point.
“I think on some of those match points I was about to lose my mind. I was about to crash out,” Li said in her post-match press conference. It was her first win over Sabalenka in four meetings, her third top-10 win and her career-best win by ranking. It also put her in the third round of a WTA 1000 event for the fourth tournament in a row, a personal best.
Grand Slam best results
- Australian Open: second round (2020, 2026) [UNVERIFIED: the WTA player record also lists a third-round (R32) result in 2021; the Australian Open player page gives second round as her best. Confirm against the 2021 AO draw]
- Roland Garros: second round (2021, 2025, 2026)
- Wimbledon: second round (2022, 2025)
- US Open: fourth round (2025)
Season Snapshot (as of October 15, 2026)
- Coach: Carlos Boluda; training base Alicante, Spain.
- Career-high ranking: No. 28.
- 2026 majors: second round at the Australian Open, Roland Garros and the US Open; first round at Wimbledon.
- Madrid: beat Swiatek in the third round when Swiatek retired at 7-6(4), 2-6, 3-0.
- Wuhan: beat Sabalenka 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) in the second round and Janice Tjen in the round of 16 to reach the quarterfinals against Swiatek. [UNVERIFIED: Li vs Swiatek quarterfinal result not available at the 16 Oct update; update before publishing]
This snapshot is dated and will change. The career record above does not.
