Ayana Akli

 ( 2001 Births ) 

Ayana Akli (born July 6, 2001) is an American professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of No. 313 in singles, achieved on July 14, 2025, and No. 258 in doubles, achieved on July 14, 2025. She played collegiate tennis at the University of Maryland and the University of South Carolina.

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Early life Akli was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, to Komi and Linda Akli. Her father is a former professional tennis player who immigrated to the United States from Togo in 1996 and was the childhood coach of Frances Tiafoe.

She began playing tennis at the age of four and trained at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park. She attended Wheaton High School, where she was a three-time state champion in girls' singles. She received a degree in civil engineering from the University of South Carolina.

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Career In 2019, Akli signed a letter of intent to play collegiate tennis for the Maryland Terrapins. After two years, she transferred to the University of South Carolina. Playing for the South Carolina Gamecocks, she reached career-high national rankings of No. 3 in singles and No. 10 in doubles. She also received ITA All-American and All-SEC honors and was named the SEC Women's Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

In October 2023, she reached the semifinals of the Christus Health Pro Challenge as a qualifier. In July 2024, she reached the semifinals of the Championnats Banque Nationale de Granby as a qualifier. Later that year, she won her first professional doubles title at the W35 USTA Pro Circuit event in Redding, partnering Eryn Cayetano.

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ITF Circuit finals

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Singles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

W35 tournaments (1–2)

Loss	0–1	Apr 2025	ITF Charlotte, United States	W35	Clay	Alicia Herrero Liñana	1–6, 6–7(1)
Loss	0–2	May 2025	ITF Boca Raton, United States	W35	Clay		2–6, 1–6
Win	0–3	May 2025	ITF Bethany Beach, United States	W35	Clay	Ana Sofía Sánchez	6–2, 7–5

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Doubles: 7 (3 titles, 4 runner-ups)

W100 tournaments (1–0)

W50 tournaments (0–1)

W25/35 tournaments (2–2)

W15 tournaments (0–1)

Loss	0–1	Oct 2023	ITF Florence, United States	W25	Hard	Nicole Khirin	Abigail Rencheli Alana Smith	6-3, 6–7(9), 6-10
Win	1–1	Sep 2024	ITF Redding, United States	W35	Hard	Eryn Cayetano	Clervie Ngounoue Himeno Sakatsume	6–2, 6–2
Loss	1–2	Jan 2025	ITF Palm Coast, United States	W35	Clay	Abigail Rencheli	Jasmijn Gimbrère Lisa Zaar	4–6, 6–3, 8–10
Loss	1–3	Mar 2025	ITF Hagetmau, France	W15	Hard	Mia Horvit	Sarah Iliev Emma Léné	6–7(2), 6–3, 8–10
Loss	1–4	Mar 2025	ITF Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic	W50	Hard	Clervie Ngounoue	Anastasia Tikhonova Mariia Tkacheva	6–7(5), 7–6(2), 7–10
Win	2–4	Apr 2025	ITF Boca Raton, United States	W35	Clay	Diae El Jardi	Despina Papamichail Gergana Topalova	7–6(1), 7–5
Win	3–4	Jun 2025	Cary Tennis Classic, United States	W100	Hard	Abigail Rencheli	Gabriella Broadfoot Maddy Zampardo	6–3, 6–2

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External links

Categories: 2001 Births, Living People, American Female Tennis Players, American People Of Togolese Descent, Maryland Terrapins Women's Tennis Players, South Carolina Gamecocks Women's Tennis Players, Sportspeople From Silver Spring, Maryland, Sportspeople Of Togolese Descent, Tennis Players From Maryland

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