they were stunned by Kiki Bertens and Johanna Larsson in the next round. Vesnina ended her season at the WTA Elite Trophy. She lost both of her matches in the round-robins stage, ending her season. She ended the year 18th in singles and third in doubles. Her doubles ranking at the end of the year was a career high. 2018: World No. 1 in doubles Vesnina began the season with a win in the first round at the Sydney International over Lara Arruabarrena. She fell in the second round to Dominika Cibulková. She went into the Australian Open as the 16th seed and beat Ons Jabeur in the first round but lost to Naomi Osaka in the second. In October, Vesnina announced that she was pregnant. 2021: Comeback: Wimbledon doubles final & return to top 50, Olympic silver medal in mixed doubles Having taken maternity leave since November 2018, Vesnina announced a return to professional tennis on 31 December 2020, in advance of the 2021 season. She won the first match of her return at the Qatar Open, partnering Laura Siegemund. In singles, on her comeback trail, she reached the third round of Roland Garros in which she lost to the 21st seed and eventual quarterfinalist, Elena Rybakina. At the same event, she reached the final of mixed doubles, partnering Aslan Karatsev, in which they were defeated by Joe Salisbury and Desirae Krawczyk. At Wimbledon, Elena won her first-round singles match against Martina Trevisan, before losing to the 20th seed Coco Gauff. At the same tournament in doubles, partnering Veronika Kudermetova, the unseeded pair ousted top seeds and reigning Roland Garros champions Barbora Krejčíková/Katerina Siniaková and Caroline Dolehide/Storm Sanders in the semifinals, en route to the final. They lost to the former number-one doubles players and third seeded pair, Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens, in a tight three-set match, despite having two match points. She returned to the top 100 in doubles at No. 55 – up 84 places from 139. In singles, her second-round showing saw her climb another 66 spots, from 370 to 304. At the Tokyo Olympics, Vesnina again partnered Kudermetova. The pair lost in their semifinal to eventual gold medalists Krejčíková and Siniaková of the Czech Republic. In the bronze medal match, Vesnina and Kudermetova were defeated by Brazilians Laura Pigossi and Luisa Stefani, after having four consecutive match points at 9–5 in the third set