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- published: 16 Feb 2013
- views: 1748
- author: TennisOnlineHD
![]() Wozniacki at the 2009 US Open |
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Country | ![]() |
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Residence | Monte Carlo, Monaco |
Born | (1990-07-11) 11 July 1990 (age 21) Odense, Denmark |
Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in)[1] |
Weight | 58 kg (128 lb; 9 st 2 lb)[1] |
Turned pro | 18 July 2005[1] |
Plays | Right-handed (two-handed backhand)[1] |
Career prize money | $ 12,444,751[1] |
Official web site | www.carolinewozniacki.dk |
Singles | |
Career record | 318–117[1] |
Career titles | 18 WTA, 4 ITF |
Highest ranking | No. 1 (11 October 2010) |
Current ranking | No. 9 (28 May 2012) |
Grand Slam Singles results | |
Australian Open | SF (2011) |
French Open | QF (2010) |
Wimbledon | 4R (2009, 2010, 2011) |
US Open | F (2009) |
Other tournaments | |
Championships | F (2010) |
Olympic Games | 3R (2008) |
Doubles | |
Career record | 36–54[1] |
Career titles | 2 WTA, 0 ITF |
Highest ranking | No. 52 (14 September 2009) |
Grand Slam Doubles results | |
Australian Open | 2R (2008) |
French Open | 2R (2010) |
Wimbledon | 2R (2009, 2010) |
US Open | 3R (2009) |
Last updated on: 28 May 2012. |
Caroline Wozniacki (born 11 July 1990) is a Danish professional tennis player. She is a former world no. 1 on the WTA Tour. As of 23 January 2012, she held this position for 67 weeks.[5] She is the first Scandinavian woman to hold the top ranking position and 20th overall.[6]
Since her WTA debut in 2005, she has improved her year-end ranking each year until finishing on top in both 2010 and 2011. She has won 18 WTA singles titles as of August 2011, three in 2008, three in 2009, six in 2010 (the most since Justine Henin's ten in 2007),[7] and six in 2011. She was runner-up at the 2009 US Open and the 2010 WTA Tour Championships in Doha to Kim Clijsters. She won the 2006 Wimbledon Girls' Singles title but has yet to win a women's Grand Slam title. She also holds two WTA titles in doubles.
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Wozniacki is the daughter of Polish Roman Catholic[8] immigrants, Piotr and Anna Wozniacki.[9] Anna played on the Polish women's national volleyball team,[10] and Piotr played professional football. The couple moved to Denmark when Piotr signed for the Danish football club Boldklubben 1909.[9][11] Wozniacki's older brother Patrik Wozniacki is a professional footballer for Hvidovre IF in Denmark.[10]
Wozniacki's playing style centers "around the defensive aspects of tennis with her anticipation, movement, agility, footwork and defence all first-rate and key parts of her game."[12] Her two-handed backhand is one of her best weapons as she is capable of turning defense into offense, most notably the backhand down-the-line. Her defensive playing style has her contemporaries label her a counter-puncher.[citation needed]
In 2009, Wozniacki signed on to become an endorser for the line of tennis apparel designed by Stella McCartney for adidas. She wore her first adidas by Stella McCartney tennis dress at the 2009 US Open.[13] She also has sponsorship agreements with Compeed, Danske Invest, Oriflame, Turkish Airlines, Proactiv, Sony Ericsson, Yonex and e-Boks.[14]
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Wozniacki won several junior tournaments in 2005, including the Orange Bowl tennis championship.[15] She made her debut on the WTA Tour at Cincinnati's Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open on 19 July 2005, losing to the top-seeded and eventual champion Patty Schnyder in the first round. In the Nordea Nordic Light Open, her other WTA tournament of the year, she lost to Martina Suchá in the first round.
In 2006, she was the top seed at the Australian Open (junior girls' singles), but lost the final to eighth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia. She was seeded second with partner Anna Tatishvili in the doubles tournament, but the pair was knocked out in the semifinals by the French-Italian pair of Alizé Cornet and Corinna Dentoni, who were seeded eighth.
In February at the Memphis, she reached her first WTA Tour quarterfinal, beating Kristina Brandi and Ashley Harkleroad, before losing to third-seeded Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden.
Before the Wimbledon, Wozniacki won the exhibition tournament Liverpool International Tennis Tournament, beating Ashley Harkleroad in the finals.[16]
Later that year, she was given a wild card to the qualifying draw at Wimbledon, where she was beaten in the first round by Miho Saeki. However, Wozniacki went on to win the girls' singles tournament, beating Slovak Magdaléna Rybáriková in the finals.
In August, she reached another WTA Tour quarterfinal, this time at the Nordea Nordic Light Open in Stockholm. She defeated top-100 players Iveta Benešová and Eleni Daniilidou, before falling to eventual champion and third-seeded Zheng Jie.
Wozniacki was seeded second in Girls' Singles in the year's last major tournament. In the first round, she won the first set against Russian Alexandra Panova, but was disqualified in the second set for verbally abusing an umpire. Wozniacki was said to have used an expletive in referring to a linesman who made a disputed call.[17] However, on her blog, she claimed to have said, "take your sunglasses of [sic]" and was mistaken for talking to the linesman, when she in fact was criticizing herself after the next point.[18]
In her last junior tournament, the Osaka Mayor's Cup, she won both the girls' singles and doubles.[19]
Her first title on the senior tour came shortly after on 29 October, when she won the $25,000 ITF-tournament in Istanbul by beating Tatjana Malek in the final.
Wozniacki was set to face Venus Williams on 27 November in an exhibition match in Copenhagen,[20] but five days before the event, Williams canceled because of an injury.[21] The two did, however, face each other in the Memphis WTA Tier III event on 20 February. Williams beat Wozniacki, ending a nine-match winning streak for Wozniacki.
On 29 November, Wozniacki was named ambassador for Danish Junior Tennis by the Culture Minister of Denmark at the time, Brian Mikkelsen.[22]
On 4 February, she won a $75,000 ITF singles title in Ortisei, Italy, beating Italian Alberta Brianti.[23] On 4 March, she won the $75,000 ITF tournament in Las Vegas, beating top-seed Akiko Morigami in the final.
She obtained a wild card for the Pacific Life Open main draw and made her Tier I debut there. She was knocked out in the second round by Martina Hingis.
She then made the semifinals of the AIG Open in Tokyo in October, her first career WTA Tour semifinal, and as a result became the first Danish woman to reach a WTA semifinal since Tine Scheuer-Larsen at Bregenz in 1986. She was defeated by Venus Williams in straight sets.
At the Australian Open, Wozniacki defeated Gisela Dulko and 21st seed Alona Bondarenko on her way to the round of 16, where she lost to the eventual finalist and fourth-seeded Ana Ivanović.
At the French Open, she was seeded 30th, making this the first Grand Slam tournament in which Wozniacki was seeded. She again lost in the third round to the eventual champion and world no. 2 Ana Ivanović.
At Wimbledon, she reached the third round, but lost to second-seeded Jelena Janković.[24]
Wozniacki won her first WTA Tour title at the Nordic Light Open in Stockholm without dropping a set, defeating fifth seed Anabel Medina Garrigues in the quarterfinals, top seed and world no. 10, Agnieszka Radwańska in the semifinals, and Vera Dushevina in the final.
At the Summer Olympics in Beijing, she beat world no. 12 Daniela Hantuchová in the second round, before falling to the eventual gold-medalist Elena Dementieva. Wozniacki then won her second WTA Tour title at the Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven, defeating four seeded players, Dominika Cibulková, Marion Bartoli, and Alizé Cornet, en route to the final, where she defeated world no. 11 Anna Chakvetadze.
Wozniacki was the 21st seed at the US Open. She defeated world no. 14 Victoria Azarenka in the third round, but lost to second-seeded and eventual runner-up Jelena Janković in the fourth round.
At the China Open, she lost her opening match to Anabel Medina Garrigues. However, she teamed up with Medina Garrigues to clinch the doubles title, defeating the Chinese duo of Han Xinyun and Xu Yi-Fan. It was Wozniacki's first WTA doubles title. At the Tier III AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships, she was the top seed for the first time on the WTA Tour, and she won her third career title, defeating Kaia Kanepi of Estonia in the final.
Wozniacki then took part in the e-Boks Odense Open in her hometown of Odense. She won the tournament, beating world no. 64 Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden in the final.
Her final win–loss record for the year (ITF matches included, exhibition matches not included) was 58–20 in singles and 8–9 in doubles. She ended the year ranked 12th in singles and 79th in doubles. She finished thirteenth in the race for the Sony Ericsson Championships. She also won the WTA Newcomer of the Year award for 2008.[25]
Wozniacki started the season in Auckland, where she lost to Elena Vesnina in the quarterfinals. She also reached the quarterfinals in Sydney, this time losing to world no. 2 Serena Williams after having three match points. Seeded 11th at the Australian Open, Wozniacki lost in the third round to Australian wild card Jelena Dokić.
In Pattaya, Wozniacki lost to Magdaléna Rybáriková in the quarterfinals. Seeded first at the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, Tennessee, Wozniacki advanced to the final, but lost to Victoria Azarenka. Afterwards, they partnered in the doubles final to defeat Michaëlla Krajicek and Yuliana Fedak.
Wozniacki then took part in the first two Premier Mandatory tournaments of the year. At Indian Wells, she lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Vera Zvonareva. In Miami, she scored her first win over Elena Dementieva, before losing to another Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals.
Wozniacki won her first title of the year at the MPS Group Championships on green clay in Ponte Vedra Beach, where she defeated Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak. In Charleston, she defeated top seed Elena Dementieva in the semifinals, before losing the final to Sabine Lisicki.
Wozniacki suffered early exits in her next two tournaments, losing to Marion Bartoli in the second round in Stuttgart, and to Victoria Azarenka in the third round in Rome. She reached the final of the inaugural Premier Mandatory Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, where she lost to world no. 1 Dinara Safina. This was Wozniacki's only match against a reigning no. 1 before she herself became no. 1 in October 2010. Seeded 10th at the French Open, Wozniacki lost to Sorana Cîrstea in the third round. They partnered in doubles, but lost in the first round.
Wozniacki won her second 2009 title on the grass of Eastbourne. In the final, she defeated Virginie Razzano.[26] Wozniacki was seeded ninth at Wimbledon, where she lost to Sabine Lisicki in the fourth round.
On her 19th birthday, she lost the final of the Swedish Open to María José Martínez Sánchez. On hard court at the LA Women's Tennis Championships, she lost in the second round to Sorana Cîrstea. At the Cincinnati Masters, she reached the quarterfinals, before falling to Elena Dementieva. In Toronto, she lost early in the second round to Zheng Jie, but she then went on to defend her title at the Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven without losing a set. In the first round, she had her first double bagel win as a professional, 6–0, 6–0, over Edina Gallovits in 41 minutes. In the final, she beat Elena Vesnina for her third title of the season.
Wozniacki was the ninth seed at the US Open. She made her best result to date by becoming the first Danish woman to reach a Grand Slam final. There, she was defeated by Kim Clijsters, who had recently made a comeback after retiring in 2007.
In the second round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open, she retired because of a viral illness down 0–5 against Aleksandra Wozniak. She then lost to María José Martínez Sánchez in the first round of the China Open, and to Samantha Stosur in the semifinals in Osaka. The following week in Luxembourg, she retired with a hamstring injury in the first round, while leading 7–5, 5–0 over Anne Kremer. This aroused controversy because of the scoreline.[27]
Wozniacki's 2009 results qualified her for the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha for the first time. She won two of three group matches and advanced to the semifinals. There she struggled with a stomach strain and a left thigh injury against world no. 1 Serena Williams, and retired while trailing 6–4, 0–1.[28]
In her first WTA tournament of the year, Wozniacki suffered an opening-round loss to Li Na of China in the Sydney. She was seeded fourth at the Australian Open, her first top-eight seed in a Grand Slam. She again fell to Li, this time in the fourth round, in straight sets. Despite her fourth-round exit, Wozniacki achieved a career-high ranking of no. 3.
As the second seed at Indian Wells, Wozniacki reached the final before losing to former world no. 1 Jelena Janković. With this result, she achieved a new career-high ranking of world no. 2.[29] At the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Wozniacki lost in the quarterfinals to the newly returned Justine Henin.
Her next tournament was in Ponte Vedra Beach, where she defeated Olga Govortsova in the final. Wozniacki then competed at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston. She advanced to the semifinals, where she met Vera Zvonareva. Wozniacki was forced to retire down 2–5, after she rolled her ankle while chasing down a short ball.[30][31]
Despite her ongoing ankle injury, she continued to compete in tournaments through the clay-court season, suffering early losses in Stuttgart, Rome, and Madrid. She then reached the quarterfinals in Warsaw, but retired there after losing the first set.[32]
Wozniacki was seeded third at the French Open. She posted her best result at Roland Garros by advancing to the fourth round without dropping a set. After defeating Flavia Pennetta in the round of 16 in three sets, she lost to eventual champion Francesca Schiavone in the quarterfinals. Wozniacki partnered with Daniela Hantuchová in doubles, but they withdrew before their second round match against the Williams sisters because of a right shoulder injury to Hantuchová.
As the defending champion, Wozniacki lost early at the AEGON International, her first grass-court tournament of the year, to Aravane Rezaï. Wozniacki was seeded third at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, where she defeated Tathiana Garbin, Chang Kai-chen, and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova en route to the fourth round, where she was defeated by Petra Kvitová.
Wozniacki was the first seed at the inaugural 2010 e-Boks Danish Open. It was the first Danish WTA tournament, created largely out of Wozniacki's popularity in Denmark. She reached the final, and she defeated Klára Zakopalová to win her second title of the year.
In Cincinnati, she lost in the third round to Marion Bartoli. As the second seed in Montreal, Wozniacki was forced to wait two days to play her semifinal match with Svetlana Kuznetsova because of heavy rain. She defeated both Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva on the same day for her third singles title of the year. As the top seed in New Haven, Wozniacki defeated Nadia Petrova in the final for her third consecutive title there. By virtue of this, she also won the 2010 US Open Series.
Wozniacki was the top seed at the US Open due to the withdrawal of world no. 1 Serena Williams. She advanced to the semifinals, before being upset by Vera Zvonareva. With her semifinal appearance, Wozniacki became one of only two women (the other being Venus Williams) to have reached at least the fourth round of all four Grand Slam events in 2010.[33]
Wozniacki's first tournament during the Asian hard-court season was the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. She won back-to-back three setters against Victoria Azarenka and Elena Dementieva, the latter of whom she beat in the final to win her fifth title of the year.
She then entered the China Open in Beijing. In the third round, Wozniacki faced Petra Kvitová, who had routed her at Wimbledon. Wozniacki avenged that loss, which ensured that she would replace Serena Williams as the new world no. 1 after the tournament. She was the fifth player to reach the no. 1 position without having won a Grand Slam tournament. She also became the first Danish player, man or woman, to reach the top ranking.[34] Wozniacki ultimately won the tournament, defeating Vera Zvonareva in the final to win her sixth title of the year and twelfth overall.
At the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Wozniacki was drawn in a group with Francesca Schiavone, Samantha Stosur, and Elena Dementieva. She defeated Dementieva in her first round-robin game, but lost to Stosur in the second. She won her last round-robin match in the group against Schiavone, securing the year-end world no. 1 rank and a place in the semifinals against the winner of the other group, Vera Zvonareva. Wozniacki defeated her, but then lost the final in three sets to Kim Clijsters. Wozniacki ended the season with six WTA singles titles, the most on the tour. Clijsters won five, and no other player won more than two.
During the off season, Wozniacki switched her racquet make from Babolat to Yonex.[35] Wozniacki began her 2011 season with an exhibition match in Thailand against Kim Clijsters where she lost in a super tie-break.[36] Wozniacki then played another exhibition, the team Hong Kong Tennis Classic, where she represented and was captain of Team Europe. She won two matches against Team Asia Pacific, before getting crushed by world no. 2 Vera Zvonareva in the final against Team Russia.[37] Her first WTA tournament was the Medibank International Sydney. She received a bye to the second round, where she lost to Dominika Cibulková.
The Australian Open was Wozniacki's first major as world no. 1.[38] She lost to Li Na in the semifinals after failing to convert a match point when trying to serve out the match at 5–4 in the second set.
Wozniacki dropped to no. 2 behind Kim Clijsters during the week of 14 February, but regained the top spot the following week. She received a bye to the second round in Dubai where, in the quarterfinals, she beat Shahar Pe'er to ensure her no. 1 position in the next rankings update.[39] She went on to defeat Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final to take her 13th career singles title and first of the year.
In Doha, she received a bye to the second round and reached the final, after defeating Nadia Petrova, Flavia Pennetta, and Marion Bartoli in straight sets. She lost to Vera Zvonareva in the final.
In the first Premier Mandatory event of the year in Indian Wells, Wozniacki made it to the final, where she defeated Marion Bartoli for her 14th singles title.
After a first-round bye at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida, Wozniacki lost in the fourth round to 21st seed Andrea Petkovic. Wozniacki made an uncharacteristic 52 unforced errors and later cited exhaustion as a factor in the loss.
In the Family Circle Cup, Wozniacki made it to the final, where she defeated unseeded Elena Vesnina to take her third title of the year, 15th of her career.
In Stuttgart, Wozniacki made it to her fifth final of the year, where she lost to Julia Görges in straight sets.
In Madrid, Wozniacki lost to Görges again, this time in the third round. In Rome, she lost to eventual champion Maria Sharapova in the semifinal round.
At the Brussels Open, Wozniacki reached the semifinals, where she defeated third seed and reigning French Open champion, Francesca Schiavone.[40] In the final, Wozniacki's sixth of the year, she defeated eighth seed Peng Shuai to win her first red clay title, after having won three on the faster green clay.[41]
Wozniacki was the top seed at the French Open, but was defeated in the third round by 28th seed Daniela Hantuchová.[42]
Wozniacki's next tournament was the e-Boks Sony Ericsson Open in her native Denmark. In the final, she defeated fourth seed Lucie Šafářová, taking her fifth title of the year.[43] At Wimbledon, she had straight-set wins until the fourth round, but then lost to 24th seed Dominika Cibulková.[44]
At the Rogers Cup Wozniacki made an early second-round exit. She was defeated by Roberta Vinci in straight sets despite holding a 5–1 lead in the second set. Wozniacki was the top seed at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, but lost in the second round to world no. 76 Christina McHale. Next playing at the New Haven Open at Yale, Wozniacki won the title for the fourth year in a row, defeating Francesca Schiavone in the semifinals and qualifier Petra Cetkovská in the final.[45]
At the US Open, Wozniacki was the first seed. In the first round, she defeated Nuria Llagostera Vives. In the second round, Wozniacki defeated Arantxa Rus,[46] and in the third round, defeated American Vania King.[47] In the fourth round, Wozniacki fought back from a 7–6, 4–1 deficit, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova.[48] Wozniacki then progressed to the semifinals by defeating Andrea Petkovic in the quarterfinals.[49] In the semifinals she lost to Serena Williams.[50]
In Tokyo Wozniacki lost to Kaia Kanepi in the third round. In Beijing she lost to Flavia Pennetta in the quarterfinals. This was Wozniacki's only loss in the 12 quarterfinals she reached in 2011.
Wozniacki was the top seed at the WTA Championships. In the group stage she beat Agnieszka Radwańska before falling to Vera Zvonareva. She lost also to Petra Kvitová in her final round-robin match and so she failed to advance to semifinals for the first time in three appearances. After the withdrawal of Maria Sharapova, Wozniacki was certain to finish the year as world no. 1 for the second consecutive year.
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Wozniacki began her season by representing Denmark at the 2012 Hopman Cup with Frederik Nielsen as her partner. Wozniacki won two of her three round robin matches in singles, defeating Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Tsvetana Pironkova before losing to the World No. 2 Petra Kvitová in three sets.
Wozniacki's next event was the 2012 Apia International Sydney. After a first round bye, Wozniacki defeated Dominika Cibulková (whom she had lost to in the same round of the event last year) in three sets after trailing 4–0 in the final set. She lost to World No. 8 Agnieszka Radwańska in three sets in the quarterfinals, after serving for the match at 5–4 up in the second set.
Wozniacki competed at the 2012 Australian Open as the top seed. Wozniacki defeated Anastasia Rodionova, Anna Tatishvili, Monica Niculescu and Jelena Janković all in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals where she lost to former World No. 1 Kim Clijsters. As a result Wozniacki lost her top ranking and was replaced by Victoria Azarenka. Next playing at Doha, Wozniacki lost to Lucie Safarova in the second round, having received a first round bye.
Wozniacki was the defending champion in Dubai and Indian Wells but failed to defend either title, losing to Julia Georges and Ana Ivanovic respectively. Following her loss at Indian Wells, Wozniacki fell out of the Top 5 for the first time since 2009.
Wozniacki was seeded fourth in Miami, and reached the semifinals by beating Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, Petra Cetkovska, Yanina Wickmayer and Serena Williams, all in straight sets. Wozniacki was then beaten by second seed Maria Sharapova, 4–6, 6–2, 6–4. Wozniacki did not defend her title in Charleston as she was not allowed to participate under WTA rules because two Top-6 players had already entered the draw. Wozniacki then played at the tournament in her home town of Copenhagen. She defeated Urszula Radwanska, Pauline Parmentier, Alize Cornet, and Petra Martic. She lost her first match at the tournament losing to Angelique Kerber in the final 6–4 6–4.
Wozniacki's best friend is her fellow Danish tennis player Malou Ejdesgaard, who has been her doubles partner in five tournaments.[51] They are trying to gain entry to the 2012 Summer Olympics in doubles.[52]
When asked in 2008 by Teen Vogue magazine what sports beside tennis she liked to play, Wozniacki said "I like handball, soccer, swimming, playing the piano, and all kinds of different things."[53]
On 20 December 2010, she signed a three-year deal to endorse Turkish Airlines' business class service.[54][55]
Wozniacki is a Liverpool supporter. She wore a Liverpool shirt signed by footballer Steven Gerrard on court in the 2011 Qatar Ladies Open.[56]
According to Forbes in 2011 she was the second highest earning female athlete in the world.[57]
According to the June 2011 edition of SportsPro Wozniacki is the world's ninth most marketable athlete.[58]
She is currently dating professional golfer Rory McIlroy.[59]
Outcome | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score |
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Runner-up | 2009 | US Open | Hard | ![]() |
7–5, 6–3 |
Tournament | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | SR | W–L |
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Grand Slam Tournaments | ||||||||||
Australian Open | A | A | A | 4R | 3R | 4R | SF | QF | 0 / 5 | 17–5 |
French Open | A | A | 1R | 3R | 3R | QF | 3R | 0 / 5 | 10–5 | |
Wimbledon | A | LQ | 2R | 3R | 4R | 4R | 4R | 0 / 5 | 12–5 | |
US Open | A | A | 2R | 4R | F | SF | SF | 0 / 5 | 20–5 | |
Win–Loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–3 | 10–4 | 13–4 | 15–4 | 15–4 | 4–1 | 0 / 20 | 59–20 |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Caroline Wozniacki |
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Persondata | |
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Name | Wozniacki, Caroline |
Alternative names | |
Short description | Danish tennis player |
Date of birth | 11 July 1990 |
Place of birth | Odense, Denmark |
Date of death | |
Place of death |
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Country | ![]() |
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Residence | Geneva, Switzerland |
Born | (1984-10-02) 2 October 1984 (age 27) Le Puy-en-Velay, France |
Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) |
Weight | 63kg [1] |
Turned pro | February 2000 |
Plays | Right-handed (two-handed both sides) born left-handed |
Career prize money | $7,145,016 |
Singles | |
Career record | 446–270 |
Career titles | 7 WTA, 6 ITF |
Highest ranking | No. 7 (January 30, 2012) |
Current ranking | No. 8 (May 21, 2012) |
Grand Slam Singles results | |
Australian Open | QF (2009) |
French Open | SF (2011) |
Wimbledon | F (2007) |
US Open | 4R (2007, 2008) |
Other tournaments | |
Championships | RR (2007, 2011) |
Doubles | |
Career record | 117–82 |
Career titles | 3 WTA, 1 ITF titles |
Highest ranking | No. 15 (July 5, 2004) |
Grand Slam Doubles results | |
Australian Open | 3R (2004, 2005) |
French Open | 3R (2005, 2006) |
Wimbledon | QF (2004) |
US Open | SF (2003) |
Last updated on: March 7, 2012. |
Marion Bartoli (born 2 October 1984) is a French professional tennis player and the current French no. 1. She has won seven Women's Tennis Association singles titles and three doubles titles.[2] She was also a runner-up at the 2007 Wimbledon Championships.
Bartoli has defeated three reigning world no. 1 players in her career so far. She defeated Justine Henin in the semifinal of the 2007 Wimbledon Championships, 1–6, 7–5, 6–1, Jelena Janković in the fourth round of the 2009 Australian Open, 6–1, 6–4 and Victoria Azarenka 6–3, 6–3 in the quarterfinals of the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open. She has also recorded wins over other top players such as Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Ana Ivanović, Lindsay Davenport, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Dinara Safina, Caroline Wozniacki, Petra Kvitova, Sam Stosur and Kim Clijsters.
She is known for her unorthodox style of play using two hands on both her forehand and backhand. On January 30th 2012 she rose to a new career high ranking of No.7 in the world.
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Bartoli was born in Le Puy-en-Velay, Haute-Loire. She is of Corsican, Catalan, and metropolitan French descent.[3] She started playing tennis at the age of six. Bartoli trained in a small facility as a youngster, where there was not much room behind the baseline. Her father, Walter, gave up his career as a doctor to become her full-time coach when Bartoli won the 2001 Junior US Open title, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova, 4–6, 6–3, 6–4.
She is an animal lover and has a cat named Calinette. Bartoli has a brother who is in the French military. Her role model off the court is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. She is also an admirer of Roger Federer. Her mother Sophie, is a nurse and is rarely seen in the crowd, as she gets so nervous watching her daughter play. Bartoli has told the press she had an IQ of 175, when tested as a child.[4]
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Bartoli is known for her unorthodox and very intense style of play on the court. She uses two hands on both the forehand and the backhand, and is generally classed as an aggressive and hard-hitting player. She developed her two-handed style on the advice of her father, who is also her coach. He had seen the classic 1992 French Open final in which Monica Seles defeated Steffi Graf, and immediately was inspired to teach the technique to his daughter.
Bartoli also had trouble with her forehand at the time, so when she made the switch to two hands, it greatly improved and she has never stopped. She uses her double-fisted strokes to create sharp angles to open up the court and prefers to take the ball very early on groundstrokes. Her return of serve is considered to be her biggest weapon and she often stands inside the baseline to receive serve, even on first serves.
Her style of play can be most closely compared to that of Seles, who had a strong influence on Bartoli as a young player, though unlike Seles, Bartoli is right-handed.
In the past she was not a very good mover and was further inhibited by her two-fisted strokes, which could make her vulnerable to fast all-court players. Since then Bartoli has worked on her fitness and mobility and has lost weight, and now her court movement has improved markedly.
Bartoli is also known for her unusual serve, in which she uses her wrist to generate speed. She has also changed her service motion many times over the years. Furthermore, Bartoli manifests unusual on-court mannerisms and never stops moving and jumps on the spot between points. She is continuously moving her legs and sometimes does this when her opponent is serving.
Bartoli is currently playing using the new Prince EXO 3 Warrior racquet. She has previously used the Prince EXO3 Black and the Prince O3 Red. All her Prince racquets are modified in New York to make them longer by 1.5 inches than standard racquets to give her better reach with her two-handed strokes. For many years she had no clothing sponsor, but wore Nike. In October 2011, she signed a three year clothing deal with Lotto. Before her breakthrough into the top 100, Bartoli was playing with a standard length Babolat racquet and she was wearing Le Coq Sportif apparel.
Bartoli started entering tournaments regularly at the age of 16. After a few aborted starts in 1999 and 2000, in 2001 she played in the ITF $10,000 clay events in the spring. Winning two tournaments back to back in May (in Hatfield and Torino) ensured that the French Open would giver her a wildcard into her first Grand Slam, where she lost to Catalina Castaño. Bartoli also won another tournament in Koksijde, Belgium.
In 2002, she received a wildcard into the Australian Open. She lost to Tina Pisnik, 3–6, 6–4, 7–9. She then won her fourth ITF title in Columbus, Ohio. She followed that with a first-round exit at the French Open, losing in three sets to Ai Sugiyama. In the US Open where she qualified, she upset Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, 6–3, 6–1. It was Bartoli's first win over a player in the top 100. She followed that with a win over Rossana de los Ríos, before losing to fourth seed Lindsay Davenport, 3–6, 1–6.
Bartoli began 2003 by reaching her first WTA semifinals in the Canberra Women's Classic, losing to Francesca Schiavone, 4–6, 6–3, 3–6, after coming through the qualifying draw. For the first time, she earned her place in a Grand Slam (the Australian Open) through her ranking, but lost to 11th seed Magdalena Maleeva in the first round in straight sets. She then received a wildcard in Paris, but lost in the first round to Maja Matevžič. She then qualified for her first Tier I event at Indian Wells, California, before losing in straight sets to eighth-seeded Chanda Rubin in the second round. She repeated this two weeks later by qualifying in Key Biscayne, Florida, but this time made it to the quarterfinals, after Davenport retired in their fourth-round match because of an injured hamstring. She then lost to Serena Williams, 1–6, 2–6.[5]
She qualified for the Sarasota Clay Court Classic and the Family Circle Cup, but lost in the first round of both tournaments, as well as in the first round of the Bausch & Lomb Championships. In the Internationaux de Strasbourg, she reached the quarterfinals, losing to Vera Zvonareva 1–6, 2–6. At the 2003 French Open, she earned her first victory over Rossana de los Ríos 6–3, 6–0, but lost to Jennifer Capriati in the second round. In the grass season, she made it to the third round in Birmingham, losing to Elena Dementieva after upsetting Émilie Loit in the first round. She then lost to compatriot Amélie Mauresmo in 's-Hertogenbosch. At her first Wimbledon, she drew the ninth seed, Slovak Daniela Hantuchová in the first round and lost 4–6, 1–6.
She lost in early rounds in Bank of the West Classic, JPMorgan Chase Open, Rogers AT&T Cup, and Pilot Pen Tennis. However, at the Acura Classic, she defeated her first top-20 player in Meghann Shaughnessy 3–6, 7–6, 7–5, but lost to Kim Clijsters in the third round 1–6, 1–6. She drew Hantuchová again in the first round of the US Open, and again only took five games off the Slovak, this time losing 3–6, 2–6. She then failed to qualify in the Sparkassen Cup and Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. At the end of the year, she reached the second round of Generali Ladies Linz, losing to Vera Zvonareva, and the quarterfinals of Bell Challenge, losing to Milagros Sequera, 6–1, 3–6, 1–6.
Bartoli began 2004 by getting to her first Women's Tennis Association (WTA) semifinal in the season-opener in Auckland. She got to the second round of the Australian Open for the first time, losing to 22nd-seeded Patty Schnyder in three sets.
In February, Bartoli played at the 2004 Hyderabad Open, where she won three straight matches against Ankita Bhambri, Galina Fokina, and Mervana Jugić-Salkić to reach the semifinals, before losing to eventual champion Nicole Pratt in three sets. This performance briefly made her a top-50 player.
But simultaneously she refound her doubles form of late 2003. Partnering compatriot Émilie Loit, she reached the semifinals of Acapulco, the quarterfinals of Indian Wells, and then Bartoli won her first WTA tour doubles title in Casablanca.
After a forgettable singles clay-court season (culminating in her second loss to Sugiyama at her native Grand Slam event), she rose back up the rankings by reaching the third round of Wimbledon (losing to Sugiyama for the second successive Grand Slam). She also got to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in doubles, partnering Loit for the second successive Grand Slam (they had failed to get beyond the second round of the French Open). Bartoli got to her third singles semifinal of the year in Cincinnati, before pulling out of her match with Lindsay Davenport with a blister on her right hand. She reached the second round of the US Open, despite being drawn against 32nd-seeded Meghann Shaughnessy in the first round. She lost to Russian Vera Douchevina in three sets in the second round.
In the absence of Amélie Mauresmo (with a groin injury) and Mary Pierce (with a shoulder problem), Bartoli received her debut Fed Cup call-up for France's semifinals against Spain. She was teamed with Loit again and helped complete a 5–0 whitewash of the Spanish team. In the final against Russia, Svetlana Kuznetsova had lost both of her matches, and Anastasia Myskina had won both of hers, making Bartoli's and Loit's doubles match against Myskina and Vera Zvonareva the decisive rubber. The Russian pair won the first set in a tiebreak, then the second set 7–5, handing the Fed Cup to Russia for the first time. As a result, her team leader Guy Forget resigned, and she was not chosen by the new team leader Georges Goven to play in 2005.[6]
She ended 2004 ranked world no. 41, having gone 30–24 over the year. Her hard-court record was 23–13, with clay going 4–7, grass 3–3, and carpet 0–1.
After a promising start (semifinals in Auckland and quarterfinals in Canberra), which took her to world no. 32 and winning the second doubles tournament of her career in Pattaya City, injury disrupted the second quarter of 2005 for Bartoli. The only match she played in the clay-court season was her straight-sets first-round loss to Shahar Pe'er at the French Open (where she was seeded for the first time, 28th). Her quarterfinal run at Eastbourne (where she had to retire hurt) led her to a career-high ranking of no. 27 entering Wimbledon. She lost to Jill Craybas in the second round, 1–6, 4–6. Highlights of the year were reaching the third round of the US Open for the second time (losing to Sania Mirza) and making her second Women's Tennis Association semifinal of the year (and fifth of her career) in Québec.
Her end-of-season stats were 35–26, albeit padded by a victory in a satellite tournament in Doha at the end of the year. She went 30–21 on hard courts, 0–1 on clay, 3–3 on grass, and 2–1 on carpet. She was now ranked world no. 40.
In January 2006, Bartoli at 21 years of age won her first senior title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, beating Vera Zvonareva in the final, 6–2, 6–2. The tournament marked the first time she had beaten a top-10 player, when Nadia Petrova retired in the third set of their semifinal with a leg injury. She then lost in the second round of the first three Grand Slam events of the year (losing to Roberta Vinci in Australia, Serb Jelena Janković at the French Open, and Karolina Šprem at Wimbledon, all in three sets), but she won her third career doubles title by capturing the ECM Prague Open with Shahar Pe'er in May.
The North American summer hard-court season was very productive for Bartoli, getting to the third round (and in some cases that meant the quarterfinals) of five of the seven tournaments she entered, including the US Open, where she again lost in the third round, this time to seventh-seeded Patty Schnyder. The following week, she beat the Swiss player on route to her second final of the year in Bali, where she lost to world no. 5 Svetlana Kuznetsova.
In October, Bartoli won her second Women's Tennis Association (WTA) singles title at the AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships, beating Aiko Nakamura, 2–6, 6–2, 6–2, in the final. This was the first ever WTA final contested by two players using two-handed strokes on both the forehand and backhand.[citation needed] As a result of winning the title, she broke into the top 20 for the first time. In her last event of the year, she captured the Bell Challenge in Quebec City, shutting out Olga Poutchkova in the final, 6–0, 6–0.
Bartoli finished the year ranked world no. 17. Her record was 45–28, her best on tour so far. That consisted of 37–17 on hard courts, 4–6 on clay, 3–3 on grass, and 1–2 on carpet. She was 3–6 against top-10 players.
Bartoli began 2007 with another second-round exit at the Australian Open, this time falling to Victoria Azarenka in straight sets. She then performed well at the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, defeating ninth seed Dinara Safina, 6–4, 6–3, in the third round, before losing to sixth seed Nicole Vaidišová, 6–4, 3–6, 2–6, in the fourth round.
Bartoli then began to find her form during the clay-court season, which had previously not been a successful surface for her. She reached the final of the ECM Prague Open in May, losing to Akiko Morigami. Bartoli was hindered by a hip injury during the latter stages of the Prague tournament and withdrew from the Tier I tournament in Rome as a result. After reaching the semifinals in Strasbourg, she lost to Amélie Mauresmo. Then she reached her first career Grand Slam fourth round at the French Open by defeating Aravane Rezaï, 6–2, 6–4, Andrea Petkovic, 0–6, 6–2, 6–3 and 13th seed Elena Dementieva, 6–2, 6–4. In the fourth round, she was knocked out by fourth seed Jelena Janković, 1–6, 1–6. During this match, Bartoli injured her back.
Her form continued into the grass-court season, beating Daniela Hantuchová in three sets en route to a semifinal encounter with Maria Sharapova in Birmingham, which she lost in straight sets. A week later in Eastbourne, she got to her second successive semifinal, dispatching Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals, 6–1, 6–0, before losing to world no. 1 Justine Henin, 1–6, 3–6.
At Wimbledon, Bartoli made her long-awaited Grand Slam breakthrough by advancing to her first Grand Slam final. After a win against 16th seed Shahar Pe'er, Bartoli upset third seeded Jelena Janković, 3–6, 7–5, 6–3, in a match interrupted by many rain delays. Bartoli followed this by beating Michaëlla Krajicek of the Netherlands, 3–6, 6–3, 6–2, in another delayed match. In her first Grand Slam semifinal, Bartoli came from behind to stun top-seeded Justine Henin, 1–6, 7–5, 6–1, in one of the biggest upsets in Wimbledon history.[7] Bookmakers had Henin at 1/33 to win, and Bartoli was a 10–1 outside shot. Bartoli claimed afterwards that the reason for her turnaround in the match was seeing Pierce Brosnan in the royal box and being determined to play well in front of one of her favourite actors. In her post-match interview, she asked the former James Bond star if he could come back for the final the next day to see her again. However, the following day Brosnan was unable to attend, due to a wedding. In the final, Bartoli lost to three-time former champion Venus Williams, 4–6, 1–6. Her father, who was sitting in the player's box behind Williams' father Richard, broke down and cried when she acknowledged him in her post-match remarks as being responsible for her achievements. As a result of her Wimbledon performance, she rose to a career high of no. 11 in the Women's Tennis Association rankings.
After withdrawing from the Fed Cup, her first foray into the US Open Series ended in a defeat at Stanford. Seeded second, Bartoli faced American wildcard Lilia Osterloh in the second round and lost 7–5, 4–6, 3–6. Bartoli suffered a leg injury in the first set, which hindered her movement; she also cited fatigue and illness as contributing factors to the loss. In San Diego, Bartoli edged past Aiko Nakamura 7–6, 6–1, after a first-round bye, but lost to Elena Dementieva in the third round, 4–6, 5–7. This loss was perhaps seen as surprising because Bartoli had won their last two meetings, including losing just one game at Eastbourne. Despite the loss, Bartoli claimed that her level of play was fine; however, she lost her next match in Los Angeles to an in-form Maria Kirilenko 6–7, 3–6, after receiving a bye to the second round.
Bartoli picked up her form in Toronto, winning consecutive matches for the first time since Wimbledon. She beat Maria Kirilenko and Dinara Safina, but retired in her quarterfinal match against Yan Zi when trailing 2–6, 0–3. At New Haven, she beat Virginia Ruano Pascual 6–0, 6–4, before losing to Elena Dementieva once again 4–6, 2–6.
At the US Open, she reached the fourth round for the first time by defeating world no. 25 Lucie Šafářová in three sets. In the fourth round, she lost to eight-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams 3–6, 4–6.
After her US Open performance, Bartoli began her indoor season at a small tournament in Kolkata, India. She was the top-seeded player, but lost to Vania King. She then played at the Fortis Championships in Luxembourg, where she reached her first semifinal since her Wimbledon run by beating defending champion Alona Bondarenko and top-seeded Anna Chakvetadze for her third top-10 win of the year. However, she was then beaten by Daniela Hantuchová, 2–6, 2–6. She then suffered a first-round loss in Stuttgart to Agnieszka Radwańska, 6–0, 2–6, 1–6, on her 23rd birthday.
Bartoli then moved to the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, the first Tier I of the indoor season. She was the fifth seed at this event, and in the first round beat Alona Bondarenko for the second time in three weeks, 6–2, 7–5. However, she lost in the next round to home favourite Vera Dushevina, 6–2, 0–6, 4–6. She then moved on to another Tier I event in Zürich and reached the quarterfinals with wins over Peng Shuai and Michaëlla Krajicek. Her run came to an unfortunate end against Tatiana Golovin, when she had to retire with a knee injury whilst leading 5–4. Bartoli hurt herself during the game at 4–4, where she broke Golovin to love due to a string of unforced errors from her compatriot, and despite attempts to continue, she was forced to retire and reportedly left the court in tears.[8]
Despite her injury, Bartoli still played at the Generali Ladies Linz held in Austria. After a first-round bye, she defeated homecrowd favourite Tamira Paszek in the second round, 6–2, 6–1. In the quarterfinals, she was pushed to three sets by a resilient Julia Vakulenko, but eventually prevailed, 6–1, 1–6, 6–4, to reach her second semifinal since Luxembourg. There, she lost to eventual runner-up Patty Schnyder, 6–7, 3–6, ending her hopes of reaching the WTA Tour Championships. However, after Serena Williams withdrew from the tournament due to her injury,[9] Bartoli entered the event and played in the yellow group. Since Serena had already played one match, Bartoli did not play Anna Chakvetadze. Bartoli lost 0–6, 0–6 to Justine Henin, who avenged her shock Wimbledon defeat to Bartoli, but Bartoli defeated Jelena Janković, 6–1, 1–0, after the Serbian retired.
Her final record for the year was 47–31, with 19–16 on hard courts, 14–7 on clay, 12–3 on grass, and 2–5 on carpet. Her record against top-10 players was 4–8. Despite not having earned a single title all year, she ended the year as a top-10 player at no. 10.
Bartoli started the year by playing the Medibank International in Sydney, losing to Francesca Schiavone in the second round 6–2, 3–6, 2–6. At the Australian Open, Bartoli was upset by Sofia Arvidsson 7–6, 4–6, 3–6, after Bartoli was up a break in both the second and third sets. At the Open Gaz de France, Bartoli made it to the semifinals, following easy wins over Virginie Razzano and Dominika Cibulková. However, she suffered a back injury while 6–2, 2–1 up against Anna Chakvetadze, but eventually lost 6–2, 2–6, 0–6. In Doha and Dubai, she lost to Caroline Wozniacki and Francesca Schiavone.
In the Indian Wells, California, following wins over Elena Vesnina and Angelique Kerber, she lost in the fourth round to Lindsay Davenport 5–7, 2–6. In Key Biscayne, Florida in her first match, she lost to Caroline Wozniacki 3–6, 1–6. On clay at Amelia Island, Florida, she lost in the second round to Olga Govortsova. In Charleston, South Carolina, she received a bye into the second round, where she defeated Casey Dellacqua 7–5, 4–6, 6–1, but lost to Vera Zvonareva 4–6, 6–4, 1–6. Then at the Qatar Telecom German Open, she made the third round, following an easy 6–0, 6–3 win over Lucie Šafářová, but was upset by Ágnes Szávay in the third round, 5–7, 5–7.
In Rome, she was seeded eighth and got a bye. In the third round, she was defeated by ninth-seeded Patty Schnyder 6–4, 4–6, 6–7, after leading 4–1 in the last set and holding a match point in the tiebreak. She then played in Strasbourg as the top seed. She badly injured her wrist and withdrew while trailing 1–6, 0–1 against Chinese Peng Shuai in her first match. At the French Open, she played through injury and was defeated by Dellacqua in the first round 7–6, 3–6, 2–6.
Seeded first at Birmingham, she was upset 7–5, 4–6, 0–6 by Petra Cetkovská. At Eastbourne, she defeated Sybille Bammer 6–3, 6–0, and Alisa Kleybanova 6–3, 6–3, but lost her semifinal match to eventual champion Agnieszka Radwańska 5–7, 3–6. At Wimbledon, she was seeded 11th and defeated Sabine Lisicki 6–2, 6–4, and Tathiana Perebiynis 6–2, 7–5. She was upset by Bethanie Mattek 4–6, 1–6, suffering calf and shoulder injuries.
Seeded sixth at Stanford, she defeated Akgul Amanmuradova in straight sets, Anne Keothavong, defending champion Anna Chakvetadze 6–3, 6–4, and Ai Sugiyama 6–3, 6–3, to move into her first final since Wimbledon in 2007. In the final, Bartoli lost to the Canadian qualifier Aleksandra Wozniak, 5–7, 3–6. In Montreal, she overcame a stomach virus to beat Melanie South, 6–3, 6–7, 6–0. After a walkover in the second round, Bartoli defeated Anna Chakvetadze, 4–6, 7–5, 7–6, saving three match points in the process. Then in the quarterfinals, she beat Ai Sugiyama, again in straight sets. Playing with a twisted ankle, Bartoli fell to Dominika Cibulková in the semifinals, 6–4, 4–6, 3–6.
In Cincinnati, she was seeded first, but pulled out while trailing 6–7, 2–2 to Jamea Jackson because of an abdominal strain. Then in New Haven, she defeated Tsvetana Pironkova, 2–6, 6–4, 7–5, but lost to Caroline Wozniacki, 4–6, 0–6. At the US Open, she was seeded 12th and strolled through her opening rounds against Galina Voskoboeva and Virginia Ruano Pascual. She then beat former champion and 23rd-seeded Lindsay Davenport in the third round, 6–1, 7–6. She lost to 29th-seeded Sybille Bammer in the fourth round, 6–7, 6–0, 4–6.
Bartoli's first event during the new WTA calendar was the inaugural Brisbane International. She was seeded third and defeated Monika Wejnert, 6–1, 6–2, Melinda Czink, 5–7, 6–3, 6–1, Tathiana Garbin, 6–3, 6–3. During the semifinal against Amélie Mauresmo, the latter had to retire due to injury; securing Bartoli a place in the final, which she lost to Victoria Azarenka, 3–6, 1–6. Bartoli withdrew from the Medibank International Sydney due to a left calf strain during a match with qualifier Melanie South, while tied at 1–1.
Seeded 16th at the Australian Open, she defeated Melanie South 6–2, 6–4, Tsvetana Pironkova 7–5, 6–2, and Lucie Šafářová, 3–6, 6–2, 6–1. Bartoli then stunned top seed Jelena Janković of Serbia by crushing her in straight sets 6–1, 6–4. However, she lost to seventh seeded Vera Zvonareva in the quarterfinals 3–6, 0–6. In 2010 Dubai Tennis Championships seeded 11th, she defeated Ai Sugiyama 6–0, 4–6, 7–6, and Francesca Schiavone 7–6, 3–6, 6–3, in the second round. However, in the third round, she retired while 2–5 down against Vera Zvonareva.
Bartoli then won her fourth career title at the Monterrey Open. Bartoli was seeded second, with wins over Michaëlla Krajicek 6–2, 6–4, Magdaléna Rybáriková 6–0, 6–4, Vania King 2–6, 6–2, 6–3, and Zheng Jie 7–5, 6–3. In the final, Bartoli defeated another Chinese player, unseeded Li Na 6–4, 6–3. Next, she suffered disappointing consecutive second-round defeats at Indian Wells and Miami, to Shahar Pe'er 6–1, 4–6, 5–7, and Anastasiya Yakimova 4–6, 3–6, after suffering from a viral illness.
After being too late to receive a wildcard into the Ponte Vedra Beach main draw, Bartoli accepted a wildcard into the qualifying draw and qualified. Bartoli faced the lower ranked eighth seed, Bethanie Mattek-Sands. However, Bartoli lost in a closely fought match 7–5, 6–7, 3–6. In Charleston, she was seeded sixth and defeated Anastasija Sevastova 6–1, 6–3, Melanie Oudin 6–4, 6–1, and Melinda Czink 6–4, 6–1, but lost to eventual champion Sabine Lisicki 3–6, 1–6, in the semifinal.
In Stuttgart, she defeated Karolina Šprem 6–3, 2–6, 6–1, and beat Caroline Wozniacki 7–6, 6–4. She then lost a close match against no. 3 Elena Dementieva 2–6, 6–4, 3–6. In Rome, she defeated Peng Shuai 6–0, 7–6, but fell to resurgent María José Martínez Sánchez 1–6, 5–7. In Madrid, she fell to Aleksandra Wozniak 6–7, 2–6, in the first round. At the French Open, Bartoli won her opening match against fellow Frenchwoman Pauline Parmentier 3–6, 6–1, 6–3. Bartoli was then upset by Tathiana Garbin of Italy in the second round 3–6, 5–7.
On grass, Bartoli advanced to the second round in Eastbourne by easing past Gisela Dulko 6–3, 6–1, Anna Chakvetadze 7–5, 6–3, and Anabel Medina Garrigues 6–1, 6–4, before retiring with an injury against Virginie Razzano whilst trailing 4–6, 0–1. Seeded 12th at Wimbledon, Bartoli dominated Chan Yung-jan 6–0, 6–0. She then defeated Timea Bacsinszky in the second round 7–5, 6–1, but fell 6–7, 0–6, to Francesca Schiavone in the third round.
Bartoli played her first tournament of the US Open Series in Stanford as eighth seed. She won the title by defeating Ayumi Morita 7–6, 6–3, Melanie Oudin 7–5, 6–4, Jelena Janković 3–6, 7–6, 6–3, saving two match points in the second set, Samantha Stosur in the semifinals 6–3, 1–6, 6–1, and second seed Venus Williams in the finals 6–2, 5–7, 6–4, to win her second title of the year and fifth overall.[10] Bartoli was seeded 13th at the Cincinnati Masters, but fell to Kim Clijsters in her comeback match, in the first round 4–6, 3–6. She then lost in the first round of Toronto to Alona Bondarenko 4–6, 3–6. In New Haven, she beat María José Martínez Sánchez 4–6, 6–3, 6–1, but retired from the next round against Magdaléna Rybáriková.
Seeded 14th at the 2009 US Open, Bartoli crushed Rossana de los Ríos 6–1, 6–0, but lost to eventual champion Kim Clijsters 7–5, 1–6, 2–6. Seeded 14th at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Bartoli won over Sorana Cîrstea 6–3, 6–0, Aravane Rezaï 6–4, 6–2, and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 4–6, 6–2, 7–5. In the quarterfinals, Marion lost to 7th seed Jelena Janković, 4–6, 3–6. Marion entered the China Open in Beijing and was seeded 14. She defeated Magdaléna Rybáriková, 6–2, 4–6, 6–3, Alisa Kleybanova, 6–2, 6–3, Zhang Shuai, 6–1, 6–4, and Vera Zvonareva, 3–6, 7–5, 6–2. In the semifinals, Marion lost to 12th seed Agnieszka Radwańska, 4–6, 3–6, despite being up a break at stages in both sets. As second seed in Osaka, Japan, Bartoli defeated Galina Voskoboeva, 6–3, 7–5, and Kurumi Nara, 6–1, 6–1. In the quarterfinals, Bartoli was defeated by Sania Mirza, as Marion retired due to pain in her right shoulder.
At the 2009 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali, Bartoli defeated Rybáriková, 6–4, 6–4, and qualified for the semifinals when she beat Peer, 6–3, 6–2. She then defeated Kimiko Date-Krumm, 6–1, 6–3. In the final, Bartoli lost the first set to Aravane Rezaï, 5–7, and then retired due to a left quad strain.
Bartoli started her year as the 11th seed at the 2010 Australian Open. She defeated Rossana de los Ríos in the first round, 6–4, 6–1. In the second round, she defeated Sandra Záhlavová, 6–4, 6–4. In the third round, she lost to unseeded and eventual semifinalist Zheng Jie, 7–5, 3–6, 0–6, ending her hopes of reaching the quarterfinals again.
Bartoli then competed at the 2010 Dubai Tennis Championships, where she was seeded 11th. She defeated qualifier Ekaterina Makarova in the first round, 6–2, 6–0, in just 63 minutes. In the second round, she defeated Alexandra Dulgheru, 6–2, 6–1, in just 57 minutes. In the third round, she lost to 8th seed Li Na 6–3, 5–7, 0–6, despite being up 5–2 in the second set and having two opportunities to serve out the match.
Bartoli then entered the 2010 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, where she was seeded 11th. She received a bye in the first round and defeated Polona Hercog 6–4, 6–2, in the second round. In the third round, she defeated American veteran Jill Craybas 6–2, 6–0, to move on to the fourth round, where she was once again defeated by world no. 8 and 5th seed Agnieszka Radwańska 3–6, 2–6. Despite this loss, Marion gained ranking points overall, having improved on her second round exit last year and moved up from no. 16 to no. 15 in the world.
Bartoli's then entered the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, another Premier Mandatory event, where she improved on a disappointing second-0round loss last year. As the 13th seed, she received a bye into the second round, where she defeated Magdaléna Rybáriková 6–2, 6–4, in straight sets, despite being 1–4 down in the second set. In the third round, she defeated unseeded Gisela Dulko 7–6, 6–4, to advance to the fourth round, where she defeated top seed and world no. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–3, 6–0, in under an hour. In the quarterfinals, she defeated 12th seed Yanina Wickmayer 6–4, 7–5, in just under 2 hours. At one stage in the second set, Bartoli was 2–4, 30–40 down against Wickmayer's serve, and later on faced three consecutive set points whilst serving at 4–5, 0–40. Bartoli saved them all, winning 12 of the next 13 points to close in on victory and to book her place in the semifinal against world no. 5 Venus Williams. She lost 3–6, 4–6 to the world no. 5, despite being 3–1 up in the second set. Bartoli also had trouble with her serve and served up four double faults in one game during the match, and seven overall. However, due to Marion's good performance in Miami, she moved up to no. 12 in the world.
Bartoli then began her clay-court season at the 2010 Family Circle Cup, a Premier Event in Charleston. Bartoli was seeded fifth, and as a top-8 seed she received a bye into the second round. She retired against Peng Shuai in her second round match whilst trailing 6–2, 6–7, 3–4, due to dizziness and apparent abdominal pains. She lost her semifinal points from 2009 and dropped one place in the rankings to no. 13.
She then flew to Europe to compete on the red clay and entered the 2010 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, where she had made the quarterfinals in 2009. Marion narrowly missed out on being seeded and had a tough draw, losing to 7th seed and eventual finalist Samantha Stosur in the first round, 2–6, 1–6. Marion lost valuable points again and dropped to no. 14.
Bartoli then competed at the 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open as the 12th seed. Marion defeated Polona Hercog in the first round, taking 2 hours and 30 minutes to defeat the young clay-court specialist, 3–6, 6–4, 6–4. Marion was then upset by world no. 54 Anabel Medina Garrigues in the second round 2–6, 0–6.
Bartoli then competed at her final clay-court tournament before the French Open, the 2010 Polsat Warsaw Open, where she was seeded 4th. Despite telling the press that she felt confident with the draw and her physical condition, Marion lost to world no. 78 Klára Zakopalová in the first round 6–4, 1–6, 2–6.
Bartoli then competed at the 2010 French Open as the 12th seed and French no. 1 with only one win on clay under her belt. She drew Maria Elena Camerin in the first round, and she beat her 6–2, 6–3. In the second round, she defeated compatriot and wildcard Olivia Sanchez 7–5, 6–2. She was defeated by Israeli Shahar Pe'er in the third round 6–7, 2–6.
Bartoli was seeded 8th at the AEGON International. Bartoli defeated Vera Dushevina 6–4, 7–5, Ágnes Szávay 3–6, 6–4, 6–4, and María José Martínez Sánchez 5–7, 6–4, 7–6, before falling in the semifinals to Victoria Azarenka 3–6, 5–7. It was the fourth consecutive year that Bartoli had made the semifinals at Eastbourne.
Bartoli was seeded 11th at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships. She defeated Julia Görges in the first round 6–4, 6–3, and moved straight into the third round after Petra Martić withdrew from the tournament with suspected injury. In the third round, Marion defeated qualifier Gréta Arn 6–3, 6–4, before falling 4–6, 4–6 in the fourth round to eventual semifinalist Tsvetana Pironkova.
At the 2010 Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California, where she was defending her title, she defeated American Ashley Harkleroad 6–1, 6–4, in the first round. In the second round, she defeated former world no. 1 Ana Ivanović 6–3, 6–4, before falling in the quarterfinals and losing her crown to Victoria Azarenka 6–3, 3–6, 3–6. This loss caused her to drop to world no. 20, the lowest her ranking has been for a few years.
Bartoli then flew to San Diego to compete at the 2010 Mercury Insurance Open, where she was seeded 6th. In the opening round, she was defeated by Daniela Hantuchová 3–6, 7–6, 6–4.
Bartoli then entered the 2010 Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati and was seeded 16th. She defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues 6–4, 6–0, in the first round and Alona Bondarenko 7–6, 6–1, in the second round. In the third round, she came back from a break down 3–4 in the first set to defeat second seed and world no. 3 Caroline Wozniacki 6–4, 6–1. In the quarterfinals, she was defeated by 10th seed Maria Sharapova 1–6, 4–6.
Seeded 17th at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, Bartoli defeated Canadian wildcard Valérie Tétreault in the first round 6–1, 6–0. In the second, she was scheduled to play Lucky Loser Kimiko Date-Krumm, before Kimiko withdrew from the match with a leg injury. Marion received a walkover into the third round, where she crushed qualifier Iveta Benešová 6–0, 6–1. In the quarterfinals, she was defeated for the third time this year by 10th seed Victoria Azarenka 2–6, 6–7, despite having four set points at 6–2 up in the tiebreak.
At her final tournament before the US Open, the 2010 Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven, Bartoli was seeded 6th and defeated Alona Bondarenko in a first-round marathon 6–7, 7–6, 6–3. She defeated Anastasia Rodionova in the second round 6–3, 6–1. In the quarterfinals, Marion lost an exhausting encounter with 4th seed Elena Dementieva 3–6, 6–3, 2–6.
At the 2010 US Open, Marion was seeded 13th and defeated Edina Gallovits 6–3, 6–2, in the first round. In the second round, she was upset by world no. 157 and French compatriot Virginie Razzano 5–7, 4–6.
Putting her disappointing loss at the US Open behind her, Bartoli flew to Canada to compete in the 2010 Bell Challenge in Quebec. Seeded first, she was looking to gain her first title of the year. She hammered Stéphanie Foretz Gacon in the first round 6–1, 6–1, but was upset by Canadian wildcard Rebecca Marino 3–6, 1–6, in the second round. During the match, Bartoli had trouble with her serve, and served eight double faults and three aces in eight service games, whereas Marino served 10 aces and one double fault.
Bartoli then entered the 2010 Toray Pan Pacific Open, a Premier event in Tokyo, where she attempted to defend quarterfinal points. In the first round, she defeated Yanina Wickmayer (the highest ranked unseeded player in the draw at 21) in straight sets, 6–4, 6–4. She defeated Ana Ivanović in the second round, 6–2, 6–1, to book a third-round encounter with 8th-seed Victoria Azarenka. After taking a long medical timeout at 1–4 in the first set, Marion attempted to continue, but after losing the first set 2–6, Bartoli retired due to illness.
Her next tournament was the 2010 China Open, a Premier Mandatory event in Beijing. She faced Ana Ivanović in the first round and lost, 2–6, 3–6.
Bartoli then entered her final tournament of the year, the 2010 HP Open in Osaka, Japan. Ranked no. 16 in the world, she was seeded second behind Samantha Stosur. Bartoli cruised into the quarterfinals by defeating Julie Coin, 6–2, 6–1, and Stefanie Vögele, 6–2, 6–2. She then defeated American veteran Jill Craybas, 6–1, 6–2, to book a place in the semifinals with Tamarine Tanasugarn, where she lost 2–6, 5–7.
Bartoli ended the year at world no. 16 with a total record of 34–21 and a record of 2–4 against top-10 players.
Bartoli kicked off her 2011 season on January 2 with an appearance at the 2011 Brisbane International. She was seeded fourth and defeated American qualifier Vania King in the first round, 6–1, 6–2. She then defeated Czech player Iveta Benešová, 6–1, 3–6, 6–0, to book a place in the quarterfinals, where she defeated another Czech player Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, 6–2, 6–1. In the semifinals, she was defeated by Andrea Petkovic 4–6, 2–6, despite being up a double break 4–1 in the first set.
Bartoli was top seeded at the 2011 Moorilla Hobart International in her first appearance at the tournament. A tough test was expected in the first round, as she had drawn former world no. 1 Dinara Safina in the first round. However, Bartoli won easily, 6–0, 6–1. She defeated Elena Vesnina in the next round 6–4, 6–1, before losing to fifth seed Klára Zakopalová in the quarterfinals 4–6, 2–6.
Bartoli was seeded 15th at the 2011 Australian Open Grand Slam, and she played Tathiana Garbin in the first round and won with a double bagel, 6–0, 6–0. She was defeated by Vesna Manasieva is the second round 6–3, 3–6, 0–6, after tearing her right calf muscle at 5–1 in the first set.
Bartoli was expected to be away from the tour for 4–6 weeks to recover from her injury, but she played the 2011 Dubai Tennis Championships. She was seeded 10th and defeated Kimiko Date-Krumm in the first round 7–6, 6–4. In the second round, she came back from 3–6, 1–4 to defeat Timea Bacsinszky 3–6, 6–4, 6–1. In the third round, she was defeated by 8th seed Agnieszka Radwańska 3–6, 2–6.
Her next tournament was the 2011 Qatar Ladies Open in Doha. With a strong field, Marion was unseeded and defeated Alisa Kleybanova in the first round 7–5, 6–2. She then crushed Shahar Pe'er, 6–1, 6–0, in the second round to book a quarterfinal place against Peng Shuai, whom she beat 6–2, 6–2. She then faced world no. 1 and first seed Caroline Wozniacki in the semifinals. However, she lost in straight sets 1–6, 1–6.
Bartoli’s next stop was the 2011 BMV Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur. Playing there for the first time, Bartoli was seeded second behind Francesca Schiavone. In the first round, she crushed Maria-Elena Camerin 6–0, 6–1. She defeated Ekaterina Ivanova in the second round 6–2, 6–1, before losing to fifth seed Lucie Šafářová in the quarterfinals 1–6, 4–6.
Bartoli was seeded 15th at the 2011 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. Like all seeds, she received a bye into the second round, where she faced qualifier and fellow double-hander Monica Niculescu. Bartoli came from a set and a break down at 2–6, 1–2 to win 2–6, 6–3, 6–2. She then cruised past 21st seed Andrea Petkovic in the third round 6–4, 6–2, to book a fourth-round encounter with second seed Kim Clijsters. Clijsters won the first set 6–3, but at 1–3 in the second set Clijsters retired due to a right shoulder injury. Bartoli edged 19th seed Ana Ivanović in the quarterfinals 6–4, 7–6, and easily defeated 23rd seed Yanina Wickmayer 6–1, 6–3, in the semifinals to reach the final, where she played against world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki. Bartoli was defeated 1–6, 6–2, 3–6, but returned to the top 10, regardless of the loss.
Seeded 15th at the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Bartoli received a bye into the second round, where she defeated Ayumi Morita 6–3, 2–6, 6–1. She then defeated Ekaterina Makarova 6–0, 6–2, before falling to third seed Vera Zvonareva in the fourth round 6–2, 3–6, 2–6.
Her next tournament was the 2011 Family Circle Cup, where she was seeded fourth. As a top-8 seed, she received a bye into the second round, where she was defeated by Sabine Lisicki 2–6, 3–6.
Bartoli was seeded 8th at the 2011 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart and defeated Tsvetana Pironkova in the first round 6–4, 6–1. Kristina Barrois defeated her in the second round in straight sets.
Bartoli was seeded first at the 2011 Barcelona Ladies Open in Barcelona, and Magdaléna Rybáriková defeated her in the first round in straight sets.
Bartoli's next tournament was the 2011 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, where she defeated Arantxa Parra Santonja 6–3, 6–2, before losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 5–7, 1–6, in the second round.
Her poor form on clay continued into the 2011 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, where she lost in the second round to Anabel Medina Garrigues 4–6, 3–6.
Seeded first at the 2011 Internationaux de Strasbourg, Bartoli reached the semifinals, after defeating Kimiko Date-Krumm 6–2, 6–1, receiving a walkover from Elena Baltacha and defeating 8th seed Lucie Hradecká 6–2, 6–3. She then defeated seventh seed Anabel Medina Garrigues to face second seed Andrea Petkovic in the final. However, she had to retire early in the second set.
Seeded 11th at the 2011 French Open, Bartoli won her opening round against Anna Tatishvili 1–6, 6–2, 6–1. In the second round, she beat Olga Govortsova in a tight baseline battle in just under three hours 6–4, 6–7, 6–2. Bartoli then defeated 17th seed Julia Goerges 3–6, 6–2. 6–4. She moved to the quarterfinals after Gisela Dulko retired from their fourth round match at 7–5, 1–0. Bartoli's dream of playing in the second week of her home slam became a reality, as she faced 13th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals. After two hours, Bartoli moved into the final four with a 7–6, 6–4 win. In the semifinals, she faced defending champion, Francesca Schiavone. Bartoli eventually lost, bringing her French Open campaign to an end 3–6, 3–6.
Moving onto the grass, Bartoli won the 2011 AEGON International at Eastbourne by defeating Lucie Šafářová 6–3, 3–6, 7–6, and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6–3, 6–3. She then moved past third seed Victoria Azarenka, when Victoria retired during their match due to a thigh injury. Bartoli reached the semifinals for the fifth straight year and beat seventh seed Samantha Stosur. She then beat eighth seed Petra Kvitová to win the title.
Seeded ninth at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, Bartoli breezed into the second round with a 6–0, 6–2 win over Czech qualifier Kristyna Pliskova. Her next opponent was Lourdes Dominguez Lino, whom she defeated 4–6, 7–5, 6–2. She advanced to the third round and faced the 21st seed, Flavia Pennetta. Bartoli finally won the match, which lasted over three hours, with a score of 5–7, 6–4, 9–7. She then defeated defending champion and grass-court veteran Serena Williams in the fourth round in straight sets 6–3, 7–6. Bartoli described beating Williams as the greatest win of her life.[11] In the quarterfinals, she lost 4–6, 7–6, 1–6 to Sabine Lisicki in a match notable for taking place under the centre-court roof in the middle of a ferocious thunderstorm.
Seeded third at Stanford, Bartoli received a bye into the second round. She then defeated Rebecca Marino 6–4, 6–3, to move into the quarterfinals, thus defending her points from 2010. She reached the semifinals when Ayumi Morita retired from their match after losing the first set 1–6. Bartoli earned a spot in the final after 8th seed Dominika Cibulková withdrew due to an abdominal injury.[12] In the final, Bartoli was defeated by Serena Williams, 5–7, 1–6. Bartoli held a 4–2 lead in the first set, before injuring her right hand. She even served for the first set at 5–4, but her game diminished to hand Williams her first title after her comeback from injury.
Bartoli entered the 2011 Rogers Cup in Toronto and lost in the first round 3–6, 3–6 to Kazakh qualifier Galina Voskoboeva. At the 2011 Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, she beat Alona Bondarenko. 6–1, 6–2. but she lost in the second round to Daniela Hantuchova. 3–6, 7–5, 3–6. Due to her lack of match play before the US Open, Bartoli accepted a wildcard into the 2011 New Haven Open at Yale. She won her opening two rounds, defeating Anastasia Rodionova 6–1, 6–4, and Klara Zakopalova 6–2, 2–6, 6–1, before losing to Petra Cetkovska in the quarterfinals 5–7, 5–7.
At the 2011 US Open, Bartoli suffered another second-round exit. After defeating Alexandra Panova in the first round 7–5, 6–3, she lost to American teenager Christina McHale 6–7, 2–6.
Following her poor run in the United States, Bartoli's ranking dropped to no. 10, and her RACE ranking dropped to no. 8, causing her to increase her schedule to five tournaments during the Asia tour.
Seeded second at the 2011 Hansol Korea Open in Seoul, Bartoli defeated Nuria Llagostera Vives in the first round, 6–2, 6–2. Her second-round opponent was Vania King, who defeated her, 3–6, 5–7. Bartoli hit 17 double faults during the match.
Seeded seventh at the 2011 Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Bartoli received a bye in the opening round, before defeating Ayumi Morita 6–3, 0–6, 6–3. She defeated Peng Shuai 6–2, 6–1, to reach the quarterfinals, where she was defeated by third seed Victoria Azarenka 5–7, 0–6.
Seeded eighth at the 2011 China Open, Bartoli defeated Iveta Benesova in the first round 3–6, 6–4, 7–5. In the second round, she cruised past Christina McHale, 6–2, 6–1. In the third round, she came up against ninth seed Andrea Petkovic. Bartoli built up a 6–4, 3–1 lead before losing 10 of the next 12 games to go 6–4, 4–6, 1–5 down. Bartoli battled back to 5–5, before losing two more games to lose the match 4–6, 6–4, 7–5, making her hopes of qualifying for the year-end championships uncertain.
At the 2011 HP Open in Osaka, Bartoli defeated Melinda Czink 6–2, 6–2, Vania King 6–1, 6–2, 6th seed Ayumi Morita 6–2, 6–1 and No.3 seed Angelique Kerber 6–1, 7–6 to reach the final. She took the title by defeating No.1 seed and US Open Champion Samantha Stosur 6–3, 6–1 in 1 hour 14 minutes. She then entered the 2011 Kremlin Cup in Moscow as the No.3 seed. She received a bye into the second round and defeated Ksenia Pervak 6–1, 6–1. Bartoli then withdrew from the tournament due to a viral illness.
Bartoli finished the year 9th in the race to the Year End Championships in Istanbul, thus earning a place as the first alternate player alongside Andrea Petkovic who finished 10th. Following the withdrawal of No.2 seed Maria Sharapova after her second of three matches, Bartoli took the place of Sharapova in the final match against Victoria Azarenka, which she won 5–7, 6–4, 6–4.
Due to winning the 2011 HP Open title, she qualified for the 2011 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali, Indonesia. She was the No.1 seed but had to retire in her opening match against Anabel Medina Garrigues due to injuring her ankle at 6–4, 6–7, 0–1.
Bartoli finished the year ranked No.9 in the world with her best Win-Loss record of her career with 58–24. She reached an astonishing 15 quarterfinals, 8 semi-finals and 5 finals and won 2 titles (Eastbourne and Osaka), resulting in her best year financially, earning $1,722,863 in tournament prize money alone.
Bartoli competed for France alongside Richard Gasquet in the 2012 Hopman Cup. They defeated China 2–1, Australia 3–0 and Spain 2–0 to book a place in the final against the Czech Republic which they lost 0–2.
Ranked No.9, Bartoli entered her first WTA tournament of the year in Sydney and was seeded 8th. In the first round she defeated Polona Hercog 6–3, 6–3. In the second round she defeated Jelena Dokic 6–0, 6–3 to set up a quarterfinal clash with No.3 seed Victoria Azarenka. She lost 5–7, 4–6 despite being up a break in both sets.
At the 2012 Australian Open, Bartoli defeated compatriot Virginie Razzano 7–5, 6–0 in the first round, and Jelena Dokic 6–3, 6–2 in the second round. In the third round she was upset by Zheng Jie 6–3, 6–3. Despite the premature exit, Bartoli broke into the top eight in the rankings for the first time.
Ranked No.7, Bartoli was seeded 2nd behind Maria Sharapova for the 2012 Open GDF Suez in Paris, an indoor tournament commencing on 6th February. She received a bye into the second round where she defeated Petra Martic 7–5, 6–1. In the quarterfinals she defeated No.7 seed Roberta Vinci in a marathon match. Bartoli lost the first set and rallied back from a double break down in both the second and third sets to clinch a 4–6, 6–4, 7–6 victory. In the semifinals she defeated Klara Zakopalova 7–6, 6–0 but in the final she lost to No.9 seed Angelique Kerber 6–7, 7–5, 3–6.
In Doha, Bartoli was seeded fifth and advanced to the semi-finals by defeating Anabel Medina Garrigues 6–2, 6–0, Tsvetana Pironkova 6–3, 6–3 and Lucie Safarova 7–5, 4–6, 6–1. She retired due to an injury at 3–6, 0–0 against No.3 seed Samantha Stosur in the semi-finals.
At Indian Wells, Bartoli reached the quarterfinals by defeating Varvara Lepchenko, Chanelle Scheepers and Lucie Safarova. She fell to Ana Ivanovic 3–6, 4–6.
Seeded 7th in Miami, and armed with her new Prince EXO3 Warrior racket, Bartoli received a bye into the second round where she defeated Polona Hercog 5–7, 6–2, 6–1. In the third round she came back from a 2–5 deficit in the second set to defeat Simona Halep 6–4, 7–6. In the fourth round she crushed No.22 seed Maria Kirilenko 6–1, 6–2. Bartoli's big victory came in the quarterfinals where she defeated World No.1 Victoria Azarenka 6–3, 6–3, ending Azarenka's 26 match win streak. In the semi-finals she was defeated by No.5 seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6–4, 6–2.
At Charleston, Bartoli was seeded No.3 and received a bye into the second round where she defeated Vera Dushevina 6–2, 6–7(3), 6–4. In the third round she lost to Polona Hercog 6–4, 1–6, 6–4.
Ranked and seeded No.7, Bartoli entered the 2012 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. In the first round she defeated qualifier Iveta Benesova 6–3, 6–2. Bartoli was then crushed 6–3, 6–1 by rising star Mona Barthel in the second round. Bartoli didn't perform any better at the 2012 Mutua Madrid Open where she was defeated by Sorana Cirstea 6–7(8), 6–4, 6–3 in the first round. Seeded 7th once again, Bartoli entered the 2012 Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome and got a bye into the second round where she lost 6–3, 6–1 to Julia Goerges. Bartoli then lost in the first round of Brussels to Urszula Radwanska 6–4, 6–2.
Bartoli dropped to No.8 in the world and was seeded 8th at the 2012 French Open in Paris, where she is defending semifinal points from last year. Having only won 1 match on red clay in 2012, Bartoli will play against qualifier Karolina Pliskova in the first round.
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Persondata | |
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Name | Bartoli, Marion |
Alternative names | |
Short description | French tennis player |
Date of birth | October 2, 1984 |
Place of birth | Geneva, Switzerland |
Date of death | |
Place of death |
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Country | ![]() |
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Residence | Palm Beach Gardens, FL |
Born | (1990-08-29) August 29, 1990 (age 21) |
Retired | Active |
Career prize money | $16,702 |
Singles | |
Career record | 16-8 |
Career titles | 1 ITF |
Highest ranking | No. 399 (June 9, 2008) |
Grand Slam Singles results | |
US Open | 1R (2010) |
Doubles | |
Career record | 5-4 |
Career titles | 0 |
Highest ranking | 665 (July 7, 2008) |
Last updated on: August 29, 2010. |
Chelsey Gullickson (born August 29, 1990) is an American tennis player. Her highest WTA singles ranking is 399, which she reached on June 9, 2008. Her career high in doubles is 665, which she reached on July 7, 2008. She is the sister of professional tennis player Carly Gullickson and daughter of former major league baseball pitcher Bill Gullickson.
She won the 2010 NCAA Women's Tennis Championship in singles for the University of Georgia. Although not having a WTA rank at the time, she received two wild cards for the 2010 US Open where she drew the top seed Caroline Wozniacki in the first singles round and will also play doubles with her sister Carly. She lost to Wozniacki 1-6, 1-6 in the first round.
Persondata | |
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Name | Gullickson, Chelsey |
Alternative names | |
Short description | Tennis player |
Date of birth | August 29, 1990 |
Place of birth | |
Date of death | |
Place of death |
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This American biographical article related to tennis is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
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![]() Stosur at the 2009 US Open |
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Country | ![]() |
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Residence | Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia |
Born | (1984-03-30) 30 March 1984 (age 28) Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
Height | 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in) |
Weight | 65 kg (140 lb; 10.2 st) |
Turned pro | 1999 |
Plays | Right (two-handed backhand) |
Career prize money | $ 10,401,252 |
Singles | |
Career record | 380–260 |
Career titles | 3 WTA, 4 ITF |
Highest ranking | No. 4 (21 February 2011) |
Current ranking | No. 6 (28 May 2012) |
Grand Slam Singles results | |
Australian Open | 4R (2006, 2010) |
French Open | F (2010) |
Wimbledon | 3R (2009) |
US Open | W (2011) |
Other tournaments | |
Championships | SF (2010, 2011) |
Doubles | |
Career record | 342–158 |
Career titles | 23 WTA, 11 ITF |
Highest ranking | No. 1 (6 February 2006) |
Current ranking | No. 42 (28 May 2012) |
Grand Slam Doubles results | |
Australian Open | F (2006) |
French Open | W (2006) |
Wimbledon | F (2008, 2009, 2011) |
US Open | W (2005) |
Other Doubles tournaments | |
WTA Championships | W (2005, 2006) |
Olympic Games | 2R (2008) |
Mixed Doubles | |
Career titles | 2 |
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results | |
Australian Open | W (2005) |
French Open | SF (2005) |
Wimbledon | W (2008) |
US Open | 2R (2008) |
Last updated on: 28 May 2012. |
Samantha "Sam" Jane Stosur (English pronunciation: /ˈstoʊzər/ STOH-zər, born 30 March 1984) is an Australian professional tennis player. She won the 2011 US Open singles title and was a finalist at the 2010 French Open. Stosur is ranked World No. 6 and her career high in singles is World No. 4, achieved on 21 February 2011. She is a former world No. 1 on the WTA Tour in doubles with Lisa Raymond from the United States.
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Stosur was born in Brisbane, Queensland, the daughter of Tony and Diane, and has two brothers, Dominic and Daniel.[1] She is of Polish descent through her grandfather.[2] When she was six, the family house and business on the Gold Coast was destroyed by a flood, and the family moved to Adelaide.[3] There she started playing tennis, when she was given a racquet for Christmas at the age of eight. While her parents worked long hours at the cafe they had started, Stosur played at local courts with older brother Daniel, who later encouraged their parents to take her to tennis lessons.[4] Stosur attended Helensvale State High School on the Northern Gold Coast.[5] She went away on her first overseas trip at the age of 13, competing in the World Youth Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia.[1]
At the age of 14, Stosur joined the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) under Geoff Masters. In 2001, when she was 16, she joined the Australian Institute of Sport tennis program.[1]
Stosur travels with a small entourage comprising Coach Dave Taylor and Personal Trainer Simmone Morrow. While Taylor is well known in the tennis circle as the Fed Cup Captain for Australia, little is known about Morrow. Commentators such as Sam Smith from Eurosport UK have attributed Stosur's high level of fitness to Morrow, stating that both Taylor and Morrow have an equal part to play in Stosur's 2011 success at the US Open. Morrow, who is a retired Olympic softball player, despite having been in Stosur's entourage since early 2009, has only been recently identified by Eurosport's Sam Smith as Stosur's personal trainer.
Stosur is single and is good friends with tennis players Gigi Fernandez, Rennae Stubbs and Lisa Raymond.
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Stosur first played professional tennis in 1999 on the ITF circuit. She debuted on the Women's Tennis Association tour in 2000, losing in the first qualifying round of the Australian Open. In 2001 she won four straight ITF titles. In 2002 she lost in the first round at the Gold Coast event.
In 2003, Stosur won her first WTA singles matches, reaching the third round of the Australian Open. She lost in the third round to no. 7 seed, Daniela Hantuchová. She also qualified for a WTA event in Memphis.
In 2004, Stosur reached the semifinals of the Gold Coast event, before falling to Ai Sugiyama. The next week, she reached the second round of the WTA tournament in Hobart, then the second round of the Australian Open. She later qualified for WTA events in Acapulco, Indian Wells, Vienna and Birmingham. Stosur competed at the Athens Olympics, where she lost in the first round. She continued to play WTA qualifying events, qualifying for the Japan Open and Bali in the autumn of 2004. At the end of the 2004 season, Stosur reached the doubles final in Québec City, partnered with Els Callens from Belgium.
In 2005 Stosur reached her first WTA tour final at her home event in Gold Coast, losing to Patty Schnyder. She was runner-up at the Sydney event, defeating by walkover the world no. 1 Lindsay Davenport in the quarterfinal and Elena Dementieva in the semifinal, before losing to fellow Australian Alicia Molik, and won her first doubles title partnering Australian Bryanne Stewart at the same tournament. Stosur lost to world no. 2 Amélie Mauresmo in the first round of the Australian Open, but won the mixed doubles title with Scott Draper over Liezel Huber and Kevin Ullyett.
In July, she teamed up with American Lisa Raymond, winning seven WTA doubles titles before the end of the year, including the U.S. Open, the Kremlin Cup, and the WTA Tour Championships. Stosur finished the year ranked no. 46 in singles and no. 2 in doubles.
In 2006 Stosur represented Australia alongside Todd Reid at the Hopman Cup, winning all of her singles matches. She then lost in the first round in Sydney to Czech Nicole Vaidišová in three sets.
At the Australian Open, Stosur made it to the fourth round in singles, falling to Martina Hingis. She and Lisa Raymond also made it to the women's doubles final, where they were defeated by Chinese duo Yan Zi and Zheng Jie.
After losing at the Australian Open, Stosur and Raymond won 18 straight matches, winning titles in Tokyo, Memphis, Indian Wells, and Miami. They also won in Charleston, at the French Open, and the WTA Tour Championships.
On 28 August, Stosur achieved a career-high ranking of number 30, after reaching the semifinals at New Haven, where she lost to Lindsay Davenport in two tiebreakers. She finished off the year winning the doubles title at the WTA Tour Championships in Madrid, ranked no. 1 in doubles and a career-high to that point no. 29 in singles.
Stosur and Lisa Raymond successfully defended their doubles titles in Tokyo, Indian Wells, and Miami. The pair also won the German Open in Berlin. In singles, Stosur reached three quarterfinals, at Gold Coast, Tokyo, and Memphis. In Rome, she defeated first seed Amélie Mauresmo in the second round, saving two match points, before losing to Patty Schnyder in the following round.
After the French Open, Stosur started showing symptoms of what would only after months be diagnosed as Lyme disease, an infection transmitted by the bite of ticks. By then, her form had slumped. She lost in the second round at Wimbledon, withdrew from many tournaments on the US hardcourt circuit, and lost in the first round of the U.S. Open, where she was seeded 29th, to the then ranked no. 96 Alizé Cornet of France. Stosur did not play any more tournaments in 2007.
Stosur returned playing two ITF tournaments before the 2008 Rome Masters in May, where she was defeated in the second round by Venus Williams. The tournament also saw the return of the doubles team of Stosur and Lisa Raymond with a second round loss. Less than a month later, they were defeated in the third round of the 2008 French Open, where Stosur reached the second round in singles, losing to Petra Kvitová.
Stosur showed great promise at Wimbledon; while only making the second round in singles, losing to Nicole Vaidišová, she made the finals of both the ladies and mixed doubles. She and Lisa Raymond lost the final to Venus and Serena Williams. The Williams sisters had just played against each other in the final of the ladies singles. With mixed doubles partner Bob Bryan, Stosur defeated Mike Bryan and Katarina Srebotnik to win the title.
At the Beijing Olympics, Stosur was defeated in the second round of the singles tournament by no. 4 seed Serena Williams. In doubles, Stosur (formerly ranked no. 1) partnered Rennae Stubbs, ranked no. 5 at the time; however, the pair were unseeded because the ITF determined the seedings for the doubles competition based on both singles and doubles rankings standings. The pair lost in the second round to the Spanish team of Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual, who were then ranked no. 2.
At the US Open, Stosur lost in the first round of singles to seventh seed Venus Williams. She and Mahesh Bhupathi were eliminated in the second round of the mixed doubles competition by Rennae Stubbs and Robert Lindstedt. Raymond and Stosur were runners-up at the women's doubles event, losing to the top ranked team of Cara Black and Liezel Huber.
By the end of the year Stosur was ranked no. 52 in the WTA singles rankings, 110 spots above her ranking in June. In spite of missing the first 4 1/2 months of the tour, Raymond and Stosur finished the season as the seventh best team at the Race to the Sony Ericsson Championships, with Stosur ranked no. 14 in doubles, 156 positions higher than she was when she returned to playing on the ITF circuit.
In her first tournament of the year, Stosur fell to Lucie Šafářová in the second round of the Brisbane International. At the Medibank International, she was defeated by no. 1 seed Serena Williams, 6–3, 6–7, 7–5. Seeded fourth in doubles, the pair of Stosur and Rennae Stubbs lost to Peng Shuai and Hsieh Su-wei in the first round of the tournament. Stosur lost in the third round to world no. 4 Elena Dementieva, 7–6, 6–4. She also won through to the third round in doubles, partnering Stubbs, defeating the Radwańska sisters 6–1, 6–4. However, they then lost to eventual champions Venus and Serena Williams, 4–6, 2–6.
In the Fed Cup Asia/Oceanic Zone competition, Stosur won four matches against various opponents from South Korea, Thailand, and Chinese Taipei. The Australian team, which also included Casey Dellacqua and Jelena Dokić, advanced to the World Group II play-offs, winning all of its twelve rubbers.
At the Dubai Tennis Championships, Stosur was defeated in the second round by Zheng Jie. Together with Stubbs, she was ousted in the semifinals of the doubles competition by the world no.1 team of Cara Black and Liezel Huber, 4–6, 4–6.
In Indian Wells, Stosur was eliminated in the second round by Agnieszka Radwańska 6–3, 3–6, 5–7. In doubles, Stosur lost to Vera Zvonareva and Victoria Azarenka in the second round 2–6, 6–3, 7–10. At the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Stosur defeated no. 2 seed Dinara Safina in the third round, 6–1, 6–4. Safina would have reached the no. 1 ranking had she won the match. She lost to Victoria Azarenka 1–6, 0–6. She reached the same round in doubles, losing to Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Patty Schnyder, 7–6, 2–6, 8–10. Due to her results, Stosur's singles ranking rose from 43 to 31.
At the MPS Group Championships in Ponte Vedra Beach, Stosur was eliminated in the first round by no. 2 seed and eventual champion Caroline Wozniacki, 3–6, 7–6, 1–6. She then played for the Australian Fed Cup team in Mildura, Australia against Switzerland in their World Group II playoff on 25–26 April. Stosur won the opening rubber of the tie in straight sets then sealed the victory for Australia in the third rubber with a tight three-set victory, improving her 2009 Fed Cup singles record to 6–0. With this result, the Australian team advanced to the World Group II in 2010.
On to the clay season, Stosur was eliminated in the first round of the Rome Masters by qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova, and was also defeated in her first match in doubles. She then competed at the Madrid Masters, where she upset no.10 seed Agnieszka Radwańska in the first round, but fell to Anna Chakvetadze in the second round 6–1, 2–6, 6–7. Stosur and Stubbs made it to the semifinals, but were defeated by the world no. 1 team of Cara Black and Liezel Huber 5–7, 6–7.
At the 2009 French Open, Stosur and Stubbs fell in the third round to 16th seeds Yan Zi and Zheng Jie. In singles, Stosur defeated Francesca Schiavone, 6–4, 6–2, in the first round and Yanina Wickmayer, 6–3, 4–6, 6–4, in the second. She then beat fourth seed Elena Dementieva in the third round, 6–3, 4–6, 6–1, and Virginie Razzano of France, 6–1, 6–2, for a place in the quarterfinals, where she defeated Sorana Cîrstea, 6–1, 6–3, and advanced to her first ever Grand Slam semifinal against no. 7 seed and eventual champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova. After losing the first set 4–6, Stosur fought back a break of serve to win the second set 7–6, after trailing 2–5 in the tiebreaker, but lost in the final set 3–6. This made her the lowest seed in the tournament to reach the furthest. With this result, Stosur cracked the top 20 on the WTA Rankings for the first time in her career.
Stosur started the grass season playing at the AEGON International. She lost in the second round to sixth seed and eventual champion Caroline Wozniacki, 1–6, 7–5, 1–6. Having beaten the world no. 1 team of Cara Black and Liezel Huber in the semifinals, she was a runner-up in the doubles tournament, losing the final to Ai Sugiyama and Akgul Amanmuradova.
As the 18th seed at Wimbledon, Stosur lost in the third to 13th seed Ana Ivanović, 5–7, 2–6. In ladies' doubles, Stosur reached her second consecutive final, this time partnering Rennae Stubbs. The third seeds beat second seeds Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual in three sets, 6–7, 6–4, 6–2 in the semifinals, but were defeated in the final by fourth seeds Venus and Serena Williams in straight sets, 6–7, 4–7. Stosur was also defending the mixed doubles title together with Bob Bryan, but the second seeds were defeated in the quarterfinals by 9th seeds and eventual champions Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Mark Knowles.
Stosur started the US Open Series in Stanford, making it into the semifinals, where she lost to eighth seed Marion Bartoli.
Stosur then competed at the LA Women's Tennis Championships as the no. 13 seed. She made it to her fifth WTA Tour final, where she lost to no. 10 seed Flavia Pennetta. Her next tournament was Toronto, where she defeated no. 6 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round, 6–4, 6–3, before being eliminated by 4th seed and eventual champion Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals 6–7, 6–1, 6–3. At the same tournament, Stosur and Stubbs defeated the world no. 1 team of Cara Black and Liezel Huber in the semifinals, 3–6, 6–3, [10–7], but lost to Nuria Llagostera Vives and María José Martínez Sánchez, 6–2, 5–7, [9–11], in the final.
With these results, Stosur improved her ranking to a career-high no. 15 in singles just in time for the US Open, where she was seeded accordingly. She lost to American Vania King in the second round, 5–7, 6–4–6. Stosur entered the doubles event with compatriot Rennae Stubbs. As the third seeds, they made the semifinals without dropping a set, where they faced no. 1 seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber. They won the first set, but lost the next two after a two-day rain interruption, 7–5, 3–6, 1–6.
At the 2009 Toray Pan Pacific Open, Stosur was defeated by Maria Sharapova in the second round, 0–6, 1–6. Seeded 15th at the China Open, Stosur lost a three-setter to Alizé Cornet. Stosur then played in Osaka as the third seed. Stosur captured her first-ever title on the WTA tour by beating Francesca Schiavone in the finals, 7–5, 6–1, in just over an hour. This win secured her a spot at the 2009 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions held in Bali. She also qualified at the 2009 WTA Tour Championships in the doubles event partnering compatriot Rennae Stubbs. They lost a hard-fought semifinals match against no. 1 seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber, 6–3, 6–7 8–10.
Stosur was one of only two players on tour who played at both year-end championships. The other one was María José Martínez Sánchez, who was in Stosur's group at Bali for the round-robin stage with Ágnes Szávay. Stosur won her first match against Szávay in three sets, 6–2, 3–6, 6–1, but lost her second to María José Martínez Sánchez, 6–7, 5–7. This loss cost her the semifinals spot, as Martínez Sánchez won both her round-robin matches.
After her success in 2009, Stosur decided to focus on singles and take part in doubles less. Her partnership with Rennae Stubbs ended, and she partnered with Nadia Petrova; she took part in only the major tournaments in hopes of reaching the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha.
Alongside Lleyton Hewitt, Stosur represented Australia at the 2010 Hopman Cup. The Australians were the top seeds. Their first tie was against Romania, where Stosur lost unexpectedly to Sorana Cîrstea in a three-setter, and then lost in the mixed doubles, 5–7, 1–6. The next tie was against the USA, where Stosur beat Melanie Oudin in straight sets, 6–2, 6–4. Hewitt also won his singles match against John Isner, sealing the tie. In mixed doubles, Hewitt-Stosur lost 6–2, 1–6, 5–10. To advance to the final, Australia needed to win their tie against Spain 3–0. This result was, however, reversed, Australia losing to Spain 0–3. Stosur's last preparation tournament prior to the Australian Open was the Medibank International. Stosur lost to Flavia Pennetta,3–6, 1–6, in the first round.
Stosur was guaranteed a seeding of 13 for the 2010 Australian Open. She lost against world number 1 and defending champion Serena Williams, 4–6, 2–6. Despite the loss, she moved up to a career-high ranking of no. 11. She played with Russian Nadia Petrova in the doubles event of the Australian Open. They were seeded fifth, but lost to another Russia-Australian duo, Vera Dushevina and Anastasia Rodionova in the first round.
She then travelled to Adelaide to represent Australia at the Fed Cup alongside Alicia Molik, Casey Dellacqua, and Rennae Stubbs against Spain. Stosur won both of her singles matches by beating María José Martínez Sánchez, 2–6, 6–4, 6–4, and Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6–1, 6–3. Stosur and Rennae Stubbs won their doubles match, 6–4, 6–2, gifting Australia a 3–2 win in the tie.
Her next tournament was the Dubai Tennis Championships, where she was seeded ninth. Stosur was stunned in the opening round, 6–3, 2–6, 6–7, at the hands of veteran Tathiana Garbin. She had better success in the doubles partnering Nadia Petrova. The pair was seeded fourth and reached the semifinals after receiving a first-round bye, then a walkover, and a win against fifth seeds Alisa Kleybanova and Francesca Schiavone, 6–7, 7–5, [11–9].
Seeded eighth at the BNP Paribas Open, Stosur received a first-round bye. In the quarterfinals, she defeated 12th seed and defending champion Vera Zvonareva, 6–2, 7–6, to move through to her first semifinal at the tournament, where she lost to eventual champion Jelena Janković, 2–6, 4–6, with Stosur making 47 unforced errors in the match. With her success, she reached a career-high ranking of no. 10, making her only the third Australian woman to achieve this feat in 10 years, after Jelena Dokić reached number 4 in 2002 and Alicia Molik reached number 8 in 2005. In doubles, Stosur was third seed with Nadia Petrova. They had a comfortable route to the final, dropping only one set, where they lost 4–6, 6–2, [5–10] to Květa Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik
Stosur's next tournament was the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, where she was seeded ninth. Due to her seeding, Stosur received a bye in the first round. She lost in the quarterfinals, losing to eventual champion Kim Clijsters, 3–6, 5–7. In the doubles draw, Stosur and Petrova were seeded third and reached the final without dropping a set. However, Stosur and Petrova were defeated in the second straight final, losing in a super-tiebreak 3–6, 6–4, [7–10] to Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta.
Stosur began her clay season at the Family Circle Cup, where she was seeded fourth. In the final, she defeated Vera Zvonareva, 6–0, 6–3, for her fifth consecutive victory over the Russian. With this, she won her second and biggest WTA title, which put her back inside the top 10 at world no. 10. She is the only Australian woman to have won this title.
Then, Stosur competed in the World Group Play-offs in Ukraine. After the first day, the Aussies had a commanding lead, going 2–0 against Ukraine. This was helped by a 6–3, 6–0 win from Stosur against Mariya Koryttseva, and Anastasia Rodionova's win over Alona Bondarenko, 0–6, 6–3, 7–5. Stosur then secured victory for Australia with a 7–6, 6–3 win over Lyudmyla Kichenok. Because of this, Australia played in the World Group in 2011 against the top seed Italy.
Stosur then competed at the 2010 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart. Her 11-game winning streak was ended by former world no. 1 Justine Henin in the final, 4–6, 6–2, 1–6. Despite this result, Stosur was awarded a new career high ranking of world no. 8.
Her next scheduled tournament was the Rome Masters; however, Stosur had to withdraw due to fatigue. With this, her next scheduled tournament was the Madrid Open as the no. 8 seed. In the quarterfinals, Stosur was broken multiple times by Venus Williams, losing 3–6, 3–6. Because of her run, she rose to world no. 7. In doubles, Stosur resumed her partnership with Nadia Petrova as third seeds with a first-round bye. However, they were knocked out in the second round by Anastasia Rodionova and Patty Schnyder.
Coming in to the French Open Stosur was seeded seventh and was one of the favourites to win the title, due to her semifinal run in 2009 and her tour-best 14–2 record on clay in 2010. She was drawn in the same quarter as Justine Henin, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams, which was dubbed the toughest section of the draw. Becoming the first Australian woman to reach a Grand Slam singles final since Wendy Turnbull at the 1980 Australian Open, she was the heavy favourite for the title, by dispatching three consecutive former world no. 1's and favorites for the title (4th – Justine Henin, QF – Serena Williams and SF – Jelena Janković). She was upset by Italian Francesca Schiavone, 4–6, 6–7.
In doubles, Stosur and her partner Nadia Petrova were the fourth seeds. They defeated Irina Pavlovic and Laura Thorpe in the first round, 6–4, 6–4, then defeated Vania King and Michaëlla Krajicek in the second round 6–4, 6–7, 6–4. Their run came to an end at the hands of Ukrainian sisters Alona Bondarenko and Kateryna Bondarenko, when the fourth seeds retired trailing 1–6, 0–1.
Stosur's next scheduled tournament was the AEGON International in Eastbourne in the week prior to Wimbledon. In the semifinal. she was defeated by eventual champion Ekaterina Makarova. 6–7, 5–7, in a disappointing display, despite leading the first set 3–0 and having a chance to serve for that set at 5–3. With her semifinals appearance in the AEGON International in Eastbourne, she attained a new career high of world no. 6. Also, with this appearance, she was ranked no. 1 in the race to the WTA Tour Championships in Doha.
Her next tournament was the 2010 Wimbledon Championships. As the sixth seed, Stosur fell in the first round to Kaia Kanepi, 4–6, 4–6, after saving three match points. As the 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone also lost in the first round, Stosur and Schiavone were the first two women in history who reached the French Open final, but failed to win a match at Wimbledon. Despite not winning a match, she received a new career-high ranking of world no. 5, due to Elena Dementieva's withdrawal from the tournament due to injury. Dementieva held the world no. 5 position before the 2010 Wimbledon Championships began and had semifinal points to defend.
Stosur also played in the doubles event, hoping to have success similar to the previous year with then-partner Rennae Stubbs. She played with her 2010 partner Nadia Petrova as the third seeds, but lost in the third round to eventual champions Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova, 4–6, 4–6. She also competed in the mixed doubles event as first seeds with Nenad Zimonjić. They received a bye in the first round, and in the second round, they defeated Colin Fleming and Sarah Borwell, 6–1, 6–4. They then faced the Belgium duo Xavier Malisse and Kim Clijsters, but lost 4–6, 6–7.
Stosur's next scheduled tournament was the 2010 Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, where she was the first seed, but lost in a semifinal match-up with Victoria Azarenka, 2–6, 3–6.
She then participated in the Mercury Insurance Open in San Diego. As the second seed, she lost in the quarterfinals to Flavia Pennetta, 4–6, 3–6.
Due to a shoulder injury, she withdrew from her next two events; the Cincinnati Masters and the Rogers Cup in Montreal. This meant that Stosur had only taken part in one of the five Premier 5 tournaments of the year. By missing both Premier 5 tournaments, Stosur fell to no. 6, since Kim Clijsters won the Cincinnati Masters tournament.
After taking time off to recover from her injury, Stosur took part in the 2010 Pilot Pen Tennis tournament at New Haven, in hopes of regaining some of the lost ranking points and in preparation for the US Open. Stosur lost to Nadia Petrova, 1–6, 2–6, in the quarterfinals.
At the 2010 US Open Stosur was seeded fifth. In her first quarterfinal at the US Open, she was up a break in the third set, before falling to defending champion and second seed Kim Clijsters, 4–6, 7–5, 3–6. Stosur announced that she would not take part in the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Instead, Stosur competed at the final Premier Mandatory event of the year, the China Open, where she lost in the first round to qualifier, Anastasija Sevastova in three sets, 6–2, 6–7, 5–7. Stosur qualified in singles for the year-ending WTA Tour Championships in Doha for the first time in her career, following the withdrawal of American, Venus Williams.[6]
Stosur then attempted to defend her title at the 2010 HP Open as top seed, her only WTA International tournament of the year. She lost against Kimiko Date-Krumm in the quarterfinals, 7–5, 3–6, 6–7, becoming the first top 10 player in WTA history to lose to an opponent over the age of 40.
Stosur competed at the 2010 WTA Tour Championships, where she was seeded fifth. Stosur was drawn in the Maroon Group alongside world no. 1, Caroline Wozniacki, world no. 6 Francesca Schiavone, and world no. 9 Elena Dementieva, seeded first, fourth, and seventh respectively, due to the William Sisters' withdrawal. In her first match against Schiavone, she avenged her Roland Garros final loss to the Italian by defeating her in straight sets, 6–4, 6–4, coming back from a 0–4 deficit in the first set. Her next opponent was world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki. Stosur continued her dominant showing, recording a 6–4, 6–3 win to secure her spot in the semifinals. She then fell to Elena Dementieva, 6–4, 4–6, 6–7, but secured her spot in the semifinals by winning one set. Stosur finished in first position in her round-robin group, but lost to three-time US Open Champion and world no. 4 Kim Clijsters in the semifinals.
Stosur ended her year at world no. 6 with 4,982 ranking points, just behind world no. 5 Venus Williams with 4,985 ranking points. In addition, Stosur was the only player in 2010 to defeat both current world no. 1 players, Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki. She also had the best percentage of points scored on second serve amongst her peers.
Stosur began her 2011 season by competing at the Brisbane International. She fell in straight sets to fellow Australian, Jarmila Groth in the second round. After this tournament, Stosur competed at the Medibank Sydney International as the fourth seed. She lost in the second round to Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Stosur was seeded fifth at the 2011 Australian Open, where she lost in the third round to 25th seed Petra Kvitová, 6–7, 3–6. Stosur's ranking rose to number 5, despite her early loss at the Australian Open. Stosur then rose to a new career high no. 4, following a quarterfinal showing at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Stosur had a disappointing start to the first American leg of the year, falling in the third round of the Indian Wells to Dinara Safina, 6–7, 4–6. In Miami, Stosur was seeded fourth, but was defeated in the fourth round by 16th seed and former no. 1 Maria Sharapova, 4–6, 1–6.
After Miami, Stosur played at Charleston, where she failed to defend her title, falling in the third round to Elena Vesnina in two sets.
In Stuttgart, as fifth seed, Stosur lost to Germany's Julia Görges in the semifinals, 4–6, 6–3, 5–7. However, she won in the doubles tournament, partnering Germany's Sabine Lisicki, by defeating the German team of Kristina Barrois and Jasmin Wöhr in the final, 6–1, 7–6.
Stosur's next tournament was the 2011 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, where she was the fifth seed. She lost in the third round to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets, 6–7, 3–6. She then competed in Rome. The sixth-seeded Stosur reached the final, but suffered a straight-set 2–6, 4–6 defeat to seventh seed Sharapova.
Stosur was seeded eighth at the 2011 French Open, yet was upset by Gisela Dulko, 6–4, 1–6, 3–6, in the third round. This loss meant that Stosur's ranking dropped to world no. 10.
Stosur's next tournament was the 2011 AEGON International as seventh seed. Stosur progressed to the semifinals, where she lost to Marion Bartoli. At Wimbledon, Stosur suffered a first-round loss to world no. 262 Melinda Czink. In mixed doubles, Stosur partnered with Mike Bryan, but lost in the first round. In ladies doubles, Stosur partnered with Sabine Lisicki. Along the way, the pair upset the top seeds and defending champions Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova in the second round. Stosur and Lisicki made it to the final, but lost in straight sets to Květa Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik, 3–6, 1–6.
Stosur began her US Open Series campaign with a straight-set loss to her doubles partner, Lisicki, in the second round of Bank of the West Classic, 3–6, 5–7. However, Stosur bounced back at the Rogers Cup in Toronto by reaching the final, having defeated Li Na and Agnieszka Radwanska along the way. Stosur was defeated by Serena Williams in the final, 4–6, 2–6. She then competed in the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. She defeated qualifier Eleni Daniilidou, 6–3, 6–1, in the first round. She would then face Serena Williams for the second week in a row in the second round. However, Williams withdrew because of a toe injury, which meant a walkover for Stosur. In the third round, she defeated fifth seed Li Na for the second time in two weeks in three sets, 6–4, 3–6, 6–4. She then faced Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals and lost in straight sets, 3–6, 2–6.
Stosur was seeded ninth at the US Open, and she drew Sofia Arvidsson in the first round and defeated her, 6–2, 6–3.[7] In the second round, she defeated American Coco Vandeweghe, 6–3, 6–4.[8] The third round was one of Stosur's hardest matches against Nadia Petrova, finally prevailing 7–6, 6–7, 7–5 after a 3 hour 16 minute battle.[9] She played Maria Kirilenko in the fourth round and won 6–2, 6–715–17, 6–3. The second set tiebreak score of 15–17 was the longest in any Major in the history of women's tennis.[10] She then beat second seed Vera Zvonareva, 6–3, 6–3, to reach the semifinals for the first time.[11] Stosur followed this milestone with a 6–3, 2–6, 6–2 win over German player Angelique Kerber to reach her first US Open singles final,[12] where she defeated three-time champion Serena Williams, 6–2, 6–3, for her first Grand Slam tournament singles title,[13][14][15] the first by an Australian woman since Evonne Goolagong Cawley won Wimbledon in 1980.[16]
Stosur suffered two second round losses at the 2011 Toray Pan Pacific Open and the 2011 China Open, both to Maria Kirilenko. However, on 9 October 2011 it was announced that Stosur had qualified for the year-ending WTA Tour Championships in Istanbul, Turkey.
Stosur was runner-up at the 2011 HP Open where she was defeated by second seed, Marion Bartoli, 6–3, 6–1 in the final. Along the way she defeated Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, 6–3, 3–6, 7–5, Misaki Doi, 6–2, 6–4, seventh seed Chanelle Scheepers, 6–2, 6–3 and Zheng Jie, 7–6(5), 3–6, 6–3.
Stosur was placed in the white group for the 2011 WTA Tour Championships. Stosur's first match was against second seed Maria Sharapova, winning the match, 6–1, 7–5. In this match, not only did Stosur cause an upset against the second seed, she won her first match against the Russian after losing to Sharapova in their previous nine encounters. In addition, Stosur has won six of her last seven matches against current top 2 players. (The only loss against a current top two player at that time was world no. 1, Serena Williams in the 2010 Australian Open.) In Stosur's second round robin match, she lost to fourth seed Victoria Azarenka 6–2, 6–2. This was her fifth loss against Azarenka and has yet to win a single set from Azarenka. Stosur thrashed fifth seed Li Na 6–1, 6–0 in her final round robin match to advance to the semifinals for the second straight year, where she met maroon group winner, Petra Kvitova for a spot in the final. She lost the match 5–7 6–3 6–3, despite being 7–5 1–0 up with a break point to go 2–0. Despite the loss, this was the first time Stosur won a set against Kvitova. Kvitova went on to defeat Azarenka in the final, making it the second consecutive year that Stosur lost to the eventual champion in the semifinals. Because of Stosur's performance at the WTA Championships, she replaced Vera Zvonareva as the World Number 6, and will finish the season ranked 6 for the second straight year.
Seeded first, Stosur started the year lost in the second round of the Brisbane International to Iveta Benesova 4–6, 2–6. Stosur then suffered two first round defeats at the hands of Francesca Schiavone at the Apia International Sydney 2–6, 4–6, and then by Romanian Sorana Cîrstea 6–7(2), 3–6 at the Australian Open. Stosur admitted that the she could not cope under the heavy weight of home expectation especially after winning the 2011 U.S. Open.[17] Despite the result, Stosur's ranking remained at no 5. due to her not having too many ranking points to lose and Li Na failing to defend her finalist points at last year's Australian Open. Stosur then traveled to Fribourg, Switzerland to represent Australia in their Fed Cup tie against Switzerland. She won both of her singles rubbers against Timea Bacsinszky 6–2, 7–5 and Stefanie Voegele 6–3, 6–2.
She then competed at the 2012 Qatar Total Open in Doha where she was seeded three and avenged her loss in the first round of the Australian Open by defeating Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 7-6(5) in the second round and eventually lost in the final to current world no. 1 Victoria Azarenka, who had not lost a match (17–0) to that point in 2012. Her second Middle-East tournament was the 2012 Dubai Tennis Championships where she defeated Lucie Safarova in the second round 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-1 but for the second straight year lost to former world number no. 1 Jelena Jankovic 4-6, 2-6.
Stosur then traveled to the USA to compete in two premier tournaments, the first being 2012 BNP Paribas Open where she defeated young American Irina Falconi 6-0, 6-3 to make the third round where she lost a very tough match to Nadia Petrova 1-6, 7-6(6), 6-7(5). Then at the Miami Stosur made the quarterfinsls after making a big comeback from 2-6, 2-5 to defeat Chanelle Scheepers 2-6, 7-5, 6-2. Serena Williams got revenge on Stosur for the 2011 US Open final by defeating Sam 7-5, 6-3.
At the 2012 Family Circle Cup in Charleston, Stosur entered the tournament as second seed and had a first round bye. Stosur defeated wild card player Jamie Hampton 6–0, 7–5 in the second round and Galina Voskoboeva 6–3, 4–6, 6–2 in the third round. At the quarterfinals, Stosur defeated Venus Williams for the first time 6–3, 4–6, 6–3 after losing to her in the previous four encounters. However, Stosur's run ended in the semifinals where she lost to eventual champion Serena Williams 1–6 1–6. Had Stosur won against Serena, she would be been the eighth player to defeat both Williams sisters at any one tournament.
After this Stosur made her way to Stuttgart were she won both her singles matches against Germany in the Fed-Cup World Group play-off. She defeated two top twenty players Angelique Kerber, the same player who Stosur faced in the 2011 US Open semifinal and Andrea Petkovic for their first ever head-to-head match. At the WTA event in the same city, Stosur reached the quarterfinals by defeating the defending champion Julia Georges in three sets. She lost in the quarterfinals to Maria Sharapova 7–6, 6–7, 5–7 despite holding a match point in the second set.
At the third Premier Mandatory event in Madrid, Stosur defeated Petra Martic 7–5, 4–6, 7–6(5) and Christina McHale 2–6, 6–4, 6–0 in the first two rounds on the blue clay courts. Stosur's third round opponent will be Petra Cetkovska, who defeated tenth seed Vera Zvonareva and Lourdes Domínguez Lino in straight sets. Stosur won the match in straight sets 6–3, 6–2 to reach the quarterfinals where she lost a tight match to Lucie Hradecka 7-6(8), 7-6(6).
Currently, Williams leads 6–3 in head to head matches. Their first match occurred during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in the second round when Williams was ranked world no. 4, with Williams winning 6–2, 6–0. Since then, both players have been equally matched. Both players even had match points against each other, but lost the match in the end. Such examples of this include Stosur having four match points at the 2009 Medibank International, but lost to Williams. Another example was the 2010 French Open where Williams had a match point, but Stosur won. The only time both players didn't play a complete match was at the 2011 Western and Southern Group Open in the second round where Williams withdrew from the match due to a toe injury. They met at the 2011 US Open final where Stosur prevailed 6–3, 6–2, despite Serena's status as a heavy favourite. Serena avenged the defeat at the 2012 Miami Masters, where Williams defeated Stosur 7–5, 6–3. They next met a week later at the 2012 Family Circle Cup where Williams again defeated Stosur 6–1, 6–1.
Some of these matches were marked by controversy. In the 2010 Australian Open fourth round match, Seven Network stopped broadcast of that match in order to air their news program. Then at the 2011 US Open Final Williams shouted 'C'mon!' during a crucial point in the match before Stosur had a chance to hit the ball and Williams was docked the point.
Currently, Stosur leads 6–4 in head to head matches. Their major matches include the 2009 final of HP Open in Osaka where Stosur lifted her first WTA singles title, and the 2010 French Open final where both players reached their first ever grand slam final, but with Schiavone coming out on top despite Stosur being the heavy favorite to win the championship.
Currently, Stosur leads 8–2 in their head to head matches. In their first two meetings, Zvonareva won both of those matches. After that, Stosur has won the last eight matches, including the 2010 Family Circle Cup final and the 2011 US Open quarterfinal match.
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General
An accomplished doubles player, Stosur in her early years developed a serve and volley style of play but as the years progressed, she started to feel more comfortable hitting on the baseline and coming to the net less often. Although she is known for being a doubles specialist and having great volleys and drop-shots while playing doubles, in her singles matches, Stosur has a tendency to miss-hit these shots. Her right-handed forehand ground-strokes, hit with heavy top-spin, are considered her best, as evidenced by her often choosing to hit inside-out forehands. She can hit forehand winners from any side of the court, and her motion when hitting her forehands makes it hard for her opponents to guess where she will hit it to. Accordingly, many players attack her backhand side, which was considered a weakness of her game; however in 2010, Stosur adopted Pat Rafter's signature backhand slice, to add to her game and help her set up points. She has also improved on her two-handed backhand and has even generated winners on occasion. Stosur is also noted for her athleticism and after bouncing back from a career-threatening Lyme's Disease, she has became one of the fittest players on tour.
Serve
Because of its power, kick and variety, Stosur's serve is widely considered one of the best on the women's tour. Her first serve, however erratic, reaches more than 118 mph (190 km/h) on a regular basis. Her second, a high bouncing kick serve, is highly rated as being the best second serve in the women's game by media and players alike, and was thought to play a key role in her French Open success in 2009 and 2010. One thing that Stosur has changed in her game, thanks to coach David Taylor, is the fact that her serve has been less predictable with Stosur sometimes even using her kick serve as first serves. Her good serving motion has helped her overhead smashes and she rarely misses those shots.
Surface
Her favourite surface is hard court. Stosur has also mentioned that her least favourite surface is grass and this is mostly because her biggest weapons (top-spin forehand & kick-serve) are not very effective on this surface. Her performances at Wimbledon have reflected this, as she has only gone past the second round once on the lone grass-court Grand Slam event.
Weakness
In her earlier years on the WTA tour, Stosur's real weakness was her inability to handle the pressure at major matches and being poor at closing out matches. In her first four WTA tour finals, she won the first set only to lose the match. On her off-days, she can hit over 50 unforced errors. She has shown great improvement in these areas, and the weaknesses are seen less frequently now, as evidenced by her calm dispatch of the four-time Roland Garros champion and former World No. 1 Justine Henin; one time Roland Garros champion and the then-current World No. 1 Serena Williams; and former World No. 1 Jelena Janković, in the 4th round, quarter-final and semi-final at the 2010 Roland Garros.
Outcome | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score | Ref |
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Runner-up | 2010 | French Open | Clay | ![]() |
4–6, 6–7(2–7) | [18] |
Winner | 2011 | US Open | Hard | ![]() |
6–2, 6–3 | [13] |
Tournament | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | |||
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Grand Slam Tournaments | ||||||||||||||
Australian Open | 1R | 3R | 2R | 1R | 4R | 2R | A | 3R | 4R | 3R | 1R | |||
French Open | A | A | 1R | 2R | 1R | 3R | 2R | SF | F | 3R | ||||
Wimbledon | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 2R | 3R | 1R | 1R | ||||
US Open | A | A | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | QF | W |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Samantha Stosur |
Awards and achievements | ||
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Preceded by![]() ![]() |
WTA Doubles Team of the Year (with ![]() 2005, 2006 |
Succeeded by![]() ![]() |
Preceded by![]() ![]() |
ITF Doubles Champions (with ![]() 2005, 2006 |
Succeeded by![]() ![]() |
Preceded by![]() |
WTA Diamond Aces 2010 |
Succeeded by![]() |
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Persondata | |
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Name | Stosur, Samantha |
Alternative names | Stosur, Samantha |
Short description | Tennis player |
Date of birth | 1984-3-30 |
Place of birth | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
Date of death | |
Place of death |