Peng Shuai
彭帅

Country	China
Residence	Tianjin, China
Born	(1986-01-08) January 8, 1986 (age 26) Xiangtan, Hunan, China
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	61.2 kg (135 lb; 9.64 st)
Turned pro	2001
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed both sides)
Career prize money	US$3,223,546
Singles
Career record	315 - 188
Career titles	0 WTA, 9 ITF titles
Highest ranking	No. 14 (August 22, 2011)
Current ranking	No. 30 (May 21, 2012)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	4R (2011)
French Open	3R (2011, 2012)
Wimbledon	4R (2011)
US Open	4R (2011)
Doubles
Career record	170–121
Career titles	7 WTA, 3 ITF titles
Highest ranking	No. 12 (October 19, 2009)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	QF (2009)
French Open	SF (2009)
Wimbledon	QF (2007, 2011)
US Open	QF (2004)
Last updated on: March 7, 2012.

Medal record
Competitor for  China
Women's Tennis
Asian Games
Gold	2010 Guangzhou	Team
Gold	2010 Guangzhou	Singles
Bronze	2010 Guangzhou	Doubles

Peng Shuai (born January 8, 1986, in Xiangtan) is a Chinese professional female tennis player. She won a gold medal at the 2010 Asian Games, defeating Akgul Amanmuradova in the final.

Peng is known for her stamina and plays with two hands on both sides and hits very flat. She has defeated many top 10 and top 5 players, including Anastasia Myskina, Elena Dementieva, Dinara Safina, Kim Clijsters, Martina Hingis, Amélie Mauresmo, Francesca Schiavone, Jelena Janković, Maria Sharapova, Agnieszka Radwańska, Li Na, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova and Vera Zvonareva.

She has yet to win a WTA singles title, making four finals and many semifinals. As of May 2012, she is ranked inside the top 30 and is the 2nd ranked Chinese women's player, behind Li Na (out of 3 in the top 100).

Career[link]

Peng began playing at age eight when an uncle (a famous tennis coach in China and the only other family member who plays tennis) introduced her to the game. She favors hard courts and forehand (though her backhand is the better side). Her father Peng Jijun is a police officer and her mother is Zhang Bing. At age 13, Peng Shuai was submitted to a hospital for heart surgery, a situation which she explains in the "Impossible is Nothing" campaign from Adidas.

2001[link]

In 2001, at the beginning of June, aged just fifteen years and four months, she won her first singles title at Baotou, a $10,000 International Tennis Federation ("ITF") tournament, after entering as a wildcard, and crushing highly capable countrywoman Sun Tiantian 6–1, 6–4 in the semi-final. In July, she won her second $10,000 tournament of the year (although she was assisted in the final by the retirement of her opponent Liu Nannan after just one game was played, and in the following week's tournament she lost to Liu in the semi-final). Then in October she debuted on the WTA Tour at Shanghai as a wildcard, losing in the first round to Tamarine Tanasugarn.

2002[link]

In February 2002, Peng won her third $10,000 ITF singles title in the space of nine months at Mumbai, defeating American Sunitha Rao in the final. The following week, she extended her match-winning streak to twelve by coming through qualifying to reach the final of a $25,000 tournament at New Delhi, with wins over Japanese Aiko Nakamura and Austrian Sybille Bammer, before losing in the championship match to Eva Birnerová. In July, she succeeded in qualifying for the main draw of a $50,000 tournament at Lexington; but further success proved elusive, and after a second successive first-round main draw defeat in early August she took nearly seven months off from competition at singles events, ending the year world-ranked just 357.

2003[link]

It was not until April 2003 that Peng next won a match; but then she proceeded to put in her career-best performance, coming through qualifying to win her first $25,000 title at Jackson, with match wins against Rika Fujiwara, Tatiana Golovin and Christina Wheeler among others. After disappointing summer results, she started to play more consistently again towards the end of the year; and in December, she won her first $50,000 event, and the fifth ITF title of her young career, at Changsha, with victories over Yuka Yoshida, Yan Zi and Zheng Jie, salvaging her year-end ranking, which had improved only slightly overall to 326, and heralding her coming breakthrough the following year.

2004[link]

In February 2004, she reached her third $25,000 singles event final at Columbus, Ohio, only to be defeated by future superstar Czech Nicole Vaidišová in the tantalisingly close tournament decider, 6–7 5–7. The following month, she qualified for another $50,000 event, at Orange, California, with wins over Neha Uberoi and Mashona Washington, then defeated Colombian Catalina Castaño and Camille Pin to reach the main-draw quarter-final, before losing in three sets to Ukrainian Yuliya Beygelzimer. Among further consistent results in ITF tournaments, she was victorious in what was the first ever $75,000 tournament she had entered, defeating Angela Haynes, Yuka Yoshida and Evgenia Linetskaya in straight sets at Dothan to take her sixth career ITF singles title. A month later, she proved this was no accident by winning her second $75,000 event, fending off some tough competition from Lucie Šafářová and Barbora Strýcová en route to a comfortable final victory over Zuzana Ondrášková.

With the season's excellent results propelling her rapidly upwards in the rankings, she gained direct entry into her first Grand Slam main draw at Wimbledon (though without match-wins to show for it), but narrowly missed the cut at the US Open, losing a close battle in the first round of qualifying to Russian Anastasia Rodionova. But the emerging Chinese star persisted in trying her hand at other WTA Tour events, and worked her way to considerable success at Cincinnati in August, defeating some high-class opponents in Stéphanie Foretz, Jill Craybas and Alina Jidkova to reach her first WTA Tour quarter-final, before losing to a Top 20 player, Vera Zvonareva of Russia. A second quarter-final performance followed at Guangzhou in September, after she virtually blew French star Marion Bartoli off the court for the loss of just one game in Round Two, only to be ousted in turn herself by countrywoman Li Ting.

The year ended on a further high note for Peng, as she won her second $50,000 title and eighth overall career ITF singles title at Shenzhen 2 in November, with impressive victories over her countrywomen Sun Tiantian and Zheng Jie. (She had also reached the semi-final at Shenzhen 1 the previous week, only to lose to recent Guangzhou champion Li Na.) She ended the year world-ranked 73, after a meteoric rise. It was the first time she had finished in the Women's Tennis Association Top 300, let alone the Top 75; and thereafter she was able to bid the ITF events adieu, focussing solely on WTA draws.

2005[link]

In January 2005, Peng came through a tough qualifying draw at Sydney comfortably, and went on to reach her first WTA Tour semifinal. On the way, she upset the no. 2 seed Anastasia Myskina in the second round in straight sets, in addition to defeating Camille Pin, Tzipora Obziler, Denisa Chládková and Mashona Washington, all without dropping a set. In the quarter-final, she was up 6–3 4–2 against Russian star Nadia Petrova, and well on target for another shock straight-sets victory, when Petrova retired. But Alicia Molik was on top form and finally ousted Peng in the semi-final. The following week, at the Australian Open, the Chinese star finally won her first grand slam singles match, defeating Maria Elena Camerin of Italy 6–1, 6–2 before being overcome by Venus Williams in Round Two.

An ankle injury in February made her miss several tournaments in February and March. On her return to competition in April, she lost two successive titanic second-round tussles to high-class players, namely Vera Zvonareva and Justine Henin-Hardenne, each match running to three close sets. At Strasbourg in May, she reached another WTA quarter-final, with wins over Tamarine Tanasugarn and brilliant young French talent Tatiana Golovin, before losing in three sets to Marta Domachowska of Poland. At the French Open, she also took Lindsay Davenport into a deciding set in their second-round match.

In August, she topped all her previous achievements by reaching her first WTA Tour Tier I semifinal at San Diego, posting upsets over then World Number 6 Elena Dementieva, World Number 26 Dinara Safina and World Number 7 Kim Clijsters, all in straight sets. Her victory over Kim Clijsters, who was on her way back to being World No. 1 after only a few months back on the tour following injury, ended the Belgian's 26–consecutive-match-winning streak on hard courts. Following the match, Kim told reporters that Peng had the potential to become a top 3 tennis player. Although an inspired Mary Pierce had her way in the semi-final, Peng's outstanding performance in this tournament helped her to her career-best singles ranking (31st) on August 15, 2005, which was also the highest ever singles ranking achieved by any Chinese women's tennis player, improving on the standard set by Li Na, who peaked at 33 earlier the same year (though she may yet ascend to new heights).

By September 2005, Peng ranked among the top 5 female tennis players across the whole Asian continent. That month, she reached two further WTA quarter-finals, at Beijing and (for the second year running) Guangzhou, where she retired in her quarter-final match against teenaged emerging star Victoria Azarenka after losing the first set by a break. This proved to be her last match of the year; and without being able to defend the points won at Shenzhen the previous November, she found her year-end ranking settling to 35.

2006[link]

The year 2006 began disappointingly for the Chinese twenty-year-old. She lost her first-round ties at Sydney (a tough draw against Ana Ivanović) and the Australian Open, then withdrew from subsequent tournaments with sickness. As of March 4, she was yet to play again; and the loss of her previous year's ranking points at Sydney and the Australian Open had conspired to displace her to 60th in the world rankings, a moderate decline that cannot reasonably be expected to be irreversible, in view of the tremendous promise she has shown. She has since proven this promise in 2006, reaching the semi-finals of a Tier IV tournament in Prague, a final in a Tier III tournament in Strasbourg, third round showing at Wimbledon (including a victory over a top 20 player in Shahar Pe'er, 6–4 7–6) and finally a successful continuation of her Fed Cup career, winning both her ties against Indonesia.

2007[link]

2007 was slightly more successful for Peng than her previous year as she finished ranked within the world's top 50.

Peng began her year by qualifying for the Sydney tournament and reaching the second round of the Australian Open for the second time, losing a tight match to top ten player Swiss Patty Schnyder.

Peng Shuai at the 2007 Australian Open.

In early February she reached the semi-finals of the Tier 3 Pattaya Open, losing to Sybille Bammer of Austria, she also lost to Bammer in the third round of her next event in Indian Wells.

Peng reached the third round of Tier 1 events in Toronto, Berlin, Indian Wells and Charleston recording a win over the previous year's finalist Patty Schnyder.

Peng was forced to retire from her tightly contested third round match in Berlin against world number 6 Jelena Janković and returned to competitive play at Wimbledon, losing in straight sets to qualifier Hana Šromová. She once again failed to get past the first round of the US Open, losing in three sets to a resurgent Flavia Pennetta.

At the 2007 China Open, Peng beat former World Number 1 and 5 time Grand Slam champion Martina Hingis in the final match of her professional career, winning 7–5, 6–1. Hingis retired 6 weeks later. She also beat 3rd seed Amélie Mauresmo en-route to her second semi-final of the year.

In the autumn Peng suffered a surprising loss in Tier 3 Guangzhou to Tzipora Obziler and in the qualification tournament for Luxembourg to former top ten player Alicia Molik. She qualified to the main draw of Zurich before losing in three sets to Marion Bartoli.

Peng finished the year with a 26–21 record in singles, a doubles title in Guangzhou with Yan Zi and one top ten win (against Mauresmo).

2008[link]

On January 4, 2008 Peng, ranked no.45, beat No.1 seed Ana Ivanović of Serbia 6–1, 6–3 in the semi-finals of the silver group (a competition among all first matches losers) of an exhibition tournament in Hong Kong.

This form was not to last as she then failed to win a match in her next six tournaments, including a first round loss at the Australian Open.

Peng finally recorded her first win of the year at the Tier 2 Bangalore Open against Anne Kremer before losing in three sets to Venus Williams, she also won the doubles title with Sun Tiantian. She then upset 23rd seed Karin Knapp to reach the third round at Indian Wells.

Peng suffered two surprising losses in singles play against Spain in the Fed Cup Semi-finals losing 6–4 6–4 to Nuria Llagostera Vives and 6–3, 7–6 to Carla Suárez Navarro. China subsequently lost the tie in front of the home crowd.

At Strasbourg Peng reached her first quarterfinal of the year and recorded a top ten win when French Marion Bartoli was forced to retire in round 1 while trailing 6–1, 1–0.

In Grand Slam play Peng reached the second round of the French Open and the third round of Wimbledon for he second time in her career, losing third round to Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia despite winning more points. She also reached the second round of the US Open for the first in her career, defeating Greek Eleni Daniilidou 6–1, 6–0 before losing to eventual quarterfinalist Italian Flavia Pennetta in three sets for the second year in a row.

After the US Open her ranking climbed up to number 40, her highest since Wimbledon 2007. Prior to the US Open Peng reached her first singles final since Strasbourg 2006 at Tier IV Forest Hills Tennis Classic before losing in straight sets to Lucie Šafářová.

At the Beijing Olympics Peng got revenge for her Fed Cup defeat by defeating Carla Suárez Navarro in round one before losing to Alizé Cornet of France 6–2 6–2.

2009[link]

In early 2009, Peng announced that she will be coached full-time for the 2009 season by Tarik Benhabiles.^[1] Peng won the Medibank International doubles title with Hsieh Su-wei, defeating Nathalie Dechy and Casey Dellacqua in the final 6–0, 6–1.

Peng defeated 28th seed Francesca Schiavone in the first round of the Australian Open. She beat Bulgarian qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva in the second round 6–4, 6–0. She lost to 2nd seed and eventual champion Serena Williams in the third round 6–1, 6–4. She played doubles with Hsieh Su-wei, where the made the quarter finals losing to the Williams sisters in 3 sets.

At the Rome Masters in May, Peng partnered with Hsieh Su-wei once again and won the doubles title as the 7th seed by defeating 5th seeded Daniela Hantuchová and Ai Sugiyama with the scoreline of 7–5, 7–6.

At the 2009 French Open, Peng was seeded 31 but was knocked out in the first round by unseeded clay specialist María José Martínez Sánchez with the scoreline of 1–6, 6–2, 6–4. 

However in doubles, partnering Hsieh Su-wei once again, and as the 9th seeds, have made it into the semifinals by defeating 7th seeded Daniela Hantuchová and Ai Sugiyama in the third round and unseeded Radwańska sisters in the quarters. In the semifinals, they lost to 12th seeded team Victoria Azarenka and Elena Vesnina.

At the 2009 Wimbledon Championships, Peng was unseeded and defeated US teenager Alexa Glatch in three sets. She fell to No.11 Agnieszka Radwańska in the second round, after a mammoth battle of three and a half hours. Despite saving five match points she eventually lost in three sets. Her 'never say die' attitude won her the admiration of many English fans.

At the 2009 U.S. Open (tennis), Peng was unseeded. She defeated Jarmila Groth in straight sets. However, in the next round, she lost to eventual semifinalist, Yanina Wickmayer, also unseeded, in three sets after having a one break lead in the third set.

During the 2009 China Open, after beating qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova 6–2 6–3, Peng went on to beat 2008 China Open champion and former world number 1 Jelena Janković 4–6 7–5 6–2 in a thrilling encounter, after Janković picked up a wrist injury in the latter stages of the match. In the third round Peng came face to face with another former world number 1, Maria Sharapova, which Peng managed to win in straight sets 6–2 6–4. In the quarterfinals, Peng lost to Nadia Petrova, winning the first set 7–6⁵, but then started to feel pains in her leg, losing the next two sets 3–6, 2–6. However, in doubles, Peng partnered with Hsieh Su-wei and won the title, bringing her ranking to a career high of 13. By her good performance at the China Open, her singles ranking rose up to 42 in the world.

2010[link]

Peng began her 2010 world tour with a first round lost at the 2010 Brisbane International to Hungarian Ágnes Szávay 5–7, 6–4, 6–2.

At the 2010 Moorilla Hobart International, Peng defeated Romanian Sorana Cîrstea in the first round 6–1, 6–4. In the second round she fell to fellow Chinese compatriot Zheng Jie 6–2, 6–1.

At the 2010 Australian Open, Peng was once again drawn against compatriot Zheng Jie. Peng took the first set 6–0 but could not hold the lead, losing the next two sets 1–6, 2–6.

Peng then travelled to the USA to compete at the 2010 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. In the first round she outlasted Ekaterina Makarova, beating her 6–1, 2–6, 6–4. In the second round she defeated 20th seed Alona Bondarenko 6–1, 6–4. She then lost to 16th seed Nadia Petrova in the third round 1–6, 5–7.

Peng then flew to Miami to compete at the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open. She was unseeded and in the first round defeated Vania King 6–4, 1–6, 6–3. In the second round Peng faced top seed and World No.4 Svetlana Kuznetsova. Peng lost a very close match and looked capable of defeating the top seed, but Kuznetsova hung on and finally outlasted the Chinese double-hander, defeating her 6–2, 3–6, 6–4. This is the fourth time in her career that she has lost in the second round at Miami.

At the 2010 MPS Group Championships held in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, Peng was unseeded and defeated Taiwanese Chang Kai-chen in the first round 6–4, 6–2 despite being 1–4 down in the first set. In the second round she was defeated by 8th seed American Melanie Oudin with a score of 6–2, 5–7, 5–7.

Peng then competed at the 2010 Family Circle Cup in Charleston. She defeated Shenay Perry in the opening round 6–3, 2–6, 6–1. She defeated 5th seed Marion Bartoli in the second round. Bartoli retired at 6–2, 6–7, 3–4 to allow Peng to move into the third round where she defeated 10th seed Elena Vesnina 7–5, 2–6, 6–2. In the quarter-finals she was defeated by 4th seed Australian Samantha Stosur 6–4, 6–1 despite being up a break 4–2 in the first set.

Seeded 7th at the 2010 Estoril Open, Peng eased past Julie Coin in the first round 6–2, 6–2 to book a second round ecounter with Tatjana Malek, which she won 6–2, 6–1. In the quarter-finals, Peng defeated 4th seed and clay court specialist Anabel Medina Garrigues 4–6, 6–4, 6–3 in a match lasting 3 hours. She was defeated by Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia in the semi-finals 6–7, 6–1, 6–3.

Peng then received a wildcard into the Madrid Masters, a Premier Mandatory tournament. In the first round she was 3–0 up against 10th seed Victoria Azarenka before Azarenka retired due to a right adductor strain. In the second round, Peng was defeated by fellow double-hander Arantxa Parra Santonja 1–6, 7–6, 6–3. 

Peng Shuai at the 2010 US Open.

Peng then withdrew from the 2010 French Open and missed the whole of the grass court season due to illness.

Peng then entered the 2010 GDF SUEZ Grand Prix in Budapest, Hungary, after her long illness break. In the first round she defeated Silvia Njirić 6–1, 6–3 but fell to Anastasija Sevastova in the second round 6–1, 6–1.

In the US Open, Peng advanced to the third round by beating Wilcard Shelby Rogers 6–7, 7–6, 6–3 in the first round and 9th seed Agnieszka Radwańska 2–6, 6–1, 6–4 in the second round. In the third round, Peng withdrew from the tournament before the match with injury, handing Andrea Petkovic a place in the fourth round.

Peng then suffered two first round exits at the 2010 Toray Pan Pacific Open and the 2010 China Open. In Tokyo, she lost to Christina McHale in the first round of qualifying 6–3, 6–2. In the first round of Beijing, where she made the quarterfinals in 2009, Peng lost to Sara Errani 1–6, 6–4, 6–1. This loss caused her to drop to No. 95 in the world.

Unseeded at the 2010 BGL Luxembourg Open, Peng drew top seed and World No. 9 Elena Dementieva in the first round. Peng played a great match and led 5–1 in the second set, but Dementieva launched a comeback and won 7–5, 7–6. This was Peng's last WTA tour match of the 2010 season.

Peng continued her season on the ITF tour with a trophy at the $100,000 ITF event in Taipei played on carpet. Along the way Peng defeated Bojana Jovanovski in the quarter-finals, Tamarine Tanasugarn in the semi-finals and Ayumi Morita in the final.

Peng ended her season representing China in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. She won a gold medal in the team event alongside team-mates Li Na, Yan Zi and Zhang Shuai. In the doubles event she gained a bronze medal with her partner Zi Yan and in the singles event she won another gold medal, defeating Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan 7–5, 6–2.

2011[link]

Peng Shuai kicked off her 2011 season in Auckland, New Zealand, at the 2011 ASB Classic. She was unseeded and defeated Johanna Larsson in the first round 6–1, 6–3. In the second round she caused a big upset by defeating No. 3 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 2–6, 6–4, 6–4 after being a double break down 0–3 in the final set. In the quarterfinals, she defeated British qualifier Heather Watson 6–4, 7–5. Despite playing some of her best tennis in the semifinals, Peng lost to defending champion and No. 2 seed Yanina Wickmayer 3–6, 7–6, 7–5 in 2 hours and 53 minutes.

In the first round of the 2011 Moorilla Hobart International, Peng took out No. 3 seed Tsvetana Pironkova in the first round 2–6, 6–3, 6–2. She then defeated qualifier Olga Govortsova 2–6, 6–4, 6–0. She then defeated No. 7 seed Sara Errani in straight sets 6–1, 6–3 to move into her second semifinal of 2011. In the semifinal she lost to Bethanie Mattek-Sands 4–6, 6–1, 6–1.

At the 2011 Australian Open, Peng was unseeded and defeated Kateryna Bondarenko in the first round 2–6, 6–3, 8–6. She then toppled seventh seed Jelena Janković in the second round 7–6, 6–3. She then moved into the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career after a 6–1, 3–6, 6–3 win over Japan's Ayumi Morita. In the fourth round, Peng Shuai was defeated in a hard fought match against 12th seed Agnieszka Radwańska 7–5, 3–6, 7–5, despite having two match points at 5–4 in the final set. After her fourth round performance, Peng's ranking rose to No. 40, making her the second highest-ranked Chinese player after Li Na, since Zheng Jie slipped down the rankings after not being able to defend her semifinal points.

Peng's next tournament was the 2011 PTT Pattaya Open. She was seeded 6th and defeated Chan Yung-jan in the first round 7–6, 6–0 and in the second round she defeated Elena Baltacha 2–6, 6–1, 6–4. In the quarterfinals she was narrowly defeated by top seed Vera Zvonareva 6–4, 4–6, 6–4 despite being up 4–3 40–15 in the final set.

Peng's next stop was the 2011 Dubai Tennis Championships. Peng entered the qualifying draw as the No.2 seed and defeated wildcard Vanessa Henke in the first round 6–1, 6–0. She then qualified for the main draw with a 5–7, 6–4, 6–2 win over No.11 seed Kateryna Bondarenko. Peng got her revenge on Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the first round, defeating her this time 6–3, 2–6, 6–3. She was then defeated 4–6, 6–2, 7–6 by No.7 seed Victoria Azarenka in the second round in 2 hours and 23 minutes.

Peng then qualified for the main draw of the 2011 Qatar Ladies Open. Seeded No.3, she defeated Nuria Llagostera Vives 6–1, 2–6, 6–1 Anastasia Rodionova 6–3, 6–2 and Elena Vesnina 6–3, 6–3. In the first round of the main draw she defeated Timea Bacsinszky 6–3, 6–2. In the second round she played No.3 seed Francesca Schiavone, whom she defeated 7–5, 6–3. In the quarterfinals, faced Marion Bartoli, losing in straight sets, for the first time in the season, 2–6, 2–6.

Peng then entered the 2011 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. She narrowly missed out on being seeded and defeated Renata Voráčová in the first round 7–5, 6–1. In the second round she defeated compatriot and No.7 seed Li Na for the first time in her career 4–6, 6–3, 6–3. In the third round she came back from 2–5 down in the final set to beat Czech qualifier Lucie Hradecká 6–3, 4–6, 7–5. In the fourth round she battled past 18th seed Nadia Petrova 6–4, 5–7, 6–3. 16th seed Maria Sharapova defeated her 6–2, 5–7, 6–3 in a 2 hour 22 minute quarterfinal match. Peng moved up to No.32 in the world as a result, 1 spot off her career high of 31.

Her next tournament was the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. Unseeded, she defeated Gréta Arn in the first round 6–1, 6–2, and followed that up with a win against 20th seed Aravane Rezaï in the second round 6–0, 6–4. She then defeated 11th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–3, 6–1 in the third round, avenging her loss to the same player at this event the previous year. Peng then fell to 26th seed Alexandra Dulgheru 6–3, 6–4.  Peng reached the semifinals of the doubles competition with Shahar Peer.

Peng rose to a new career high ranking of No.30 and was seeded 11th at the 2011 Family Circle Cup in Charleston. In the first round she defeated qualifier Sloane Stephens 6–2, 6–1. She then defeated Ayumi Morita 6–2, 6–1 in the second round. In the third round she outlasted 7th seed Nadia Petrova 6–3, 5–7, 6–2 to reach the quarterfinals where she defeated Indian qualifier Sania Mirza 2–6, 6–2, 6–2. Elena Vesnina defeated her in the semifinals 7–6, 6–3. Due to her good performance at Charleston, Peng rose to a new career high of No.29 in the world rankings.

After a short break, Peng resumed competition at the 2011 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open. She was defeated by No.3 seed Francesca Schiavone 7–5, 7–6. This was Peng's first first round defeat of 2011.

In the first round of the 2011 Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, Peng was defeated by American qualifier Christina McHale in just under 3 hours 6–3, 2–6, 7–6. However, Peng won the doubles title alongside Zheng Jie, defeating No.3 seeds Yaroslava Shvedova and Vania King 6–2, 6–3.

Peng played her final warm-up tournament prior to Roland Garros at the 2011 Brussels Ladies Open as the No.8 seed. In the first round she defeated Kirsten Flipkens 6–0, 1–6, 6–3 and then destroying qualifier Abigail Spears 6–2 6–0 in the second round. In the quarterfinals Peng's good form continued with a 6–2 6–4 defeat of Sofia Arvidsson. In the semifinals Peng secured her first victory over current world no.3 Vera Zvonareva in straight sets 6–3 6–3 to reach her first Premier final and fourth final of her career. In the Final Peng eventually fell to world no.1 Caroline Wozniacki in 3 sets, 6–2 3–6 3–6.

At the 2011 French Open Peng defeated Tamira Paszek of Austria in the first round 6–3 6–2. In the second round she defeated Polona Hercog 7–5, 6–1. In the third round she was up against defending champion Francesca Schiavone losing 6–3, 1–2 retiring due to illness. She broke into the top 20 after her run in the French Open.

Peng then moved onto grass and played the 2011 AEGON Classic in Birmingham, reaching the semifinals with wins over Naomi Broady, Heather Watson and Marina Erakovic before falling to eventual champion Sabine Lisicki in straight sets.

Peng also competed at the 2011 AEGON International at Eastbourne, falling to 3rd seed Victoria Azarenka in the first round.

At Wimbledon, Peng defeated Kirsten Flipkens in the first round 6–0, 6–4 and reached the third round by defeating local hope Elena Baltacha 4–6, 6–2, 7–5. She defeated Melinda Czink in the third round and faced the 5th seed, Maria Sharapova, in the fourth round, losing to the eventual runner-up in straight sets 6–4, 6–2. After reaching the Round of 16 at Wimbledon, Peng will reach a career high ranking of World No. 17.   After posting good results at the 2011 Western & Southern Open, where she reached the quarterfinals defeating Peer in the 3rd round but then had to retire hurt, Peng reached another career high ranking of World No. 14, before the US Open, where she will be seeded 13th. She is currently competing at the last stop of the US Open Series, the inaugural 2011 Texas Tennis Open. As the No. 1 seed in the draw, she will take on American wildcard Melanie Oudin in the first round. However Peng was forced to withdraw with an injury and therefore a lucky loser was giving her spot. 

Seeded 13th at the US Open, Peng defeated Varvara Lepchenko in the first round. She followed this up beating former Wimbledon semifinalist Tsvetana Pironkova. She advanced to the fourth round for the first time with a win over 19th seed Julia Görges. She lost to  Flavia Pennetta in the round of 16, after holding 4 set points in the second set tiebreak. Even though she had an impressive run in the U.S Open her ranking fell from 14 to 15.

Seedeed 12th in the China Open, Peng lost to Flavia Pennetta 6–7(6), 5–7.

Peng then received a wildcard into the Bali Commonwealth Championships and drew Nadia Petrova in the quarter-final. She lost to the Russian 6–4 6–3. Despite the loss, she ended her year ranking 15 in the world. 2011 has been the most successful year in her career.

2012[link]

Peng began her year at Auckland as the No.2 seed. In the opening round she defeated qualifier Aravane Rezai 4–6, 6–3, 6–4 before losing in the second round to Lucie Hradecka 4–6, 3–6.

In the first round of Sydney she lost to Dominika Cibulkova 2–6, 6–4, 4–6. Peng next event is the 2012 Australian Open in the first round she drew French wildcard Aravane Rezaï and this time she beat her more comfortably with the score of 6–3 6–4. However in some what of an upset Peng was beaten in round 2 by Iveta Benesova. Her ranking was not damaged even though she did not defend her 4th round points from last year. She next played Fed cup for China where they were victorious.

Peng next played the Doha 2012 Qatar Total Open where in the first round she beat Fatma Al Nabhani 6–0 7–5. In the second round she came up against the talented American Christina McHale and was beaten in 3 sets 5–7 6–3 6–2. Up next was 2012 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and in the 1st round she faced 6th seed Marion Bartoli and in somewhat of a shock because of the run Marion has been on, the Chinese beat her 6–4 6–3. Peng however lost in the 2nd round to Daniela Hantuchova 7–5 6–2. Peng next competed in the 2012 BMW Malaysian Open were she was seeded 3rd and beat Yvonne Meusburger in three sets 6–1 4–6 6–2. Peng then lost in the quarterfinals in a tight 3 setter against Petra Martic, who went on to reach the final. Then Peng played in the Indian Wells BNP Paribas tournament, where she was seeded 17th. There, she got a bye in the first round, but lost to Ksenia Pervak 6–4 6–0 in the 2nd round.

Peng then took a month's break from the game and returned to Play Madrid Open 2012. However Peng has not been able to capture the success she got in 2011 and fell in the first round. She will next play in Rome. Peng was beaten in the early rounds of Rome and has seen her ranking drop to number 30 in the world. She next played the warm up tounament to roland garros in Brussels were she has final points to defend. She was seeded 8th and up against Sofia Arvidsson. The Chinese lost in the 1st round 7-5 6-3.

WTA career finals[link]

Singles: 4 (0–4)[link]

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	May 27, 2006	Strasbourg, France	Clay	Nicole Vaidišová	7–6(9–7), 6–3
Runner-up	2.	August 23, 2008	Forest Hills, United States	Hard	Lucie Šafářová	6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	3.	September 21, 2008	Guangzhou, China	Hard	Vera Zvonareva	6–7(4–7), 6–0, 6–2
Runner-up	4.	May 21, 2011	Brussels, Belgium	Clay	Caroline Wozniacki	2–6, 6–3, 6–3

Doubles: 9 (7–2)[link]

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	April 15, 2007	Charleston, United States	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	7–5, 6–0
Winner	1.	September 29, 2007	Guangzhou, China	Hard	Yan Zi	Vania King Sun Tiantian	6–3, 6–4
Winner	2.	March 9, 2008	Bangalore, India	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Chan Yung-jan Chuang Chia-jung	6–4, 5–7, [10–8]
Winner	3.	September 14, 2008	Bali, Indonesia	Hard	Hsieh Su-wei	Marta Domachowska Nadia Petrova	6–7(4–7), 7–6(6–3), [10–7]
Winner	4.	January 16, 2009	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Hsieh Su-wei	Nathalie Dechy Casey Dellacqua	6–0, 6–1
Winner	5.	May 9, 2009	Rome, Italy (1)	Clay	Hsieh Su-wei	Daniela Hantuchová Ai Sugiyama	7–5, 7–6(7–5)
Winner	6.	October 10, 2009	Beijing, China	Hard	Hsieh Su-wei	Alla Kudryavtseva Ekaterina Makarova	6–3, 6–1
Runner-up	2.	October 2, 2010	Tokyo, Japan	Hard (i)	Shahar Pe'er	Iveta Benešová Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	6–4, 4–6, [10–8]
Winner	7.	May 15, 2011	Rome, Italy (2)	Clay	Zheng Jie	Vania King Yaroslava Shvedova	6–2, 6–3

Performance timelines[link]

Singles performance timeline[link]

• ¹ Won two matches in the qualifying round to reach the main draw.
• ² Won two matches in the qualifying round to reach the main draw.

Women's doubles performance timeline[link]

See also[link]

• Tennis in China

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Peng Shuai

• Shuai Peng at the Women's Tennis Association
• Peng Shuai at the International Tennis Federation
• Peng Shuai at the Fed Cup
• Suai Peng Profile

v t e Women's Tennis Association: Top ten Chinese female tennis players as of May 21, 2012. 1. Li Na (7 2 ) 2. Peng Shuai (30 7) 3. Zheng Jie (33 ) 4. Zhang Shuai (167 4) 5. Zheng Saisai (201 41) 6. Wang Qiang (220 4) 7. Xu Yifan (256 4) 8. Zhao Yijing (259 ) 9. Hu Yueyue (274 7) 10. Han Xinyun (314 3)

v t e Women's Tennis Association: Top ten Chinese female doubles tennis players as of April 2, 2012. 1. Zheng Jie (17 ) 2. Peng Shuai (31 10) 3. Zhang Shuai (52 1) 4. Zheng Saisai (97 ) 6. Han Xinyun (115 1) 5. Sun Shengnan (124 1) 7. Xu Yifan (156 1) 8. Liu Wanting (167 5) 9. Liang Chen (188 8) 10. Yao Yijing (238 5)

Daniela Hantuchová

Country	Slovakia
Residence	Monte Carlo, Monaco
Born	(1983-04-23) April 23, 1983 (age 29) Poprad, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (now Slovakia)
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	62 kg (140 lb; 9.8 st)[1]
Turned pro	1999
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	$8,299,382
Singles
Career record	475–299
Career titles	5 WTA, 3 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 5 (January 27, 2003)
Current ranking	No. 18 (May 28, 2012)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	SF (2008)
French Open	4R (2002, 2006, 2010, 2011)
Wimbledon	QF (2002)
US Open	QF (2002)
Other tournaments
Championships	RR (2002, 2007)
Olympic Games	2R (2004, 2008)
Doubles
Career record	243–172
Career titles	9 WTA, 1 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 5 (August 26, 2002)
Current ranking	No. 51 (May 28, 2012)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	F (2002, 2009)
French Open	F (2006)
Wimbledon	QF (2005)
US Open	SF (2011)
Mixed Doubles
Career record	40–14 (74%)
Career titles	4
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	W (2002)
French Open	W (2005)
Wimbledon	W (2001)
US Open	W (2005)
Last updated on: May 28, 2012.

Daniela Hantuchová (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈdaɲi̯ɛla ˈɦantuxɔvaː]; born April 23, 1983) is a Slovakian professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first Tier I tournament and ended the year in the top 10.

She is currently coached by Larri Passos.^[2] Her WTA Tour mentor in the "Partners for Success" program was Martina Navrátilová, who was her doubles partner for a brief period in early 2005. As of May 28, 2012, Hantuchová is ranked World No. 18 in singles.

In 2005, she became the fifth female tennis player to win the mixed doubles title in all four Grand Slam tournaments during her career.

Personal life[link]

Hantuchová was born in Poprad, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia) to father Igor, a computer scientist, and mother Marianna, a toxicologist.^[1]

When her parents split up in 2003, Hantuchová's performances temporarily worsened.^[3] At Wimbledon that year, she failed to convert several match points and was seen weeping on court.^[4] She also suffered from a weight problem during this period.^[5][6] She was suspected of being anorexic,^[3][7] but denied this.^[8]

Hantuchová speaks three languages (Slovak, English, and German),^[9] and was trained as a classical pianist.^[3] She is thought to be a perfectionist and puts a lot of pressure on herself during her training.^[3] She qualified for university in Slovakia but deferred it to pursue tennis.^[10]

She appeared in the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition alongside Maria Kirilenko and Tatiana Golovin in a pictoral entitled Volley of the Dolls.^[11]

Career[link]

2002[link]

Hantuchová started the year as the world no. 38, being known as a new up-and-coming player, in the Gold Coast, where she lost to world no. 7 Justine Henin in the second round in a three setter, 6–1, 0–6, 3–6. After reaching the round of 16, after qualifying, in Sydney, Hantuchová went on to play at the 2002 Australian Open, losing in the third round to second seed Venus Williams, 6–3, 0–6, 4–6.

After climbing the rankings to world no. 26, having competed in Paris and Antwerp (reaching the round of 16 in both), she went into the prestigious Indian Wells event, defeating Justine Henin in the fourth round, 6–3, 6–3, and Martina Hingis in the final, 6–3, 6–4. She was the lowest ranked player (seeded 18th) to ever win the Tier I event.^[12] In Miami and Amelia Island, Hantuchová went on to lose surprisingly in the second round. She then played in Charleston, only to be beaten again in the second round by 1995 Australian Open and 2000 French Open Champion Mary Pierce, 3–6, 4–6, Pierce being ranked no. 232. Playing in the Fed Cup, she won one of her two singles rubbers against Switzerland. Also in the clay season, Hantuchová reached the quarterfinals in Hamburg and Berlin, losing to Martina Hingis in straight sets and Anna Smashnova, 6–1, 2–6, 3–6. Having entered the French Open as the 11th seed and world no. 13 and losing her previous match in Rome in the first round, she beat Cara Black (after losing to her in Miami earlier in the year), only to lose to former champion Monica Seles in straight sets in the fourth round.

Hantuchová progressed to the semifinals of Eastbourne, losing to Myskina. At Wimbledon, she beat no. 7 Jelena Dokić in the round of 16, only to be beaten by the eventual champion, Serena Williams.

Daniela Hantuchová

Her US Open Series season was modest, as she lost in the second rounds of San Diego and Los Angeles, after having first-round byes in both tournaments. She reached the semifinals of the Tier I event in Montreal, losing to Amélie Mauresmo, and New Haven, losing to world no. 2 Venus Williams. At the final Grand Slam of the year, Hantuchová defeated 1997 French Open champion Iva Majoli in round three, and world no. 6 Justine Henin, 6–1, 3–6, 7–6(4), in round four, only to be beaten in her second consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal by Serena Williams (who again went on to win the title).

Later that year, Hantuchová also reached the quarterfinal in Leipzig and the final in Filderstadt, losing to Kim Clijsters, 4–6, 6–3, 4–6. The second set was the only set Hantuchová had taken from Clijsters in their nine meetings. She then went on to reach the quarterfinals of Zurich, losing to eventual champion Patty Schnyder in three tight sets, and the semifinals in Linz, and winning both of her singles rubbers in the Fed Cup final. This impressive season amassed her enough points to compete at the prestigious annual Tour Championships, losing in the first round to 17th ranked Magdalena Maleeva, 2–6, 5–7. Hantuchová's record for the year was 56–25 and 6–10 against top-10 players; 6–2 in singles Fed Cup play; 10–6 on indoor carpet, 6–2 on grass, 11–7 on clay, and 29–10 on hard courts.

2003[link]

Hantuchová started 2003 solidly, reaching the quarterfinals at her first three events in Sydney, losing to Lindsay Davenport, 4–6, 6–3, 6–7(3), Venus Williams, 4–6, 3–6, at the Australian Open (her third Grand Slam quarterfinal in a row), and Elena Dementieva in Paris, 5–7, 3–6. Hantuchová reached her first semifinal of the year at her fourth event in Antwerp, losing to Williams again, 1–6, 4–6. By then, Hantuchová's ranking was at a career-high no. 5. Defending a title for the first time in her career, Hantuchová advanced to the fourth round in Indian Wells, losing to Amanda Coetzer, 4–6, 4–6. Despite a first round-loss to Alicia Molik in Miami, Hantuchová rebounded in the Tier I Charleston event, making her fifth quarterfinal in seven events, losing to Ashley Harkleroad, 2–6, 1–6. She made her sixth quarterfinal at her next event in Amelia Island, losing to eventual champion Dementieva, 0–6, 1–6. Hantuchová went undefeated in first-round Fed Cup play against Germany, winning both of her matches. Following the Fed Cup, she again made it to the quarterfinals for the seventh time of the year at the Tier I Berlin tournament, losing to Kim Clijsters, 0–6, 3–6.

At the French Open, Hantuchová lost in the second round in a marathon match to Harkleroad again, 6–7(2), 6–4, 7–9, making 101 unforced errors, leading to long-time coach Nigel Sears criticising her attitude publicly.^[13] Following the match, her extremely thin physique was noticed for the first time publicly, and some wondered about Hantuchová's health. Kicking off the grass season in Eastbourne, Hantuchová lost in the quarterfinals to Conchita Martínez, but more famously she lost in the second round of Wimbledon to Shinobu Asagoe, 6–0, 4–6, 10–12, with Hantuchová breaking down crying during the latter stages of the match and making 57 unforced errors. Some theorized that the media's continued interest regarding her weight and the pressure of success at 19 years of age, in addition to her on-court breakdown and her parents' divorce, as well as her coach's walked out during the middle of the match, led to this breakdown. Following Wimbledon, Hantuchová went 6–8 for the rest of the year, 0–4 against top-10 players She ended the year with an overall record of 28–23, and she fell to no. 17 in the world. Further signs of the pressure and problems she was facing during this period was that, in July, she made herself unavailable for Slovakia in the Fed Cup, in order to concentrate on her singles career, and in November she parted company with Sears.^[14]

2004[link]

2004 proved to be a continuation of Hantuchová's poor second half of 2003, with many of the same struggles (she briefly hired Harold Soloman, who had previously coached her friend Jennifer Capriati as well as Anna Kournikova, before re-hiring Sears in March),^[15] She reached just three quarterfinals, the first at the first Tier I event in Tokyo was not until halfway through the season. At Tokyo, however, she garnered her thus far only victory over Maria Sharapova in the second round, falling to Davenport, 2–6, 2–6, in the quarterfinals. The tournament that saved her from a poor 2004 was Eastbourne, in which she defeated Ai Sugiyama in the quarterfinals, 6–1 7–6(7), and Amélie Mauresmo in the semifinals, 4–6, 6–4, 6–4, before losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third final of her career, 6–2, 6–7(2), 4–6. However, Hantuchová was serving for the championship, up 6–2, 6–5, but was broken.

Hantuchová was ranked no. 54 as she entered Eastbourne, but found herself ranked no. 38 as she went into Wimbledon, losing to eventual champion Sharapova in the third round, 3–6, 1–6. Hantuchová would make one more quarterfinal at New Haven, losing to Lisa Raymond, 4–6, 3–6. At the US Open one week later, Hantuchová lost in three sets to Patty Schnyder in the third round. She finished the year ranked no. 31, with a 24–24 win-loss record. She finished 1–4 against top-10 players overall, the sole victory over Mauresmo.

2005–2006[link]

Hantuchová reached the third round of the Australian Open, losing to Dementieva in a tight three-setter, 5–7, 7–5, 4–6. Following that, she made her first quarterfinal of the year in Tokyo for the second straight year, losing to Kuznetsova, 6–7(4), 6–7(4). At her next event, she reached the semifinals in Doha, losing to Sharapova, 2–6, 4–6. Then, she made another quarterfinal at her next tournament in Dubai, losing to Serena Williams, 4–6, 3–6. At Dubai also, in the first round, she garnered her tenth top-10 victory over no. 8 Alicia Molik, 7–6(8) 6–2. Hantuchová made the third round at the French Open and Wimbledon, losing to Clijsters, 4–6, 2–6, in Paris, and eventual champion Venus Williams, 5–7, 3–6, in England.

Hantuchová had a successful US Open series run, where she reached the semifinals in Cincinnati, getting upset by no. 74 Akiko Morigami, 4–6, 4–6. In Stanford, Hantuchová lost to Clijsters in the quarterfinals, 3–6, 1–6. After a second-round loss in San Diego to Sugiyama, Hantuchová reached her fourth final in Los Angeles, getting a walkover in the quarterfinals over Sharapova, and got revenge against Dementieva in the semifinals, defeating her 6–3, 6–4. In the final, for the seventh time in their head-to-head, Clijsters defeated Hantuchová, 4–6, 1–6. For the third time at the event, Hantuchová made the quarterfinals in New Haven, losing to Davenport, 2–6, 6–7(5).

Hantuchová lost to eventual quarterfinalist Venus Williams in the third round at the US Open. In Luxembourg, Hantuchová made her eighth quarterfinal of the season, losing to Nathalie Dechy, 1–6, 4–6. In Filderstadt the following week, Hantuchová made the semifinals, her third of the year, defeating no. 10 Patty Schnyder in the second round and Flavia Pennetta in the quarterfinals. She lost to Davenport in the semifinals. At the final Tier I event of the year, Hantuchová pushed Davenport to three sets and had match points in the second set in Zurich before losing, 6–3, 5–7, 2–6. In her final event of the year, in Linz, Hantuchová made her tenth quarterfinal, losing to Schnyder, 2–6, 1–6. Hantuchová finished 2005 with a 3–10 record against the top 10, 37–25 overall record, with 2–1 on indoor carpet, 3–4 on clay, 2–3 on grass, and 30–17 on hard courts, reaching 10 quarterfinals, 3 semifinals, and 1 final.

Daniela Hantuchová at the Zurich Open 2006

Hantuchová reached the quarterfinals of Sydney in 2006 with a win over top-10 player Patty Schnyder and got to the semifinals of Auckland. She continued this form at the Australian Open with her third-round 6–1, 7–6(5) victory over defending champion and seven-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams, who had entered the tournament with a lack of match practice and questions over her fitness. This victory (the only over Serena in her career) ensured that Daniela would progress to the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in three years. She lost to fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova in straight sets in the fourth round.

Thereafter, she was unable to find a consistent level of form. Prior to the clay-court season, she parted company for a second time (and permanently) with Sears.^[16] He was replaced by Angel Giminez. She then played her first Fed Cup matches for Slovakia in almost three years. It was a successful return, with Hantuchová winning both her singles and her doubles matches against Luxembourg, her singles match against The Netherlands, and the decisive singles rubber in the tie against Great Britain. With the help of Hantuchová's 4–0 record, Slovakia booked a place in the World Group II play-off against Thailand.

Despite disappointing results in the warm-up tournaments, she reached the fourth round of both the French Open and Wimbledon, before extending her 2006 Fed Cup record to 6–0 by winning both her singles matches in Slovakia's 5–0 rout of Thailand, which ensured their promotion to the World Group II. Her fourth-round streak at Grand Slams ended when she was beaten by a resurgent Serena Williams in the second round of the US Open, which was the culmination of a very disappointing American hard-court season (her record was 7–6 including the US Open, failing to get past the round of 16 of any of the tournaments she entered).

Daniela showed what she is capable of producing the week before Stuttgart, beating an in-form Tatiana Golovin in straight sets, before losing to Dinara Safina. The following week, she reached the quarterfinals of Stuttgart with an easy victory over the then top-10 player Safina in the second round. This was both her first victory over a top-10 player and first appearance in a quarterfinal since January. In October 2006, Hantuchová reached the final of the Zurich Open. In the first round, she upset sixth seed Patty Schnyder. In the second round, she defeated her doubles parter Ai Sugiyama. Daniela was then scheduled to play world no. 1 Amélie Mauresmo in the quarterfinals. However, Mauresmo withdrew due to a right shoulder injury. In the semifinals, Daniela upset world no. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6–4, 6–2, to reach the final of the Tier I event. In the final, Daniela lost in a tight three-setter to second seed Maria Sharapova, 1–6, 6–4, 3–6. The results in this tournament were the culmination of Hantuchová's up-turn of form, which kept her in the top 20, as she had arrived in Zurich outside the top group for the first time in over 11 months. The injury she suffered to her right rib^[17] after Mary Pierce hit a shot at her in doubles, caused her the most serious injury of her career and also forced her to retire in her match against Vesnina the following week in Linz. Hantuchová finished the year ranked no. 17 in the world, with a 34–25 record. She went 24–17 on hard courts, 5–4 on clay, 3–2 on grass, and 2–2 on carpet. She was 4–6 against top-10 players, beating Schnyder twice, Safina, and Kuznetsova, with losses to Sharapova (twice), Clijsters, Henin-Hardenne, Dementieva, and Nadia Petrova.

2007[link]

Daniela Hantuchová at the 2007 Fortis Championships in Luxembourg

Hantuchová's first tournament of the year was at the Tier IV ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, where she lost in the second round to Virginie Razzano. Hantuchová then lost to Nicole Vaidišová in the first round of the Tier II New South Wales Open/Medibank International in Sydney and reached her second consecutive Australian Open fourth round, where she lost to world no. 5 Kim Clijsters, 1–6, 5–7.

Hantuchová was then upset in the first round of the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo by Roberta Vinci. Three weeks later at the Tier II Dubai Tennis Championships, Hantuchová defeated Maria Kirilenko in the second round, 2–6, 6–4, 7–6(4), before losing her quarterfinal match against Amélie Mauresmo in three sets. The following week at the Tier II Qatar Total Open in Doha, Hantuchová trailed world no. 6 Martina Hingis in their quarterfinal match 4–1 in the second set, before coming back to win, 1–6, 6–4, 6–4. She then lost her semifinal match against world no. 5 Svetlana Kuznetsova. In her seventh tournament of the year, Hantuchová won six matches, the last four of which were upsets of higher seeded players, to win the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California. She upset Hingis in the fourth round, Shahar Pe'er in the quarterfinals, 6–2, 5–7, 7–6(5), Li Na in the semifinals, and Kuznetsova in the final in straight sets.^[3]

Hantuchová, however, struggled in her next four events. She was upset in the third round of the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida by Vera Zvonareva. On clay at the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Florida, Hantuchová lost to Sybille Bammer in the quarterfinals. Two weeks later, Hantuchová lost both of her Fed Cup matches against the Czech Republic in Bratislava on clay, losing to Vaidišová and Lucie Šafářová. Losing her fourth consecutive match, Hantuchová was upset in the first round of the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin by Zuzana Ondrášková. Hantuchová then reached her first career clay-court semifinal at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. She upset seventh-seeded Anna Chakvetadze in the third round, before losing to second-seeded Kuznetsova in the semifinals. At the French Open, Hantuchová was upset in the third round by Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6–4, 6–7(2), 5–7.

After defeating Eleni Daniilidou in the third round of the Tier III grass-court DFS Classic in Birmingham, United Kingdom, Hantuchová returned to the top 10 for the first time since August 2003. She then lost to Marion Bartoli in the quarterfinals, 7–5, 4–6, 5–7. The following week at the Tier III Ordina Open in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, Hantuchová defeated world no. 6 Ana Ivanović in the quarterfinals, before losing to Chakvetadze in the semifinals. This result caused Hantuchová to drop out of the top 10. Hantuchová was the tenth-seeded player at Wimbledon and did not lose a set in her first two matches. She then defeated Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik in the third round, 2–6, 6–3, 6–4, before losing to world no. 8 Serena Williams in the fourth round, 2–6, 7–6(2), 2–6. Immediately after Wimbledon, Hantuchová helped Slovakia win its Fed Cup World Group II play-off against Serbia. On an indoor hard court in Košice, she beat Ana Timotić and Vojislava Łukić.

Daniela Hantuchová at the 2007 Bank of the West Classic

Hantuchová played five tournaments during the North American summer hard-court season. She began the US Open Series by losing to Chakvetadze in the semifinals of the Tier II Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California. This result put her back in the top 10. At the Tier I Acura Classic in San Diego, she lost to world no. 16 Venus Williams in the second round. The following week at the Tier II JPMorgan Chase Open in Los Angeles, Hantuchová retired from her third-round match with Elena Dementieva while trailing, 3–6, 1–4. Hantuchová once again fell out of the top 10, after losing in the second round of the Tier II Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven, Connecticut to eventual runner-up Ágnes Szávay. At the US Open, Hantuchová was the ninth-seeded player but lost to Ukraine's Julia Vakulenko in the first round, 4–6, 6–3, 1–6. It was Hantuchová's earliest loss at this tournament since her debut in 2001 and her earliest loss at a Grand Slam tournament since the 2004 French Open.

Hantuchová then played four consecutive tournaments. She reached her second final of the year at the Tier III Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in Bali, losing to Lindsay Davenport in three sets. At the Tier III Sunfeast Open in Kolkata, India, Hantuchová lost in the semifinals to Maria Kirilenko, but re-entered the top 10. Traveling back to Europe, Hantuchová played in the Tier II Fortis Championships Luxembourg. She defeated Patty Schnyder in the quarterfinals and Bartoli in the semifinals to advance to her third final of the year for the first time in her career. Hantuchová then lost to world no. 6 Ivanović in the final, 6–3, 4–6, 4–6, after leading the match, 6–3, 3–0. At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Hantuchová defeated Šafářová in the first round, but lost in the second round to Dementieva. This loss, however, did not prevent Hantuchová from rising to world no. 9, her highest ranking in over four years.

At the Tier I Zurich Open, Hantuchová defeated Dinara Safina in the first round, 7–6(2), 7–6(4), before losing to Agnieszka Radwańska. One week later, Hantuchová won her third career title at the Tier II Generali Ladies Linz. In the semifinals, she defeated Vaidišová for the first time in her career, 2–6, 6–2, 7–6(3). Hantuchová then defeated Schnyder in the straight-sets final. This title enabled Hantuchová to qualify for the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid. But Hantuchová did not advance past the round-robin stage. She lost to Maria Sharapova and Ivanović, before beating Kuznetsova to finish third in her group. Hantuchová's win-loss record for 2007 was 52–28. She was 6–11 versus top-10 players, with two victories against Hingis, two against Kuznetsova, one against Ivanović, and one against Chakvetadze. The losses were to Clijsters, Mauresmo, Chakvetadze (twice), Kuznetsova (twice), Vaidišová, Serena Williams, Ivanović (twice), and Sharapova. Hantuchová finished the year at world no. 9, her first top-10 finish since 2002.

2008[link]

Daniela Hantuchová

She started the year at the Medibank International in Sydney. She defeated Russian Dinara Safina in the first round, before losing to world no. 12 Czech Nicole Vaidišová in the second round. At the Australian Open, Hantuchová reached her first Grand Slam semifinal.^[18] She won her first three matches without losing a set. In the quarterfinals, she beat Polish teenager Agnieszka Radwańska, who had defeated second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova in earlier rounds. Hantuchová then lost to Ana Ivanović in the semifinals, 6–0, 3–6, 4–6, despite Hantuchová's leading the second set 2–0. After the match, Hantuchová claimed that Ivanović had been distracting her by squeaking her shoes on the court before serving, a claim Ivanović disputed.^[19] Hantuchová's performance at this tournament caused her ranking to improve one spot to world no. 8.

Hantuchová then played two indoor tournaments in Europe. At the Open Gaz de France in Paris, she lost to seventh-seeded Ágnes Szávay of Hungary in the quarterfinals. She was the third-seeded player at the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp, where she again reached the quarterfinals. A blister on her right hand caused Hantuchová to retire during the quarterfinal against Timea Bacsinszky.

Hantuchová in July 2008

Hantuchová was then scheduled to play at the Qatar Total Open, the first Tier I event of the year, and the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, a Tier II event, but withdrew from both because of fatigue. Hantuchová played both of the two-week Tier I events in the United States. At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Hantuchová was the defending champion and fifth seed. She lost to fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals. In doubles, Hantuchová and Ai Sugiyama lost in the semifinals to Safina and Elena Vesnina, the eventual champions. At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Hantuchová failed to reach the fourth round for the ninth consecutive year. She lost to former doubles partner Sugiyama in the third round, 4–6, 7–6(8), 5–7, despite leading 3–0 in the third set. In doubles, Hantuchová partnered with Lindsay Davenport to reach the quarterfinals, where they lost to Sugiyama and Katarina Srebotnik, who went on to win the event.

The following week at the Tier II Bausch & Lomb Championships on clay in Amelia Island, Florida, Hantuchová was the third seed, but lost in the second round to Karolina Šprem. Hantuchová spent the month of May and most of June recovering from a stress fracture in her right foot, which resulted in her withdrawal from the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome,^[20] the Tier III Istanbul Cup,^[21] the French Open,^[22][23] and the Tier III Ordina Open in 's-Hertogenbosch. She recovered in time for Wimbledon, but lost in the second round to unseeded Alisa Kleybanova, 3–6, 6–4, 1–6.

Hantuchová played four hard-court tournaments between Wimbledon and the US Open. She lost in the second round of the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California and in the second round of the following week's tournament, the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles. Hantuchová was seeded tenth at the Summer Olympics in Beijing. She defeated Sugiyama in the first round, before losing in the second round to Caroline Wozniacki. The following week at the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven, Connecticut, Hantuchová lost in the quarterfinals to Alizé Cornet. Hantuchová was seeded eleventh at the US Open, where she was upset in the first round by qualifier Anna-Lena Grönefeld.

Hantuchová at the 2008 Fortis Championships

To end the year, Hantuchová played seven tournaments in Asia and Europe. She lost in the semifinals of the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in Bali and in the first round of the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo to Francesca Schiavone. In Beijing at the China Open, she lost to world no. 2 Jelena Janković in the quarterfinals. After losing in the first round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, the second round of the Tier I Kremlin Cup in Moscow, and the second round of the Tennis.com Zürich Open, Hantuchová was seeded third at the Fortis Championships Luxembourg. However, she lost to world no. 39 Sorana Cîrstea in the quarterfinals. Because she won only 11 of 26 singles matches after the Indian Wells tournament, Hantuchová finished the year ranked world no. 21, her lowest year-end ranking and first finish out of the top 20 since 2004. She was 0–5 during the year versus players ranked in the top 10 at the time the matches were played, with losses to Ivanović, Sharapova, Janković, and Vera Zvonareva (twice).

2009–2010[link]

Hantuchová began the 2009 tour by participating in the Brisbane International as the tournament's fourth-seeded player. She was upset in the first round by Sara Errani, 7–6(1), 4–6, 2–6. Hantuchová then played the Medibank International in Sydney, where she lost in the second round to sixth-seeded Agnieszka Radwańska.

Daniela Hantuchová at the 2009 Brisbane International

At the Australian Open, Hantuchová was seeded 19th and defeated home favourite Casey Dellacqua in their first-round match, 7–6(11), 6–4. She then beat Mathilde Johansson of France in the second round, before losing to 15th-seeded Alizé Cornet in the third round, 6–4, 4–6, 2–6. In the doubles competition, Hantuchová and her partner Ai Sugiyama made it to the final, where they lost to Serena Williams and Venus Williams.

At the Open GDF SUEZ in Paris, Hantuchová beat Ekaterina Makarova in the first round, before losing to Cornet in the second round. This was the third consecutive time she has lost to Cornet. Hantuchová then played in the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, where she lost to eventual runner-up Virginie Razzano in the third round. Because of her results at this tournament, Hantuchová's ranking improved five places to world no. 36. At the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, Hantuchová was the only two-time singles champion in the draw. Seeded 30th, Hantuchová fell to Sybille Bammer in the fourth round, 3–6, 2–6. Unseeded for the first time since 2001 at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Hantuchová lost to 22nd-seeded Anna Chakvetadze in the second round, 3–6, 1–6.

Starting off the spring clay-court season as a wildcard at the MPS Group Championships in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, Hantuchová defeated eighth-seeded Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the second round, 6–3, 7–5. She then lost to eventual champion and second seed Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals, 2–6, 2–6. Playing in the Fed Cup World Group play-offs, Hantuchová defeated Alizé Cornet, 6–7(2), 6–3, 6–4, in the first-round rubber, but lost to Amélie Mauresmo, 5–7, 4–6, in her next match.

Hantuchová played four tournaments before Roland Garros on European clay. She lost in the early rounds of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, the Rome Masters and the Madrid Masters to Dinara Safina, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Jelena Janković, respectively. In doubles at Rome, Hantuchová and Ai Sugiyama defeated first seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber in the quarterfinals. However, the pair lost to Hsieh Su-Wei and Peng Shuai, 5–7, 6–7(5), in the final. Her fourth event was the Warsaw Open, where she reached her second career clay-court semifinal, but lost to Romanian qualifier and eventual champion Alexandra Dulgheru, 4–6, 7–6(2), 1–6. Hantuchová was unseeded at the French Open and lost to Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano in the first round, 3–6, 3–6.

On grass, Hantuchová was seeded sixth at the Ordina Open in 's-Hertogenbosch. She fell to top seed Safina, 6–1, 4–6, 3–6, in the quarterfinals. Competing at her ninth Wimbledon, Hantuchová was unseeded in singles for the first time since 2004. She came from behind to defeat local teenager Laura Robson, 3–6, 6–4, 6–2, in the first round. She then upset 16th seed and the previous year's semifinalist Zheng Jie, 6–3, 7–5, and doubles partner Sugiyama, 6–4, 6–3. However, Hantuchová fell to second seed and eventual champion Serena Williams in the fourth round, 3–6, 1–6.

Hantuchová played her first-round match at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California, winning in three sets against defending champion Aleksandra Wozniak, 6–4, 4–6, 7–5. She then defeated seventh seed Agnieszka Radwańska in the second round, 4–6, 7–6(6), 6–1, but fell to third seed Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals, 2–6, 4–6. In the LA Women's Tennis Championships, she lost to Dinara Safina, 2–6, 4–6. In the Western & Southern Financial Women's Open, she lost to Flavia Pennetta, 3–6, 3–6, after upsetting seventh seed Vera Zvonareva, 7–6(6), 0–6, 7–6(5). In the Rogers Cup in Toronto, she fell to qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova in the first round, 6–7(1), 6–7(4).

Hantuchová was seeded 22nd at the US Open. She defeated Meghann Shaughnessy, Timea Bacsinszky, and Vania King, but fell in the fourth round to second seed and defending champion Serena Williams, 2–6, 0–6.

At the Hansol Korea Open in Seoul, South Korea, Hantuchová was the top seed, but was upset by eventual chmapion Kimiko Date-Krumm in the quarterfinals, 6–7(3), 6–4, 4–6. She then competed in the Toray Pan Pacific Open and the China Open, where she reached the second round in both, before losing in three sets to 11th seed Agnieszka Radwańska and 13th seed Nadia Petrova, respectively.

Hantuchová finished the season in Europe at the BGL Luxembourg Open, where she was upset by unseeded Shahar Pe'er in the quarterfinals, 2–6, 6–7(4).

Hantuchová finished outside the top 20 for the second consecutive year at no. 24, with a win-loss record of 39–25. She went 25–16 on hard courts, 9–7 on clay, and 5–2 on grass. She was 1–9 versus top-10 players, with losses to Radwańska, Kuznetsova, Janković, Dementieva, Serena Williams (twice), and Safina (three times), with the sole victory over Zvonareva.

Hantuchová started the 2010 tour by competing at the Brisbane International. Seeded fourth, Hantuchová was upset by unseeded Andrea Petkovic in the quarterfinals, 4–6, 2–6. At the Medibank International in Sydney, Hantuchová fell to fifth seed and eventual champion Elena Dementieva in the second round, 2–6, 6–4, 2–6. Seeded 22nd at the Australian Open, Hantuchová fell to 16th seed and eventual semifinalist Li Na in the third round, 5–7, 6–3, 2–6.

Hantuchová defeated Zhang Shuai, 6–0, 6–1, in the Fed Cup tie against China in Bratislava prior to the Dubai Tennis Championships. In Dubai, Hantuchová upset fifth seed Dementieva through retirement, after winning the first set 6–4. However, she fell to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the third round, 3–6, 4–6.

Hantuchová was seeded second at the Monterrey Open in Monterrey, Mexico. She became one of the favorites after top seed Jelena Janković fell in the first round. Hantuchová fought from a set down to beat unseeded Vania King, 2–6, 6–2, 6–1, in the quarterfinals, and fourth seed Dominika Cibulková, 4–6, 6–3, 6–0, in the semifinals. However she fell to third seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the finals, 6–1, 1–6, 0–6. It was Hantuchová's first final since Linz in 2007. Hantuchová was upset at the BNP Paribas Open by Roberta Vinci in the second, after injuring her back during training earlier that day. At the Sony Ericsson Open, she gained a career-best in Miami, reaching the fourth round after recording straight-set victories over Patty Schnyder and 16th seed Nadia Petrova, but lost a very tight three-set match to third seed and eventual finalist Venus Williams, 6–1, 5–7, 4–6, in nearly three hours.

Hantuchová began the clay season by competing at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina. She upset second seed and world no. 7 Jelena Janković in the quarterfinals, 1–6, 6–3, 6–3. However, she fell to fourth seed and eventual champion Samantha Stosur in her third career clay-court semifinal, 3–6, 6–7(2). Following Charleston, Hantuchová helped Slovakia earn a place in the World Group I for the 2011 Fed Cup by scoring two singles victories and a doubles victory in the World Group play-offs against Serbia. She again defeated world no. 7 Janković in one of her singles matches for a second week in a row. Despite first-round loses in the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, Italy and in the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, Hantuchová rebounded at the French Open. Seeded 23rd, she upset 16th seed Yanina Wickmayer in the third round, but fell to fourth seed Jelena Janković in the fourth round.

Hantuchová played two tournaments on grass. She was defeated by Samantha Stosur at the AEGON International in Eastbourne and was then upset by Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová at Wimbledon.

To start off the US Open Series, Daniela suffered a tough opening-round loss to sixth seed Shahar Pe'er, 6–0, 4–6, 3–6, at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California. At the Mercury Insurance Open in San Diego, she upset sixth seed Marion Bartoli, 3–6, 7–6(3), 6–4, in the first round, saving three match points. She then beat Zheng Jie and Alisa Kleybanova to advance to the semifinals, where she fell to Agnieszka Radwańska in straight sets. Hantuchová then fell in the first rounds of the Cincinnati Masters, and the Rogers Cup to eventual semifinalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and 15th seed Flavia Pennetta, respectively. At the 2010 Pilot Pen Tennis, she fell to Dinara Safina, 6–7(4), 6–7(2).

As the 24th seed, Hantuchová defeated Dinara Safina and Vania King at the 2010 US Open, before falling to 12th seed Elena Dementieva in the third round.

Hantuchová fell in the early rounds in both the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Japan and the China Open. At the Generali Ladies Linz, Hantuchová was upset by Patty Schnyder, 4–6, 4–6, in the quarterfinals. At the BGL Luxembourg Open, she lost again in the early rounds to Angelique Kerber in three sets. Hantuchová received a wildcard to the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali, Indonesia. She upset Yanina Wickmayer in straight sets, but fell to Alisa Kleybanova in the semifinals. She also lost the third-place match to Kimiko Date-Krumm, 5–7, 5–7.

Hantuchová finished outside the top 20 for the third consecutive year at no. 30, with a win-loss record of 35–25. She was 3–5 versus top-10 players, with losses to Dementieva, Venus Williams, Janković, Stosur, and Radwańska, and with victories over Dementieva and Janković (twice).

2011[link]

Hantuchová withdrew from her first tournament of the year at the Brisbane International due to a left Achilles strain.^[24] She competed next at the Medibank International Sydney, but suffered a loss to María José Martínez Sánchez in the first round, 2–6, 4–6. At the Australian Open, she was the 28th seed, but lost in the first round to Regina Kulikova in three sets, 5–7, 6–3, 7–9. This is the first time Hantuchová had lost in the first round of the Australian Open, except her first appearance.

She then played at the PTT Pattaya Open, where she defeated Kurumi Nara, Kimiko Date-Krumm, and Akgul Amanmuradova, all in straight sets to reach the semifinals. There she upset top seed, world no. 3 and defending champion Vera Zvonareva, 7–6(3), 6–4. Hantuchová then won her first title in more than three years by defeating Sara Errani, 6–0, 6–2, in the final. Despite this, she fell to Anna Chakvetadze in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships the following week. However, she rebounded at the Qatar Ladies Open by upsetting sixth seed Victoria Azarenka in the first round, 4–6, 6–1, 6–2, but fell in the quarterfinals to second seed and eventual champion Vera Zvonareva, 7–5, 6–7(5), 7–5, despite serving for the match at 5–4 in the final set.

At the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California and the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida, Hantuchová lost in the early rounds to Dinara Safina and top seed Caroline Wozniacki, respectively. Partnering Agnieszka Radwańska, she reached the semifinals in Indian Wells, falling to the eventual champions, but won the doubles title in Miami, defeating Nadia Petrova and Liezel Huber.

On clay, Hantuchová was upset in the third round of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina by Christina McHale. Hantuchová next competed on European red clay at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open in Madrid, Spain and the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, Italy. She fell in the early rounds of all three to Samantha Stosur in both Stuttgart and Madrid and to second seed Francesca Schiavone in Rome. However, Hantuchová rebounded at the Internationaux de Strasbourg, where she upset fourth seed Nadia Petrova in the quarterfinals, but fell to second seed Andrea Petkovic in the semifinals, 4–6, 6–3, 4–6. Seeded 28th at the French Open, Hantuchová defeated Zhang Shuai and Sara Errani in the first two rounds, both in straight sets.^[25][26] She then upset top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki, 6–1, 6–3 for^[27] her first win over a reigning world no. 1. However, Hantuchová fell to 13th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round, 7–6(6), 3–6, 2–6.^[28]

Hantuchová reached her second career grass-court final at the AEGON Classic in Birmingham, England, upsetting second seed Ana Ivanović in the semifinals, 6–7(2), 6–3, 6–2, before falling to unseeded Sabine Lisicki, 3–6, 2–6. Competing at the AEGON International in Eastbourne, Hantuchová defeated second seed Li Na and Venus Williams, before retiring to fifth seed Petra Kvitová in the semifinals. Seeded 25th at the Wimbledon, Hantuchová fell to fourth seed Victoria Azarenka in the third round, 3–6, 6–3, 2–6.

Hantuchová fell in the early rounds of both the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California and the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada. She reached her sixth and seventh quarterfinals of the season at the Mercury Insurance Open in Carlsbad, California and at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, Ohio, but fell to third seed Agnieszka Radwańska and second seed Vera Zvonareva, respectively.

After a first-round loss at the US Open to Pauline Parmentier, Hantuchová reached the quarterfinals of the Bell Challenge and the Generali Ladies Linz losing to Marina Erakovic and top seed Petra Kvitova respectively.

Hantuchová finished the year at world no. 24 with a win loss record of 41–29. She went 5–11 against the top-10 with victories over Zvonareva, Azarenka, Wozniacki, Na, and Bartoli.

2012[link]

Hantuchová began the year at the Brisbane International, where she reached her first final of the year, defeating Dominika Cibulková and Vania King, before receiving a walkover in the quarterfinals when Serena Williams pulled out of the event with an ankle sprain. In the semifinals, she lost the first set to Kim Clijsters, before the Belgian retired with a hip injury midway through the second. In the final, Hantuchová was easily defeated by Kaia Kanepi, 6–2, 6–1. In Sydney, Hantuchová upset Francesca Schiavone in the second round, before falling to second seed Petra Kvitova in the quarterfinals. Seeded No. 20 at the Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia, Hantuchová fell to eventual semifinalist and defending champion Kim Clijsters in straight sets in the third round.

At Pattaya, she successfully defended her title by defeating No. 4 seed Maria Kirilenko 6–7(4), 6–3, 6–3 in the final. However, Hantuchová was upset in the first round of the Qatar Ladies Open in Doha, Qatar the following week by Simona Halep 3–6, 6–2, 7–6(4). At the Dubai Tennis Championships, she fell in the quarters to eventual finalist, Julia Görges, 4–6, 6–3, 6–4.

Hantuchová then suffered relatively unsuccessful tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami. She fell in the second round after a bye to Czech Klára Zakopalová 3–6, 7–6(7), 3–6. In Miami, she defeated Kateryna Bondarenko in a third set tiebreaker, before falling to Ana Ivanovic 2–6, 6–7(2).^[29] At the Fed Cup against Spain, she lost to Silvia Soler Espinosa 6–7(5), 4–6, before defeating Lourdes Domínguez Lino 0–6, 7–6(4), 6–4 to clinch the tie 3–2 for Slovakia.^[30]

Career statistics[link]

Endorsements[link]

Product endorsement and equipment[link]

Until the 2009 US Open, Hantuchová endorsed Nike sportswear and had her own line with them for her tournament wear, like players such as Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams. From the 2009 US Open onwards, Hantuchová began endorsing Adidas sportswear. As of Wimbledon 2010, she shares the same signature line as Ana Ivanović. In 2006, Hantuchová also appeared on an advertisement for Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot phone with Ivanović.

Hantuchová also has endorsed three racquet brands. She first endorsed Babolat from the time she was a junior until late 2003, then Yonex until the 2007 Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, when she started using the Prince Ozone Seven Racquets in the 2007 Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. Photos were released from Prince giving the impression that Hantuchová, from the start of the 2011 season, will be using the Prince EXO3 Tour 100. However, she signed a deal with Volkl Tennis and is currently using the Volkl Power Bridge 9. This means that she has endorsed four brands of racquets so far in her career, more than most players. Starting with the 2011 Fed Cup, she began using the Prince EXO3 Tour Team 100, with which she won her fourth career title.

Video games[link]

Hantuchová has been in many sports/tennis related video games with such players as Maria Sharapova, Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams and Anna Kournikova. Some of the titles are Top Spin (both Xbox and Play Station 2 versions), Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2, Roland Garros 2005 and Virtua Tennis 3. Hantuchová is currently ranked third behind Serena Williams and Ana Ivanović in a poll for new downloadable players for Top Spin 3. Hantuchová is also a playable character in Virtua Tennis 2009.

Achievements[link]

Team achievements[link]

• 2000 Eurotel Doubles Champion
• 2002 Fed Cup Champion (Slovakia)
• 2004 Hopman Cup Finalist (with Karol Kučera)
• 2004 Athens Olympic Games
• 2005 Hopman Cup Champion (with Dominik Hrbatý)
• 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

Special achievements[link]

• 2001 WTA Newcomer of the Year Award
• 2002 WTA Most Improved Player of the Year Award
• 2003 Laureus World Sports Academy Award nominee for World Newcomer of the Year Award

See also[link]

• Slovakia Fed Cup team

References[link]