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Aravane Rezai (Persian: ارغوان رضائی, Latin alphabet: Aravane Rezaï, born March 14, 1987) is an Iranian-French tennis player born in St. Etienne, France to Iranian parents. Rezaï took up tennis after a childhood stint as her older brother's ball girl. Her career high rank was #25, achieved on December 14, 2009.
[edit] Career[edit] 2001 and 2005: Women's Islamic GamesShe competed for Iran at the Women's Islamic Games winning Gold in 2001 and 2005. [edit] 2006: U.S. Open & ITF SuccessFor the second year in a row, Rezai lost in the qualifying rounds of the Australian Open. However, her French Open run was more successful. She struggled through to the third round of the tournament, defeating Ai Sugiyama of Japan along the way. She fell to Nicole Vaidisova, in a hard fought three-setter. Her Wimbledon dreams were also put on hold as she fell in the first round of qualifying. At the 2006 U.S. Open, she reached the fourth round, her career best Grand Slam singles result. She had a fantastic run, even beating Russian beauty Maria Kirilenko in straight sets. She also competed on the ITF circuit throughout the year. She reached the final of two ITF tournaments, as well as winning one in the later part of the year on the hardcourts of France. [edit] 2007Her year started poorly, reaching the second round only twice in her first thirteen tournaments on tour, including a first round loss at the Australian Open. At the international clay tournament of Istanbul (Turkey) Rezaï reached the final by beating American World No. 29 Venus Williams in the 2nd round (6–4, 6–4) and Russian World No. 2 Maria Sharapova in the semi-final (6–2, 6–4). In the final she lost to Russian Elena Dementieva due to retiring, trailing 6–7(5) 0–3. In spite of her good performance in the international clay tournament, she lost the week after 6–2, 6–4 to countrywoman Marion Bartoli in the first round of the 2007 French Open.In her first appearance in Wimbledon she defeated Shenay Perry from the U.S. in the first round 6–2 7–6 and Francesca Schiavone from Italy the 29 seed in the second round, 6–4 2–6 6–4. However, in the third round she was defeated by Ana Ivanović from Serbia by 6–3, 6–2. At the 2007 US Open she once again lost to Ana Ivanovic in the second round. She ended an appalling year with yet another ITF Circuit title Deauville France. She won the title, losing only one set en route. [edit] 2008She reached the final of the 2008 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, despite being unseeded. She lost to American, Lindsay Davenport, 6–2, 6–2. Her year was stagnated with early losses in the first and second rounds of tournaments. Her only other grand success of the year came on the clay of Morocco through late April to early May. She reached the semi-finals. However, she lost to Gisela Dulko. At the Australian Open, Rezai reached the third round, beating thirteenth seed Tatiana Golovin in the second round 6–3, 3–6, 6–3 before losing to Hsieh Su-Wei 6–2, 6–7, 6–4. Her Grand Slam results for the rest of the year was disappointing. At the French Open, she fell to Nadia Petrova in the first round. At Wimbledon, she faced Gisela Dulko of Argentina. She pushed Dulko to three sets, but eventually fell 6-1 0-6 2-6. The US Open started well as she defeated American Asia Muhammed 6-2 6-4. However, she fell in the second round to Bammer 1-6, 5-7. [edit] 2009She won the first WTA Tour title of her career in Strasbourg, beating Lucie Hradecká 7–6(2), 6–1 in the final. Despite a first round loss at the Australian Open, she flew to the 4th round of French Open after defeating Michelle Larcher de Brito by 7-6(3), 6-2, but lost to World No.1 Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-0, effectively putting an end to her participation in Roland-Garros. At the 2009 Wimbledon Championships, she beat Ayumi Morita 6-2 6-2 but then lost to number #4 Elena Dementieva 6-1 6-3 in the second round. In the first round of Rogers Cup 2009, she defeated Alize Cornet by 6-4 7-5. In the second round, she made the biggest upset of the tournament by defeating world number 1 Dinara Safina 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. In the third round, she was defeated by Alisa Kleybanova in two sets 3-6, 4-6. Aravane Rezai then lost at the US Open to Sabine Lisicki in the first round, her earliest loss ever at the US Open. At the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Rezai won her opening match in straight sets, defeating Sara Errani 6-2, 6-2. In the second round she lost to Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli 6-4, 6-2. Seeded tenth at the 2009 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions Rezai won her first round robin match against fourth seed Sabine Lisicki 6–1, 3–6, 4–6 and then beat Melinda Czink in her second round robin match, 6-3, 7-5 to make her the first player to advance to the semifinals of the inaugural event. She then went on to the semifinals where she beat María José Martínez Sánchez 6-2 6-3. In the final she faced Marion Bartoli and won the first set 7-5 before Bartoli retired. Because of her performance Rezai reached a new career high of world number 26. [edit] Singles titles[edit] Wins (2)
[edit] Runners-up (2)
[edit] Performance timelineTo prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. To help interpret the performance table, the legend below explains what each abbreviation and color coded box represents in the performance timeline.
[edit] External links
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