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Tamarine Tanasugarn

Nickname(s)	Tammy
Country	Thailand
Residence	Bangkok, Thailand
Date of birth	24 May 1977 (1977-05-24) (age 32)
Place of birth	Los Angeles, CA, USA
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight	63 kg (140 lb; 9.9 st)
Turned pro	1994
Plays	right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	US$ 2,779,768
Singles
Career record	450–349
Career titles	3 WTA, 11 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 19 (13 May 2002)
Current ranking	No. 111 (6 October 2009)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	4R (1998)
French Open	3R (2002)
Wimbledon	QF (2008)
US Open	4R (2003)
Major tournaments
Olympic Games	2R (2000)
Doubles
Career record	203–199
Career titles	6 WTA, 3 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 15 (13 September 2004)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	3R (2000)
French Open	2R (2002, 2004, 2007)
Wimbledon	2R (1996, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009)
US Open	QF (2004)
Major doubles tournaments
Olympic Games	QF (1996)
Mixed Doubles
Career record
Career titles
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open	-
French Open	-
Wimbledon	2R (2009)
US Open	-
Last updated on: 22 June 2009.

Tanasugarn on the right in this photo, with her doubles partner Su-Wei Hsieh.

Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thai: แทมมารีน ธนสุกาญจน์, IPA: [tʰɛːmmāːrīːn tʰánásùkāːn]; born 24 May 1977) is a professional Thai tennis player. She was born in Los Angeles, California, U.S. and turned professional in 1994. She has been in the top twenty in both singles and doubles.

Tanasugarn's highest WTA ranking has been world number 19, a ranking she achieved on 13 May 2002, which is the highest ranking ever achieved for Thai female player. She has won three singles titles. She was briefly a doubles partner with Maria Sharapova, with whom she won two titles in 2003. She won a total of five doubles titles. Her highest doubles ranking was world number 15 which she achieved on 13 September 2004. With Liezel Huber, she reached the 2004 US Open doubles quarterfinals. Her biggest success came in 2008 when she became the first Thai tennis player ever to reach a quarterfinal in professional Grand Slam.

In her career, Tanasugarn has defeated former and current number one players, Amélie Mauresmo^[1], Jennifer Capriati^[2], Jelena Jankovic, and Dinara Safina. She has also beaten an Australian Open and French Open champion, Mary Pierce^[3].

Tanasugarn is also widely regarded as grass court specialist, having made the fourth round in Wimbledon for six times (1998-2003, 2004) and eventually succeeded the quarterfinal in 2008. She had three grass court major finals in Ordina Open in 2008, 2009, and Birmingham in 2000. Besides all these results, the five out of her seven top ten victories also come from grass.^[4] One of her top ten victories includes a current World No.1 Dinara Safina. It was Tanasugarn's first career win over a reigning world No.1.

Tanasugarn is also a regular competitor for the Thailand Fed Cup team, helping the team join the World Group II in 2005 and 2006, after beating Australia and Croatia in their play-off matches.

[edit] Playing style

This biographical section of a needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2009) (Find sources: Tamarine Tanasugarn – news, books, scholar)

Playing comfortably in grass court, Tanasugarn suites her best game and strategy well when she performs on grass. Once she gave a reason that grass court is familiar with the court she has been practicing in Thailand and especially loves the atmosphere at Wimbledon. Her game is based on good strategy, precise groundstroke, and favours to deliver winners from a baseline. Tanasugarn is also known for her flat and topspin-flat groundstroke which are especially effective and offensive on grass, frequently are able to draw unforced errors from opponents.^[5]

[edit] Career

[edit] Junior

During her junior career, most of the expense is supported by her father, Virachai Tanasugarn, a lawyer, who was a former Thai basketball player and inspired his daughter to become a professional tennis player. In 1995, at 17, Tanasugarn reached her junior grand slam final at Wimbledon with a win over Anna Kournikova in semifinal but lost to the Polish Aleksandra Olsza 7-5, 7-6. With this achievement, it built both of her confidence on becoming a promising star and potential grass court specialist.^[6]

[edit] 1994-1999

She has turned pro since 1994, and made her WTA debut in 1993 Pattaya Women's Open but lost to Australian Rennae Stubbs, 6-4, 7-6(7-3) and got through the second round in 1994 beating world number 44, Marianne Werdel Witmeyer in the first round 1-6, 7-5, 7-5. In 1995, Tanasugarn started participating the Grand Slams but lost in the qualifying rounds in four of them^[7]. In 1996, she lost early in qualifying round in Australian Open, though, Tanasugarn came in the attention spot in 1996 when she reached the final at Pattaya Women's Open. This is her first major final, she lost to Ruxandra Dragomir, 7-6(7-4), 6-4. With this result her rank leveled up to number 79. In 1997, she reached third round in Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open, semifinal at Hobart and ended the year raking number 46. 1998 was a breakthrough year for Tanasugarn, She reached her fisrt fourth round in the Australian Open, by defeating the reigning French Open Champion Iva Majoli, 6-0, 6-2. Tanasugarn also made her second fourth round in grand slam of the year the, though she lost to Martina Hingis in the following round. Three months later Tanasugarn reached her first tier II semifinal in Tokyo Princess Cup, lost to Monica Seles, in the end of the year she was in the top 40 players^[7]. The next year wasn't as successful as expected, her ranking dropped to 77 in the mid-season, though for second consecutive year she reached the fourth round in Wimbledon, with a win over thirteenth seed, Sandrine Testud, but could not proceed further, she lost to Mirjana Lucic, 7-5, 6-3. She then tried to gain the ranking back by competing in the Challengers and ended the year in 72 position, her lowest rank in two years.^[7]

[edit] 2000-2004

After the disappointing season last year, Tanasugarn boosted her confidence up in the mixed double tournament Hopman Cup. She partnered with another Thai rising star Paradorn Srichaphan, their performance drew much criticism when they both battled their path through the final. Tanasugarn beat Jelena Dokic from Australia, Barbara Schett from Austria,Ai Sugiyama from Japan and Henrieta Nagyova from Slovakia,took the wins from all the single matches. In the final, facing Amanda Coetzer, Tanasugarn started with more consistency and took the first set but the South African eventually won with 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 score. In men's single Paradorn Srichaphan had fought hard but was pushed by Wayne Ferreira to 7-6(14-12), 6-3 lost, then Thai team surrendered to the South African team again in mixed double, making the 3-0 score lost in the final.^[8] Nonetheless, by this result has made them the first Asians ever to reach the final in Hopman Cup. Later she has wrote in her personal column on her mid-career comeback issue, "There was a bit of lopsided and disappointing performance in that year but having reached the final at Hopman Cup made me feel the motivation and inspiration in the sport once more".

Tanasugarn started the tournament with 3rd round in Australian open, despite taking the first set from the opponent, Tanasugarn eventually lost to her rival Sandrine Testud, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. Just a week before Wimbledon, Tanasugarn reached her second WTA final at Birmingham, with a win over Julie Halard-Decugis en route. In the final match with Lisa Raymond, Tanasugarn lost in three sets thriller match. She then again reached fourth round in wimbledon for third consecutive years but lost to eighth seeded Serena Williams in two sets. Tanasugarn also reached three semifinals at Japan Open Tennis Championships, Kuala Lampur and Shanghai, she represented Thailand in 2000 Olympic game but was ousted in the second round by Venus Williams. Her year-end ranking was number 29, the first time in the top 30 in year-ended ranking.^[7]

2001 is considered as one of her best season, She began her season in Sydney but lost in the first round to Brie Rippner, In Australian Open she reached the third round, but lost to the American, Serena Williams, 6-1, 6-4. In Dubai, Tanasugarn succeeded her second Tier II semifinal, but lost to Martina Hingis, although she leads 3-0 in the first set. In American Outdoor Hard Court Season, she got through to the third round at Indian Wells but lost to Anke Huber and also reached the fourth round at Miami lost to Jennifer Capriarti. In Roland Garros, Tanasugarn lost in the first round to Zsofia Gubacsi 4-6, 7-5, 7-5. In grass court season, she collected her second and third top ten wins against Nathalie Tauziat, in Eastbourne and Amelie Mauresmo, in third round, Wimbledon. That was her fourt consecutive appearance in the fourth round. However, she lost early again to Nathalie Tauziat. Tanasugarn made the third career final at Japan Open Tennis Championships, she lost to former number one Monica Seles, 6-3, 6-2. At the end of season, Tanasugarn was ranked in the top 30 for two consecutive years.

2002, Tanasugarn reached her fourth major final at Canberra, as number one seed, Tanasugarn beat Patty Schnyder in the quarterfinal, she eventually lost to the Isaraeli,Anna Smashnova in the final. Tanasugarn made her first Tier I quarterfinal appearance at Toray Pan Pacific Open with a win over former number four, Magdalena Maleeva. Tanasugarn lost in her fifth major final, at Doha, to Monica Seles, this made her record 0-5 in major finals . On May 13, she was ranked number 19 in the world, her best career rank to date and held it for nearly 10 non-consecutive weeks. In her personal column "Tammy Ka" she has cited this accomplishment as a result of "The hard-working, time-dedicated and intensive training". However, her opportunity to rise the rank was interrupted by her unsatisfied performance on clay. Nonetheless, Tanasugarn has made her best result on clay in Roland Garros, as number 17 seed, she reached the third round for the first time, and eventually lost to the Italian, Silvia Farina Elia, this was so far her best performance on clay court. Tanasugarn reached fourth round in Wimbledon for fifth consecutive years, but was upset by Monica Seles in two sets. In the US Open she suffered from little finger fraction but persisted to continue playing, she lost in the second round to the American Bea Bielek. Tanasugarn ended the year ranked number 28.

2003, Tanasugarn reached the third round in Australian Open for fourth consecutive years. Tanasugarn succeeded her first tour major in Hyderabad, she beat Yulia Beygelzimer, Tatiana Poutchek and Maria Kirilenko from Russia in quarterfinal, the Italian, Flavia Pennetta in semifinal and Iroda Tulyaganova from Uzbekistan in the final, 6-4, 6-4. Tanasugarn made her second tier I quarterfinal in Toray Pan Pacific Open for second consecutive years, she beat Silvia Farina Elia and lost to Lindsay Davenport in tight two sets. Tanasugarn's run at Wimbledon was stopped early by Akiko Morigami, This was her earliest exit in Wimbledon since she turned pro. Tanasugarn made her fourth round in US Open for the first time, she beat the Italian, Rita Grande, the Swiss Patty Schnyder and her fourth top ten win over number 9 seed, Daniela Hantuchova. She lost to Amelie Mauresmo in two sets in the following round. Tanasugarn was ranked 34 in the end of the year.

In 2004, Tanasugarn dropped from the top 50 for the first time in four years, her best performance was her sixth fourth round in Wimbledon, she lost to the Japanese,Ai Sugiyama in two sets. Tanasugarn was also the semifinalist in Japan Open Tennis Championships, but lost to her former double partner Maria Sharapova.

[edit] 2005-2007

After her unsatisfactory performance in 2004, Tanasugarn also had to deal with multiple injuries which affected most of her career in 2005, her ranking dropped out of the top 100, therefore Tanasugarn chose to play in Challenger Level tournaments to collect the points.

2006, She had once mentioned retiring from tennis career, however, after she qualified to play in the main draw of Wimbledon and reached the third round, Tanasugarn was charged back up and decided to give it another shot. Tanasugarn reached her homecountry tournament final again in PTT Bangkok Open, facing Vania King, she was two games away from taking the title leading in the final set 4-2, but King fought back to win the match.^[9]. Despite losing the match with the support and warmth she was given by her home country, Tanasugarn regained some confidence to get back to the tour. She finished that year ranked 75th.

Unfortunately in 2007, Tanasugarn still struggled with injuries and had to play in many challengers, she ended the season ranked 124th.

[edit] 2008

Tanasugarn made her successful comeback with many great results in 2008. Tanasugarn qualified to play in main draw at Australian Open, beating Jelena Dokic along the way, she lost to the Austrian, Sybille Bammer in the first round. She decided to skip the clay court seasons, due to her difficulty playing games on that surface and chose to play in hard court challengers which she had said that the ball bouncing is familiar to grass surface. Tanasugarn won the challenger title at Gifu, defeated the comeback former world number four, Kimiko Date Krumm from Japan. In grass court season, Tanasugarn beat the Austrian seed, Tamira Paszek in Birmingham but lost to Bethanie Mattek in the fourth round. A week later, Tanasugarn has stunned many tennis fans, ranked number 85, she reached her eighth major final, beat the french open runner-up Dinara Safina in two sets, at Ordina Open final match. This is her second major title, she beat Kateryna Bondarenko, Ashley Harkleroad, Michaella Krajicek and Alyona Bondarenko on the way to final. Continuously, she reached her seventh fourth round in Wimbledon, upset the Russian Vera Zvonareva en route and surprised the world number three, Jelena Jankovic with the two sets defeat in the fourth round. In quarterfinal, she lost to the eventual champion Venus Williams, 6-4,6-3. Tanasugarn became the first Thai player to make a grand slam quarterfinal and has said that reaching the quarterfinal in Wimbledon is her most accomplished dream so far, since she had been stopped for six times in the fourth round by Martina Hingis in 1998, Mirjana Lucic in 1999, Serena Williams in 2000, Nathalie Tauziat in 2001, Monica Seles in 2002 and Ai Sugiyama in 2004. The best results in the year are also reaching the quarterfinals at Japan Open Tennis Championships, lost to Caroline Wozniacki, Pattaya Women's Open, lost to Agnieszka Radwanska. She also gained second victory over former number one, Amelie Mauresmo at Doha but was stopped in the third round by Maria Sharapova. Tanasugarn ended the 2008 tournament ranked number 35, her best ranking in four years.

[edit] 2009

Yaroslava Shvedova and Tamarine Tanasugarn in 2009 Pattaya Women's Open double final match

Tanasugarn was seeded 32 in Australian Open but lost early to the Spaniard, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 5-7, 3-6. Next week after the first slam, Tanasugarn played Fed Cup for Thailand, Although holding a chance to have a match, Tanasugarn ended up losing to the Australian Samantha Stosur, 6-4, 5-7, 0-6, Thailand finished in the third place in Asia/Oceania group, after Australia and New Zealand. Tanasugarn started her next tournament in her homecountry at Pattaya Women's Open, seeded 6, she got through to the quarterfinal for second consecutive years, however she lost to Sania Mirza in straight sets. In Double, partnering Yaroslava Shvedova, the team, seeded number two, got into the final and won the match over, Yuliya Beygelzimer and Vitalia Diatchenko, 6-3, 6-2. This double title in Pattaya is her first major title in her own country after being a runner-up for two times in single, in 1996 at Pattaya and in 2006 at Bangkok. Due to the Pattaya double final match, Tanasugarn had to reschadule and missed the Barclay Dubai tennis tournament in the following week. In Indian Wells, Tanasugarn faced the Chinese fromer ranked 16, Na Li, who is also a runner up at Monterrey Open just a week ago, Tanasugarn ended up losing in straight sets, 4-6 4-6. In Miami, she beat Nathalie Dechy in striagth sets 6-3, 7-5 in the first round. Despte taking the first set from number 10 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, Tanasugarn succumbed to the polish teen, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6. In the first round of Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open Tanasugarn lost to Virginie Razzano in three set, 0-6, 6-4, 3-6. At the Internationaux de Strasbourg, she was seeded 5th, but losing to a qualifier Viktoriya Kutuzova in straight sets, 3-6, 0-6 in 57 minutes which Tanasugarn had a 2-0 lead in the first set.

At the Roland Garros, Tanasugarn defeated Camille Pin 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 in first round. In the second round, she was embarrassedly crushed by 8th seed and defending champion Ana Ivanovic 1-6, 2-6.

Tamarine Tanasugarn serving to Dinara Safina in their semifinal match at the Ordina Open

Tanasugarn started playing on grass courts at the 2009 AEGON Classic. In the first round, she defeated Julie Coin in straight sets, 7-6(1), 6-1. In the second round, Tanasugarn spent the time on the court around 2 hours 23 minutes, but losing to World No.297 and home favourite Naomi Cavaday in three sets, 6-7(5), 6-2, 4-6. In 's-Hertogenbosch, as defending champion, Tanasugarn defeated Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová and 7th seeded Iveta Benesova to reach the quarterfinals. There, she recovered from a set down to defeat 3rd seeded Flavia Pennetta 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. In the semifinals, Tanasugarn incredibly defeated current World No.1 Dinara Safina in straight sets, 7-5, 7-5. It was Tanasugarn's first career win over a reigning world No.1. In the final she beat World No.72 Yanina Wickmayer, 6-3, 7-5, thereby successfully defending her title.^[10]

At the Wimbledon Championships,Tanasugarn had an arm injury and fatigued that she has defended her title at 's-Hertogenbosch. She eventually lost early to a qualifier Arantxa Parra Santonja in first round, 4-6, 4-6. Tanasugarn played the mixed doubles event for the first time by partnering with Rogier Wassen, but she scratched in the second round because of her injury.

Tanasugarn came back after her arm injury at the US Open, but lost to Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia in first round, 3-6, 5-7.

[edit] WTA Tour finals (21)

[edit] Singles: 9 (3-6)

Wins (3)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
1.	9 February 2003	Hyderabad	Hard	Iroda Tulyaganova	6–4, 6–4
2.	21 June 2008	's-Hertogenbosch	Grass	Dinara Safina	7–5, 6–3
3.	20 June 2009	's-Hertogenbosch	Grass	Yanina Wickmayer	6–3, 7–5

Runner-ups (6)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
1.	18 November 1996	Pattaya City	Hard	Ruxandra Dragomir	7–6, 6–4
2.	12 June 2000	Birmingham	Grass	Lisa Raymond	6–2, 6–7 (7), 6–4
3.	1 October 2001	Tokyo	Hard	Monica Seles	6–3, 6–2
4.	7 January 2002	Canberra	Hard	Anna Smashnova	7–5, 7–6(2)
5.	11 February 2002	Doha	Hard	Monica Seles	7–6(6), 6–3
6.	9 October 2006	Bangkok	Hard	Vania King	2–6, 6–4, 6–4

[edit] Doubles: 12 (6-6)

Wins (6)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
1.	11 January 1998	Auckland	Hard	Nana Miyagi	Julie Halard-Decugis Janette Husarova	6–4, 7–5
2.	22 October 2000	Shanghai	Hard	Lilia Osterloh	Rita Grande Meghann Shaughnessy	7–5, 6–1
3.	24 September 2001	Indonesia	Hard	Evie Dominikovic	Janet Lee Wynne Prakusya	7–6(1), 6–4
4.	5 October 2003	Japan	Hard	Maria Sharapova	Ansley Cargill Ashley Harkleroad	7–6(1), 6–0
5.	26 October 2003	Luxembourg City	Hard (i)	Maria Sharapova	Elena Tatarkova Marlene Weingartner	6–1, 6–4
6.	15 February 2009	Pattaya City	Hard	Yaroslava Shvedova	Yulia Beygelzimer Vitalia Diatchenko	6–3, 6–2

Runner-ups (6)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
1.	16 August 1998	Los Angeles	Hard	Elena Tatarkova	Martina Hingis Natasha Zvereva	6–4, 6–2
2.	27 February 2000	Oklahoma	Hard	Elena Tatarkova	Kimberly Po-Messerli Corina Morariu	6–4, 4–6, 6–2
3.	14 October 2001	Shanghai	Hard	Evie Dominikovic	Lenka Nemeckova Liezel Huber	6–0, 7–5
4.	21 September 2003	Shanghai	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Emilie Loit Nicole Pratt	6–3, 6–3
5.	8 August 2004	Montreal	Hard	Liezel Huber	Ai Sugiyama Shinobu Asagoe	6–0, 6–3
6.	2 November 2008	Quebec City	Hard (i)	Jill Craybas	Anna-Lena Grönefeld Vania King	7–6(3), 6–4

[edit] Top ten players wins

Rank	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in final, Rank	Score in final
44	1998	Melbourne	Hard	Iva Majoli, 6	6-2, 6-0
33	2001	Eastbourne	Grass	Nathalie Tauziat, 10	6-7(1), 7-6(3), 6-3
31	2001	London	Grass	Amelie Mauresmo, 6	6-4, 6-4
39	2003	Flushing Meadows, NY	Hard	Daniela Hantuchova, 9	6-2, 6-4
85	2008	's-Hertogenbosch	Grass	Dinara Safina, 6	7-5, 6-3
60	2008	London	Grass	Jelena Jankovic, 3	6-3, 6-2
47	2009	's-Hertogenbosch	Grass	Dinara Safina, 1	7-5, 7-5

[edit] Singles performance timeline

To help interpret the performance table, the legend below explains what each abbreviation and color coded box represents in the performance timeline.

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or when the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the Wimbledon Championships in London, Great Britain, which ended July 5, 2009.

• ¹ Lost in the second round of the qualifying tournament.
• ² Lost in the first round of the qualifying tournament.
• ³ Won two and lost one qualifying match to reach the main draw before losing in the third round.
• ⁴ Won two qualifying matches to reach the main draw.
• ⁵ Won three qualifying matches to reach the main draw.
• ⁶ Won one and lost one qualifying match to reach the main draw before losing in the first round.
• ⁷ Her win-loss record includes all matches listed on the WTA website, including Women's Pro Circuit and Fed Cup matches.
• ⁸ Her qualifying matches not include with her win-loss record.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tamarine Tanasugarn

• Tamarine Tanasugarn profile on the WTA Tour's official website
• Tamarine Tanasugarn at the International Tennis Federation
• Tamarine Tanasugarn at the Fed Cup

v • d • e Women's Tennis Association: Top ten female Asian singles tennis players as of October 19, 2009 1. Li Na (16 ▬) 2. Zheng Jie (35 ▬) 3. Peng Shuai (42 ▬) 4. Yaroslava Shvedova (50 ▬) 5. Sania Mirza (58 ▲3) 6. Ayumi Morita (75 ▬) 7. Akgul Amanmuradova (86 ▲1) 8. Kimiko Date Krumm (94 ▲2) 9. Galina Voskoboeva (97 ▼2) 10. Chang Kai-Chen (101 ▲6)