Aravane Rezai
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.
Career
2001 and 2005: Women's Islamic Games
2006: U.S. Open & ITF Success
For 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.
2007
Her 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.
2008
She 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.
2009
She 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.
Singles titles
Wins (2)
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No.  | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score in the final |
| 1. | May 18, 2009 | Strasbourg, France | Clay |  Lucie Hradecká | 7–6(2), 6–1 |
| 2. | November 8, 2009 | Tournament of Champions, Bali, Indonesia | Hard (i) |  Marion Bartoli | 7–5, retired |
[edit] Runners-up (2)
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| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score in the final |
| 1. | May 26, 2007 | Istanbul, Turkey | Clay |  Elena Dementieva | 7–6(5), 3–0, ret. |
| 2. | January 5, 2008 | Auckland, New Zealand | Hard |  Lindsay Davenport | 6–2, 6–2 |
Performance timeline
To 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.
| Terms to know | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| SR | the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played | W-L | player's Win-Loss record |
| Performance Table Legend | |||
| NH | tournament not held in that calendar year | A | did not participate in the tournament |
| LQ | lost in qualifying draw | #R | lost in the early rounds of the tournament (RR = round robin) |
| QF | advanced to but not past the quarterfinals | SF | advanced to but not past the semifinals |
| F | advanced to the final, tournament runner-up | W | won the tournament |
| Tournament | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | Career SR | Career Win-Loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | A | A | 1R | 3R | 1R | 0 / 3 | 2–3 |
| French Open | 2R | 3R | 1R | 1R | 4R | 0 / 5 | 6–5 |
| Wimbledon | A | A | 3R | 1R | 2R | 0 / 3 | 2–3 |
| US Open | A | 4R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 0 / 4 | 5–4 |
| SR | 0 / 1 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 15 | N/A |
| Win-Loss | 1–1 | 5–2 | 3–4 | 3–4 | 4–4 | N/A | 16–15 |
| Year-End Championships | |||||||
| Tournament of Champions | Not Held | W | 1 / 1 | 4–0 | |||
| WTA Premier Mandatory Tournaments | |||||||
| Indian Wells | A | A | 1R | 2R | LQ | 0 / 2 | 1–2 |
| Miami | A | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | 0 / 3 | 0–3 |
| Madrid | Not Held | 2R | 0 / 1 | 1–1 | |||
| Beijing | Not Tier I | 1R | 0 / 1 | 0–1 | |||
| WTA Premier 5 Tournaments | |||||||
| Dubai | Not Tier I | A | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | |||
| Rome | A | A | 1R | A | 2R | 0 / 2 | 1–2 |
| Cincinnati | Not Tier I | 1R | 0 / 1 | 0–1 | |||
| Montreal / Toronto | A | A | 1R | 1R | 3R | 0 / 3 | 2–3 |
| Tokyo | A | A | A | 1R | 2R | 0 / 2 | 1–2 |
| Former WTA Tier I Tournaments (currently neither Premier Mandatory nor Premier 5 events) | |||||||
| Charleston | A | A | 2R | 2R | NM5 | 0 / 2 | 2–2 |
| Moscow | A | A | A | LQ | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | |
| Berlin | A | A | 1R | 1R | Not Held | 0 / 2 | 0–2 |
| Zürich | A | A | A | LQ | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | |
| Career Statistics | |||||||
| Finals reached | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | N/A | 4 |
| WTA Tournaments Won | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | N/A | 2 |
| Year End Ranking | 189 | 49 | 80 | 74 | 26 | N/A | N/A |
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