Rossana de los Rios

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**Rossana De Los Rios**

Country	Paraguay
Residence	Miami, USA/Asunción, Paraguay
Date of birth	September 16, 1975
Place of birth	Asunción, Paraguay
Height	5' 7 (1.70 m)
Weight	120 lbs. (54.5 kg)
Turned Pro	-
Plays	Right; Two-Handed Backhand
Career Prize Money	$640,631
Singles
Career record:	313-222
Career titles:	5 ITF titles
Highest ranking:	No. 51 (November 12, 2001)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	2R (2002, 2001)
French Open	4R (2000)
Wimbledon	2R (2002)
U.S. Open	2R (2002)
Doubles
Career record:	103-119
Career titles:	5 ITF titles
Highest ranking:	No. 52 (May 12, 2003)
Infobox last updated on: January 12, 2006.

Rossana Neffa de los Rios (born September 16, 1975) is a professional Paraguayan tennis player. She was born in the Paraguayan capital, Asunción, and now lives in Miami, USA, with her 10-year-old daughter Ana Paula Neffa de los Rios and her husband Gustavo Neffa, a retired Paraguayan football player who used to play for the Boca Juniors. She achieved a career high singles ranking of No. 51 in September 2001, and has been as high as No. 52 in doubles. She has played doubles with players such as Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Jelena Janković and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.

De Los Rios was a successful tennis player on the junior tennis circuit. She was the world number one junior in 1992 and won the 1992 Junior French Open, beating Paola Suarez 6-4 6-0 in the final. De Los Rios turned professional in 1993, but within a year she had retired from professional tennis, citing her new marriage and her desire to raise a family. Five years later, however, De Los Rios rededicated herself, and made an inspiring run to the fourth round at the 2000 French Open, which was not only impressive for a player who had not played professionally for five years, but also made it through the qualifying rounds and included a win over Amanda Coetzer. De Los Rios continues to play, and in December 2006 she won her first ITF singles title in 7 years in San Diego. She has won five ITF singles titles and five ITF doubles titles to date.

[edit] Career Summary

1989- As a 14-year-old, Rossana played just three matches and won the first match of her career on the ITF circuit in São Paulo.

1990- Rossana only played twelve matches and won six of them.

1991- In May, Rossana won her first ever ITF title in Francaville. The next month, she got through seven matches to reach the final in Modena, but was beaten. In September, she won her second ITF title in Lima very convincingly, without dropping a set. Her win/loss record for the year finished at 40-18.

1992- Won third career ITF title in Maria Capua in October, including a win over Silvia Farina Elia. The following week she reached the final in Asuncion but was defeated by fellow Paraguayan Larissa Schaerer in the final. Finished the year in Mildura where she made the final. Her win/loss record for the year concluded at 34-19.

1993- Made the final in Caserta in June. As the world number 118, caused a big upset at the Puerto Rican Open by defeating top seed and world number 30 (at the time) Brenda Schulz-McCarthy in the first round. Win/loss record for the year finished at 20-18.

1994- Clearly more focused on her personal life off the court than on the court, Rossana won just two out of ten matches in 1994 and only played up until April.

1995-1998- Marriage to Gustavo Neffa, gave birth to Ana-Paula Neffa De Los Rios.

1999- Returned in June after a five-year absence from the tour. In just her fifth tournament back, she won her fifth ITF title in Buenos Aires- losing just nine games in five matches. Her win/loss record for the year finished at 31-9.

2000- Was Rossana’s most successful year on the WTA Tour. She won 22 out of 29 matches between March and June on the ITF circuit, but didn’t win a title. In June, Rossana easily qualified for the main draw of the French Open, losing just eleven games in three matches. In the main draw, she defeated Roger Federer’s current girlfriend, Miroslava Vavrinec in the first round, and Marlene Weingartner in the second round before upsetting the world number ten (at the time) Amanda Coetzer 7-5 6-7(4) 6-4. She then fell to fellow qualifier Marta Marrero- the occasion marked the first time two qualifiers had met in the fourth round of the French Open. In July, Rossana qualified for Wimbledon before being defeated by Tamarine Tanasugarn. She then went on to win just one of her next five matches before the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Here, she defeated Kveta Peschke 6-3 6-0 in the first round and Lindsay Davenport w/o. Jelena Dokic defeated her in the third round. Rossana finished the year with her return to the ITF circuit which saw her win 12 of her next 17 matches, including two finals at Miramar and Pittsburgh. Won 45 matches in total during the year, and lost 21.

2001- Did not win two matches back-to-back until Madrid in May. In the first round she defeated Cristina Torrens Valero 6-1 6-0, and then recorded her greatest victory to date, with a 7-5 2-6 6-4 win over world number six (at the time) Monica Seles. De Los Rios was defeated in the Quarterfinals, however. At the French Open in June, Rossana defeated Elena Likhovtseva in the opening round before losing a tight match in the second round to Petra Mandula. She then lost in the first round of Wimbledon to Jelena Dokic. In Knokke-Heist (Tier IV) in July, Rossana defeated world number 20 (at the time) Silvia Farina Elia 6-3 6-1 and reached the Quarterfinals. Two months later, Rossana recorded her best WTA Tour appearance to date, advancing to the Semifinals of Bahia (Tier II) including another win over Silvia Farina Elia, this time 6-3 6-2. Second seed Jelena Dokic put her run to an end. Finished the year with another Semifinal in Pattaya City (Tier V), losing to Patty Schnyder 7-5 0-6 6-3. Her win/loss record finished at 25-28.

2002- Advanced to the second round of the Australian Open for the first time in January. Reached the Quarterfinals of Bogotá in February. Won just three of her next thirteen matches until the French Open in June, where she recorded a third round appearance but fell to Elena Dementieva. Advanced to the second round of Wimbledon but was defeated at the hands of Monica Seles. In September, Rossana reached the Quarterfinals of Bali (Tier III) by upsetting top seed Tamarine Tanasugarn 2-6 6-4 6-2. She was then defeated by Conchita Martinez in straight sets. In Bratislava (Tier V), Rossana stunned Francesca Schiavone in straight sets and reached the Quarterfinals. She led Slovenian Maja Matevzic 6-1 5-2 but bowed out 1-6 7-5 6-1. She won 21 matches in total during the year, and lost 30.

2003- Rossana had a pretty disappointing 2003 season. She didn’t reach the Quarterfinals or better in any WTA Tour tournament, but on the ITF circuit she did manage to advance to the Semifinals of Troy in October. Fell in the opening rounds of the Australian Open and the French Open, and was defeated 6-0 6-0 by Kim Clijsters in the first round at Wimbledon. She won 29 matches (18 of which were in qualifying) and lost 29 matches.

2004- Rossana did not compete in any WTA or ITF Tournament until May. She won two matches in qualifying for the French Open in just her second tournament of the year, but lost in the final round. The following week she made the Semifinals of Allentown on the ITF circuit, as well as the final of College Park in July. She lost in the first round of qualification at the US Open in September, but rebounded with a Semifinal at Ashburn on the ITF tour and more impressively, qualified for Philadelphia (Tier II) and reached the second round before being defeated by Anastasia Myskina 6-4 7-6(0). She won 19 matches during the year and lost a total of 13.

2005- Things began well for Rossana, starting with a Semifinal appearance in Waikoloa on the ITF tour. However, a knee injury kept her out of play from February to October. Upon her return to the ITF tour, Rossana had fallen over 100 positions on the WTA Tour rankings- from #186 to #289. In her return tournament, she impressively reached the Semifinals of Pelham. In October, she reached the Quarterfinals of San Francisco. She won 9 matches out of 16 for the year.

2006- Was Rossana’s second most successful year on the WTA Tour. Although she won just five of her first nine matches, it was Indian Harbour Beach in May which saw Rossana reach her first ITF Final since Collage Park in 2004. Ranked as low as #452, she came through in qualifying, winning seven consecutive matches enroute to the final. She was defeated by Edina Gallovits 3-6 7-6(5) 7-6(0) despite Rossana leading 5-0 in the final set and having six match points. Despite the loss, next week Rossana went on to reach the final in Palm Beach Gardens, beating the eighth, fourth and second seeds respectively, before losing in the final. In July she qualified for Cincinnati (Tier III) but lost to world number 26 (at the time) Katarina Srebotnik 6-3 7-6(3), after serving for the set at 5-3 in the second set. She reached the Quarterfinals in Lexington later in the month, but lost 7-6(6) 4-6 7-6(6) to Stephanie Dubois, despite leading 4-2 in the final set. She fell in the first round qualifying of the US Open to Erika Takao, in what was her first Grand Slam qualifying match in two years. In November, she recorded her worst loss of the year in qualifying for Pittsburgh, but reversed it the next week with an impressive win over sixth seed Aleksandra Wozniak, to record her best win of the year. She went on to reach the Semifinals. Two weeks later, Rossana claimed her first ITF title since 1999. She won the Santaluz tournament in San Diego, beating sixth seed Ivana Abramovic 6-0 6-2 in the final. The win for Rossana encouraged her to compete in Australia in 2007, and resurrected her ranking to just outside the top 200. She climed 117 ranking positions in the year, from #386 to #209 in the twelve months, and won 31 matches compared to 14 losses.

2007- Rossana suffered a first round defeat in $50K Waikoloa to start her 2007 season. In her next tournament, she reached the Semifinals of $25K Palm Desert, beating top seed Edina Gallovits 6-2 6-1. In February, she fell in the first round of $75K Midland the next week but still secured a position inside the top 200 at #193- the first time she had broken into the top 200 since 2004. In late February, she competed in Acapulco (Tier III), marking her first tier tournament since Cincinnati in July 2006. She fell in the first round in a close match to the second seed Tathiana Garbin, 4-6 6-2 6-4.