Alicia Molik

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**Alicia Molik**

Country	Australia
Residence	Melbourne, Australia
Date of birth	January 27, 1981
Place of birth	Adelaide, Australia
Height	5 ft 11 3/4 in (182 cm)
Weight	159 lb (72 kg)
Turned Pro	1999
Plays	Right (one-handed backhand)
Career Prize Money	$2,322,369 (USD)
Singles
Career record:	271-185
Career titles:	5
Highest ranking:	No. 8 (February 28, 2005)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	QF (2005)
French Open	3rd (1999, 2006)
Wimbledon	3rd (2003, 2004)
U.S. Open	3rd (2001, 2003)
Doubles
Career record:	172-129
Career titles:	6
Highest ranking:	No. 6 (June 6, 2005)
Infobox last updated on: February 4, 2007.

Women's Tennis
Olympic medal record
Bronze	Athens 2004	Singles

Alicia Molik (born January 27, 1981) is a professional female tennis player from Australia. Molik was born in Adelaide, Australia, and currently lives in Melbourne.

1 Career
2 Titles (11)
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Career

She won her first grand slam doubles title at the 2005 Australian Open with partner Svetlana Kuznetsova. She reached the top ten on the WTA tour for the first time in early 2005 following her first Grand Slam quarterfinal singles appearance, at the Australian Open, where she lost 9-7 in the final set to Lindsay Davenport.

Molik won the bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens in the women's singles competition.

Having contracted the ear infection vestibular neuronitis, Molik was forced to miss much of the later 2005 season, and in October 2005 announced that she would be taking an extended break in order to recover, including the whole 2006 season. However, her recovery appears to have been faster than expected, and in April 2006 it was announced that Molik would be part of the team for Australia's Fed Cup group matches later that month. However, Austalian Davis Cup Captain, David Taylor announced that Molik would not be selected as of lack of match play and rustiness. Instead, rookie Casey Dellacqua took her place [1].

Molik also returned to the main tour much earlier than had first been expected, at the Italian Open in 2006, and won her first match since returning at the French Open of 2006, where she reached the third round. At Wimbledon in 2006, she reached the second round, losing to Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia [2]. She had high hopes for the 2006 US Open, but was shocked 6-3, 6-2 in the first round by the 17-year old Vania King. She gained revenge over Vania King in the first round of the Guangzhou Open, reaching the quarterfinals after also scoring an upset victory over a top 50 player Lourdes Dominguez Lino. After these wins she broke back into the top 200 at 179 and then played in Tokyo where she defeated Jelena Kostanic 7-5 6-3. Molik then suffered disappointing first round defeats in Bangkok (lost to Vania King 6-1 7-5) and Zürich (lost to Shahar Peer 6-1 6-2).

Molik has won a wildcard into the 2007 Australian Open by winning the Australian Open Wildcard Play-offs, where she defeated 16 year old Australian Jessica Moore in the final 6-4 6-4. In preparation for the Australian Open she competed in the 2007 Hopman Cup in Perth and scored victories over world no. 6 Nadia Petrova and Ashley Harkleroad. Molik's final Australian Open warm up tournament was the Moorilla Hobart International were she reached the quarters beating two higher ranked opponents on her way before losing to doubles partner and Indian rising star Sania Mirza. Molik and Mirza reached the quarters of the Hobart tournament before losing a very close match to the number two seeds.

During the Australian Open 2007, Alicia Molik won through her first and second round matches against rising Chinese Taipei doubles talent Yung-Jan Chan and Estonian Kaia Kanepi before losing a 3setter against the eighth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland. With her impressive 3rd round performance, Molik improved her then-141 ranking to inside the top 100, the first time since bailing out from numerous tournaments due to that ear infection.

[edit] Titles (11)

[edit] Singles wins (5)

No.	Date	Tournament	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	12 January 2003	Hobart, Australia	Amy Frazier	6-2, 4-6, 6-4
2.	8 August 2004	Stockholm, Sweden	Tatiana Perebiynis	6-1, 6-1
3.	24 October 2004	Zurich, Switzerland	Maria Sharapova	4-6, 6-2, 6-3
4.	31 October 2004	Luxembourg, Luxembourg	Dinara Safina	6-3, 6-4
5.	15 January 2005	Sydney, Australia	Samantha Stosur	6-7(5), 6-4, 7-5