Mara Santangelo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Mara Santangelo**

Country	Italy
Residence	Cavalese, Italy
Date of birth	June 28, 1981
Place of birth	Latina, Italy
Height	1.81m (5 ft 11 1/4 in)
Weight	68kg (150 lbs.)
Turned Pro	2003
Plays	Right (two-handed backhand)
Career Prize Money	$690,629
Singles
Career record:	237-183
Career titles:	1 WTA, 6 ITF
Highest ranking:	No. 30 (April 2, 2007)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	4r (2004)
French Open	2r (2006)
Wimbledon	2r (2005)
U.S. Open	3r (2006)
Doubles
Career record:	146-103
Career titles:	1
Highest ranking:	No. 50 (August 28, 2006)
Infobox last updated on: September 16, 2006.

Mara Santangelo (born June 28, 1981 in Latina, Italy) is a professional female tennis player from Italy.

1 Tennis Career
2 Titles (7)
- 2.1 Singles (7)
- 2.2 Performance timeline
3 Trivia
4 References

[edit] Tennis Career

Santangelo reached the fourth round at the Australian Open in 2004, defeating 16th seed Magui Serna, Barbara Schett, and 19th seed Eleni Daniilidou—losing to eventual champion and World No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne after having been up 4-2 in the second set, 6-1 7-6 (5). She also won her first WTA title in 2006, defeating Jelena Kostanic in the final, her first one on the WTA level.

Along with that, she took a set from No. 1 seed Amelie Mauresmo in the third round at the 2006 US Open, after leading 3-6 6-3 2-0, to lose the next six games in the deciding set. She has also defeated Anastasia Myskina in 2006, her first win over a top 20 player.

She and her Italian team mates Francesca Schiavone, Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci beat the Belgium team 3-2 in the 2006 Fed Cup final. Justine Henin-Hardenne had to retire in the fifth and final match due to an injury in her right knee, which let Italy win their first Fed Cup trophy.^[1]

Despite holding match points in both matches, Santangelo lost to Agnieszka Radwanska and Dinara Safina in successive first rounds at Luxembourg and Stuttgart respectively, in tight three set matches. In Moscow, Santangelo lost in the first round to Iveta Benesova, another three-setter. In Linz, Santangelo defeated Alona Bondarenko 6-4, 1-6, 6-3; she lost to eventual semifinalist Nicole Vaidisova. At her final tournament of the year in Hasselt, Santangelo retired 5-2 down against Michaella Krajicek in the first round. She ended the year ranked 31 in the world, a new career high.

Santangelo was still recovering from injury when the 2007 season commenced. At her first tournament in Hobart, she defeated countrywoman Maria Elena Camerin in the first round, losing to Catalina Castano in the second round. At the Australian Open, Santangelo drew eventual champion Serena Williams in the first round, losing 6-2, 6-1.

Santangelo reached her first quarterfinal of the year at the Tier IV Pattaya City tournament, losing to Sania Mirza 6-4, 7-6(4). At her very next tournament, the Tier III Bangalore, as the defending champion, Santangelo made the final for the second straight year, where she will face Yaroslava Shvedova in the final. Similarly, to the 2006 tournament, Santangelo has only had to defeat one top 100 player in both events.

[edit] Titles (7)

[edit] Singles (7)

Legend (Singles)

Tier I (0)

Tier II (0)

Tier III (1)

Tier IV (0)

Grand Slam Title (0)

WTA Tour Championship (0)

ITF Circuit (6)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	Aug. 20, 2000	ITF/Aosta, Italy	Clay	Andreea Vanc	1-6, 6-0, 6-1
2.	Aug. 27, 2000	ITF/Cuneo, Italy	Clay	Edith Nunes	6-2, 3-6, 6-3
3.	Aug. 25, 2002	ITF/Maribor, Slovenia	Clay	Edina Gallovits	6-2, 6-3
4.	Feb 2, 2003	ITF/Ortisei, Italy	Carpet	Sofia Arvidsson	2-6, 6-2, 6-2
5.	Apr 3, 2005	ITF/Poza Rica, Mexico	Hard	Ryoko Fuda	3-6, 6-2, 6-0
6.	May 1, 2005	ITF/Taranto, Italy	Clay	Kyra Nagy	6-1, 6-0
7.	19 February 2006	Bangalore, India	Hard	Jelena Kostanic	3-6 7-6 6-3