Amanda Coetzer

Amanda Coetzer

Country	South Africa
Residence
Date of birth	October 22 1971 (1971--) (age 36)
Place of birth	Hoopstad, South Africa
Height	158 cm (5 ft 2¼ in)
Weight	54 kg (119 lb)
Turned Pro	1988
Retired	2004
Plays	Right; Two-handed backhand
Career Prize Money	$5,594,821
Singles
Career record:	568-337
Career titles:	9
Highest ranking:	No. 3 (November 3, 1997)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	SF (1996, 1997)
French Open	SF (1997)
Wimbledon	4R (1994)
U.S. Open	QF (1994, 1996, 1998)
Doubles
Career record:	269-219
Career titles:	9
Highest ranking:	No. 15 (September 27, 1993)
Infobox last updated on: September 15, 2006.

Amanda Coetzer (born October 22 1971 in Hoopstad, South Africa) is a former professional tennis player from South Africa.

Coetzer turned professional in 1988. She won her first top-level singles title in 1993 in Melbourne, and her second later that year in Tokyo.

Coetzer entered the top-20 on the women's world rankings in 1992 and remained there for most of the next 10 years. She developed a reputation for regularly beating players who were higher ranked than her as she climbed to her career high ranking of World No. 3 in 1997.

Career

At the Canadian Open in 1995, Coetzer defeated three players ranked in the world's top-5 – Steffi Graf (No. 1), Jana Novotna (No. 4) and Mary Pierce (No. 5) – before finally losing to Monica Seles in the final. The defeat of Graf ended a 32-match winning-streak for the German.

At the Australian Open in 1996, Coetzer became the first South African woman in the Open era to reach a Grand Slam semi-final, where she lost in three sets to Anke Huber.

1997 was the best season of Coetzer's career. In reaching the Australian Open semi-finals for the second consecutive year, she defeated World No. 1 Graf in the fourth round. She then beat Graf for a second time in the quarter-finals at Berlin, handing her her worst-ever loss by defeating her 6-0, 6-1 in just 56 minutes. And then in the quarter-finals of the French Open she defeated Graf yet again to become one of just six players to beat Graf three times in one year, and one of only four to defeat her more than once in Grand Slam play. Coetzer lost in the French Open semi-finals to eventual-champion Iva Majoli. Later in the year in Leipzig, Coetzer beat Martina Hingis who by then had taken over the World No. 1 ranking. Coetzer won two singles titles that year in Budapest and Luxembourg.

Coetzer won the biggest title of her career in 1998 at Hilton Head (Tier 1 event).

In 1999 Coetzer became the only player ever to defeat Steffi Graf, Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport while they were ranked No. 1.

In 2000, Coetzer teamed-up with Wayne Ferreira to win the Hopman Cup for South Africa. She also played of South Africa's Fed Cup team for six years and represented South Africa in the Olympic Games three times.

In 2001 she qualified for her ninth consecutive year-end championship.

During her career, Coetzer won nine top-level singles titles and nine doubles titles. Her final singles title was won in Acapulco in 2003. Her career prize-money earnings totalled US$5,594,821.

Coetzer retired from the professional tour in 2004.

Singles (9)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	March 13, 1988	Haifa	Hard	Marielle Rooimans	3-6, 6-4, 6-4
2.	March 27, 1988	Ramat Hasharon	Hard	Marielle Rooimans	6-3, 6-1
3.	June 12, 1988	Modena	Clay	Michaela Frimmelova	7-5, 7-6
4.	July 11, 1988	Vaihingen	Clay	Andrea Betzner	6-2, 6-3
5.	January 17, 1993	Melbourne	Hard	Naoko Sawamatsu	6-2, 6-3
6.	September 26, 1993	Tokyo	Hard	Kimiko Date	6-3, 6-2
7.	May 15, 1994	Prague	Hard	Asa Carlsson	6-1, 7-6
8.	April 27, 1997	Budapest	Clay	Sabine Appelmans	6-1, 6-3
9.	October 26, 1997	Luxembourg	Carpet	Barbara Paulus	6-4, 3-6, 7-5
10.	April 5, 1998	Hilton Head	Clay	Irina Spirlea	6-3, 6-4
11.	May 21, 2000	Antwerp	Clay	Cristina Torrens Valero	4-6, 6-2, 6-3
12.	March 4, 2001	Acapulco	Clay	Elena Dementieva	2-6, 6-1, 6-2
13.	March 2, 2003	Acapulco	Clay	Mariana Diaz-Oliva	7-5, 6-3

External links

• Amanda Coetzer profile on the WTA Tour's official website

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