Lucie Šafářová

 

Lucie Šafářová

Country	Czech Republic
Residence	Brno, Czech Republic
Date of birth	February 4 1987 (1987--) (age 20)
Place of birth	Brno, Czech Republic
Height	m ({{FORMATNUM:5 ft 9+1⁄2 in}})
Weight	64 kg (141 lb)
Turned Pro	2002
Plays	Left; Two-handed backhand
Career Prize Money	$598,884
Singles
Career record:	115-67
Career titles:	3 WTA, 5 ITF
Highest ranking:	No. 22 (August 20, 2007)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	QF (2007)
French Open	4R (2007)
Wimbledon	3R (2007)
U.S. Open	3R (2007)
Doubles
Career record:	5-19
Career titles:	0
Highest ranking:	No. 445 (September 27, 2004)
Infobox last updated on: May 28, 2007.

Lucie Šafářová (IPA: [ˈluʦɪjɛ ˈʃafaːr̝ovaː]) is a professional Czech tennis player. She was born on February 4, 1987 in Brno.

Šafářová has won three WTA tour singles titles and reached the quarterfinals of the 2007 Australian Open, upsetting defending champion Amélie Mauresmo en-route.

Playing Style

She plays left handed with a two-handed backhand. She prefers to play on a clay tennis court.

Career

2005 and 2006

In her career she has reached five singles finals: In 2005 at Estoril (clay), 's-Hertogenbosch (grass), Forest Hills (hardcourt), 2006 at Gold Coast (hardcourt), and 2007 in Paris (carpet). She won in Portugal but lost in the Netherlands to fellow Czech tennis player Klára Koukalová 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. In August she won her second tournament over the high-profile Indian teenager Sania Mirza in the final.

She started off 2006 with a straight sets victory in the final of the Gold Coast tournament, upsetting world No. 6 Patty Schnyder in the semifinal en route to the title. Also in 2006 she made her first Tier II semifinal at Amelia Island, losing to eventual champion Nadia Petrova, upsetting Nicole Vaidišová in the round of 16, with another semifinal at the Tier IV Palermo, losing to Anabel Medina Garrigues.

2007

At the start of 2007, instead of defending her Gold Coast title, Šafářová played the Hopman Cup, representing the Czech Republic. Due to not defending the points at that tournament, Šafářová came into the first Slam of the year ranked No.70 and unseeded. Yet, Šafářová made headlines at the 2007 Australian Open when she stunned the defending champion and No.2 seed Amélie Mauresmo in the fourth round 6-4, 6-3. She then lost to fellow Czech, Nicole Vaidišová 6-1 6-4 in the quarterfinals. After the Australian Open, her ranking rose from No. 70 to No. 31.

Šafářová continued her good start to 2007 at the Open Gaz de France in Paris. Šafářová reached the final, defeating Tsvetana Pironkova in three sets and Nicole Vaidišová, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Justine Henin, all in straight sets, but she failed against Nadia Petrova (4-6, 6-1, 6-4). She then pulled out of her next event in Antwerp due to a shoulder injury.

Lucie then lost in R3 of both Indian Wells and Miami to Shahar Peer and Serena Williams respectively. She then defeated Daniela Hantuchová 7-6 4-6 6-3 in the Czech Republic vs. Slovak Republic Fed Cup encounter. Lucie then lost in the SF of Tier IV Estoril to Viktoria Azarenka 6-4 6-0.

At Roland Garros, Lucie defeated Mauresmo again, this time in the third round of Roland Garros. Lucie won 6-3 7-6(3), but lost in three sets to Anna Chakvetadze in the next round. It was the second time in a row which Lucie had beaten Mauresmo in a Grand Slam, after winning their only previous encounter in January at the Australian Open.

As the #25 seed, Lucie defeated Zuzana Ondrášková at Wimbledon followed by a win over Eleni Daniilidou in three sets, but lost to #3 seed (and #3 ranked) Jelena Janković in round 3, also in three sets, after coming within two points of another magical Grand Slam upset. After several long rallies and breathtaking winners, the match was described as the best WTA match of 2007 as of yet, and the best women's Wimbledon match in many years.

She entered the 2007 US Open as the #20 seed, defeating Jessica Moore in the first round and Andrea Petkovic in the second round. She fell to Marion Bartoli in the third round. Closing out the 2007 Grand Slams, she placed third round or better in all, and quarter finals in the Australian Open.

WTA Tour titles (3)

Singles (3)

Legend

Grand Slam (0)

WTA Championships (0)

Tier I (0)

Tier II (0)

Tier III (1)

Tier IV (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	May 1, 2005	Estoril, Portugal	Clay	Na Li	6-7(7-4), 6-4, 6-3
2.	August 20, 2005	Forest Hills, U.S.	Hard	Sania Mirza	3-6, 7-5, 6-4
3.	January 7, 2006	Gold Coast, Australia	Hard	Flavia Pennetta	6-3, 6-4

Singles finalist (2)

• 2005: 's-Hertogenbosch (lost to Klára Koukalová)
• 2007: Paris (lost to Nadia Petrova)

Singles 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. This table is current through the Kremlin Cup, which will end on October 14, 2007.

Tournament	2005	2006	2007	Career Win-Loss
Australian Open	Q	1R	QF	4-2
French Open	1R	1R	4R	3-3
Wimbledon	1R	A	3R	2-2
U.S. Open	1R	2R	3R	3-3
Grand Slam Win-Loss	0-3	1-3	11-4	12-10
Tokyo	A	A	A	0-0
Indian Wells	A	3R	3R	2-2
Miami	A	2R	3R	1-2
Charleston	A	3R	A	2-1
Berlin	A	A	3R	2-1
Rome	A	2R	A	1-1
San Diego	A	1R	A	0-1
Montreal/Toronto	1R	2R	2R	2-3
Moscow	Q	A	A	0-0
Zurich	Q	A		0-0
WTA Tour Championships	A	A		0-0
Tournaments Won	2	1		3
Year End Ranking	50	41		N/A

A = did not participate in the tournament

Q = Qualifying round loss

Personal

Šafářová speaks three languages, Czech, German and English. She is currently dating Tomáš Berdych

External links

• Lucie Šafářová profile on the WTA Tour's official website
• Website about Lucie Šafářová
• Unofficial fansite

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