Marina Erakovic

Marina Erakovic

Erakovic at the 2009 ASB Classic
Country	New Zealand
Residence	Auckland, New Zealand
Born	(1988-03-06) 6 March 1988 (age 24) Split, SFR Yugoslavia (now Croatia)
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	65 kg (140 lb)
Turned pro	2005
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	US$745,492
Singles
Career titles	0 WTA, 11 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 39 (7 May 2012)
Current ranking	No. 39 (7 May 2012)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	2R (2009, 2012)
French Open	2R (2008)
Wimbledon	3R (2008)
US Open	1R (2008, 2011)
Doubles
Career record	76–41
Career titles	5 WTA, 5 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 42 (7 May 2012)
Current ranking	No. 42 (7 May 2012)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	1R (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012)
French Open	1R (2008)
Wimbledon	SF (2011)
US Open	QF (2008)
Last updated on: 5 September 2010.

Marina Erakovic (Croatian: Marina Eraković) (born 6 March 1988) is a professional tennis player. She is a New Zealander of Croatian background. Her career high Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings are World No. 39 for singles, achieved on 7 May 2012, and World No. 42 in doubles, achieved on 7 May 2012. Erakovic is the only New Zealand player in the top 100 of either the WTA or the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

Personal / Early life

She was born in Split, Croatia, Yugoslavia to a Croatian family, and emigrated to Auckland, New Zealand, in 1994 as a 6 year old with her family. She attended St Thomas's Primary School and Glendowie College in Auckland.

Junior career

She teamed with Michaëlla Krajicek to win the 2004 US Open junior doubles title, and Victoria Azarenka to win 2005 Australian Open junior doubles title. Erakovic was the runner-up in the 2004 and 2005 Wimbledon junior doubles with Monica Niculescu.

Professional career

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2005–2007

In 2005 and 2006, Erakovic won five International Tennis Federation (ITF) singles titles. She was a wildcard entry in the 2005 ASB Classic in Auckland where she lost in the second round. She lost in the second round of qualifying for the 2006 French Open.

In 2007 Erakovic lost in the second round of qualifying for the Australian Open, the first round of qualifying for the French Open, the first round of qualifying for Wimbledon, and the third round of qualifying for the US Open. She was a wildcard entry in the 2007 ASB Classic where she lost in the second round.

2008

Erakovic received a wild card into the 2008 ASB Classic where she defeated World No. 67 American Ashley Harkleroad in the second round 7–6, 7–5, and defeated the top seed and World No. 22 Russian Vera Zvonareva 6–3, 2–6, 7–6 in a quarterfinal.^[1] She lost in the semifinals to World No. 90 Frenchwoman Aravane Rezaï 6–3, 7–5.^[2] Erakovic was the first New Zealander to reach the quarterfinals at this WTA event since Belinda Cordwell in 1990.^[3][4]

Erakovic lost in the first round of qualifying for the Australian Open.

At the French Open, World No. 80 Erakovic defeated World No. 56 Tathiana Garbin in the first round 6–7, 6–3, 6–3 before losing to third-seeded Jelena Janković in the second round 6–2, 7–6. She was the first New Zealand-raised player to make the main draw of a Grand Slam singles tournament since 1993.^[5]

At Wimbledon, Erakovic played her second career Grand Slam singles tournament.^[6] She defeated Krajicek in the first round and Julia Görges in the second round before losing to Tamarine Tanasugarn in the third round 4–6, 6–4, 6–4. She was the first New Zealand player to reach the third round at Wimbeldon since Belinda Cordwell in 1988.^[7]

Erakovic played for New Zealand at the Summer Olympics in Beijing, where she lost in the first round to wildcard Ayumi Morita from Japan.

At the US Open, Erakovic lost in the first round to Pauline Parmentier of France 6–3, 7–6 but reached the doubles quarterfinals with Jelena Kostanić Tošić. This was the first time a New Zealander had reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament in either singles or doubles since 1994.^[8]

2009

In the 2009 ASB Classic Erakovic won a match in her home event for the first time, defeating Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain in the first round 7–5, 6–4. In the second round, she lost to top-seed Elena Dementieva of Russia 6–2, 6–3.

At the 2009 Australian Open, in her first participation in the event, Erakovic advanced to the second round by beating Petra Cetkovská 6–4, 7–5. In the second round she was defeated by Lucie Šafářová 6–1, 3–6, 9–7.

Due to an ongoing hip injury, Erakovic missed the 2009 French Open.^[9] She also withdrew from Wimbledon with the same problem.^[10]

2010

Erakovic competed in singles and doubles at the 2010 ASB Classic, losing in the first round in both events.^[11][12] She then competed at the 2010 Australian Open, losing to eventual semi-finalist Li Na in the first round. In doubles she and partner Casey Dellacqua lost to 11th seeded Russian pair Alla Kudryavtseva and Ekaterina Makarova in the first round.

Erakovic's next tournament was the 2010 PTT Pattaya Open where she again lost in the first round of the singles, however she and partner Tamarine Tanasugarn won the doubles title, Erakovic's fourth.^[13]

2011

Erakovic started her year with the 2011 ASB Classic in Auckland where she received a wildcard entry. She lost in the first round against Elena Vesnina 2–6, 2–6.

Erakovic then competed on the ITF where she won three titles.

In the 2011 Australian Open she defeated Irena Pavlovic in the first round of qualifying draw, but lost round 2 to Kurumi Nara.

Erakovic took part in the 2011 French Open where she won 3 straight matches in the qualifying draw against Ajla Tomljanovic, Kurumi Nara and Petra Cetkovská, qualifying her for the main draw. In the first round of the main draw she lost 6–2 4–6 4–6 to Arantxa Rus.

Erakovic successfully qualified for the Wimbledon where she beat Kai-Chen Chang in the first round. This was her first singles Grand Slam win since the Australian Open in 2009. She was overpowered by Daniela Hantuchova in the second round.

At the Bank of the West Classic, Erakovic had the biggest win of her singles career, defeating top seed and then World No.4^[14] Victoria Azarenka in the second round to reach the quarterfinals.

In the US Open she was defeated in the first round by Mirjana Lučić after coming through 3 rounds of qualification.

Following the US Open, Erakovic made her first WTA final at the Bell Challenge in Quebec City. To reach the final she defeated Caroline Garcia, Irina Falconi,top seed Daniela Hantuchova and defending champion Tamira Paszek. In the final she lost to Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová.

2012

At the Australian Open, Erakovic beat Irena Pavlovic in the first round and lost 6–3, 6–7, 3–6 to Christina McHale in the second round. In the doubles she and partner Chuang Chia-jung lost in the first round.

In May at the Italian Open, Erakovic (ranked World No.41) had one of the biggest wins of her singles career defeating World No.13 Sabine Lisicki in the first round.^[15]

WTA Career Finals

Singles: 2 (0–2)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	18 September 2011	Quebec City, Canada	Hard	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	6–4, 1–6, 0–6
Runner-up	2.	25 February 2012	Memphis, United States	Hard (i)	Sofia Arvidsson	3–6, 4–6

Doubles: 9 (5-4)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	24 May 2008	Istanbul, Turkey	Clay	Polona Hercog	Jill Craybas Olga Govortsova	1–6, 2–6
Winner	1.	21 June 2008	's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Michaëlla Krajicek	Liga Dekmeijere Angelique Kerber	6–3, 6–2
Winner	2.	4 October 2008	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Jill Craybas	Ayumi Morita Aiko Nakamura	4–6, 7–5, 10–6
Winner	3.	26 October 2008	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Hard	Sorana Cîrstea	Vera Dushevina Mariya Koryttseva	2–6, 6–3, 10–8
Winner	4.	14 February 2010	Pattaya City, Thailand	Hard	Tamarine Tanasugarn	Anna Chakvetadze Ksenia Pervak	7–5, 6–1
Runner-up	2.	24 July 2010	Portorož, Slovenia	Hard	Anna Chakvetadze	Maria Kondratieva Vladimíra Uhlířová	4–6, 6–2, [7–10]
Runner-up	3.	8 January 2011	Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	Sofia Arvidsson	Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik	3–6, 0–6
Winner	5.	16 October 2011	Linz, Austria	Hard (i)	Elena Vesnina	Julia Görges Anna-Lena Grönefeld	7–5, 6–1
Runner-up	4.	14 January 2012	Hobart, Australia	Hard	Chuang Chia-jung	Irina-Camelia Begu Monica Niculescu	6–7(4–7), 7–6(7–4), [10-5]

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 16 (11–5)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	6 March 2005	Warrnambool, Australia	Grass	Daniella Dominikovic	6–3, 4–6, 6–4
Runner-up	1.	13 March 2005	Benalla, Australia	Grass	Yuan Meng	6–3, 4–6, 6–4
Winner	2.	20 March 2005	Yarrawonga, Australia	Grass	Emily Hewson	6–3, 4–6, 6–4
Winner	3.	3 September 2006	Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands	Clay	Andrea Petkovic	4–6, 6–2, 7–5
Winner	4.	15 October 2006	Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Casey Dellacqua	6–1, 0–6, 6–4
Winner	5.	29 October 2006	Beijing, China	Hard	Alla Kudryavtseva	6–2, 6–1
Runner-up	2.	29 July 2007	La Coruña, Spain	Hard	Neuza Silva	6–0, 5–7, 3–6
Runner-up	3.	5 August 2007	Vigo, Spain	Hard	Olivia Sanchez	W/O
Winner	6.	14 October 2007	Rockhampton, Australia	Hard	Sophie Ferguson	7–6(7–5), 7–5
Winner	7.	21 October 2007	Gympie, Australia	Hard	Sophie Ferguson	6–4, 6–3
Runner-up	4.	9 February 2008	Mildura, Australia	Grass	Chang Kai-chen	6–3, 6–1
Runner-up	5.	17 February 2008	Berri, Australia	Grass	Nicole Kriz	4–6, 6–4, 6–7(3–7)
Winner	8.	7 June 2008	Surbiton, England	Grass	Anne Keothavong	6–4, 6–2
Winner	9.	7 March 2011	Irapuato, Mexico	Hard	Andreja Klepač	7–5, 6–4
Winner	10.	28 March 2011	Pelham, USA	Clay	Renata Voráčová	6–4, 2–6, 6–1
Winner	11.	4 April 2011	Jackson, USA	Clay	Ajla Tomljanović	6–1, 6–2

Doubles: 10 (5–5)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	29 October 2006	Beijing, China	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Ji Chunmei Sun Shengnan	2–6, 2–6
Winner	2.	30 June 2007	Padova, Italy	Clay	Maret Ani	Vanessa Henke Andrea Petkovic	6–4, 6–4
Winner	3.	28 July 2007	La Coruña, Spain	Hard	Melanie South	Andrea Hlaváčková Justine Ozga	6–1, 4–6, 6–4
Winner	4.	15 December 2007	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Hard	Monica Niculescu	Yuliana Fedak Anna Lapushchenkova	7–6(7–1), 6–4
Winner	5.	7 February 2008	Mildura, Australia	Grass	Nicole Kriz	Monique Adamczak Christina Wheeler	6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	6.	17 February 2008	Berri, Australia	Grass	Nicole Kriz	Shannon Golds Emelyn Starr	2–6, 7–6(7–4), [10–3]
Winner	7.	28 November 2009	Toyota, Japan	Carpet	Tamarine Tanasugarn	Akari Inoue Akiko Yonemura	6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	8.	16 April 2010	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Tamarine Tanasugarn	Vitalia Diatchenko Eirini Georgatou	3–6, 7–5, [14–16]
Runner-up	9.	9 May 2010	Fukuoka, Japan	Carpet	Alexandra Panova	Misaki Doi Kotomi Takahata	4–6, 4–6

Performance timeline

References

• Marina Erakovic at the International Tennis Federation

External links

• Official website of Marina Erakovic
• Marina Erakovic at the Women's Tennis Association

v t e Women's Tennis Association: Top ten Oceania female singles tennis players, as of April 2, 2012. Samantha Stosur (5 ) Jarmila Gajdošová (52 7) Marina Erakovic (45 4) Anastasia Rodionova (98 1) Casey Dellacqua (103 2) Olivia Rogowska (117 2) Jelena Dokić (126 7) Isabella Holland (201 2) Sacha Jones (217 3) Johanna Konta (228 2)