Virginie Razzano

Virginie Razzano

Virginie Razzano at the 2011 US Open
Country (sports)	France
Residence	Nîmes, France
Born	12 May 1983 Dijon, France
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Turned pro	1999
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$ 3,280,487
Singles
Career record	381 - 334
Career titles	2 WTA, 5 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 16 (14 September 2009)
Current ranking	No. 182 (20 June 2016)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	3R (2001, 2006, 2008, 2009)
French Open	4R (2009)
Wimbledon	4R (2009)
US Open	4R (2006)
Doubles
Career record	60 - 84
Career titles	1 WTA, 5 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 82 (12 February 2001)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2002)
French Open	2R (2000)
Wimbledon	2R (2001, 2005)
US Open	QF (2008)

Virginie Razzano (born 12 May 1983), is a French professional tennis player and the current French no. 4. Razzano, who was born in Dijon, has won two WTA singles titles, both in 2007 in Guangzhou and Tokyo. Razzano reached her career high ranking of world no. 16 on September 14, 2009.

Career

2005

She was chosen by Georges Goven to play in the Fed Cup first round when Tatiana Golovin had an injury and when Marion Bartoli and Émilie Loit were suspended. However, she was replaced by Séverine Brémond Beltrame because of injury in the quarterfinals.

2006–2007

On August 31, 2006, Razzano upset eighth seed Martina Hingis in the second round of the U.S. Open. On 2 January 2007, she defeated former world no. 5 Daniela Hantuchová in two sets in the second round at the ASB Classic tournament in Auckland, New Zealand. Later on, on 27 June 2007, she was upset by unseeded Yvonne Meusburger, in the first round at Wimbledon. On August 25, 2007, she lost in her second WTA Tour Final to Gisela Dulko at Forest Hills.

On September 30, 2007, Razzano won her first career singles title in Guangzhou, China. Razzano, the number 2 seed, defeated first-time finalist, 34-year-old Israeli Tzipora Obziler, to claim the title and become the 2007 Guangzhou International Women's Open Champion. A week later, she claimed her second career title, also in Asia, beating former no. 1 Venus Williams in three sets at the Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo.

2008

On 8 January 2008, Razzano lost to Ana Ivanovic in the first round of the Sydney Medibank International in three sets. In the third set, Razzano was ahead 5–2, only to see Ivanovic win the next five games, and eventually proceed to the semi-finals.

In August, she was a member of the French team that competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.^[1]

2009

In her first match of 2009, Razzano was defeated by Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová in the first round in Auckland. In her next tournament, Razzano lost to eventual champion Petra Kvitová in the semifinals in Hobart.

At the 2009 Australian Open, she beat Jarmila Gajdošová and 14th seeded Patty Schnyder en route to the third round, where she lost to Dominika Cibulková, 5–7, 5–7.

Razzano fell in the first round of the 2009 Open GDF Suez to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. However, she rebounded at the 2009 Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, upsetting world no. 2 Dinara Safina, 6–4, 6–2, to progress to the third round. This was her first win over a current member of the world's top 5. She followed this up by defeating Daniela Hantuchová, 6–2, 1–6, 6–2. In the quarterfinals, she defeated world no. 5 Vera Zvonareva achieving two wins over top-5 opponents in three days. In the semifinals, she defeated Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, 6–1, 6–2. However, she lost to reigning Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in the final.

Razzano defeated Yevgeniya Rodina in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. She had to retire in her second round match against 18th seed Kaia Kanepi with a back injury while trailing 6–7, 0–1. She fell in the first round of Miami to Julia Görges.

At Ponte Vedra Beach, Razzano defeated Akgul Amanmuradova in the first round, but lost in the second round to second seed and eventual champion Caroline Wozniacki. Razzano reached the quarterfinals of Charleston as the thirteenth seed, but lost again to Wozniacki, again in straight sets. She was defeated in the second round of the 2009 Internazionali BNL d'Italia by world no. 1 and eventual champion Dinara Safina. She lost to Elena Vesnina in the second round of Madrid.

At the French Open, Razzano was unseeded and defeated former world no. 5 Daniela Hantuchová in the first round. She then thrashed 18th seed Anabel Medina Garrigues in two sets, in the second round and beat Tathiana Garbin in the third round in two tight sets. She lost in the fourth round to 30th seed Samantha Stosur. As a result of these wins, Razzano's ranking improved to world no. 26.

After withdrawing from a tournament in Birmingham with a lower back injury, Razzano entered the tournament in Eastbourne, where she was unseeded. She defeated fellow Frenchwoman Alizé Cornet in the first round. She then beat the top seed and world no. 4 Elena Dementieva, winning the decisive third-set tiebreak. She followed this win up with a win over eighth seed and defending champion Agnieszka Radwańska in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, she was up 6–4, 1–0 when Marion Bartoli was forced to retire with a right quad strain. She lost in the final to sixth seed Caroline Wozniacki. However, Razzano's ranking improved to world no. 23, the highest ranking of her career.

At Wimbledon, Razzano was seeded 26th. In the first round, her opponent Tamira Paszek retired after falling behind 6–0, 3–1. After a win over Jill Craybas in the second round, her third-round opponent Vera Zvonareva withdrew to allow Razzano to her first Wimbledon fourth round. Razzano then fell, 2–6, 6–7, to Francesca Schiavone in the fourth round. Despite this loss, Razzano reached a new career high ranking of world no. 17.

Razzano started her US Open Series campaign in Los Angeles, where she was seeded 11th. She lost in the first round to Anna Chakvetadze. She was seeded 16th at Cincinnati, but also lost in the first round to Anna-Lena Grönefeld. Razzano played her last tournament before the US Open in New Haven. Unseeded in singles, she defeated world no. 20 Patty Schnyder in three sets, in the first round. Fifth seed Agnieszka Radwańska had to retire due to injury in the second round with the score at one set all. Razzano was defeated by Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals. Razzano was seeded 16th at the 2009 US Open, but suffered a surprise defeat in the first round to eventual semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer.

Razzano continued her disappointing end to the season in Tokyo as the sixteenth seed, losing to Iveta Benešová, in the first round. She was forced to pull out of the 2009 China Open due to a left calf strain. This turned out to be the end of Razzano's season. She finished her best season on tour ranked world no. 19.

2010

Razzano started her 2010 campaign at the 2010 ASB Classic, where she was seeded fifth. She defeated Monica Niculescu in the first round, but she lost in the second round to Kimiko Date-Krumm. She also fell 3–6, 0–6 to Daniela Hantuchová in the first round in Sydney. Razzano was seeded 18th at the 2010 Australian Open, but suffered another surprise defeat in the first round to Ekaterina Makarova. This caused her to fall out of the top 20 in the world rankings. Another first-round defeat followed in Paris, where she lost to Patty Schnyder. Razzano continued her season in Dubai where, as an unseeded player, she defeated Selima Sfar in the first round, before losing to world no. 22 and in-form Shahar Pe'er, in the second round. Due to her not defending her points from reaching the final the previous year, Razzano saw a huge change in her ranking as it fell to world no. 39. Razzano next competed at the 2010 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where she defeated Kristina Barrois, in the second round, before losing to 32nd seed Maria Kirilenko in the third round. At the 2010 US Open, she beat Klara Zakopalova and upset 13th seed Marion Bartoli, before losing to former no. 1 Ana Ivanovic in the third round.

2011

Razzano started off the year losing in the qualifying rounds to Vania King at the Brisbane International.

Prior to the 2011 French Open's start, Razzano's fiancé and former coach Stephane Vidal died of a brain tumor. She elected to play despite her loss, knowing that Vidal encouraged her to participate at Roland Garros. She met 24th-seeded Jarmila Gajdošová in the first round, but lost with a tally of 3–6, 1–6.^[2]

2012

At the 2012 French Open, Razzano handed Serena Williams her first-ever first-round defeat at a major. Razzano came back from a set and 1–5 down in the second-set tie-break to emerge victorious in three sets. At the time, Razzano was ranked no. 111, 106 places lower than Williams, who was the favourite for the title entering the tournament.^[3] She was up 5–0 in the final set at one point and needed eight match points to close out the match. She lost to Arantxa Rus in the second round.

2016

In May 2016, Razzano reached the singles semifinals of Internationaux de Strasbourg for the second consecutive year. She lost her semifinal match narrowly to Caroline Garcia. Three Frenchwomen - Razzano, Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic - reached the semifinals of that tournament. The last time three Frenchwomen made it this far at a WTA tournament was in 2006, when Tatiana Golovin, Mary Pierce and Amélie Mauresmo all contested for the Open GDF Suez singles title - ultimately won by Mauresmo.^[4]

WTA career finals

Singles: 6 (2–4)

Legend: Before 2009	Legend: Starting in 2009
Grand Slam tournaments (0/0)
WTA Championships (0/0)
Tier I (0/0)	Premier Mandatory (0/0)
Tier II (0/0)	Premier 5 (0/1)
Tier III (2/0)	Premier (0/1)
Tier IV & V (0/2)	International (0/0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	17 October 2004	Tashkent Open, Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Hard	Nicole Vaidišová	5–7, 6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	2.	25 August 2007	Forest Hills Tennis Classic, Forest Hills, United States	Hard	Gisela Dulko	6–2, 6–2
Winner	1.	30 September 2007	Guangzhou International Women's Open, Guangzhou, China	Hard	Tzipora Obziler	6–0, 6–3
Winner	2.	6 October 2007	AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships, Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Venus Williams	4–6, 7–6^(9–7), 6–4
Runner-up	3.	21 February 2009	Dubai Tennis Championships, Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Hard	Venus Williams	6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	4.	20 June 2009	AEGON International, Eastbourne, Great Britain	Grass	Caroline Wozniacki	7–6^(7–5), 7–5

Doubles: 1 (1–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	11 February 2001	Open Gaz de France, Paris, France	Carpet	Iva Majoli	Kimberly Po Nathalie Tauziat	6–3, 7–5

Performance timelines

Key

W

F

SF

QF

R#

RR

Q#

A

NH

(W) Won tournament; reached (F) final, (SF) semifinal, (QF) quarterfinal; (R#) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; competed at a (RR) round-robin stage; reached a (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; or (NH) tournament not held.

To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated either at the conclusion of a tournament, or when the player's participation in the tournament has ended.

Grand Slam tournament singles

Tournament	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	W–L
Australian Open	A	A	1R	3R	1R	2R	A	1R	3R	2R	3R	3R	1R	2R	1R	Q1	2R	2R	Q3	13–14
French Open	Q1	1R	3R	3R	2R	1R	2R	3R	1R	1R	1R	4R	1R	1R	2R	3R	1R	2R	2R	16–18
Wimbledon	A	A	A	1R	2R	2R	3R	2R	1R	1R	1R	4R	A	2R	1R	1R	1R	A	Q2	9–13
US Open	A	A	Q3	2R	2R	2R	1R	2R	4R	2R	1R	1R	3R	1R	1R	1R	1R	Q1	1R	10–15
Win–Loss	0–0	0–1	2–2	5–4	3–4	3–4	3–3	4–4	5–4	2–4	2–4	8–4	2–3	2–4	1–4	2–3	1–4	2–2	1–2	48–60

Grand Slam tournament doubles

Tournament	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	W–L
Australian Open	A	A	1R	2R	A	A	A	1R	A	1R	1R	1R	A	2R	A	A	2–7
French Open	1R	2R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	A	1–15
Wimbledon	A	A	2R	A	A	A	2R	1R	1R	1R	1R	A	A	1R	A	A	2–7
US Open	A	A	1R	A	A	A	2R	A	1R	QF	2R	A	1R	A	A	A	5–6
Win–Loss	0–1	1–1	1–4	1–2	0–1	0–1	2–3	0–3	0–3	3–4	1–4	0–2	0–2	1–3	0–1	0–0	10–35

References

1. "Virginie Razzano Biography and Olympic Results". Sports-reference.com. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
2. "Virginie Razzano plays to honor fiancé". 24 May 2011.
3. 2012: One of two French Open titles Serena Williams should have won, The Roar, 13 April 2013
4. "Mladenovic moves into Strasbourg semis". WTA Tour official website. 19 May 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2016.

External links

• Virginie Razzano at the Women's Tennis Association
• Virginie Razzano at the International Tennis Federation
• Virginie Razzano at the Fed Cup