Aleksandra Wozniak

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This article is about the Canadian tennis player. For the unrelated Danish tennis player, see Caroline Wozniacki.
Aleksandra Wozniak
Country  Canada
Residence Blainville, Quebec, Canada
Born September 7, 1987 (1987-09-07) (age 24)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight 60 kg (130 lb; 9.4 st)
Turned pro 2005
Plays Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money US$1,286,789
Official web site www.aleksandrawozniak.com
Singles
Career record 249–161
Career titles 1 WTA, 8 ITF
Highest ranking No. 21 (June 22, 2009)
Current ranking No. 102 (January 16, 2012)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open 2R (2012)
French Open 4R (2009)
Wimbledon 2R (2008, 2010)
US Open 3R (2009)
Doubles
Career record 28–45
Career titles 0 WTA, 0 ITF
Highest ranking No. 136 (June 7, 2010)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open 1R (2009)
French Open 2R (2010)
Wimbledon 2R (2009, 2010)
US Open 1R (2008)
Mixed Doubles
Career titles 0
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open QF (2009)
Last updated on: January 16, 2012.

Aleksandra Wozniak (born September 7, 1987, in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian professional tennis player. She turned professional in November 2005. Wozniak achieved a career-best ranking of no. 21 on June 22, 2009, making her the fourth-highest ranked Canadian singles player of all time.[1] She has won one WTA and eight ITF tournaments. At the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford in 2008, she became the first Canadian in 20 years to capture a WTA singles title and is the only Quebecer in history to have accomplished such a feat. She reached a career-high ITF junior ranking of No. 3 on January 31, 2005. She was named Female Player of the Year by Tennis Canada four times (2009, 2008, 2006, 2004).

Wozniak trains at Uniprix Stadium in Montreal with her dad, Antoni Wozniak.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Wozniak's family immigrated to Canada from Poland in 1983. She speaks Polish, English and French fluently. Also she has a elder sister Dorota, also playing tennis too.[2][3][4] Aleksandra started playing tennis at the age of three. She was inspired to pick up a racquet by her sister and Monica Seles, her idol growing up and was coached by her father,[5] Antoni.

[edit] Tennis career

[edit] 2002–05

In 2002, as a 14-year-old, Wozniak won the Canadian Indoors Under-16 and Under-18 championships.[6] Aleksandra won the Kentucky International Junior Tennis Derby in 2004.[7] In 2005, Wozniak reached #3 in the juniors.[8] She also won the Tevlin Challenger 25K tournament in Toronto, the Hamilton Challenger 25K in Canada, the Victoria Challenger 25K and the Junior Casablanca Cup (as well as the doubles) in Mexico, and the Junior Del Cafe Cup (as well as the doubles) in Costa Rica.[7]

[edit] 2006

Wozniak won the Pittsburgh Challenger (defeating Belarusian Victoria Azarenka),[9] the Ashland Challenger (defeating Hungarian Ágnes Szávay),[10] and Hamilton Challenger tournaments.[11] In February she beat her first top 100 player, world #63 Na Li in Thailand. In November she defeated her first top 50 player, world #40 Olga Poutchkova in Pittsburgh.

[edit] 2008

In the first round of the French Open in June, Wozniak made it to the third round, before losing to 11th seed Vera Zvonareva. It was by far her best performance at any of the Grand Slams, and she became the first Québécoise to reach the third round of a Grand Slam since 2002.[12]

In July, Wozniak won her first WTA singles title at the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, California. During the tournament she beat world #20 Francesca Schiavone of Italy, world #29 Sybille Bammer, and world #5 Serena Williams of the US (who had to retire in the match), before defeating sixth seed Marion Bartoli of France in the final. She was a qualifier to the tournament, so she had to win 3 qualifying matches and then 5 main draw matches in nine days. Wozniak became the first Canadian in 20 years to win a WTA singles title.[13] The victory vaulted her WTA singles ranking from #85 to #45 in the world. In August 2008, she was presented with key to the city in Blainville, Québec, by the mayor; they renamed it "Wozniakville" for 24 hours because for the first time a woman from Québec won a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title (when she won Stanford in July).[14] She also received an award from the National Assembly of Québec in October 2008 for her career-high ranking of #37 and first Tour singles title.[14]

[edit] 2009

Wozniak was upset by German Sabine Lisicki, also of Polish heritage, in the first round of the Australian Open where Wozniak was the 30th seed. Wozniak joined up with compatriot Daniel Nestor in the mixed doubles, where they made it to the quarterfinals before losing to Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi of India.

In March she defeated world #48 Lucie Šafářová in Indian Wells. That month she moved up to a career-best world #29. She reached her third singles final in April in the Ponte Vedra Beach, beating world #10 Nadia Petrova in the semi-finals, but was then defeated by world #12 Caroline Wozniacki. In May she upset world #13 Marion Bartoli of France at the Madrid Open.[15]

At the French Open, Wozniak was the No. 24 seed, and became the first Québécoise to ever be seeded at Roland-Garros.[12] Wozniak made it to the round of 16 before losing to Serena Williams.[16][17][18] With her French Open success, Wozniak became Canada's first representative in the fourth round of the French Open women's draw in 17 years, and the first Canadian woman to survive into the second week at the French Open since Patricia Hy-Boulais in 1992. Wozniak was also the first Canadian to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam event since Maureen Drake qualified for the round of 16 at the 1999 Australian Open. "That's awesome for Canada and I hope to keep going", said Wozniak.[19]

She debuted her grass season in June, at the AEGON International in Eastbourne, Wozniak made it to the semifinals, before losing to Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. After that tournament, Wozniak's ranking rose two spots, to a career high of No. 21.[20] In the first round of Wimbledon, she was the first Canadian to be seeded in singles in 20 years at #23. However she fell in the first round to Italy's Francesca Schiavone.[21]

At the US Open, she advanced to the third round before losing to 10th seeded Flavia Pennetta. Wozniak entered the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo and made it into the third round before losing in three sets to Magdaléna Rybáriková.

Wozniak was named Athlete of the Year for the second time in three years at the 24th edition of the Tennis Quebec Excellence Awards. Her father Antoni and fitness trainer André Parent were joint winners of the International Coach of the Year Award for Quebec athletes.[22] She was also named Female Athlete of the Year by the Canadian Press in recognition of her outstanding season.

[edit] 2010

In January, close friend Caroline Wozniacki eliminated Wozniak for the sixth time at the Australian Open in straight sets. After early losses in Miami and Indian Wells, she went to defend her last year final at Ponte Vedra Beach. However, she lost in the quartefinals to Dominika Cibulková. At the French Open, she lost in the third round to the 5th seed Elena Dementieva in a match that lasted more than three hours. At Wimbledon, Wozniak made it to the second round before losing to 4th seeded Jelena Janković. After losing in the first round of the Rogers Cup in her native Quebec against Timea Bacsinszky, she lost again in the first round again at the US Open against World No. 202 Sally Peers by the score of 6–0, 6–1, in a match that took just 48 minutes. She was out for the remainder of the season due to a forearm injury.[23]

[edit] 2011

In her first Grand Slam appearance since coming back from injury, Wozniak successfully qualified for the French Open. She won her first round match against Junri Namigata 6–1, 6–1 before losing in the second round to World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki by the score of 6–3, 7–6(6). She also successfully qualified for Wimbledon but lost in the first round against Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová 7–6(7), 6–4. She won in early August the second biggest tournament of her career at the $100,000 ITF Vancouver Open, where she defeated Jamie Hampton 6–3, 6–1 in the final. Wozniak qualified for her third straight Grand Slam at the US Open. She lost in the first round to young American Christina McHale 6–3, 6–7(5), 6–4.

[edit] 2012

At the first Grand Slam of the season, the Australian Open, Wozniak defeated Zhang Shuai 6–3, 6–3 in the first round. She made it through to the second round for the first time of her career. She was defeated by the 27th seed Maria Kirilenko 6–4, 1–6, 6–2 in the next round.

[edit] Fed Cup

Wozniak won her first Fed Cup match in 2004, defeating Swiss Timea Bacsinszky 6–0, 6–4, and boasts a 35–8 record through April 2011. Her 35 total victories is a Canadian Fed Cup record as are her 28 wins in singles. She has appeared in 30 ties during her career in Fed Cup.[24] In 2006 she beat Argentine world #33 Gisela Dulko, 7–6, 6–3.[11]

[edit] Style of play

Wozniak has an all court game that is anchored by an effective first serve and a strong backhand. She also possesses a good overhead.[25] Her favourite surface is clay.

[edit] WTA Tour finals

Winner — Legend (pre/post 2010)
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
WTA Tour Championships (0–0)
Tier I / Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (0–0)
Tier II / Premier (1–0)
Tier III, IV & V / International (0–2)
Titles by Surface
Hard (1–0)
Grass (0–0)
Clay (0–2)
Carpet (0–0)

[edit] Singles: 3 (1–2)

Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score in the final
Runner–up 1. May 21, 2007 Morocco Fes, Morocco Clay Venezuela Milagros Sequera 6–1, 6–3
Winner 1. July 20, 2008 United States Stanford, United States Hard France Marion Bartoli 7–5, 6–3
Runner–up 2. April 12, 2009 United States Ponte Vedra Beach, United States Clay Denmark Caroline Wozniacki 6–1, 6–2

[edit] ITF Circuit finals

$100,000 tournaments
$75,000 tournaments
$50,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments

[edit] Singles: 11 (8–3)

Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score in the final
Winner 1. June 30, 2002 Canada Lachine, Canada Hard Singapore Beier Ko 6–0, 6–3
Winner 2. July 17, 2005 Canada Hamilton, Canada Clay Argentina María José Argeri 6–1, 6–2
Runner–up 1. October 2, 2005 United States Pelham, United States Clay Argentina Soledad Esperón 7–5, 6–2
Winner 3. October 16, 2005 Mexico Victoria, Mexico Hard Czech Republic Olga Blahotová 2–6, 6–0, 6–4
Runner–up 2. October 23, 2005 Mexico Mexico City, Mexico Hard Argentina María José Argeri 6–4, 4–0, ret.
Winner 4. November 13, 2005 Canada Toronto, Canada Hard Ukraine Olena Antypina 6–4, 6–3
Winner 5. July 23, 2006 Canada Hamilton, Canada Clay Canada Valérie Tétreault 6–1, 6–7(5), 6–2
Winner 6. October 1, 2006 United States Ashland, United States Hard Hungary Ágnes Szávay 6–1, 7–6(2)
Winner 7. November 12, 2006 United States Pittsburgh, United States Hard Belarus Victoria Azarenka 6–2, ret.
Runner–up 3. March 23, 2008 United States Redding, United States Hard Czech Republic Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová 7–6(4), 6–3
Winner 8. August 7, 2011 Canada Vancouver, Canada Hard United States Jamie Hampton 6–3, 6–1

[edit] Doubles: 2 (0–2)

Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents in the final Score in the final
Runner–up 1. June 16, 2002 Canada Toronto, Canada Hard Canada Diana Srebrovic Australia Lauren Cheung
Australia Christina Horiatopoulos		 6–3, 6–1
Runner–up 2. July 23, 2006 Canada Hamilton, Canada Clay Argentina Soledad Esperón Australia Nicole Kriz
United States Story Tweedie-Yates		 6–4, 6–1

[edit] Singles performance timeline

To help interpret the performance table, the legend below explains what each abbreviation and color coded box represents in the performance timeline.

Terms to know
SR tournaments won/played W-L Win-Loss
Performance Table Legend
NH not held A absent
LQ lost in qualifying draw #R lost in the early rounds
QF quarterfinalist SF semifinalist
F runner-up W winner
NM5 means an event that is neither a Premier Mandatory nor a Premier 5 tournament.

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 2012 Australian Open.

Tournament 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Career SR Career
Win-Loss
Grand Slams
Australian Open A A A A A 1R LQ 1R 1R A 2R 0 / 4 1–4
French Open A A A A A 1R 3R 4R 3R 2R 0 / 5 8–5
Wimbledon A A A A A 1R 2R 1R 2R 1R 0 / 5 2–5
US Open A A A A A 1R 1R 3R 1R 1R 0 / 5 2–5
SR 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 4 0 / 3 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 3 0 / 1 0 / 19 N/A
Win-Loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–4 3–3 5–4 3–4 1–3 1–1 N/A 13–19
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics Not Held A Not Held A Not Held 0 / 0 0–0
Year-End Championship
WTA Tour Championships A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0
WTA Premier Mandatory Tournaments
Indian Wells A A A A A 1R LQ 3R 2R LQ 0 / 3 1–3
Miami A A A LQ A 1R 2R 2R 2R A 0 / 4 1–4
Madrid Not Held 2R 1R A 0 / 2 1–2
Beijing Not Tier I 3R A A 0 / 1 2–1
WTA Premier 5 Tournaments
Dubai Not Tier I A A A 0 / 0 0–0
Rome A A A A A A A 2R A A 0 / 1 1–1
Montreal/Toronto A LQ 1R 1R 1R 2R 2R 1R 1R 2R 0 / 8 3–8
Cincinnati Not Tier I 2R A A 0 / 1 1–1
Tokyo A A A A LQ A 1R 3R A A 0 / 2 2–2
Former WTA Tier I Tournaments1
Charleston A A A A A A 1R NM5 0 / 1 0–1
Moscow A A A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0
Doha2 Not Tier I A Not
Held		 0 / 0 0–0
Berlin A A A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0
San Diego2 A A A A A A Not
Held		 0 / 0 0–0
Zurich2 A A A A A A Not
Tier I		 0 / 0 0–0
Career Statistics
Tournaments Won 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 N/A 1
Runner-up 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 N/A 2
Overall Win-Loss 11–3 2–4 11–6 44–13 43–24 22–29 40–22 30–25 14–18 28–14 N/A 249–1603
Year End Ranking 569 878 491 190 91 130 34 35 126 105 N/A N/A
  • 1Currently neither Premier Mandatory nor Premier 5 events.
  • 2As of 2008, Doha is a Tier I tournament, replacing San Diego and Zurich.
  • 3Including a 2–1 record in 2001, though she did not receive a final ranking.

[edit] References

  1. ^ AleksandraWozniak.com – Bio p.3
  2. ^ See Dorota's profile on WTA Tour official website
  3. ^ "Tennis Spy: Aleksandra Wozniak," 2/25/09, accessed 5/30/09[dead link]
  4. ^ "French Open at a glance," Los Angeles Times, 5/30/09, accessed 5/30/09[dead link]
  5. ^ "Wozniak puts Canada on world court," WTA Québec, 1/2/09, accessed 5/30/09
  6. ^ AleksabdraWozniak.com – Bio p.6
  7. ^ a b AleksandraWozniak.com – Bio p.5
  8. ^ WTA Québec – Chasing a tennis dream
  9. ^ [1]
  10. ^ [2]
  11. ^ a b AleksandraWozniak.com – Bio p.4
  12. ^ a b "Wozniak Books her Spot in the Third Round at Roland-Garros," Tennis Canada, 5/28/09, accessed 5/30/09
  13. ^ "Canada's Wozniak wins first career WTA title," The Globe and Mail
  14. ^ a b "WTA Tour Bio
  15. ^ "Wozniak Leaves Bartoli Searching for Answers in Madrid," Tennis Canada, 5/9/09, accessed 5/30/09
  16. ^ Tennis Canada News
  17. ^ [3]
  18. ^ "Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak advances to fourth round of French Open", The Canadian Press, accessed 5/30/09
  19. ^ [4]
  20. ^ canada.com | Article
  21. ^ Tennis Canada News
  22. ^ Tennis Canada News
  23. ^ "Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak's season over thanks to forearm injury". Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on November 15, 2010. http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Tennis+Canada+Aleksandra+Wozniak+season+over+thanks+forearm+injury/3470367/story.html. Retrieved October 12, 2010. 
  24. ^ Fed Cup – Aleksandra Wozniak Profile
  25. ^ Yahoo Sport UK – Tennis Spy : Aleksandra Wozniak

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Aleksandra Wozniak
Women's Tennis Association: Canada Top ten Canadian female singles tennis players as of January 16, 2012.
1. Rebecca Marino (65 decrease2) · 2. Stéphanie Dubois (97 decrease1) · 3. Aleksandra Wozniak (102 increase2) · 4. Sharon Fichman (169 steady) · 5. Eugénie Bouchard (305 steady)
6. Heidi El Tabakh (313 steady) · 7. Marie-Ève Pelletier (322 decrease1) · 8. Gabriela Dabrowski (362 increase1) · 9. Carol Zhao (599 steady) · 10. Erin Routliffe (827 steady)
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