Jill Craybas

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Jill Craybas
JillCraybas-2007AcuraClassic.JPG
Country  United States
Residence Huntington Beach, California, U.S.
Date of birth July 4, 1974 (1974-07-04) (age 35)
Place of birth Providence, Rhode Island
Height 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Weight 56 kg (120 lb)
Turned pro 1996
Plays Right; Two-handed backhand
Career prize money US$1,969,798
Singles
Career record 352–335
Career titles 1 WTA (4 ITF)
Highest ranking No. 39 (April 17, 2006)
Current ranking No. 76 (December 14, 2009)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open 3R (2004)
French Open 2R (2001, 2007, 2009)
Wimbledon 4R (2005)
US Open 2R (2004, 2005, 2006, 2009)
Doubles
Career record 104–176
Career titles 4 WTA
Highest ranking No. 41 (June 23, 2008)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open 2R (2007)
French Open 2R (2009)
Wimbledon 3R (2007)
US Open 2R (2004-6)
Last updated on: October 19, 2009.

Jill Craybas (born July 4, 1974, Providence, Rhode Island) is an American professional tennis player.

Contents

[edit] Career

Before entering the professional ranks in 1996, she attended and graduated from the University of Florida in Gainesville, and was the 1996 NCAA singles champion. Her major was telecommunications and she has said in interviews that she hopes to enter this field (film or TV production) when her playing days are over. She credits all her achievements to her longtime coach, Michael Daly. Michael has worked with her from the start of her tennis career.

Craybas has won one WTA title at the Tokyo Japan Open. She beat Silvija Talaja in the final after trailing 4–0 in the third set. In the 2006 season, Craybas had reached one quarterfinal at Hobart as the eighth seed, losing to unseeded Italian Mara Santangelo in three sets. She has also reached the semifinals of a Tier III event in Memphis, a fourth-round showing at the Tier I event in Key Biscayne, Florida and a further quarterfinal appearance at Stanford in late July.

Craybas is best known for her 2005 defeat of Serena Williams in the 3rd round of Wimbledon. She beat Williams 6–3, 7–6, then lost to Serena's older sister, Venus Williams 6–0, 6–2.

On March 25, 2006, Craybas once again served up an early round defeat of a top seeded player. This time it was second-seeded Kim Clijsters in the second round of the NASDAQ-100 tournament. After having lead in both the first and third sets, Clijsters eventually lost by a score of 7–5, 3–6, 7–5. It was Clijsters earliest ever exit from the NASDAQ-100, and Clijsters was the defending champion.

Craybas, who may be a veteran on the tour nowadays, is thought to be playing the best tennis of her life. However, after having a successful start to 2006, has fallen short of what was expected of her from her dramatically impressive start, losing to lower-ranked opponents in first rounds or having difficult first round draws against the top players in the world.

She began 2007 by reaching the semifinals of a Tier IV event in Auckland, New Zealand. She beat all of her opponents in straight sets before bowing out to Russian Vera Zvonareva 6–3, 7–5. She next took part in the Tier II event in Sydney, where she lost in the last round of qualifying to Russian Vera Dushevina 6–1, 3–6, 6–1. At the first Grand Slam tournament of the year at the Australian Open, she suffered a first-round loss to the tenth-eeded Nicole Vaidišová 6–4, 5–7, 6–1. Craybas bounced back into winning form at her next tournament in the U.S., at an ITF tournament in Midland, Texas. As the top-seeded, she beat all of her opponents in straight sets until a hard-fought 2–6, 6–3, 6–3 victory over second-seeded and fellow American Laura Granville. Because of her lower ranking, she has suffered in tough draws, not going further than the second round of any tournament since.

Jill Craybas at the 2008 US Open

At the start of 2008, Craybas entered the Pattaya Women's Open in Pattaya, Thailand, where, as the seventh-seed, she played some of the best tennis of her career and beat Olga Savchuk 6–1, 6–1 in the first round, Renata Voráčová 2–6, 6–1, 6–3 in the second round and Andreja Klepač 6–4, 6–4 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals she beat Akgul Amanmuradova 6–4, 6–0 and lost to the top seed Agnieszka Radwańska in a tie-break in the third set, 6–2, 1–6, 7–6. Craybas's ranking improved from World No. 77 to World No. 60 because of these results.

Craybas won the Istanbul Cup in doubles.

Craybas represented the United States at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the tennis singles event. She became the last qualifier for the event, replacing Tamira Paszek of Austria.[1] The opening came available when fellow American Ashley Harkleroad elected to skip the games after she became pregnant.[2]

[edit] WTA Tour singles finals (2)

[edit] Wins (1)

Legend: Before 2009 Legend: Starting in 2009
Grand Slam (0)
WTA Championships (0)
Tier I (0) Premier Mandatory (0)
Tier II (0) Premier 5 (0)
Tier III (1) Premier (0)
Tier IV & V (0) International (0)
No. Date Tournament Location Surface Opponent in Final Score in Final
1. 6 October 2002 Japan Open Tennis Championships Japan Tokyo, Japan Hard Croatia Silvija Talaja 2–6, 6–4, 6–4

[edit] Runners up (1)

No. Date Tournament Location Surface Opponent in Final Score in Final
1. 10 February 2008 Pattaya Women's Open Thailand Pattaya, Thailand Hard Poland Agnieszka Radwańska 6–2, 1–6, 7–6(4)

[edit] WTA Tour women's doubles finals (12)

[edit] Wins (4)

Legend: Before 2009 Legend: Starting in 2009
Grand Slam (0)
WTA Championships (0)
Tier I (0) Premier Mandatory (0)
Tier II (0) Premier 5 (0)
Tier III (4) Premier (0)
Tier IV & V (0) International (0)
No. Date Tournament Location Surface Partner Opponent in Final Score in Final
1. 19 May 2003 Open de España Madrid 2012 Spain Madrid, Spain Clay South Africa Liezel Huber Italy Rita Grande
Indonesia Angelique Widjaja
6-4, 7-6(6)
2. 16 August 2004 Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open United States Cincinnati, USA Hard Germany Marlene Weingartner Switzerland E Gagliardi
Germany A-L Grönefeld
7-5, 7-6(2)
3. 19 May 2008 Istanbul Cup Turkey Istanbul, Turkey Clay Belarus Olga Govortsova New Zealand Marina Eraković
Slovenia Polona Hercog
6-1, 6-2
4. 4 October 2008 AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships Japan Tokyo, Japan Hard New Zealand Marina Eraković Japan Ayumi Morita
Japan Aiko Nakamura
4-6, 7-5, 10-6

[edit] Runner ups (8)

No. Date Tournament Location Surface Partner Opponent in Final Score in Final
1. 31 October 2004 Fortis Championships Luxembourg Luxembourg Luxembourg City, Luxembourg Hard Germany Marlene Weingartner Spain V Ruano Pascual
Argentina Paola Suárez
6–1, 6–7, 6–3
2. 26 September 2005 Hansol Korea Open Tennis Championships South Korea Seoul, South Korea Hard South Africa Natalie Grandin Chinese Taipei Chan Yung-jan
Chinese Taipei Chuang Chia-jung
6–2, 6–4
3. 9 January 2006 Moorilla Hobart International Australia Hobart, Australia Hard Croatia Jelena Kostanić France Émilie Loit
Australia Nicole Pratt
6–2, 6–1
4. 18 June 2006 DFS Classic United Kingdom Birmingham, United Kingdom Grass South Africa Liezel Huber Serbia Jelena Janković
People's Republic of China Li Na
6–2, 6–4
5. 30 October 2006 Bell Challenge Canada Quebec City, Canada Hard Russia Alina Jidkova United States Carly Gullickson
United States Laura Granville
6–3, 6–4
6. 10 September 2007 Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic Indonesia Bali, Indonesia Hard South Africa Natalie Grandin People's Republic of China Ji Chunmei
People's Republic of China Sun Shengnan
6–3, 6–2
7. 28 Aprill 2008 ECM Prague Open Czech Republic Prague, Czech Republic Clay Netherlands Michaëlla Krajicek Czech Republic Andrea Hlaváčková
Czech Republic Lucie Hradecká
1-6, 6-3, [10-6]
8. 2 November 2008 Bell Challenge Canada Quebec City, Canada Hard Thailand Tamarine Tanasugarn Germany A-L Grönefeld
United States Vania King
7–6(3), 6–4

[edit] Grand Slam History

Tournament 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Career SR Career Win-Loss
Australian Open A A A 1R LQ 1R 2R 1R 3R 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R 0 / 11 10–11
French Open A A A LQ A 2R 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R 2R 0 / 10 3–10
Wimbledon A A A LQ LQ 1R 2R 1R 2R 4R 1R 1R 1R 2R 0 / 11 6–11
US Open 1R A 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 2R 2R 2R 1R 1R 2R 0 / 13 10–13

[edit] External links

[edit] References