Katarina Srebotnik

Katarina Srebotnik

Srebotnik at the 2010 US Open
Country	Slovenia
Residence	Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Born	March 12, 1981 (1981-03-12) Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia (then Yugoslavia)
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	67 kg (150 lb; 10.6 st)
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	US$5,741,540
Singles
Career record	377–281
Career titles	4 WTA, 6 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 20  (7 August 2006)
Current ranking	no ranking (16 January 2012)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	3r (2003, 2008)
French Open	4r (2002, 2008)
Wimbledon	3r (2005, 2006, 2007)
US Open	4r (2008)
Doubles
Career record	501–231
Career titles	30 WTA, 19 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 1 (4 July 2011)
Current ranking	No. 2 (16 January 2012)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	SF (2006, 2011)
French Open	F (2007, 2010)
Wimbledon	W (2011)
US Open	F (2006)
Last updated on: 16 January 2012.

Katarina Srebotnik (born March 12, 1981 in Slovenj Gradec) is a Slovenian professional tennis player. Srebotnik is right-handed, 1.80 m, weighs 65 kg and lives in Dubai. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 20 on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour on August 7, 2006.

Srebotnik won 4 singles titles on the WTA-tour and was a steady top 30 player for several years. However, she had her best results on the doubles circuit, winning 30 titles (as of January 16, 2012), including one doubles Grand Slam title (Wimbledon 2011), as well as five Grand Slam titles in mixed doubles. She reached the No. 1 position on the WTA doubles ranking on July 4, 2011.

Career

In juniors, she won the 1998 Wimbledon singles title and was singles runner-up at the US Open. Srebotnik attained the second spot on the junior rankings in 1997 and 1998.

Tour Debut (1995–1999)

Srebotnik made her ITF Debut in 1995. She won the ITF singles tournament in Ismailia (1996), Zadar (1997); Šibenik (1998) and in Dubai (1999). In 1998, Srebotnik won her first Tour doubles title at the Makarska Open (with Tina Križan), and became later that year doubles runner-up at Maria Lankowitz (also with Križan). In 1999, her win at the ITF tournament in Dubai, gave her ‘feed up’ direct entry into her first-ever singles Tour event at Estoril, where she became the fourth player ever to win her Tour debut event by defeating Kuti Kis in the final. She broke into the Top 100 on April 12, 1999 at No.88. Srebotnik reached the semifinal at Palermo, and played in her first Grand Slam main draw at Roland Garros, losing in the second round; but winning the mixed doubles tournament with Norval.

2000–2004

Srebotnik reached her first Tier I semifinal in Tokyo at the Pan Pacific, which she lost to Sandrine Testud. Afterwards, on February 7, 2000, Srebotnik broke into the Top 50 at No.49. She won her fourth career doubles title at Estoril (with Križan). Srebotnik lost in the first round at the 2000 Olympics.

Srebotnik and Križan won their only doubles title of 2001 at Hawaii. They reached their biggest doubles final of their career in Toronto at the Canadian Open by defeating Martina Navratilova/Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the semifinal, and they also became doubles runner-up at Estoril. They qualified for their debut doubles season-ending Championships. Srebotnik reached a career-high doubles of No.19 on October 8.

In 2002, Srebotnik reached the finals at Bogotá (losing to Fabiola Zuluaga) and Acapulco (defeating Paola Suárez) in the final. She reached the fourth round at Roland Garros, which is her career-best Grand Slam. She defeated Gala León García in the first round, Conchita Martínez Granados in the second and Émilie Loit in the third, before falling to No. 9 Jelena Dokić. Srebotnik later achieved her then-best win at Los Angeles by defeating No.6 Kim Clijsters. She reached the semifinal in Luxembourg. First doubles alternate at season-ending Championships with Krizan, losing in the first round.

2003 saw Srebotnik reaching her fourth Tour final at Palermo. She won the Bogotá doubles title with Svensson. Srebotnik reached her second Tier I quarter final in Toronto at the Canadian Open. She won her second Grand Slam mixed doubles title at the US Open, this time with Bob Bryan.

Srebotnik's 2004 season was highlighted by reaching the semifinal at Palermo and the quarterfinal at Strasbourg (losing to Lindsay Davenport) and Forest Hills. She was a member of the Slovenian Fed Cup Team, which suffered from a first round loss against the USA (0–3). Srebotnik was seeded third in Fes, but was upset by homecrowd favourite wildcard Bahia Mouhtassine, who was ranked 183 spots below Srebotnik, in the first round, 3-6, 5-7.

At the 2004 Olympics, Srebotnik lost in the second round in singles and in the first round in doubles (with Krizan). She won her seventh doubles title in Tokyo at the Japan Open (with Shinobu Asagoe) Srebotnik withdrew from the Pan Pacific (Tokyo), Bogotá, Acapulco and Indian Wells with a right elbow injury.

2005

Her best season to date, highlighted by two singles and four doubles titles, and her career-best victory over Amélie Mauresmo.

Srebotnik captured her third and fourth career Tour singles titles at Auckland (defeating Shinobu Asagoe in the final, while she also teamed with Asagoe for the doubles title) and in Stockholm (defeating world No.14 Anastasia Myskina in the final, and teaming with Émilie Loit for doubles title).

Srebotnik was the only player in 2005 to sweep singles and doubles titles twice. She also finished runner-up at Portorož, losing to Koukalová (now Zakopalová ) in three sets in the final. She also became runner-up in doubles with Kostanić.

Srebotnik reached the quarterfinal five times, at Tier II Antwerp (lost to Anastasia Myskina), Tier I Charleston (losing to Elena Dementieva in three sets), Budapest (losing to Laura Pous Tió in a third set tie-break), Tier I Zürich (upset No.4 Amélie Mauresmo 6–2 6–0 for her career-best victory en route; losing to Ana Ivanović) and Hasselt (losing to Safina in a third set tie-break).

Her best Grand Slam finish was the third round at Wimbledon (losing to Maria Sharapova 6–2, 6–4, but she was the only player to break the defending champion's serve before Sharapova's semifinal loss to Venus Williams).

A new career-high singles ranking of No.28 came on November 7.

In addition to Auckland and Stockholm, Srebotnik also won doubles titles at Budapest and Hasselt (both with Émilie Loit). She reached the US Open mixed doubles final (with Zimonjić; losing to Daniela Hantuchová/Mahesh Bhupathi). Srebotnik withdrew from Canberra with a left adductor strain.

2006

Srebotnik's 2006 highlights are:

• Her singles career high of no. 20 on August 7
• Winning of doubles tournaments in Antwerp (with Safina) and Amelia Island (with Asagoe)
• Winning the Roland Garros mixed doubles tournament (with Nenad Zimonjić)
• Reaching the final in Cincinnati (beat Schnyder in 3 sets in the semi-finals, and then lost to Vera Zvonareva in straight sets in the final).
• At the 2006 US Open she defeated Akiko Morigami (6–2,6–3) and Ekaterina Bychkova, before falling to Lindsay Davenport (6–3,3–6,6–7(5–7)) in the third round. She held match points in the third set, but finally lost in a third set tie-break thriller. However, many people consider this match as one of the best matches in her career and as a major breakthrough in her singles career.
• Also at the US Open, she reached the doubles finals partnering Dinara Safina, but they lost to Nathalie Dechy and Vera Zvonareva (6–7, 5–7).
• As top seed and locals' favourite, she was stunned by Suchá (3 sets) in the first round in Portorož, Slovenia (her home country).
• In Stuttgart she beat Nathalie Dechy in straight sets (6–1, 6–4) in the first round. In the second round, Srebotnik led 6–4 and 4–2 against number 4 seed Elena Dementieva. In the latter stages of the third set, Dementieva suffered from cramp in her thigh and she had to take an injury break. While Dementieva could barely run, Srebotnik was again few points from victory. But Dementieva fought back and gained the victory at the very last moment (6–4, 5–7, 5–7).
• Also in Stuttgart, she reached the semi-final in doubles with Safina, losing to Stubbs and Black (4–6, 4–6).
• In the Zürich Open, Srebotnik reached the semifinal in a Tier I tournament for the first time in six years (Pan Pacific, Japan). In the first round, she stunned two-time Grand Slam champion and No.29 Mary Pierce (6–3, 7–5); and in the second round, she stunned again by beating two-time Grand Slam finalist and World No. 7 Elena Dementieva in straight sets (6–1, 6–4), winning her first match ever against Dementieva. In the quarterfinal, Srebotnik beat Maria Kirilenko in straight sets (6–3, 6–2), reaching the semifinal. In that semifinal against number 3 and second seed Maria Sharapova, she got a set point in the first set at 6–5, just to lose the match in straight sets (6–7, 2–6).
• Also in Zürich, Srebotnik and Liezel Huber lost the doubles final to Cara Black and Rennae Stubbs (5–7, 5–7).
• In Linz, Srebotnik lost in the first round to Russian Anna Chakvetadze (5–7, 2–6), but she reached the doubles final with Corina Morariu, losing to regular doubles duo Lisa Raymond/Samantha Stosur (3–6, 0–6).
• Srebotnik withdrew from the Gaz de France Stars tournament in Hasselt due to fatigue.

2010

Srebotnik teamed up with Květa Peschke in 2010 and won the WTA tournaments of Indian Wells (defeating Nadia Petrova and Samantha Stosur in the finals) and New Haven (defeating Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Meghann Shaughnessy), and reached the final of the WTA Championships in Doha, where they lost to Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta 7–5, 6–4.

Srebotnik had an excellent doubles outing at the 2010 French Open. In the Ladies' Doubles, she and Peschke defeated the #2 seeds Nuria Llagostera Vives and María José Martínez Sánchez in the semifinals, but lost to the Williams sisters 2–6, 3–6 in the final. She also partnered with Serb Nenad Zimonjić to win the Mixed Doubles title with a thrilling 4–6, 7–6(5), [11–9] win against Yaroslava Shvedova and Julian Knowle.

She lost in the Rogers Cup final to Dulko and Pennetta, 7–5, 3–6, [12–10]. It was the second time this year that Srebotnik and Peschke reached a Premier 5 tournament final, after Dubai in February.

At the end of the 2010 season, Srebotnik announced that she would focus on doubles for the remainder of her career.

Major finals

Women's doubles: 5 (1 title, 4 runner-ups)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	2006	US Open	Hard	Dinara Safina	Nathalie Dechy Vera Zvonareva	6–7, 5–7
Runner-up	2007	French Open	Clay	Ai Sugiyama	Alicia Molik Mara Santangelo	6–7, 4–6
Runner-up	2007	Wimbledon	Grass	Ai Sugiyama	Cara Black Liezel Huber	6–3, 3–6, 2–6
Runner-up	2010	French Open (2)	Clay	Květa Peschke	Serena Williams Venus Williams	2–6, 3–6
Winner	2011	Wimbledon	Grass	Květa Peschke	Sabine Lisicki Samantha Stosur	6–3, 6–1

Mixed doubles: 11 (5 titles, 6 runner-ups)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1999	French Open	Clay	Piet Norval	Larisa Neiland Rick Leach	6–3, 3–6, 6–3
Runner-up	2002	US Open	Hard	Bob Bryan	Lisa Raymond Mike Bryan	6–7, 6–7
Winner	2003	US Open	Hard	Bob Bryan	Lina Krasnoroutskaya Daniel Nestor	5–7, 7–5, 7–6(5)
Runner-up	2005	US Open	Hard	Nenad Zimonjić	Daniela Hantuchová Mahesh Bhupathi	4–6, 2–6
Winner	2006	French Open (2)	Clay	Nenad Zimonjić	Elena Likhovtseva Daniel Nestor	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	2007	French Open	Clay	Nenad Zimonjić	Nathalie Dechy Andy Ram	5–7, 3–6
Runner-up	2008	French Open	Clay	Nenad Zimonjić	Victoria Azarenka Bob Bryan	2–6, 6–7(4)
Runner-up	2008	Wimbledon	Grass	Mike Bryan	Samantha Stosur Bob Bryan	5–7, 4–6
Winner	2010	French Open (3)	Clay	Nenad Zimonjić	Yaroslava Shvedova  Julian Knowle	4–6, 7–6(5), [11–9]
Winner	2011	Australian Open	Hard	Daniel Nestor	Yung-Jan Chan  Paul Hanley	6–3, 3–6, [10–7]
Runner-up	2011	French Open	Clay	Nenad Zimonjić	Casey Dellacqua Scott Lipsky	6–7(6), 6–4, [7–10]

Career statistics

Main article: Katarina Srebotnik career statistics

External links

• Katarina Srebotnik at the Women's Tennis Association
• Katarina Srebotnik at the Fed Cup

Awards
Preceded by Gisela Dulko & Flavia Pennetta	WTA Doubles Team of the Year (with Květa Peschke) 2011	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Gisela Dulko & Flavia Pennetta	ITF World Champion (with Květa Peschke) 2011	Succeeded by Incumbent

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