Paola Suárez

Paola Suárez

Country	Argentina
Residence	Munro, Argentina
Born	23 June 1976 (1976-06-23) Pergamino, Argentina
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	64 kg (141 lb)
Turned pro	1 March 1991
Retired	2007; returned in 2012
Plays	Right-handed (two handed backhand)
Career prize money	$5,134,870
Singles
Career record	371 - 239
Career titles	4 WTA, 12 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 9 (7 June 2004)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	4R (2001)
French Open	SF (2004)
Wimbledon	QF (2004)
US Open	QF (2003)
Doubles
Career record	497 - 179
Career titles	44 WTA, 7 ITF
Highest ranking	1 (9 September 2002)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	W (2004)
French Open	W (2001, 2002, 2004, 2005)
Wimbledon	F (2002, 2003, 2006)
US Open	W (2002, 2003, 2004)
Mixed Doubles
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	F (2002)
French Open	F (2001)
Wimbledon	3R (2000, 2003)
US Open	2R (2000, 2003, 2007)
Last updated on: 15 February 2012.

Olympic medal record
Women's tennis
Competitor for Argentina
Bronze	2004 Athens	Women's doubles

Paola Suárez (born 23 June 1976 in Pergamino, Buenos Aires, Argentina) was a top 10 tennis player in the early 2000s (decade). She gained prominence in 2004 by reaching the finals of nine straight WTA doubles tournaments, and by reaching the singles semifinals of the French Open tournament, held in Paris.

Career

"La Negra" Suárez began playing professional tennis at the age of fifteen, in 1991. In 1994, she joined the professional tour as a singles player. It was not until the 2000s (decade), however, that she became an international figure in her sport, by reaching the semis of the aforementioned French Open, a prestigious grand slam tournament.

Suárez won four WTA titles (2004 Canberra, 2003 Vienna, 1998 & 2001 Bogotá) and 12 other minor tournaments. In 2004, Paola hoped to obtain the French Open title that would become her first grand slam championship, but lost in the semi-finals against Elena Dementieva. That year, she was ranked number nine in the world among women tennis players by the WTA, which has been her highest ranking as a singles player thus far. That same year, she won the bronze medal in women's doubles at the 2004 Athens Olympics with Patricia Tarabini.

But it was in doubles where she had the best results, playing with Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain in 32 of her 39 titles. They won several tournaments, including the French Open on four occasions, the US Open three times, the Australian Open in 2004, and many others. With Virginia, they were the No. 1 female couple for 3 consecutive years since 9 September 2002 (WTA Tour Doubles Team of the Year 2002, 2003 and 2004). They also reached nine straight Grand Slam finals, two short of Navratilova–Shriver's 11 straight Slam finals.

In 2005 she announced her retirement for 2006 for personal reasons, and that until then she will only play a few tournaments. In June 2005 she went on labrum hip clinical intervention, with a recovering time of 3 to 4 months. She restarted playing in Sydney in January 2006 with Ruano Pascual, reaching the final, but suffered calf muscle injury short after. Later that same year, she also reached the final of Wimbledon with Ruano Pascual, marking her third appearance in a Wimbledon final.

Paola returned to the circuit with a victory over Dinara Safina, ranked 15, in the San Diego's singles tournament.

On 1 September 2007, Paola played her last professional tennis match. At the US Open, she retired from tennis after losing a mixed doubles second round match. She partnered Kevin Ullyett and lost to Jamie Murray and Liezel Huber, 7–5, 6–4.

In her career, Suárez has earned $4,837,968 US$, with four single WTA titles, and 8 doubles grand slams.

Suárez returned to the WTA doubles circuit in 2012 partnering with fellow Argentinian Gisela Dulko. The pair is aiming to play at the London Summer Olympics Games .

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 14 (8–6)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	2000	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Martina Hingis Mary Pierce	6–2, 6–4
Winner	2001	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Jelena Dokić Conchita Martínez	6–2, 6–1
Winner	2002	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	2002	Wimbledon	Grass	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Serena Williams Venus Williams	6–2, 7–5
Winner	2002	US Open	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Elena Dementieva Janette Husárová	6–2, 6–1
Runner-up	2003	Australian Open	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Serena Williams Venus Williams	4–6, 6–4, 6–3
Runner-up	2003	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Kim Clijsters Ai Sugiyama	6–7(5), 6–2, 9–7
Runner-up	2003	Wimbledon	Grass	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Kim Clijsters Ai Sugiyama	6–4, 6–4
Winner	2003	U.S. Open	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Svetlana Kuznetsova Martina Navratilova	6–2, 6–2
Winner	2004	Australian Open	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Svetlana Kuznetsova Elena Likhovtseva	6–4, 6–3
Winner	2004	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Svetlana Kuznetsova Elena Likhovtseva	6–0, 6–3
Winner	2004	U.S. Open	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Svetlana Kuznetsova Elena Likhovtseva	6–4, 7–5
Winner	2005	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Cara Black Liezel Huber	4–6, 6–3, 6–3
Runner-up	2006	Wimbledon	Grass	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	6–3, 3–6, 6–2

Mixed doubles: 2 (0–2)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	2001	French Open	Clay	Jaime Oncins	Tomás Carbonell Virginia Ruano Pascual	7–5, 6–3
Runner-up	2002	Australian Open	Hard	Gastón Etlis	Daniela Hantuchová Kevin Ullyett	6–3, 6–2

WTA Tour Finals

Singles 8 (4–4)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0/0)
Olympic Gold (0/0)
WTA Championships (0/0)
Tier I (0/0)
Tier II (0/0)
Tier III (0/0)
Tier IV & V (3/0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1.	22 February 1998	Bogotá	Clay	Sonya Jeyaseelan	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	1.	17 May 1999	Madrid	Clay	Lindsay Davenport	6–1, 6–3
Runner-up	2.	20 February 2000	São Paulo	Clay	Rita Kuti-Kis	4–6, 6–4, 7–5
Runner-up	3.	7 January 2001	Auckland	Hard	Meilen Tu	7–6(10), 6–2
Winner	2.	25 February 2001	Bogotá	Clay	Rita Kuti-Kis	6–2, 6–4
Runner-up	4.	3 March 2002	Acapulco	Clay	Katarina Srebotnik	6–7(1), 6–4, 6–2
Winner	3.	14 June 2003	Vienna	Clay	Karolina Šprem	7–6(0), 2–6, 6–4
Winner	4.	17 January 2004	Canberra	Hard	Silvia Farina Elia	3–6, 6–4, 7–6(5)

Doubles 69 (44–25)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (8/6)
Olympic Gold (0/0)
WTA Championships (1/0)
Tier I (9/9)
Tier II (5/6)
Tier III (10/2)
Tier IV & V (11/2)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1.	5 May 1996	Bol	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Alexia Dechaume-Balleret Alexandra Fusai	6–7(5), 6–3, 6–4
Winner	2.	18 January 1998	Hobart	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Julie Halard-Decugis Janette Husárová	7–6(6), 6–3
Winner	3.	22 February 1998	Bogotá	Clay	Janette Husárová	Melissa Mazzotta Ekaterina Sysoeva	3–6, 6–2, 6–3
Winner	4.	26 April 1998	Budapest	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Cătălina Cristea Laura Montalvo	4–6, 6–1, 6–1
Winner	5.	3 May 1998	Bol	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Joannette Kruger Mirjana Lučić	walkover
Winner	6.	10 May 1998	Rome	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Amanda Coetzer Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	7–6(1), 6–4
Winner	7.	12 July 1998	Maria Lankowitz	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Tina Križan Katarina Srebotnik	6–1, 6–2
Runner-up	1.	21 February 1999	Bogotá	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Christína Papadáki Seda Noorlander	6–4, 7–6(5)
Winner	8.	23 May 1999	Madrid	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Maria Fernanda Landa Marlene Weingärtner	6–2, 0–6, 6–0
Winner	9.	18 July 1999	Sopot	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Gala León García Maria Sánchez Lorenzo	6–4, 6–3
Winner	10.	10 October 1999	São Paulo	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Janette Husárová Florencia Labat	6–7(1), 7–5, 7–5
Winner	11.	20 February 2000	Bogotá	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Rita Kuti-Kis Petra Mandula	6–4, 6–2
Winner	12.	27 February 2000	São Paulo	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Janette Husárová Florencia Labat	5–7, 6–4, 6–3
Winner	13.	23 April 2000	Hilton Head	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Conchita Martínez Patricia Tarabini	7–5, 6–3
Runner-up	2.	11 June 2000	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Martina Hingis Mary Pierce	6–2, 6–4
Winner	14.	16 July 2000	Klagenfurt	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Barbara Schett Patty Schnyder	7–6(5), 6–1
Winner	15.	23 July 2000	Sopot	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Asa Carlsson Rita Grande	7–5, 6–1
Runner-up	3.	21 August 2000	New Haven	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Julie Halard-Decugis Ai Sugiyama	6–4, 5–7, 6–2
Runner-up	4.	8 October 2000	Tokyo	Hard	Nana Miyagi	Julie Halard-Decugis Ai Sugiyama	6–0, 6–2
Runner-up	5.	19 February 2001	Bogotá	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Tathiana Garbin Janette Husárová	6–4, 2–6, 6–4
Runner-up	6.	4 March 2001	Acapulco	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Anabel Medina Garrigues María José Martínez Sánchez	6–4, 6–7(5), 7–5
Runner-up	7.	11 March 2001	Indian Wells	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Nicole Arendt Ai Sugiyama	6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	8.	22 April 2001	Charleston	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	5–7, 7–6(5), 6–3
Runner-up	9.	20 May 2001	Rome	Clay	Patricia Tarabini	Cara Black Elena Likhovtseva	6–1, 6–1
Winner	16.	26 May 2001	Madrid	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	7–5, 2–6, 7–6(4)
Winner	17.	10 June 2001	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Jelena Dokić Conchita Martínez	6–2, 6–1
Winner	18.	15 July 2001	Vienna	Clay	Patricia Tarabini	Vanessa Henke Lenka Němečková	6–4, 6–2
Winner	19.	24 February 2002	Bogotá	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Tina Križan Katarina Srebotnik	6–2, 6–1
Winner	20.	3 March 2002	Acapulco	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Tina Križan Katarina Srebotnik	7–5, 6–1
Runner-up	10.	1 April 2002	Miami	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	7–6(4), 6–7(4), 6–3
Winner	21.	19 May 2002	Rome	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Conchita Martínez Patricia Tarabini	6–3, 6–4
Winner	22.	9 June 2002	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	11.	24 June 2002	Wimbledon	Grass	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Serena Williams Venus Williams	6–2, 7–5
Winner	23.	18 August 2002	Montreal	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Rika Fujiwara Ai Sugiyama	6–4, 7–6(4)
Winner	24.	8 September 2002	US Open	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Elena Dementieva Janette Husárová	6–2, 6–1
Winner	25.	14 September 2002	Bahia	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Émilie Loit Rossana de los Ríos	6–4, 6–1
Runner-up	12.	24 September 2002	Leipzig	Carpet	Janette Husárová	Alexandra Stevenson Serena Williams	6–3, 7–5
Runner-up	13.	13 October 2002	Filderstadt	Hard (i)	Meghann Shaughnessy	Lindsay Davenport Lisa Raymond	6–2, 6–4
Runner-up	14.	13 January 2003	Australian Open	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Serena Williams Venus Williams	4–6, 6–4, 6–3
Winner	26.	13 April 2003	Charleston	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Janette Husárová Conchita Martínez	6–0, 6–3
Runner-up	15.	20 April 2003	Amelia Island	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Lindsay Davenport Lisa Raymond	7–5, 6–2
Winner	27.	11 May 2003	Berlin	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Kim Clijsters Ai Sugiyama	6–3, 4–6, 6–4
Runner-up	16.	8 June 2003	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Kim Clijsters Ai Sugiyama	6–7(5), 6–2, 9–7
Runner-up	17.	6 July 2003	Wimbledon	Grass	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Kim Clijsters Ai Sugiyama	6–4, 6–4
Winner	28.	23 August 2003	New Haven	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Alicia Molik Magüi Serna	7–6(6), 6–3
Winner	29.	7 September 2003	US Open	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Svetlana Kuznetsova Martina Navratilova	6–2, 6–3
Runner-up	18.	19 October 2003	Zürich	Hard (i)	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Kim Clijsters Ai Sugiyama	7–6(3), 6–2
Winner	30.	10 November 2003	Los Angeles	Hard (i)	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Kim Clijsters Ai Sugiyama	6–4, 3–6, 6–3
Runner-up	19.	5 January 2004	Auckland	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Mervana Jugić-Salkić Jelena Kostanić Tošić	7–6(6), 3–6, 6–1
Winner	31.	1 February 2004	Australian Open	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Svetlana Kuznetsova Elena Likhovtseva	6–4, 6–3
Winner	32.	21 March 2004	Indian Wells	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Svetlana Kuznetsova Elena Likhovtseva	6–1, 6–2
Winner	33.	18 April 2004	Charleston	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Martina Navratilova Lisa Raymond	6–4, 6–1
Runner-up	20.	10 May 2004	Rome	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Nadia Petrova Meghann Shaughnessy	2–6, 6–3, 6–3
Winner	34.	3 June 2004	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Svetlana Kuznetsova Elena Likhovtseva	6–0, 6–3
Runner-up	21.	26 July 2004	San Diego	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Cara Black Rennae Stubbs	4–6, 6–1, 6–4
Winner	35.	11 September 2004	US Open	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Svetlana Kuznetsova Martina Navratilova	6–4, 7–5
Runner-up	22.	17 October 2004	Moscow	Carpet	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Anastasia Myskina Vera Zvonareva	6–3, 4–6, 6–2
Runner-up	23.	24 October 2004	Zürich	Hard (i)	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Cara Black Rennae Stubbs	6–4, 6–4
Winner	36.	31 October 2004	Luxembourg City	Hard (i)	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Jill Craybas Marlene Weingärtner	6–1, 6–7(1), 6–3
Winner	37.	5 March 2005	Dubai	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Svetlana Kuznetsova Alicia Molik	6–7(7), 6–2, 6–1
Winner	38.	19 March 2005	Indian Wells	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Nadia Petrova Meghann Shaughnessy	7–6(3), 6–1
Winner	39.	4 June 2005	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Cara Black Liezel Huber	4–6, 6–3, 6–3
Runner-up	24.	17 January 2006	Sydney	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Corina Morariu Rennae Stubbs	6–3, 5–7, 6–2
Runner-up	25.	8 July 2006	Wimbledon	Grass	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Zheng Jie Yan Zi	6–3, 3–6, 6–2
Winner	40.	13 August 2006	Los Angeles	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Daniela Hantuchová Ai Sugiyama	6–3, 6–4
Winner	41.	24 September 2006	Beijing	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Anna Chakvetadze Elena Vesnina	6–2, 6–4
Winner	42.	1 Ocotber 2006	Seoul	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Chia-jung Chuang Mariana Díaz-Oliva	6–2, 6–3
Winner	43.	6 January 2007	Auckland	Hard	Janette Husárová	Su-Wei Hsieh Shikha Uberoi	6–0, 6–2
Winner	44.	25 February 2007	Bogotá	Clay	Lourdes Domínguez Lino	Flavia Pennetta Roberta Vinci	1–6, 6–3, [11–9]

Singles Performance Timeline

Tournament	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Australian Open	A	A	A	2R	2R	1R	1R	4R	1R	3R	3R	A	A	LQ
French Open	1R	2R	2R	1R	2R	2R	1R	2R	QF	3R	SF	1R	A	LQ
Wimbledon	1R	A	1R	1R	1R	1R	3R	1R	1R	4R	QF	A	A	LQ
US Open	2R	1R	2R	3R	1R	2R	1R	1R	2R	QF	3R	A	A	LQ

Women's Doubles Performance Timeline

Tournament	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Australian Open	A	QF	2R	2R	2R	QF	3R	F	W	A	QF	1R
French Open	1R	1R	2R	2R	F	W	W	F	W	W	2R	1R
Wimbledon	1R	1R	2R	3R	QF	SF	F	F	SF	A	F	1R
US Open	1R	2R	SF	2R	1R	3R	W	W	W	A	QF	1R

External links

• Paola Suárez at the Women's Tennis Association
• Ole 2005, on her retirement
• Paola and Virginia