Polona Hercog

Polona Hercog

Hercog at the 2009 ECM Prague Open
Full name	Polona Hercog
Country	Slovenia
Residence	Monaco, Monaco
Born	(1991-01-20) 20 January 1991 Maribor, Slovenia
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	72 kg (160 lb)
Turned pro	2006
Plays	Right-handed (two–handed backhand)
Prize money	$1,218,535
Singles
Career record	80–88 (Tour level only) 221–133
Career titles	2 WTA, 9 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 35 (12 September 2011)
Current ranking	No. 91 (17 June 2013)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	2R (2010)
French Open	3R (2010)
Wimbledon	2R (2011)
US Open	2R (2011)
Doubles
Career record	39–46 (Tour level only) 71–63
Career titles	2 WTA, 5 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 56 (31 January 2011)
Current ranking	No. 1095 (10 June 2013)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	3R (2012)
French Open	1R (2010, 2011, 2012)
Wimbledon	1R (2010)
US Open	3R (2010)
Mixed Doubles
Career record	0-1
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	1R (2012)
Last updated on: June 13, 2013.

Polona Hercog (born 20 January 1991) is a Slovenian tennis player. Her highest ranking is No. 35 in singles and No. 56 in doubles. Hercog has won four WTA Tour titles; two each in singles and doubles. She also enjoyed success on the ITF Circuit, winning nine singles and five doubles titles.

Partnering with Jessica Moore, she won the 2008 French Open and Wimbledon Championships junior titles in the doubles competition.

Early and personal life

Polona Hercog was born to florist Romana and bar owner Vojko. She began playing tennis aged four in the tennis clinic opened by Mima Jaušovec in Maribor, and moved to Italy at age 14 to train professionally. Hercog is fluent in Slovenian, English, and Italian, and cites Justine Henin as her role model. She currently resides in her hometown of Maribor and practices in Budapest. Hercog is a fan of snowboarding, football, basketball and surfing.

Tennis career

2007—2009

Polona at the 2009 Allianz Cup

Hercog made her WTA Tour debut in Portorož, Slovenia, losing to Elena Vesnina in three sets, 6–3, 6–7(6), 6–4. In 2008, Hercog participated in the 2008 İstanbul Cup, where she lost in the first round to Tsvetana Pironkova 6–4, 7–5, but reached the finals of the doubles competition partnering with New Zealand's Marina Erakovic. The same year, Hercog and Australian Jessica Moore won two Grand Slam junior doubles titles, the French Open and the Wimbledon Championships. She also played the qualifications for the US Open, but lost to Sandra Záhlavová in the first round, 6–3, 6–3.

Hercog entered the 2009 Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem in Fes, Morocco via the qualifying rounds, and beat seventh seed Roberta Vinci to reach the quarterfinals, where she was defeated by Alisa Kleybanova. At that year's French Open she upset 23rd seeded Kleybanova 6–2, 4–6, 6–1, but was in turn beaten by Aravane Rezaï 3–6, 6–4, 6–2. At the US Open, Hercog was beaten by American wildcard Christina McHale 6–3, 6–1 in the first round. She also played the BGL Luxembourg Open, defeating Maria Elena Camerin 3–6, 7–5, 7–5 in the opening round. She then lost to Sabine Lisicki 7–6(1), 6–4. Polona managed to make it up to the second round at the 2009 Allianz Cup in Sofia, Bulgaria but was beaten by Bojana Jovanovski.

2010

Hercog opened the season with early losses at her first three tournaments, including a second round showing at the Australian Open, where she lost to Alona Bondarenko. After playing for Slovenia Fed Cup team, she won the ITF event in Cali, Colombia, but then suffered an opening round loss to Catalina Castaño at the Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas.

At the tournament in Acapulco, Mexico, Hercog reached her first WTA Tour singles final and won her first WTA Tour doubles title. She defeated Rossana de los Ríos 6–4, 6–1 in the first round, Alizé Cornet 6–4, 6–2 in the second, Ágnes Szávay retired from the quarterfinals match when Hercog was leading 6–4, 0–1, and Carla Suárez Navarro 6–3, 7–5 in the semifinals. In the final, Hercog faced the first seed and former World No. 1 Venus Williams, and lost 6–2, 2–6, 3–6, despite winning the first set. Partnering with Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, she won her first Tour doubles title, beating the Italian team of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci 2–6, 6–1, [10–2].

At the 2010 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Hercog defeated Ioana Raluca Olaru 7–5, 6–4 in the first round and was defeated by 11th seed Marion Bartoli in the second round 6–4, 6–2.

Hercog caused an upset in the second round of the 2010 French Open by defeating #24 Lucie Šafářová.

In Portorož, she reached the semi-finals, leading 6–0 1–0 against Anna Chakvetadze but then lost the match mentally 6–0 2–6 2–6.

Seeded 6th at the 2010 e-Boks Danish Open in Copenhagen, she had a chance to take revenge on Anna Chakvetadze as they met in the quarterfinals. Hercog lost the match, this time in straight sets 4–6, 3–6.

2011

Hercog began the year with three straight losses, including a first-round loss at the 2011 Australian Open to Anastasija Sevastova. In Fed Cup against Germany, she split her singles rubbers, defeating Julia Görges but losing to Andrea Petkovic. She split with her long-time coach, Zoltan Kuharszky, and is now working with Vladimir Platenik. She lost in the first rounds of clay tournaments in Bogotá and Acapulco, where she had reached the final in 2010. She then reached the semifinals of Monterrey, where she lost to Jelena Janković.On 9 July she defeated Johanna Larsson in the final at Båstad to win her first WTA Tournament.

2012

In July 2012, Hercog successfully defended the Swedish Open title by defeating Mathilde Johansson, 0–6 6–4 7–5.

WTA career finals

Singles: 4 (2–2)

Winner Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) WTA Tour Championships (0–0) Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (0–0) Premier (0–0) International (2–2)

Finals by Surface Hard (0–0) Grass (0–0) Clay (2–2) Carpet (0–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	27 February 2010	Abierto Mexicano TELCEL, Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	Venus Williams	2–6, 6–2, 6–3
Winner	1.	9 July 2011	Swedish Open, Båstad, Sweden	Clay	Johanna Larsson	6–4, 7–5
Runner-up	2.	17 July 2011	Internazionali Femminili di Palermo, Palermo, Italy	Clay	Anabel Medina Garrigues	6–3, 6–2
Winner	2.	22 July 2012	Swedish Open, Båstad, Sweden (2)	Clay	Mathilde Johansson	0–6, 6–4, 7–5

Doubles: 3 (2–1)

Winner Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) WTA Tour Championships (0–0) Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (0–0) Premier (0–0) International (2–1)

Finals by Surface Hard (1–0) Grass (0–0) Clay (1–1) Carpet (0–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	19 May 2008	İstanbul Cup, Istanbul, Turkey	Clay	Marina Erakovic	Jill Craybas Olga Govortsova	6–1, 6–2
Winner	1.	28 February 2010	Abierto Mexicano TELCEL, Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Sara Errani Roberta Vinci	2–6, 6–1, [10–2]
Winner	2.	26 September 2010	Hansol Korea Open, Seoul, South Korea	Hard	Julia Görges	Natalie Grandin Vladimíra Uhlířová	6–3, 6–4

ITF Circuit titles (9)

$100,000 tournaments

$75,000 tournaments

$50,000 tournaments

$25,000 tournaments

$10,000 tournaments

Single titles (6)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
1.	13 August 2007	Pesaro, Italy	Clay	Stephanie Vogt	6–2, 2–6, 6–1
2.	21 August 2007	Maribor, Slovenia	Clay	Tereza Hladíková	4–6, 6–1, 4–1 ret.
3.	4 February 2008	Mallorca, Spain	Clay	Inés Ferrer Suárez	6–3, 6–1
4.	11 February 2008	Mallorca 2, Spain	Clay	Stephanie Vogt	4–6, 6–1, 6–3
5.	13 April 2009	Civitavecchia, Italy	Clay	Andrea Petkovic	6–2,6–4
6.	4 May 2009	Zagreb, Croatia	Clay	Maša Zec Peškirič	7–5, 6–2
7.	8 June 2009	Zlín, Czech Republic	Clay	Zuzana Kučová	6–3, 6–1
8.	8 June 2009	Cuneo, Italy	Clay	Varvara Lepchenko	6–1, 6–2
9.	8 February 2010	Cali, Colombia	Clay	Mariana Duque-Marino	6–4, 5–7, 6–2

Double titles (3)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
1.	15 January 2007	Algiers 2, Algeria	Clay	Rushmi Chakravarthi	Barbora Matusova Anna Savitskaya	6–2, 6–0
2.	11 February 2008	Mallorca 2, Spain	Clay	Stephanie Vogt	Leticia Costas-Moreira Maite Gabarrus Alonso	7–6(7–2), 6–3
3.	28 April 2008	Makarska, Croatia	Clay	Stephanie Vogt	Tadeja Majerić Maša Zec Peškirič	7–5, 6–2
4.	8 September 2008	Sarajevo 2, Bosnia-Herzegovina	Clay	Alberta Brianti	Çağla Büyükakçay Julia Glushko	6–4, 7–5
5.	8 February 2010	Cali, Colombia	Clay	Edina Gallovits	Estrella Cabeza Candella Laura Pous Tió	3–6, 6–3, [10–8]

Grand Slam junior doubles finals (2–0)

Outcome	Year	Championships	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	2008	French Open	Clay	Jessica Moore	Lesley Kerkhove Arantxa Rus	5–7, 6–1, [10–7]
Winner	2008	The Championships, Wimbledon	Grass	Jessica Moore	Isabella Holland Sally Peers	6–3, 1–6, 6–2

Fed Cup results (10–8)

Year	Edition	Round	Date	Location	Surface	Against	Partnering (if D)	Opponent(s)	Score	W/L	Result
2007	Group I E/A	RR	19 April	Plovdiv	Clay	Estonia	Tadeja Majerić	Anett Kaasik Margit Rüütel	1–6, 6–1, 6–4	Win	3–0
	Group I E/A	PPO	21 April	Plovdiv	Clay	Switzerland		Patty Schnyder	3–6, 6–3, 2–6	Lose	0–2
2008	Group I E/A	RR	31 January	Budapest	Carpet	Belarus	Maša Zec Peškirič	Ima Bohush Tatiana Poutchek	1–6, 3–6	Lose	0–3
	Group I E/A	RR	1 February	Budapest	Carpet	Georgia		Ekaterine Gorgodze	6–7(3–7), 7–6(7–5), 7–5	Win	2–0
2010	Group I E/A	RR	February 3	Lisbon	Hard	Israël		Shahar Pe'er	1–6, 4–6	Lose	2–1
							Katarina Srebotnik	Julia Glushko Shahar Pe'er	6–1, 7–6(9–7)	Win
	Group I E/A	RR	4 February	Lisbon	Hard	Netherlands		Arantxa Rus	6–7(5–7), 7–5, 6–2	Win	2–1
	Group I E/A	RR	6 February	Lisbon	Hard	Switzerland		Sarah Moundir	6–4, 6–1	Win	3–0
	World Group II	PO	24–25 April	Maribor	Clay	Japan		Ayumi Morita	3–6, 6–1, 6–3	Win	4–1
								Kimiko Date-Krumm	4–6, 2–6	Loss
2011	World Group II	QF	5–6 February	Maribor	Clay	Germany		Julia Görges	7–5, 6–4	Win	1–4
								Andrea Petkovic	1–6, 2–6	Lose
							Katarina Srebotnik	Anna-Lena Grönefeld Tatjana Malek	6–7(3–7), 0–0 ret.	Lose
	World Group II	PO	16–17 April	Koper	Clay	Canada		Eugenie Bouchard	6–0, 6–4	Win	3–2
								Rebecca Marino	5–7, 6–2, 8–6	Win
							Katarina Srebotnik	Sharon Fichman Rebecca Marino	7–6(7–5), 6–2	Win
2012	World Group II	QF	4–5 February	Hyōgo	Hard	Japan		Kimiko Date-Krumm	6–-2, 4–6, 2–6	Lose	0–5
								Ayumi Morita	6–3, 6–7(6–8), 1–6	Lose

Singles performance timeline

Tournament	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	W–L
Grand Slam
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	2R	1R	1R	1R	1–4
French Open	A	A	A	2R	3R	2R	1R	LQ	4–4
Wimbledon	A	A	A	LQ	1R	2R	1R		1–3
US Open	A	A	LQ	1R	1R	2R	1R		1–4
Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–2	3–4	3–4	0–4	0-1	7–15
Premier Mandatory
Indian Wells	A	A	A	A	2R	1R	1R	A	1–3
Miami	A	A	A	A	3R	1R	2R	A	3–3
Madrid	Not Held			A	1R	LQ	1R	A	0–2
Beijing	Tier II			Prem.	2R	2R	3R		4–3
Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	4–4	1–3	3–4	0-0	8–11
Premier 5
Doha	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	0–1
Rome	A	A	A	A	2R	3R	A	A	3–2
Toronto	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A		0–1
Cincinnati	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A		0–1
Tokyo	A	A	A	A	1R	A	A		0–1
Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–2	2–3	0–1	0-0	3–6
Premier
Paris	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	0–1
Dubai	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	0–1
Charleston	A	A	A	A	A	A	SF	A	4–1
Stuttgart	A	A	A	A	1R	A	A	A	0–1
Brussels	Not Held					1R	A	A	0–1
Warsaw	A	A	NH	A	2R	NH			1–1
San Diego	A	A	NH		A	2R	A		1–1
New Haven	A	A	A	A	A	2R	A		1–1
Moscow	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A		0–1
Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–2	2–4	4–3	0-0	7–9
International series
Brisbane	A	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	A	0–2
Auckland	A	A	A	A	1R	A	A	A	0–1
Sydney	A	A	A	A	LQ	LQ	1R	A	0–1
Bogotá	A	A	A	A	1R	2R	A	A	1–2
Acapulco	A	A	A	A	F	1R	A	A	4–2
Monterrey	Not Held			A	2R	SF	A	A	4–2
Marbella	Not Held			2R	2R	1R	NH		2–3
Barcelona	A	A	A	A	A	QF	1R	A	2–2
Copenhagen	Not Held				QF	A	A	NH	2–1
Marrakesh	A	A	A	QF	A	2R	A	A	3–1
Estoril	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	A	1–1
Nuremberg	Not Held							QF	2–1
's-Hertogenbosch	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A		0–1
Budapest	A	A	A	A	QF	A	A		2–1
Prague	A	A	A	2R	QF	NH	A		2–2
Palermo	A	A	A	A	A	F	1R		4–2
Båstad	Not Held			A	A	W	W		10–0
Portorož	LQ	1R	1R	1R	SF	NH			3–4
Dallas	Not Held					A	2R		1–1
Seoul	A	A	A	A	1R	SF	1R		3–3
Linz	A	A	A	LQ	1R	1R	A		0–2
Osaka	Not Held			A	A	A	1R		0–1
Luxembourg	A	A	A		2R	QF	A		2–2
Istanbul	A	A	1R	1R	A	TChp.			0–2
Win–Loss	0–0	0–1	0–2	5–6	16–12	19–11	7–8	2-1	48–40
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics	Not Held		A	Not Held			1R	NH	0–1
Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–1	0-0	0–1
National Representation
Fed Cup	A	SF	1R	A	PO	PO	1R	A	7-6
Win–Loss	0–0	0–1	1–0	0–0	3–2	3–1	0–2	0-0	7–6
Statistics
Tour Level Win–Loss	0–0	0–2	1–2	6–8	27–26	30–25	14–23	2-2	80–88
Tour Level Win %	0%	0%	33%	43%	51%	55%	38%	50%	48%
Overall Win–Loss	14–7	26–8	37–16	48–18	32–26	32–27	20–26	12-5	221–133
Overall Win %	67%	76%	70%	73%	55%	54%	43%	71%	62%
Year End Ranking	717	345	243	71	48	36	80		N/A

* Statistics correct as of June 13, 2013.

External links

• polonahercog.si (Official website)
• Polona Hercog at the Women's Tennis Association
• Polona Hercog at the International Tennis Federation
• Polona Hercog at the Fed Cup