Tamarine Tanasugarn

Tamarine Tanasugarn

Country (sports)	Thailand
Residence	Bangkok, Thailand
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Turned pro	1994
Plays	right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$ 2,662,605
Singles
Career record	442–342
Career titles	2 WTA, 11 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 19 (13 May 2002)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	4R (1998)
French Open	3R (2002)
Wimbledon	QF (2008)
US Open	4R (2003)
Doubles
Career record	202–194
Career titles	6 WTA, 3 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 15 (13 September 2004)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	3R (2000)
French Open	2R (2002, 2004, 2007)
Wimbledon	2R (1996, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008)
US Open	QF (2004)
Last updated on: 16 February 2009.

Tanasugarn on the right in this photo, with her doubles partner Su-Wei Hsieh.

Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thai: แทมมารีน ธนสุกาญจน์, IPA: [tʰɛːmmriːn tʰsukʰatɕn]; born 24 May 1977) is a professional female Thai tennis player. She was born in Los Angeles, California, U.S. and turned professional in 1994. She has been in the top twenty in both singles and doubles.

Tanasugarn's highest WTA ranking has been world number 19, a ranking she achieved on 13 May 2002, which is the highest ranking ever acheived for Thai female player. She has won two singles titles. She was briefly a doubles partner with Maria Sharapova, with whom she won two titles in 2003. She won a total of five doubles titles. Her highest doubles ranking was world number 15 which she achieved on 13 September 2004. With Liezel Huber, she reached the 2004 US Open doubles quarterfinals. Her biggest success came in 2008 when she became the first Thai tennis player ever to reach a quaterfinal in professional Grand Slam.

In her career, Tanasugarn has defeated former number ones Amélie Mauresmo, Jennifer Capriati and Jelena Jankovic. She has also beaten a Australian Open and French Open champion, Mary Pierce. she is also widely regarded as grass court specialist. She has reached fourth round in wimbledon seven times (1998-2003, 2004, 2008) and broke through quarterfinal once in 2008. She has also succeeded her second major in Ordina Open, and was a runner-up at Birmingham,the both are grass court tournaments. Following these grass court tournaments, Tanasugarn has ousted many top 10 players in their respective time, such as, Nathalie Tauziat at Eastbourne number 10 at that time, 2001, Amelie Mauresmo at Wimbledon number 6 at that time in 2001, Dinara Safina at S'hertogenbosh number 9 at that time in 2008 and Jelena Jankovic at Wimbledon number 3 at that time in 2008.

Tanasugarn is also a regular competitor for the Thailand Fed Cup team, helping the team join the World Group II in 2005 and 2006, beated Australia and Croatia in their play-off matches.

Playing Style

Playing comfortably in grass court, Tanasugarn suites her best game and strategy well when she performs on grass, once she gave a reason that grass court is familiar with the court she has been practiscing in Thailand and especially loves the atmosphere at wimbledon. Her game is based on, good strategy, precise groundstroke, and favours to deliver winners from a baseline. Tanasugarn is also known for her flat and topspin-flat groundstroke which are especially effective and offensive on grass, frequently are able to draw unforced errors from opponents.

Career

Junior

During her junior career, most of the expense is supported by her father, Virachai Tanasugarn, a lawyer, who was a former Thai basketball player and inspired his daughter to become a professional tennis player. In 1995, at 17, Tanasugarn reached her junior grand slam final at Wimbledon with a win over Anna Kournikova in semifinal but lost to the Polish Aleksandra Olsza 7-5, 7-6. With this aceivement, it built both of her confidence on becoming a promising star and potential grass court specialist.

1994-1999

She has turned pro since 1994, however she came in the attention spot in 1996 when she reached the final at Pattaya Women's Open. This is her first major final, but it was a bitter final when she lost to Ruxandra Dragomir, 7-6(7-4), 6-4. With this result her rank leveled up to number 79, her tennis career had stepped up to the level that she hungered to seek more of the excitements and experiences. In 1997, she reached third round in Australian open, Wimbledon and US Open, semifinal at Hobart and ended the year with number 46 rank. 1998 was a brakethrough year for Tanasugarn, in 3rd round at Australian Open, she was victorious over the defending French Open Champion Iva Majoli, her first top 10 victory with a score 6-0, 6-2. In the third Grand Slam of the year, she repeated the fourth round entrance in Grand Slam but was stopped by Martina Hingis, three months later she reached her first tier II semifinal in Tokyo Princess Cup but was defeated by Monica Seles, in the end of the year she was in the top 40 players. The next year wasn't as successful as expected, her ranking dropped to 77 in the mid-season, though for second consecutive year she reached the fourth round in wimbledon, with a win over thirteenth seed, Sandrine Testud, but could not proceed further, she lost to Mirjana Lucic, 7-5, 6-3. She then tried to gain the ranking back by competing in the Challengers and ended the year in 72 position, her lowest rank in two years.

2000-2004

After the disappointing season last year, Tanasugarn boosted her confidence up in the mixed double tournament Hopman Cup. She partnered with another Thai rising star Paradorn Srichaphan, thier performance drew much criticism when they both battled thier path through the final. Tanasugarn beated Jelena Dokic from Australia, Barbara Schett from Austria,Ai Sugiyama from Japan and Henrieta Nagyova from Slovakia,took the wins from all the single matches. In the final, facing Amanda Coetzer, Tanasugarn started with more consistency and took the first set but the South African eventually won with 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 score. In men's single Paradorn Srichaphan had fought hard but was pushed by Wayne Ferreira to 7-6(14-12), 6-3 lost, then Thai team surrandered to the South African team again in mixed double, making the 3-0 score lost in the final. Nonetheless, by this result has made them the first Asians ever to reach the final in Hopman Cup. Later she has wrote in her personal column on her mid-career comeback issue, "There was a bit of lopsided and disappointing performance in that year but having reached the final at Hopman Cup made me feel the motivation and inspiration in the sport once more".

Tanasugarn started the tournament with 3rd round in Australian open, despite taking the first set from the opponent, Tanasugarn eventually lost to her rival Sandrine Testud, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. Just a week before Wimbledon, Tanasugarn reached her second WTA final at Birmingham, with a win over Julie Halard-Decugis en route. In the final match with Lisa Raymond, Tanasugarn lost in three sets thriller match. She then again reached fourth round in wimbledon for third consecutive years but lost to eighth seeded Serena Williams in two sets. Tanasugarn also reached three semifinals at Japan Open Tennis Championships, Kuala Lampur and Shanghai, she represented Thailand in 2000 Olympic game but was ousted in the second round by Venus Williams. Her year-end ranking was number 29, the first time in the top 30 in year-ended ranking.

2001 is considered as one of her best season, Tanasugarn succeeded her second Tier II semifinal at Dubai, lost to Martina Hingis, although she leads 3-0 in the first set. In grass court season, she collected her second and third top ten wins against Nathalie Tauziat, in Eastbourne, lost to Elena Likhovsova in quaterfinal, and Amelie Mauresmo, in third round match at Wimbledon. Tanasugarn entered fourth round at Wimbledon for fourth consecutive years, this time though, she lost to the opponent who she had defeated earlier in Eastbourne, Nathalie Tauziat. Then, Tanasugarn named third career final at Japan Open Tennis Championships, but lost to former number one Monica Seles, 6-3, 6-2. At the end of season, Tanasugarn was able to place in the top 30 players for two consecutive years.

2002, Tanasugarn started with her fourth career major final at Canberra, seeded number 1, Tanasugarn beated Patty Schnyder en route, she lost in the final to Isaraeli,Anna Smashnova. Tanasugarn made her first Tier I quaterfinal appearance at Toray Pan Pacific Open with a win over former number four, Magdalena Maleeva, however she lost to Martina Hingis in two sets. For the fifth consecutive times, Tanasugarn has reached her major final, this time at Doha, and had to face Monica Seles. She was given a two sets lost with a score 7-6(8-6), 6-3, marking her 0-5 record in tour major finals. On May 13, she was ranked number 19 in the world, her best career rank to date and hold it for nearly 10 non-consecutive weeks. Once in her personal column "Tammy Ka" she has cited this accomplishment as a result of "The hard-working, time-dedicated and intensive training". However, her oppurtunity to rise the rank was disrupted by her unsatisfied performance on clay court season, having fallen in the first or second in most of the tournaments. Nonetheless, Tanasugarn's best result on clay came in Roland Garros, seeded 17, she reached the third round for the first time, but lost to clay court specialist, Silvia Farina Ellia from Italy, this is, so far her personal best performance on clay court. During grass court season Tanasugarn reached fourth round in Wimbledon for fifth consecutive years, but she was defeated again by Monica Seles in two sets. In Us Open she suffered from little finger fraction but persisted to continue playing, she lost in the second round to the American Bea Belik. Tanasugarn ended the year with 28th position in ranking.

2003, Tanasugarn reached the third round in Australian Open for fourth consecutive years. After, being disappoited many times in major tour finals, she finally won her first tour major in Hyderabad, beated Iroda Tulyaganova from Uzbekistan in two sets. However, she failed to got in the fourth round in Wimbledon, was stopped in the first round. This was her earliest exit for her performance in Wimbledon since she turned pro. In US Open, Tanasugarn beated Italian, Rita Grande, Swiss Miss, Patty Schnyder and number 9 rank Daniela Hantuchova, en route her fourth top ten wins and made her best record on the fourth grand slam. In the fourth round, she lost to Amelie Mauresmo. Tanasugarn finished the year with 34th rank.

In 2004,Tanasugarn dropped out of top 50 players for the first time in the end os the year, her best performance is to reach the fourth round in Wimbledon, and failed to reach the quaterfinal for the six times, she lost to Ai Sugiyama in two sets. In Japan Open Tennis Championships, Tanasugarn reached the semifinal but lost to Maria Sharapova.

2005-2007

After her unsatisfactory performance in 2004, Tanasugarn had also had to deal with multiple injuries which affected most of her career in 2005, her ranking dropped out of the top 100 and she had to go back to playing in Challenger Level tournaments again.

2006, She had once mentioned of retiring from tennis career but after she qualified to play in the main draw of Wimbledon and got through to the third round, Tanasugarn was charged back up and decided to give it another shot. Tanasugarn reached her homecountry tournament final again in PTT Bangkok Open, facing Vania King, she was two games away from taking the title leading in the final set 4-2, but King fought back to win the match.. Despite losing the match with the support and warmth she was given by her home country, Tanasugarn regained some confidence to get back to the tour. She finished that year ranked 75th.

Unfortunately in 2007, Tanasugarn still struggled with injuries and had to play in many challengers, she ended the season ranked 124th.

2008

Tanasugarn made her successful comeback with many great results in 2008 season. Tanasugarn qualified to play in main draw at Australian Open, beated Jelena Dokic along the way, she lost to the Austrian, Sybille Bammer in the first round. She decided to skip the clay court seasons, dued to her uncomfort in playing games on that surface and chose to play in hard court challengers which she had said that the ball bouncing is familiar to grass surface. Tanasugarn won the challenger title at Gifu, defeated the comeback former world numeber four, Kimiko Date Krumm from Japan. In grass court season, Tanasugarn beated the Austrian seed, Tamira Paszek in Birmingham but lost to Betthanie Mattek in the next round. A week later, Tanasugarn has stunned many tennis viewers, ranked number 85 back then, she reached her eighth major final and even beated the french runner-up Dinara Safina in two sets, at Ordina Open final match, giving her second major title and fifth top ten wins. In the tournament, she beated Kateryna Bondarenko, Ashley Harkleroad, Michaella Krajicek and Alyona Bondarenko en routed to the final. Continuosly, she reached her seventh fourth round appearence in Wimbledon, she ousted Vera Zvonareva, in second round and beated, Marina Erakovic in the third. The biggest upset was when she beated Jelena Jankovic ranked number three in the fourth round, and became the first Thai player to reach a grand slam quaterfinal. This is mentioned by herself as, yet, her best accomplishment in tennis carreer, after having been stopped for the total of six times in her fourth round clashes, losses to Martina Hingis in 1998, Mirjana Lucic in 1999, Serena Williams in 2000, Nathalie Tauziat in 2001, Lisa Raymond in 2002 and Ai Sugiyama in 2004. However, in the quaterfinal match she lost to Venus Williams, 6-4,6-3. Her best results in the year are also quaterfinals at Japan Open Tennis Championships lost to Caroline Wozniacki, and Pattaya Women's Open lost to Agnieszka Radwanska and a victory over Amelie Mauresmo at Doha in the second round, though she was stopped in the third round by Maria Sharapova. Tanasugarn ended the 2008 tournament with number 35 ranking, her best ranking in four years.

2009

Yaroslava Shvedova and Tamarine Tanasugarn in 2009 Pattaya Women's Open double final match

Tanasugarn was seeded 32 in Australian Open but lost early to Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 7-5, 6-3. Next week after the first slam, Tanasugarn played Fed Cup for Thailand, Although holding a chance to have a match, Tanasugarn ended up losing to the Australian Samantha Stosur, 4-6, 7-5, 6-0, Thailand finished in the third place in Asia/Oceania group, after Australia and New Zealand. Tanasugarn started her next tournament in her homecountry at Pattaya Women's Open, seeded 6, she got through to the quaterfinal for second consecutive years, however she lost to Sania Mirza in striaght sets. In Double, partnering Yaroslava Shvedova, the team, seeded number two, got into the final and won the match over, Yuliya Beygelzimer and Vitalia Diatchenko, 6-3, 6-2. This double title in Pattaya is her first major title in her own country after being a runner-up for two times in single, in 1996 at Pattaya and in 2006 at Bangkok.

WTA Tour finals (20)

Singles wins (2)

Legend

Grand Slam (0)

WTA Championships (0)

Tier I (0)

Tier II (0)

Tier III (1)

Tier IV & V (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in final	Score in final
1.	9 February 2003	Hyderabad, India	Hard	Iroda Tulyaganova	6–4, 6–4
2.	21 June 2008	's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Dinara Safina	7-5, 6–3

Singles runner-ups (6)

Legend

Grand Slam (0)

WTA Championships (0)

Tier I (0)

Tier II (0)

Tier III (4)

Tier IV & V (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in final	Score in final
1.	18 November 1996	Pattaya City, Thailand	Hard	Ruxandra Dragomir	7–6, 6–4
2.	12 June 2000	Birmingham, England, United Kingdom	Grass	Lisa Raymond	6–2, 6–7 (7), 6–4
3.	1 October 2001	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Monica Seles	6–3, 6–2
4.	7 January 2002	Canberra, Australia	Hard	Anna Smashnova	7–5, 7–6(2)
5.	11 February 2002	Doha, Qatar	Hard	Monica Seles	7–6(6), 6–3
6.	9 October 2006	Bangkok, Thailand	Hard	Vania King	2–6, 6–4, 6–4

Doubles wins (6)

Legend (Doubles)

Grand Slam (0)

Tour Championships (0)

Tier I Event (0)

Tier II Event (0)

Tier III Event (3)

Tier IV/V Event (2)

Premier (0)

International (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1.	11 January 1998	Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	Nana Miyagi	Julie Halard-Decugis & Janette Husarova	6–4 7–5
2.	22 October 2000	Shanghai, China	Hard	Lilia Osterloh	Rita Grande & Meghann Shaughnessy	7-5 6-1
3.	24 March 2001	Bali, Indonesia	Hard	Evie Dominikovic	Janet Lee & Wynne Prakusya	7-6(1) 6-4
4.	5 October 2003	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Maria Sharapova	Ansley Cargill & Ashley Harkleroad	7-6(1) 6-0
5.	26 October 2003	Luxembourg, Luxembourg	Hard	Maria Sharapova	Elena Tatarkova & Marlene Weingartner	6-1 6-4
6.	15 February 2009	Pattaya City, Thailand	Hard	Yaroslava Shvedova	Yulia Beygelzimer & Vitalia Diatchenko	6-3 6-2

Doubles runner-ups (6)

Legend

Grand Slam (0)

WTA Championships (0)

Tier I (1)

Tier II (2)

Tier III (2)

Tier IV & V (1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1.	16 August 1998	Los Angeles,USA	Hard	Elena Tatarkova	Martina Hingis & Natasha Zvereva	6-4 6-2
2.	27 February 2000	Oklahoma, USA	Hard	Elena Tatarkova	Kimberly Po-Messerli & Corina Morariu	6-4 4-6 6-2
3.	14 October 2001	Shanghai,China	Hard	Evie Dominikovic	Lenka Nemeckova & Liezel Huber	6-0 7-5
4.	21 September 2003	Shanghai,China	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Emilie Loit & Nicole Pratt	6-3 6-3
5.	8 August 2004	Montreal,Canada	Hard	Liezel Huber	Ai Sugiyama & Shinobu Asagoe	6-0 6-3
6.	2 November 2008	Quebec City, Canada	Hard	Jill Craybas	Anna-Lena Grönefeld & Vania King	7–6(3) 6–4

Singles performance timeline

Tournament	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000	1999	1998	1997
Australian Open	1r	1r	1r	1r	2r	1r	3r	3r	3r	3r	1r	4r	3r
French Open	-	1r	2r	-	1r	1r	1r	3r	1r	2r	1r	1r	2r
Wimbledon	-	QF	1r	3r	2r	4r	1r	4r	4r	4r	4r	4r	3r
US Open	-	1r	1r	-	1r	1r	4r	2r	1r	3r	2r	1r	3r

External links

• Tamarine Tanasugarn at the Women's Tennis Association
• Tamarine Tanasugarn at the Billie Jean King Cup