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Katie O'Brien

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Katie O'Brien
Country (sports) United Kingdom
 England
ResidenceEngland Hull, Yorkshire
Height1.675 m (5 ft 6 in)
Turned pro2004
RetiredActive
PlaysRight-handed (double-handed backhand)
Prize moneyUS$308,584
Singles
Career record324–169
Career titles0 WTA (4 ITF)
Highest rankingNo.104 (9 June 2008)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open1R (2009)
French Open1R (2009)
Wimbledon2R (2007)
US OpenQ2 (2008)
Doubles
Career record89-96
Career titles0 WTA (2 ITF)
Highest rankingNo. 174 (8 October 2007)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open-
French Open-
Wimbledon1R (2005 - 2006, 2008)
US Open-
Mixed doubles
Career titles0
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open-
French Open-
Wimbledon2R (2008)
US Open-
Last updated on: 18 May 2009.

Katie Jill O'Brien (born 2 May 1986) is an English tennis player from Beverley, Yorkshire. She is a former British No.1, but currently British No.3, ranked at 109 in the world (as of 18 May 2009), behind Anne Keothavong and Elena Baltacha at 49 and 108 respectively. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No.104 on 9 June 2008 and has so far won four ITF singles titles and two ITF doubles titles.

In 2007 she reached the second round of her home Grand Slam, Wimbledon by beating Sandra Klösel in round one. She lost to No.31 seed Michaëlla Krajicek in round two. So far, this is the furthest she has progressed in any of the four Grand Slams.[1]

Personal life

Katie's parents are named Phil and Jill and live in Hessle, East Riding of Yorkshire. Phil used to play professional football in the 1970s for Watford and is currently a quantity surveyor and the managing director of a construction company. Her mother is a nursery school teacher. She has one brother, James, and a sister called Holly who are both qualified DCA tennis coaches. Holly even represented Yorkshire as a junior. James and Holly are currently a medical student and a solicitor respectively.

Her interests are shopping, music, relaxing, spending time with her family and reading. She enjoys doing puzzles while she travels and is an avid fan of Hull City F.C..[2] She has two dogs, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, named Safin (after Marat Safin) and Bertie.[3]

O'Brien attended Hymers College, Hull from 1997 to 2002, where she gained 8 GCSEs (5A*s, 3As). She studied her A-levels at Woodhouse Grove School in Leeds from 2002 to 2004 and gained two A grades, in French and Maths.[4] She began studying with the Open University in 2008 and has completed a course on Personal Finance. She is currently studying two courses: Business Studies and Social Sciences. Her eventual aim is to gain a degree in Business Studies.[5]

Career

Junior (2000 - 2004)

Katie played her first match on the junior ITF tour in February 2000 and her last in June 2004. Over the course of her junior tennis career, she won two titles; the first was the Team Leschly Danish Junior Cup in February 2002 and the second was the Vierumaki Junior Cup in October the same year. She also reached a total of five semifinals and three quarterfinals overall. Katie's best result in a junior Grand Slam came in the 2003 junior Wimbledon Championships where she reached round three before losing to Emma Laine, 1-6 5-7. Her career-high junior singles ranking was world No.101, reached on 15 September 2003 and her overall win-loss record in singles was 44-34.[6]

In addition to her singles success as a junior, she also won one doubles title, lost in the final of another, reached four doubles semifinals and seven doubles quarterfinals (one of which was in the 2004 Wimbledon Championships partnering compatriot, Melanie South). She reached her career-high doubles ranking of world No.201 on 3 February 2003 and ended her junior career with a win-loss record of 17-26.[6]

2001 - 2004

Katie played her first match on the ITF tour was in September 2001 when she attempted to qualify for the $10,000 event in Sunderland. She lost in the second round of qualifying for this tournament.[7]

One year later, in September 2002, she reached her first ITF quarterfinal as a qualifier in the $10,000 event in Sunderland and was beaten by countrywoman, Anne Keothavong, 0-6 1-6. This was her only quarterfinal appearance in 2002 and she finished the year with a ranking of world No.693.[7]

In 2003 she again reached only one quarterfinal, this one in the $10,000 ITF tournament in Felixstowe. In every other tournament she played she either lost in the first round or the qualifying stages. As a result, her year-end ranking fell from the previous year to world No.742.[7]

In May 2004, Katie played her first ever semifinal on the ITF tour against Elke Clijsters (the sister of former World No.1 Kim Clijsters) and was beaten, 3-6 5-7. She was given a wild card into the main draw of her home Grand Slam, Wimbledon for the first time in her career in June 2004. She was beaten in the first round, 4-6 4-6, by María Sánchez Lorenzo.[8] Following Wimbledon, she played twelve more tournaments on the ITF tour, reaching the final of one (Manchester $10,000), the semifinals of three of them and the quarterfinals of two more. Her end-of-year ranking was world No.401.[7]

2005

The 2005 season started well for O'Brien; she reached the finals of her first two $10,000 ITF tournaments (in Tipton and Hull) and won the second of the two. In her third tournament, Sunderland $10,000, she reached the quarterfinals but was beaten by compatriot, Elena Baltacha, 4-6 3-6. Her second quarterfinal of the year was in the $10,000 tournament in Oxford.

In June, she received three wild cards into three consecutive WTA tournaments; the DFS Classic qualifying draw, the Hastings Direct International Championships qualifying draw and Wimbledon main draw. She failed to qualify in the first two tournaments and was beaten by Kim Clijsters, 2-6 3-6, in the first round of Wimbledon.[9]

Following Wimbledon she entered the $25,000 tournament in Felixstowe and reached the semifinals before losing to Jarmila Gajdosova, 4-6 4-6. She competed in twelve more ITF tournaments that year (reaching the quarterfinals in six of them) and the qualifying tournament for the BGL-BNP Paribas Open Luxembourg where she reached the second round of qualifying. She finished the 2005 season with a ranking of world No.263.[7]

2006

In January, Katie reached yet another ITF quarterfinal, this one in the $10,000 tournament in Hull, and the very next month she progressed to the semifinals of the $25,000 tournament in Sunderland before losing, 2-6 4-6, to Anne Keothavong. She reached the semifinals of the ITF event in Fukuoka, Japan ($50,000) where she was beaten by Ayumi Morita.

She again spent June attempting to qualify for the DFS Classic and the Hastings Direct International Championships without success. She also competed in the Wimbledon main draw but again lost in round one, beaten by Tathiana Garbin in three sets, 6-2 6-7(2) 2-6.[10]

After this she lost to Monique Adamczak in the quarterfinals of the $25,000 event in Valladolid in July and she reached the final of the ITF tournament in Changsha ($25,000) in August. Two consecutive $25,000 ITF finals followed in September; the second of which she won. Her good form continued into October and November when she reached the quarterfinals, semifinals and quarterfinals of $25,000 ITF tournaments in Glasgow, Istanbul and Jakarta respectively. Her final ranking of 2006 was world No.193.[7]

2007

Katie's first tournament of the 2007 season was the qualifying event for the Australian Open where she beat Chen Yanchong in a marathon three-setter, 3-6 6-2 8-7 ret, to set up a second round clash with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova which she lost 6-7(5) 1-6. She then returned to the ITF circuit until May. During this time she played in ten ITF tournaments, reaching the quarterfinal stages in four of them (two $50,000 events and two $25,000 events). She then attempted to qualify for the French Open but was beaten by Florence Haring, 6-4 3-6 3-6.

O'Brien's grass court season began with another ITF quarterfinal, this one in Surbiton ($25,000). She then tried to qualify for the tier III tournament, the DFS Classic but was beaten in another tough three set match, 6-7(1) 7-5 6-7(5), by compatriot Sarah Borwell. Katie had more success trying to qualify for the tier II Hastings Direct International where she beat Yuan Meng, Tsvetana Pironkova and Jill Craybas to qualify. She faced Vasilisa Bardina in the first round of the main tournament and had enough momentum carried over from the qualifying rounds to defeat her as well, 7-5 6-3. Her opponent in the round of 16 was No.4 seed, Elena Dementieva who proved too much for the Brit. She beat Katie by a score of 3-6 4-6. The confidence and experience she gained helped her capitalise on a wild card into the main draw of Wimbledon; she beat Sandra Klösel in round one, 6-3 7-5, (by coming back from 3-5 down in the second set)[11] before being demolished in the second round by 31st seed, Michaëlla Krajicek, 0-6 1-6.[1]

O'Brien spent August trying to qualify for the East West Bank Classic (tier II), the Roger's Cup (tier I) and the final Grand Slam of the year, the U.S. Open. She failed to win a match in any of these qualifying tournaments. In September she managed to reach the final round of qualifying in a tier IV WTA tournament, the Banka Koper Slovenia Open in Portorož and just a few weeks later reached the quarterfinals of the main draw of a tier IV event, the Tashkent Open, for the first time in her career before losing to Olga Govortsova, 2-6 3-6. She played six more $25,000 ITF tournaments that year, reaching the semifinals in four of them and the final of another. She finished 2007 with a ranking of world No. 134.[7]

2008

Katie's first tournament of the season was the Australian Open where she entered qualifying as the No.15 seed. After being gifted an easy first round victory over Darya Kustova when Kustova had to retire with the score at 6-3 1-0 in O'Brien's favour[12], Katie was forced to fight hard in her second qualifying match against Yanina Wickmayer. She eventually won, 4-6 6-3 8-6,[13] to set up a final round qualifying match against the No.11 seed in the qualifying tournament, Yuan Meng. Katie was defeated 4-6 2-6. In early February, she competed as part of the Great Britain Fed Cup team in the Fed Cup and was given tough opponents. She challenged Patty Schnyder but eventually lost, 6-7(5) 5-7, and also lost to Ágnes Szávay and Caroline Wozniacki. However she and Anne Keothavong managed to save Britain from relegation from the Europe/Africa Group I by winning two singles matches against Portugal. This was followed by Katie's first appearance on the ITF circuit in 2008 which came at the $75,000 event in Midland where she was the No.5 seed. She faced the No.2 seed, Laura Granville, in the quarterfinals and was beaten, 6-1 3-6 1-6. O'Brien then attempted to qualify for four consecutive WTA events, in Doha, Dubai, Bangalore and Indian Wells. She lost in round one of qualifying in each of them with the exception of Indian Wells where she lost in the round two of qualifying to Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová. Over March and April she reached the quarterfinals of two ITF tournaments: Jersey ($25,000) and Saint-Malo ($100,000). In May, Katie entered the French Open qualifying draw and beat fellow Brit, Melanie South in the opening round. She fell in round two to Kristina Barrois, 4-6 2-6. After this she headed to the DFS Classic where she beat Alla Kudryavtseva, 6-0 3-6 7-6(2), in the first round before falling to Yaroslava Shvedova in round two, 5-7 6-1 5-7. A wild card allowed Katie entry into the International Women's Open (previously the Hastings Direct International) where she lost to Samantha Stosur. Shahar Peer beat Katie in the first round of Wimbledon.[14]

Following the third Grand Slam of the season, Katie participated in the Internazionali Femminili di Palermo where Lourdes Dominguez Lino beat Katie in round one. Two weeks later she reached the second round of the Banka Koper Slovenia Open by beating No.5 seed, Tsvetana Pironkova, in round one. She lost to Vera Dushevina in the second round. In August, she reached the second round of qualifying for the US Open before being knocked out by home favourite, Alexa Glatch. September saw Katie fall to Ioana Raluca Olaru in round one of the Tashkent Open and in October she reached the semifinals of the $50,000 ITF in Barnstaple where she lost to Anne Keothavong. She reached two more ITF quarterfinals in 2008, in Phoenix and Saint-Denis, both $25,000. Her year-end ranking was world No.154.[7]

2009

O'Brien started her 2009 season by attempting to qualify for the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand. She put up a good fight against Japanese teen Ayumi Morita (at a world ranking of 86 at the time) but eventually lost in three sets, 6-3 2-6 7-5. O'Brien fared better in the qualifying for the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open, where she defeated Sandra Zahlavova (7-5 6-3), third seed Julie Ditty (3-6 6-3 6-3) and No.21 seed Betina Jozami (6-0 7-62) to reach the main draw of the Australian Open for the first time in her career. She was drawn to face Monica Niculescu from Romania in round one. With Elena Baltacha also successfully qualifying and Anne Keothavong and Melanie South reaching the main draw on merit, this put a total of four British women in the main draw; the first time this had happened in a Grand Slam other than Wimbledon since the 1992 U.S. Open,[15] when Clare Wood qualified and joined Jo Durie, Monique Javer and Sara Gomer in the main draw. However, Niculescu defeated O'Brien in straight sets, 6-4 6-4, in the opening round.

After the Australian Open, O'Brien returned to ITF action at the $25,000 event in Sutton. Seeded 3, she reached the final with four straight set wins (6-2 6-4 over Curtis, 6-1 6-1 over Mircic, 6-1 6-1 over Naomi Cavaday and 6-3 6-2 over second seed Renata Voracova) before defeating wildcard Johanna Konta 3-6 6-2 6-4 in the final to win her first title since September 2006 and her third ITF singles title. This was then followed by a run to the semifinals of the $75,000 ITF event in Midland where she was beaten by Eleni Danilidou from Greece, 6-1 6-7(4) 2-6.[16] O'Brien's next tournament was the $50,000 ITF tournament in Biberach Germany. She beat German top seed Kristina Barrois 7-6(7) 6-3 in the quarterfinals before losing to eventual winner, Croatian Karolina Sprem 2-6 3-6 in the semifinals. [17] She managed to continue this run of good form, reaching the final of the $25,000 Minsk tournament, losing in three sets to wildcard Darya Kustova and winning her second ITF singles title of the year and her fifth overall at the $25,000 event in Jersey. She beat Frenchwoman Claire Feuerstein in the final, 7-5 1-0 ret. O'Brien's next tournament was the $100K+H in Torhout, Belgium, where she beat Claire Feuerstein and Sofia Arvidsson before losing in three sets to Aravane Rezai on France. O'Brien entered the 2009 French Open qualifying to get in the main draw for the first time. She Beat Karla Mraz in the first round 6-1 6-7 6-2, she also defeated Rika Fujiwara of Japan in straight sets 7-6 6-2 before falling to Dutch Arantxa Rus 4-6 6-7, but she gained a Lucky loser berth when 6th seeded Vera Zvonareva withdrew from the open due to a ankle injury. She lost to the Belarussian Olga Govortsova in the first round in straight sets 6-1 6-1.

WTA tour and ITF circuit titles (6)

Legend
Grand Slam (0)
Tour Championships (0)
Premier (0)
International (0)
ITF Event (6)
Titles by surface
Hard (6)
Clay (0)
Grass (0)
Carpet (0)

Singles (4)

No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 30 January 2005 Hull $10,000 Hard Uzbekistan Ivanna Israilova 6-4 6-4
2. 1 October 2006 Nottingham $25,000 Hard United Kingdom Amanda Keen 5-7 7-6(3) 6-4
3. 8 February 2009 Sutton $25,000 Hard Australia Johanna Konta 3-6 6-2 6-4
4. 23 March 2009 Jersey $25,000 Hard France Claire Feuerstein 7-5 1-0 ret.

Doubles (2)

No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponent in the final Score
1. 24 September 2006 Madrid $25,000 Hard Romania Sorana Cîrstea France Celine Cattaneo & Switzerland Gaelle Widmer 6-4 6-4
2. 15 October 2006 Jersey $25,000 Hard Estonia Margit Rüütel Czech Republic Veronika Chvojkova & United Kingdom Claire Peterzen 7-5 6-4

WTA tour and ITF circuit runner-up (14)

Legend
Grand Slam (0)
Tour Championships (0)
Premier (0)
International (0)
ITF Event (14)
Runner-up by surface
Hard (13)
Clay (0)
Grass (0)
Carpet (1)

Singles (6)

No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 19 September 2004 Manchester $10,000 Hard Germany Amanda Sieveke 6-4 7-6(4)
2. 23 January 2005 Tipton $10,000 Hard Russia Irena Bulykina 6-7(5) 6-2 6-4
3. 6 August 2006 Changsha $25,000 Hard China Chen Yanchong 6-1 6-1
4. 24 September 2006 Madrid $25,000 Hard France Olivia Sanchez 6-7(7) 6-4 6-4
5. 21 October 2007 Glasgow $25,000 Hard Sweden Sofia Arvidsson 6-3 6-1
5. 8 March 2009 Minsk $25,000 Carpet Belarus Darya Kustova 6-7(3) 6-1 6-4

Doubles (8)

No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponent in the final Score
1. 23 January 2005 Tipton $10,000 Hard United Kingdom Melanie South South Africa Surina De Beer & United Kingdom Rebecca Llewellyn 6-4 6-2
2. 30 January 2005 Hull $10,000 Hard United Kingdom Melanie South Russia Irena Bulykina & Russia Vasilisa Davydova 4-6 6-3 7-5
3. 5 February 2006 Jersey $25,000 Hard United Kingdom Melanie South Czech Republic Andrea Hlaváčková & Croatia Matea Mezak 6-3 6-1
4. 1 October 2006 Nottingham $25,000 Hard Estonia Margit Rüütel United Kingdom Karen Paterson & United Kingdom Melanie South 6-2 2-6 7-6(1)
5. 22 October 2006 Glasgow $25,000 Hard Estonia Margit Rüütel Czech Republic Veronika Chvojkova & Latvia Liga Dekmeijere 6-4 6-3
6. 29 October 2006 Istanbul $25,000 Hard Romania Sorana Cîrstea Bosnia and Herzegovina Mervana Jugić-Salkić & Turkey İpek Şenoğlu w/o
7. 14 October 2007 Jersey $25,000 Hard United Kingdom Georgie Stoop Czech Republic Andrea Hlaváčková & Czech Republic Lucie Hradecká 6-0 6-4
8. 8 February 2009 Sutton $25,000 Hard Canada Rebecca Marino United States Raquel Kops-Jones & Czech Republic Renata Voracova 6-3 6-3

Grand Slam performance timeline

Tournament 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Career Win-Loss

Australian Open - - - Q2 Q3 1R 0–1
French Open - - - Q1 Q2 1R 0–1
Wimbledon 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R 1–6
US Open - - Q1 Q1 Q2 0–0
  • "-" stands for any tournament the player did not participate in.
  • "Q" followed by a number 1-3 denotes which round of the qualifying tournament was reached.
  • The career record is only for the player's main draw participation.

References

  1. ^ a b "Too nice, too rich, too bad". www.mirror.co.uk.
  2. ^ "Katie O'Brien tells all". www.lta.org.uk.
  3. ^ "Always the last place you look". www.lta.org.uk.
  4. ^ LTA Profile
  5. ^ "Debut blogger travels to Belgium". www.independent.co.uk.
  6. ^ a b ITF Juniors Profile
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h "Activity: O'BRIEN, Katie (GBR)". www.itftennis.com.
  8. ^ "Mixed fortunes for Wimbledon's young Britons". www.telegraph.co.uk.
  9. ^ "Clijsters happy among the big guns". www.rediff.com.
  10. ^ "Miserable day for British women". www.news.bbc.co.uk.
  11. ^ "O'Brien keeps the flag flying". www.guardian.co.uk.
  12. ^ "Four British players rise above heat to win qualifying matches". www.independent.co.uk.
  13. ^ "Henman's conqueror Tsonga provides first obstacle for Murray". www.independent.co.uk.
  14. ^ "Eaton holds aces to hit unlikely heights". www.independent.co.uk.
  15. ^ "British pair Elena Baltacha and Katie O'Brien qualify for Australian Open". www.telegraph.co.uk.
  16. ^ "$75,000 Midland Draw - Singles". www.itftennis.com.
  17. ^ "$50,000 Biberach Draw - Singles". www.itftennis.com.
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