Monica Puig

Mónica Puig

Full name	Mónica Puig
Country (sports)	Puerto Rico
Born	(1993-09-27) September 27, 1993 Hato Rey, Puerto Rico
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Prize money	$120,492
Singles
Career record	107–50
Career titles	6 ITF
Highest ranking	101 (February 25, 2013)
Current ranking	101 (February 25, 2013)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	Q2 (2012)
French Open	Q3 (2012)
Wimbledon	—
US Open	Q1 (2012)
Australian Open Junior	F (2011)
French Open Junior	F (2011)
Wimbledon Junior	3R (2010)
US Open Junior	QF (2010)
Doubles
Career record	9–7
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	263 (July 23, 2012)
Current ranking	397 (February 25, 2013)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open Junior	2R (2011)
French Open Junior	—
Wimbledon Junior	SF (2010)
US Open Junior	1R (2010)
Team competitions
Fed Cup	12–10
Last updated on: February 25, 2013.

Mónica Puig (born September 27, 1993 in Hato Rey) is a Puerto Rican tennis player.

Puig has won six singles titles on the ITF tour in her career. On February 25, 2013, she reached her best singles ranking of world number 101. On July 23, 2012, she peaked at world number 263 in the doubles rankings. Her biggest achievement so far on the professional circuit is winning the $50,000 ITF tournament in Joué-lès-Tours in 2012, which included a first round win against the number one seed, and world ranked 87, Alexandra Panova.

Tennis career

Junior career

In 2007, she entered her first tournament at the Prince Cup, but withdrew from the qualifying draw.

In 2008, she started the season with a surprise run to the final of the Costa Rica Bowl (Grade 3) as a qualifier losing in straight sets to Eugenie Bouchard. She continued her good form, winning two out of three tournaments. Puig continued good results in small Grade 3 and 4 tournaments. In her first Grade 1 tournament in Lexington, she defeated Charlotte Calhoun before going out to Lauren Embree. She continued to participate in bigger tournaments, though not with as much success as she had in the smaller ones.

Puig had her breakthrough season in 2009; she started doing much better in the bigger tournaments. She reached her first Grade 1 final in Casablanca, losing to Mai Grage of Denmark. She continued playing consistently, highlights of the latter months of the year included a semifinal appearance at a Grade B1 tournament in Tulsa, losing to Bouchard in three sets. In her next tournament, she won the doubles title.

In 2010, she continued her successes at a higher level. Puig started the year reaching the final of the 32nd International Casablanca Junior Cup (Grade A), falling easily to Sachie Ishizu of Japan. She then reached another final a week later at the Coffee Bowl (Grade 1) losing to An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium in straights. Puig followed that up with a semifinal appearance at a Grade 1 tournament in Barranquilla. Consistent results followed, before a huge Grade A title at the 27th Copa Gerdau, defeating Jessica Pegula in the final. After a semifinal appearance at another Grade A calibre tournament, she fell in the quarterfinals of the French Open. After that, she failed to advance past the quarterfinals of any of her tournaments until the 2010 US Open – Girls' Singles, where she lost to Yulia Putintseva. Puig finished the season with a flourish, falling in the quarters of Osaka (Grade A), the final of Mérida (Grade 1) and the semis of Key Biscayne (Grade A), both to Lauren Davis.

2010

In July, Puig won the gold medal in the women's tennis singles event at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games. Puig was the second seed in the singles event at the 2010 Youth Olympics in Singapore, but lost in the first round to Zheng Saisai of China in straight sets.

2011

In January, Puig won the Loy Yang Traralgon International defeating Yulia Putintseva of Russia. Puig is also in the juniors event of the Australian Open. She qualified for the final but lost to Belgian An-Sophie Mestach. On February 20, 2011 Puig won the singles title in Surprise, Arizona, defeating Slovak Lenka Wienerová, 6–4, 6–0.

Puig received a wildcard into the qualifying draw of the 2011 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. She defeated Anne Keothavong in the first round but was then knocked out by Sorana Cîrstea in three sets.

Puig won the silver medal at the 2011 Panamerican Games after defeating Christina McHale of the United States to advance to the gold medal round. She lost to Irina Falconi in the final.

2012

In January 2012, Puig entered the WTA Tour's ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, ranked 213 in the world. She won the first and second round of qualifying matches, but lost in the last round to the number 145 in the world, Karolína Plíšková. On January 16, Puig entered the 2012 Australian Open qualifying draw ranked 209. She lost in the second round to Kirsten Flipkens. On January 23, Puig entered the $25,000 Andrezieux ITF tournament as a qualifier. She won two qualifying matches and was able to play in the main draw, but lost in the first round to Magda Linette of Poland.

In the next month, Puig played on the qualifying draw of two WTA Tour tournaments Bogotá and Monterrey, without being able to get past the first round of the main draw. She received a wildcard to play in the 2012 Indian Wells Masters qualifying draw, but, on the second round, lost to world number 66 Eleni Daniilidou. Puig's first 2012 breakthrough came when she reached the finals of the Poza Rica $25,000 ITF tournament being unseeded. The last two matches prior to the final included wins against tournament seeds numbers four and one, although she lost to second seed Yaroslava Shvedova.

The second breakthrough of 2012 occurred when Puig won the first ITF $50,000 tournament of her career at Joué-lès-Tours, France. In the semifinals, she defeated An-Sophie Mestach, the same opponent to whom she lost at the 2011 Junior Australian Open final match.

Career statistics

Junior Grand Slam finals

Singles: 2 finals (2 runner-ups)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner–up	2011	Australian Open	Hard	An-Sophie Mestach	4–6, 2–6
Runner–up	2011	French Open	Clay	Ons Jabeur	6–7(8–10), 1–6

ITF circuit finals

Singles: 9 finals (6 Titles, 3 Runner-up)

$100,000 tournaments

$75,000 tournaments

$50,000 tournaments

$25,000 tournaments

$10,000 tournaments

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	April 19, 2010	Torrent, Spain	Clay	Nanuli Pipiya	3–6, 6–1, 6–2
Winner	2.	February 20, 2011	Surprise, United States	Hard	Lenka Wienerová	6–4, 6–0
Winner	3.	May 1, 2011	Chiasso, Switzerland	Clay	Andrea Hlaváčková	7–6(4), 7–5
Winner	4.	August 22, 2011	San Luis Potosí, Mexico	Hard	Nika Kukharchuk	6–3, 6–0
Runner-up	5.	June 25, 2012	Bayamon, Puerto Rico	Hard	Michelle Larcher de Brito	3–6, 2–6
Runner-up	6.	March 12, 2012	Poza Rica, Veracruz, Mexico	Hard	Yaroslava Shvedova	1–6, 2–6
Runner-up	7.	June 25, 2012	Périgueux, France	Clay	Irina Khromacheva	3–6, 2–6
Winner	8.	October 8, 2012	Joué-lès-Tours, France	Hard	Maria João Koehler	3–6, 6–4, 6–1
Winner	9.	October 22, 2012	Poitiers, France	Hard	Elena Vesnina	7–5 1–6 7–5

Central American and Caribbean Games

Singles: 1 final (1 gold medal)

Outcome	Year	Host nation	Surface	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Winner	2010	Puerto Rico	Hard	Adriana Pérez	6–3, 6–2

Pan American Games

Singles: 1 final (1 silver medal)

Outcome	Year	Host nation	Surface	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	2011	Mexico	Hard	Irina Falconi	3–6, 2–6

External links

• Mónica Puig at the Women's Tennis Association
• Mónica Puig at the Billie Jean King Cup
• Junior watch: Getting to know Monica Puig