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Biography
Chanelle Scheepers (/ʃəˈnɛl ˈskɛpərz/ born 13 March 1984) is a retired South African tennis player.
She won one singles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as 12 singles and 20 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit in her career. On 10 October 2011, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 37. On 10 April 2014, she peaked at No. 42 in the doubles rankings.
Career
Scheepers turned pro in 2000 and played two ITF events.
In 2001, she reached four finals on ITF level and won all, with three of them coming from Durban, South Africa a local tournament, and one in the United States.
In 2002, she reached three ITF finals winning one in Mackay, Australia and losing in the other two in Liechtenstein and Switzerland.
In 2003, she played her first tour-level event in the Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts and won her first main-draw tour-level match after getting through the qualifying draw over Samantha Stosur but lost to Tathiana Garbin in the next round. She then had a 19 match losing streak in the qualifying draws of tour-level and ITF events and main draw of ITF events.
2004 was a better year for Scheepers, she returned playing in ITF events where she won four titles; two in Benin City, Nigeria and two in Pretoria, South Africa. She also reached four other finals in Torre del Greco and Taranto both in Italy, in Pétange, Luxembourg and Lagos, Nigeria.
In 2005, Scheepers once again started playing in the qualifying draw of tour-level events but she didn't produce results as she only reached one semifinals and one quarterfinals in ITF events.
2006 was not a better year for Scheepers despite returning to the ITF circuit as she only reached two semifinals and one quarterfinal.
In 2007, Scheepers won her first ITF titles in three years as she won two titles in Lagos, Nigeria and Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States.
In 2008, her form went down as she only reached one semifinal and two quarterfinals.
2009 was a breakthrough year for the South African player as she made her Grand Slam main-draw debut getting through the qualifying draw in the Australian Open and French Open. She also made four main-draw wins and won a title in Irapuato, Mexico.
In 2010, Scheepers continued to play in the tour-level events and her persistence paid off as she reached her first main-draw quarterfinals in the Malaysian Open losing to Japanese Ayumi Morita. She then won in the ITF event of Fort Walton Beach, United States. In the French Open, after coming through the qualifying draw, she won her first Grand Slam main-draw match over Frenchwoman Mathilde Johansson in straight sets. She then continued her form by upsetting both, Gisela Dulko and Akgul Amanmuradova. She lost to world No. 5, Elena Dementieva in the fourth round in two sets. As a result of this performance, she was awarded a wildcard into the main draw of Wimbledon, where she lost in the first round to ninth seed and eventual quarter-finalist Li Na.
In 2011, she made the third round of the Australian Open. Following modest results for much of the rest of the year, Scheepers reached the third round of the US Open, where she even held match points against Francesca Schiavone before losing the match in three sets. Following that, she won her first WTA single titles at Guangzhou, China as the seventh seed defeating the eighth seed Magdaléna Rybáriková of Slovakia 6–2, 6–2 in the final. Chanelle achieved her career-high singles rank of world No. 37 following the tournament. On 13 July 2012, Scheepers lost to Serena Williams in the Stanford Classic.
In July 2012, she reached the second round of Mercury Insurance Open, Carlsbad losing to Varvara Lepchenko.
At the 2013 Wimbledon Championships, she teamed with Shuko Aoyama to advance to the semifinals in women's doubles.
In 2015, after the Family Cup in Charleston, she retired from the WTA Tour and later started coaching American tennis player Alison Riske.
Personal life
Scheepers married Roger Anderson, her former coach, on 10 November 2012, in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.
WTA career finals
Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
| Winner |
|---|
| Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) |
| Tour Championships (0–0) |
| Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (0–0) |
| Premier (0–0) |
| International (1–1) |
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1. | 24 September 2011 | Guangzhou International Women's Open | Hard | Magdaléna Rybáriková | 6–2, 6–2 |
| Runner-up | 1. | 20 July 2014 | Swedish Open, Båstad | Clay | Mona Barthel | 3–6, 6–7 |
Doubles: 5 (1 title, 4 runner-ups)
| Legend |
|---|
| Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) |
| Tour Championships (0–0) |
| Tier I / Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (0–0) |
| Tier II / Premier (0–0) |
| Tier III, IV & V / International (1–4) |
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runner-up | 1. | 18 October 2009 | HP Open, Osaka, Japan | Hard | Abigail Spears | Lisa Raymond Chuang Chia-jung | 2–6, 4–6 |
| Runner-up | 2. | 3 August 2012 | Citi Open, Washington, D.C. | Hard | Irina Falconi | Shuko Aoyama Chang Kai-chen | 5–7, 2–6 |
| Winner | 1. | 25 May 2013 | Internationaux de Strasbourg, France | Clay (red) | Kimiko Date-Krumm | Cara Black Marina Erakovic | 6–4, 3–4, [14–12] |
| Runner-up | 3. | 22 February 2014 | Rio Open, Brazil | Clay | Johanna Larsson | Irina-Camelia Begu María Irigoyen | 2–6, 0–6 |
| Runner-up | 4. | 12 April 2014 | Copa Colsanitas, Bogotá | Clay | Vania King | Lara Arruabarrena Caroline Garcia | 6–7, 4–6 |
Grand Slam performance timelines
Singles
| Tournament | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | SR | W–L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | LQ | A | LQ | A | A | A | 1R | LQ | 3R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 0 / 6 | 2–6 |
| French Open | LQ | A | LQ | A | A | LQ | 1R | 4R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 1R | A | 0 / 6 | 5–6 |
| Wimbledon | LQ | A | LQ | A | A | A | LQ | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | A | 0 / 5 | 1–5 |
| US Open | LQ | A | LQ | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | 1R | 3R | 1R | 2R | 1R | A | 0 / 5 | 3–5 |
| Win–Loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 3–3 | 5–4 | 1–4 | 1–4 | 1–4 | 0–1 | 0 / 22 | 11–22 |
Doubles
| Tournament | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | SR | W–L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | A | A | 1R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 0 / 4 | 2–4 |
| French Open | A | 1R | A | 1R | 1R | A | 0 / 3 | 0–3 |
| Wimbledon | 3R | 2R | 2R | SF | 2R | A | 0 / 5 | 9–5 |
| US Open | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | A | 0 / 5 | 1–5 |
| Win–Loss | 2–2 | 1–3 | 2–3 | 5–4 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0 / 17 | 12–17 |
ITF finals
Singles: 18 (12–6)
| $100,000 tournaments |
| $75,000 tournaments |
| $50,000 tournaments |
| $25,000 tournaments |
| $10,000 tournaments |
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1. | 27 May 2001 | Durban, South Africa | Hard | Lara Van Looyen | 7–5, 6–2 |
| Winner | 2. | 3 June 2001 | Durban, South Africa | Hard | Lara Van Looyen | 4–6, 6–3, 7–6 |
| Winner | 3. | 21 July 2001 | Evansville, United States | Hard | Kristen Schlukebir | 6–1, 6–3 |
| Runner-up | 1. | 10 June 2002 | Vaduz, Liechtenstein | Clay | Myriam Casanova | 1–6, 3–6 |
| Runner-up | 2. | 17 June 2002 | Lenzerheide, Switzerland | Clay | Eva Birnerová | 5–7, 4–6 |
| Winner | 4. | 14 October 2002 | Mackay, Australia | Hard | Amanda Grahame | 7–6, 7–5 |
| Winner | 5. | 22 February 2004 | Benin City, Nigeria | Hard | Meghha Vakaria | 6–1, 6–3 |
| Winner | 6. | 29 February 2004 | Benin City, Nigeria | Hard | Susanne Aigner | 6–1, 4–6, 6–4 |
| Runner-up | 3. | 5 April 2004 | Torre del Greco, Italy | Clay | Emma Laine | 6–3, 4–6, 0–6 |
| Runner-up | 4. | 17 June 2004 | Pétange, Luxembourg | Clay | Stanislava Hrozenská | 7–6, 1–6, 4–6 |
| Runner-up | 5. | 10 October 2004 | Lagos, Nigeria | Hard | Sania Mirza | 6–4, 6–7, 5–7 |
| Winner | 7. | 22 November 2004 | Pretoria, South Africa | Hard | Lizaan du Plessis | 6–1, 6–3 |
| Winner | 8. | 28 November 2004 | Pretoria, South Africa | Hard | Karoline Borgersen | 6–1, 6–3 |
| Runner-up | 6. | 4 June 2007 | Hilton Head, United States | Hard | Angela Haynes | 6–3, 2–6, 4–6 |
| Winner | 9. | 11 June 2007 | Allentown, United States | Hard | Angela Haynes | 6–2, 2–6, 6–1 |
| Winner | 10. | 17 December 2007 | Lagos, Nigeria | Hard | Zuzana Kučová | 6–2, 6–0 |
| Runner-up | 6. | 26 January 2009 | Laguna Niguel, United States | Hard | Alexa Glatch | 1–6, 0–6 |
| Winner | 11. | 16 March 2009 | Irapuato, Mexico | Hard | Natalia Rizhonkova | 6–1, 7–5 |
| Winner | 12. | 15 March 2010 | Fort Walton Beach, United States | Hard | Sophie Ferguson | 7–5, 7–5 |
Doubles: 36 (20–16)
| $100,000 tournaments |
| $75,000 tournaments |
| $50,000 tournaments |
| $25,000 tournaments |
| $10,000 tournaments |
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runner-up | 1. | 11 June 2000 | Pretoria, South Africa | Hard | Carien Venter | Natalie Grandin Nicole Rencken | 6–7, 2–6 |
| Winner | 1. | 3 June 2001 | Durban, South Africa | Hard | Lara Van Rooyen | Maretha van Niekerk Karin Vermeulen | 7–6, 6–0 |
| Winner | 2. | 10 June 2001 | Durban, South Africa | Hard | Lara Van Rooyen | Marcela Evangelista Letícia Sobral | 6–2, 6–2 |
| Winner | 3. | 24 June 2001 | Algiers, Algeria | Clay | Karin Vermeulen | Evghenia Ablovatchi Lenka Tvarošková | 7–6, 6–4 |
| Winner | 4. | 1 July 2001 | Algiers, Algeria | Clay | Karin Vermeulen | Isabel Collischonn Marnie Mahler | 7–5, 6–2 |
| Runner-up | 2. | 25 Nov 2002 | Mount Gambier, Australia | Hard | Jane O'Donoghue | Daniella Dominikovic Evie Dominikovic | w/o |
| Winner | 5. | 30 March 2003 | Rabat, Morocco | Clay | Daniela Klemenschits | Helena Ejeson Helena Norfeldt | 6–3, 6–2 |
| Runner-up | 3. | 28 February 2004 | Benin City, Nigeria | Hard | Jennifer Schmidt | Zuzana Cerna Franziska Etzel | 0–6, 7–5, 3–6 |
| Winner | 6. | 7 March 2004 | Benin City, Nigeria | Hard | Alanna Broderick | Zuzana Cerna Franziska Etzel | 6–2, 6–2 |
| Winner | 7. | 11 April 2004 | Torre del Greco, Italy | Clay | Jolanda Mens | Michelle Gerards Marielle Hoogland | 6–3, 6–0 |
| Runner-up | 4. | 9 October 2004 | Lagos, Nigeria | Hard | Surina De Beer | Shelley Stephens Sania Mirza | 1–6, 4–6 |
| Winner | 8. | 16 October 2004 | Lagos, Nigeria | Hard | Surina De Beer | Shelley Stephens Sania Mirza | 6–0, 6–0 |
| Winner | 9. | 3 December 2004 | Pretoria, South Africa | Hard | Melissa Berry | Karoline Borgersen Leonie Mekel | 6–2, 3–6, 7–5 |
| Winner | 10. | 15 January 2006 | Tampa, United States | Hard | Aleke Tsoubanos | Chan Chin-Wei Hsu Wen-hsin | 3–6, 7–6, 6–3 |
| Runner–up | 5. | 22 Jan 2006 | Fort Walton Beach, United States | Hard | Zuzana Kučová | Maureen Drake Vladimíra Uhlířová | 6–2, 4–6, 5–7 |
| Runner-up | 6. | 5 March 2006 | Clearwater, United States | Hard | Natalie Grandin | Kelly Liggan Lina Stančiūtė | 3–6, 1–6 |
| Runner-up | 7. | 9 April 2006 | Pelham, United States | Clay | Tiffany Dabek | Tetiana Luzhanska Romana Tedjakusuma | 4–6, 1–6 |
| Winner | 11. | 23 May 2006 | Grado, Italy | Clay | Tiffany Dabek | Mailyne Andrieux Nika Ožegović | 6–4, 4–6, 7–6 |
| Winner | 12. | 12 June 2006 | Gorizia, Italy | Clay | Soledad Esperón | Matilde Muñoz Gonzalves Sílvia Soler Espinosa | 6–4, 6–3 |
| Runner-up | 8. | 8 October 2006 | Troy, United States | Hard | Neha Uberoi | Nicole Kriz Leanne Baker | 7–6, 5–7, 3–6 |
| Runner-up | 9. | 29 October 2006 | Augusta, United States | Hard | Neha Uberoi | Nicole Kriz Leanne Baker | 6–7, 1–6 |
| Runner-up | 10. | 31 October 2006 | Mexico City, Mexico | Hard | Maria Fernanda Alves | María José Argeri Letícia Sobral | 3–6, 5–7 |
| Winner | 13. | 6 March 2007 | Toluca, Mexico | Hard | Courtney Nagle | María Irigoyen Andrea Benítez | 6–2, 1–6, 6–2 |
| Runner-up | 11. | 13 March 2007 | Mérida, Mexico | Hard | Robin Stephenson | Maria Fernanda Alves Vanina García Sokol | 3–6, 2–6 |
| Winner | 14. | 20 March 2007 | Coatzacoalcos, Mexico | Hard | Robin Stephenson | Līga Dekmeijere Story Tweedie-Yates | 6–2, 6–2 |
| Runner-up | 12. | 29 April 2007 | Sea Island, United States | Clay | Anda Perianu | Raquel Kops-Jones Lilia Osterloh | 5–7, 3–6 |
| Winner | 15. | 13 October 2007 | Saltillo, Mexico | Hard | Soledad Esperón | Debbrich Feys Leonie Mekel | 6–0, 6–4 |
| Winner | 16. | 20 October 2007 | San Luis Potosí, Mexico | Hard | Debbrich Feys | Estefanía Craciún Betina Jozami | 6–1, 6–4 |
| Winner | 17. | 15 December 2007 | Lagos, Nigeria | Hard | Kelly Anderson | Iryna Brémond Ágnes Szatmári | 0–6, 6–3, [10–8] |
| Winner | 18. | 22 December 2007 | Lagos, Nigeria | Hard | Kelly Anderson | Iryna Brémond Ágnes Szatmári | 1–6, 6–3, [10–6] |
| Runner–up | 13. | 21 March 2008 | Noida, India | Hard | Kelly Anderson | Teodora Mirčić Lenka Tvarošková | 2–6, 7–6 , [6–10] |
| Runner–up | 14. | 18 May 2008 | Saint-Gaudens, France | Clay | Aurélie Védy | Hsieh Su-wei Marie-Ève Pelletier | 4–6, 0–6 |
| Runner–up | 15. | 21 March 2009 | Irapuato, Mexico | Hard | Soledad Esperón | Jorgelina Cravero Veronica Spiegel | 1–6, 0–6 |
| Winner | 19. | 17 May 2009 | Saint-Gaudens, France | Clay | Rika Fujiwara | Kimiko Date-Krumm Sun Tiantian | 7–5, 6–4 |
| Winner | 20. | 20 March 2010 | Fort Walton Beach, United States | Hard | Johanna Larsson | Christina Fusano Courtney Nagle | 2–6, 7–6, [10–7] |
| Runner-up | 16. | 1 November 2010 | Grapevine, United States | Hard | Julie Ditty | Ahsha Rolle Mashona Washington | 7–5, 2–6, 2–6 |