Madison Brengle

Madison Brengle (born April 3, 1990) is an American tennis player.

Her biggest success occurred in early 2015, reaching her first WTA Tour final in January, followed by a fourth round Grand-Slam appearance at the Australian Open. In May, her singles ranking reached a career-best of No. 35 in the world. Her greatest victory so far was in 2017 over world No. 2, Serena Williams. She has won one WTA 125K series singles title, 15 ITF singles titles, and seven ITF doubles titles.

In August 2007, she was ranked fourth in the world in juniors. Brengle then toiled for years in the ITF Women's Circuit. Over the course of 24 consecutive majors between 2008 and 2014, she failed to make it out of the pre-tournament qualifier. The streak ended when she earned a wild card for the 2014 US Open main draw, which she capitalized on for her first major match-win. Her ranking soon rose into the top 100 for the first time.

Brengle was born and raised in Dover, Delaware, and is Jewish. Her mother (Gaby née Gamberg) coaches her, her father is Dan Brengle, and her brother is David.

Brengle is what some coaches call a scrappy player, and her game is built around counter-punching and outlasting her opponents in long rallies while waiting for her opponent's error.When serving she uses an abbreviated service motion. Her forehand has a low follow-through.Sometimes on her backhand she will drive the ball flat, using a half-swing.Brengle moves quickly around the court, and is willing to battle to win her matches.

As a teenager, Brengle participated in an experimental USTA training regimen.

In 2006, she won the Easter Bowl doubles championships with Kristy Frilling, defeating Sanaz Marand and Ashley Weinhold in the final. In 2007, Brengle reached the 2007 Australian Open girls' singles final, before going down to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Brengle and Julia Cohen were the top seeds at the 2007 French Open girls' doubles competition, but the team lost in the first round.

Seeded seventh, Brengle lost in the final of the 2007 Wimbledon girls' singles competition to Urszula Radwańska, 2–6, 6–3, 6–0. Brengle and Chelsey Gullickson reached the Wimbledon girls' doubles semifinals before losing to top seeds and eventual champions Pavlyuchenkova and Radwańska. In August 2007, she was ranked fourth in the world in juniors.

Early years

2005 saw Brengle win her first ITF title, when, as a 15-year-old, she won a tournament in Baltimore. In the final, she defeated Beau Jones.

In 2007, Brengle received wild-card entries into two Grand Slam tournaments, losing in the first round both times. Accepted into the 2007 Australian Open women's draw, Brengle lost to ninth-seeded Patty Schnyder. She was allowed another wild card into the 2007 US Open, where she lost to Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Brengle and Ashley Weinhold were doubles wild cards, but lost in the first round of the doubles competition to eventual quarterfinalists Stéphanie Foretz and Yaroslava Shvedova.

Brengle won her first WTA match of the 2007 season by defeating former top-20 player Flavia Pennetta, before losing to Elena Dementieva in the following round. In addition, the American reached the second round of the 2007 French Open qualifying draw.

On the ITF circuit, Brengle reached three out of four singles finals in the first four months of the year. Brengle and Kristie Frilling won an ITF doubles title in Augusta, Georgia. In the final, the team defeated Angelina Gabueva and Alisa Kleybanova.

In 2008, Brengle received a wild card into the French Open (after winning a wild-card tournament), defeating Ahsha Rolle in the finals. The US Open and the French Open agreed to exchange wild cards in their respective tournaments.

In 2011, Brengle finally won her second ITF title at Hammond, LA. She also reached the final at another ITF event at Rancho Santa Fe, California. At College Park, she defeated recent Wimbledon third rounder Melinda Czink to win her first WTA match since Quebec City in 2009.

In 2012, Brengle won her third ITF title at Fort Walton Beach, Florida. She also won the doubles title with Paula Kania of Poland.

In 2013, she won her fourth ITF title at Rancho Santa Fe.

Brengle had a strong start to her 2014 season, qualifying through to the main draw at the Hobart International, but was narrowly defeated in the first round by top seed Samantha Stosur in a final-set tiebreak. The next week, she was in touching distance of a main-draw berth at the Australian Open, but lost to Irina-Camelia Begu in the final qualifying round. In July, she won the $50k Kentucky Bank Championships, beating Nicole Gibbs in the final. Later in the year, she was awarded a wild card into the main draw of the US Open, where she recorded her first ever Grand Slam win over Julia Glushko of Israel.

She moved into the top 100 for first time on September 29, 2014, after winning the $50k event Redrock Open in Las Vegas defeating Nicole Vaidišová, Kateryna Bondarenko and Michelle Larcher de Brito, all in straight sets.

2015-16: Breakthrough

At the 2015 Australian Open Brengle defeated the 13th-ranked Andrea Petkovic in the first round. Then, she won in straight sets against both Irina Falconi and CoCo Vandeweghe, eventually losing in the fourth round to Madison Keys, 2–6, 4–6. This was her best performance in a Grand Slam tournament so far. In Stuttgart, she defeated No. 4 ranked Petra Kvitová in straight sets. In May, her singles ranking reached a career-best of No. 35 in the world. She finished the 2015 season ranked No. 40. In 2016 in Dubai, she defeated No. 8 ranked Kvitová in three sets.

2017

Brengle began the season with an upset win over compatriot and world No. 2, Serena Williams, at the ASB Classic in Auckland, 6–4, 6–7, 6–4. Then, she won the $60k tournaments of Charlottesville and Charleston. At Wimbledon, she beat No. 12 ranked Petra Kvitová in the second round.

In 2016, Brengle was named to the Delaware Tennis Hall of Fame. She was the youngest person ever to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. That year, she was also the first tennis player granted the Delaware Sportswriters & Broadcasters Association's John J. Brady Delaware Athlete of the Year Award.

Singles

Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.

This table is current through the 2020 Australian Open.

Singles: 1 (1 runner–up)

Singles: 1 (1 title)

Singles: 25 (15 titles, 10 runner–ups)

Doubles: 12 (7 titles, 5 runner–ups)