Mandy Minella

Minella was born in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg, to parents Mario and Anna Minella and started playing tennis aged 5.

Early career (2000–2005)

In 2000, Minella debuted for the Luxembourg Fed Cup team, partnering Celine Francois in the doubles matches against Ukraine and Great Britain, losing both times. After again participating in Fed Cup in 2001 (where she won her first rubber), she began competing on the ITF Women's Circuit in the same year. In 2002, she received a qualifying wildcard into the WTA Tier III SEAT Open Luxembourg, losing the first round. She reached her first ITF tour singles final in 2003, losing to Liana-Gabriela Balaci in three sets.

She lost again in ITF finals in 2004 (in both singles and doubles at the same tournament in Napoli), before winning her first singles title in Zadar later that year. A year later she won her second title, in Gardone Val Trompia.

ITF tennis (2006–2010)

In 2006, she won an ITF tournament in Caserta, as well as being a finalist a week later (both matches versus Alisa Kleybanova). In 2009, three years later, she won her fourth ITF tournament, in Tessenderlo, Belgium. In 2010, Minella had more success on the ITF Women's Circuit, winning two $25,000 events, in Lutz, Florida and in Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany, and finishing runner-up at one in Laguna Niguel, California.

2010: US Open 3rd round

In the qualifying draw for the 2010 US Open, Minella won all three matches and lost just one set. In her first appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam, she beat world number 47 Polona Hercog to advance to the second round. She continued her good performance by defeating world number 34 and Wimbledon semifinalist Tsvetana Pironkova. In the third round, however, she lost to world number four Venus Williams.

2012: Another 3rd round appearance at US Open

Minella at the 2012 US Open

In 2012, Minella played her first Australian Open main draw. She was given direct entry, being ranked world number 110. She lost to American qualifier Jamie Hampton in the first round. She then went on to reach the final of a $100,000 ITF tournament in Cali. Despite defeating number one seed and world number 56 Marina Erakovic along the way, she lost the final to second seed Alexandra Dulgheru. She fared better in doubles, winning the title with Karin Knapp. As a result of her performances, Minella broke into the top-100 singles rankings for the first time. She then played at the 2012 Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas, losing in the first round. She reached the final in doubles; her first WTA final of any kind. At the 2012 Monterrey Open, she faced Frenchwoman Mathilde Johansson and won in three sets. She followed this up with a win over Kazakhstani wildcard Yaroslava Shvedova in a tight three-setter. Minella lost to second seed Sara Errani in her first WTA quarterfinal. At the Nürnberger Gastein tournament, Minella defeated Johanna Larsson in the quarterfinals to reach her first WTA semifinal (against Wickmayer). Minella reached the third round of Wimbledon 2012 doubles, alongside partner Govortsova, losing to Llagostera Vives and Martínez Sánchez.

2013: A pair of WTA doubles titles

Minella at the 2013 BNP Paribas Katowice Open

In 2013, Minella started her season at the 2013 Shenzhen Open, where she faced first seed Li Na but lost in straight sets. She then played the 2013 Moorilla Hobart International where she qualified for the main draw but lost to Monica Niculescu in the first round. In the doubles event she partnered Tímea Babos and went on to reach the final after the pair saved multiple match points in their first round match. They eventually lost to Garbiñe Muguruza and María Teresa Torró Flor in the final. Minella then continued her disappointing run of first round losses where she lost to Valeria Savinykh in the first round of the 2013 Australian Open. She partnered Megan Moulton-Levy in the doubles event and also saved multiple match points in their first round match, eventually going on to win. The pair then lost, however, in the second round. Minella then played the 2013 Open GDF Suez but suffered a first round loss in qualifying and another first round loss in doubles. She then went to play in the 2013 Copa Colsanitas where she had more positive results, reaching the quarterfinals in singles, beating Tatjana Malek and Tímea Babos before losing to Teliana Pereira. In the doubles event Minella again partnered Babos, going on to win the title; her first on the WTA tour. The pair did not drop a set all week.

Minella went on to play the 2013 Abierto Mexicano Telcel but lost to Silvia Soler Espinosa in the first round. She then lost out to Olga Govortsova at the 2013 BNP Paribas Open in a tight three-setter. At the 2013 Sony Open Tennis Minella lost in qualifying to junior player Kateřina Siniaková. In the doubles event she played with Babos once more, with the pair putting up a fight against the first seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci in the second round, but it wasn't enough to advance. Minella then suffered another first round loss at the 2013 Family Circle Cup to Italian Camila Giorgi. At the Katowice Open, Minella defeated Vesna Dolonc in the first round before falling to the first seed Petra Kvitová. Minella then went on to play the Marrakech Grand Prix, where she defeated Estrella Cabeza Candela in the first round, fourth seed Kaia Kanepi in the second, and Soler Espinosa in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals she lost to Lourdes Domínguez Lino; but won the doubles event with Tímea Babos.

Minella then continued her season playing an ITF tournament in France where she lost to Cabeza Candela in the quarterfinals. She played the 2013 French Open, suffering first round losses in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Minella then had a string of first round losses, including at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships to the world number one, Serena Williams. At the US Open she lost to Sloane Stephens in a tight match where she lost in a final set tiebreak, having been up a break in the third set.

Minella and Alexander Peya in the mixed doubles event at the 2013 French Open

Due to not being able to defend her third round points from the 2012 US Open, Minella's rank dropped to 132. Her next tournament would be the Tashkent Open, where she reached the semifinals in singles and was runner-up, partnering Olga Govortsova, in doubles.

Minella then suffered early losses in multiple tournaments including losses to Estrella Cabeza Candela, Casey Dellacqua, Belinda Bencic and Caroline Wozniacki. She then went on to play at the 2013 Internationaux Féminins de la Vienne where she defeated Donna Vekić in the first round, only to lose to eventual tournament champion Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the second.

Minella's last two tournaments were to be in North America where she played the 2013 Tevlin Women's Challenger defeating Élisabeth Fournier and Julia Boserup easily before falling to eventual champion Victoria Duval in the quarterfinals. She then went to her last tournament of the year at the 2013 South Seas Island Resort Women's Pro Classic, defeating Chieh-Yu Hsu, Allie Will, Boserup and Allie Kiick to reach the final where she played Gabriela Dabrowski, defeating her in straight sets.

In 2013, Minella won three matches 6–0, 6–0; against Kamilla Farhad, Julia Boserup and Allie Kiick.

2014: Injuries and inconsistency

In 2014, Minella started the year at the 2014 Brisbane International where she lost to Heather Watson in the first round of qualifying, but reached the semifinals in the doubles event partnering Chanelle Scheepers. Then, at the 2014 Apia International Sydney, Minella suffered a second successive qualifying loss at the first qualifying stage, this time at the hands of Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko.

Minella at the 2014 Wimbledon Championships

Minella scored her first win of the season at the 2014 Australian Open where she defeated German qualifier Carina Witthöft in straight sets, scoring her first win at a Grand Slam outside of the US Open, but her run was not to go further as she fell in the second round to 29th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets.

Minella then was forced to withdraw from events in Paris, Rio de Janeiro and Acapulco, as well as the Fed Cup due to an edema in her right arm, in which she had experienced pain whilst playing in Australia. She made her comeback at the 2014 BNP Paribas Open, losing to Allie Kiick in the first round of qualifying. She lost again at the first qualifying stage a fortnight later in Miami.

Minella had to take a couple of weeks off again due to the edema in her right arm and hoped to be back in Marrakech for the 2014 Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, but sat out a further week before playing at the $25,000 Wiesbaden Tennis Open in Germany, losing in the first round of singles, but making the final in doubles with Julia Glushko. The pair lost in straight sets to Viktorija Golubic and Diāna Marcinkēviča.

Minella encountered further first round loses at Cagnes-sur-Mer, Prague, the French Open and Marseille. She then won the $25,000 in Essen defeating Richèl Hogenkamp in the final, 6–2, 4–6, 6–3. Although the success on clay did not translate to success on grass as she encountered another first round loss in qualifying at the 2014 Wimbledon Championships to Shelby Rogers. Minella then went on to have success in the ITF tour reaching the semifinals of the $25,000 in Stuttgart, reaching the quarterfinals at the 2014 Lorraine Open 88 and the semifinals at the 2014 Open GDF Suez de Biarritz.

After having success on the ITF circuit, the success did not translate towards the WTA tour, suffering first round losses at the 2014 İstanbul Cup and the Jiangxi International Women's Tennis Open. Minella then went to play the 2014 US Open suffering a first round lose to Kateryna Kozlova in the first qualifying round. She had scheduled to play doubles at the US Open with Camila Giorgi but later withdrew.

Minella at Cagnes-sur-Mer

Minella started her Asian tour at the 2014 Tashkent Open where she was defending semifinal points but she failed to do so, losing in the first round to Donna Vekić 5–7, 0–6. The next stop in her Asian tour was at Seoul where she qualified for the main draw, defeating Choi Ji-hee, Hong Seung-yeon and Hsu Chieh-yu all in straight sets. In the main draw, she drew Belgian Yanina Wickmayer, but unfortunately lost 6–2, 4–6, 4–6. In the doubles event she partnered German Mona Barthel, the pair surprised the first seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan defeating them in straight sets. The pair continued their good form in the quarterfinals, making easy work of Elena Bogdan and Hiroko Kuwata, winning 6–0, 6–2. In the semifinals they overcame another Taiwanese pair Chan Chin-wei and Hsu Chieh-yu, coming back and winning 4–6, 6–4, [10–6]. The pair lost to Lara Arruabarrena and Irina-Camelia Begu in the final.

Minella then continued to lose in qualifying rounds in Beijing and Linz, but continued her success with Barthel in the doubles competition in Wuhan, Beijing and Linz winning a round in each. Minella's year ended in her home tournament in Luxembourg where she faced Barthel in the first round but lost in straight sets. Minella stated that her edema in the right arm obtained in January had still been hurting her, finishing the year in October.

2015: Continued inconsistency

In 2015, Minella went to Melbourne in mid-December to prepare early for the season. Her season started in Auckland where she had won two matches in qualifying over Barbora Krejčíková and Sharon Fichman, before falling at the last hurdle to Anna Tatishvili. She also had no luck in the doubles event, losing in the first round with Mona Barthel. Minella then headed to the 2015 Australian Open, but unfortunately lost in the first qualifying round to Paula Ormaechea, 3–6, 3–6. She fared better in the doubles event with Barthel, winning their first round against Oksana Kalashnikova and Kurumi Nara, 6–3, 7–5 but went down to the top seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci in the second round. Minella then went on to reach the quarterfinals at the 2015 McDonald's Burnie International, falling to eventual champion Daria Gavrilova. In her next tournaments Minella suffered early losses in qualifying of WTA events and in main draws of ITF events.

Minella at the 2015 French Open

At the 2015 Seguros Bolívar Open Medellín, Minella won the doubles title partnering Lourdes Domínguez Lino, defeating Mariana Duque and Julia Glushko in the final. She qualified for the 2015 Claro Open Colombia where she defeated Patricia Mayr-Achleitner in the first round before losing to Teliana Pereira. She continued her poor form in singles where she had a string of early losses in WTA and ITF draws as well as the mistake of forgetting to enter the 2015 French Open singles qualifying tournament. She however, only contested the doubles competition of the French Open, partnering Mona Barthel, but lost in the first round. At the 2015 Wimbledon Championships, Minella won her first career matches on grass, reaching the final qualifying round, defeating Amanda Carreras and Lourdes Domínguez Lino before losing to Laura Siegemund. Partnering Magda Linette, Minella had successfully qualified for the doubles competition, however the pair lost to Tímea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic in the first round, 4–6, 1–6. However, the poor form in Minella's 2015 season had continued, losing in the second round of the 2015 Lorraine Open 88, the first round of the 2015 Swedish Open and the 2015 Brasil Tennis Cup and in qualifying stages of the 2015 Odlum Brown Vancouver Open. At the 2015 US Open, Minella reached the second round of qualifying, defeating good friend Stefanie Vögele in the first round, 6–2, 7–5. In the second round, American Shelby Rogers was too strong, downing Minella 2–6, 3–6. In the doubles competition of the US Open Minella had no luck in the draw, partnering Kimiko Date-Krumm, the pair drew the 8th seeds Garbiñe Muguruza and Carla Suárez Navarro, going down 1–6, 5–7.

It was the latter part of the year where Minella began to turn her poor 2015 around, qualifying for the 2015 Coupe Banque Nationale, reaching the doubles final of the 2015 Internacional Femenil Monterrey and the quarterfinals of the 2015 Red Rock Pro Open. It was not until the 2015 Kirkland Tennis Challenger where Minella had gained her confidence. She won the singles and doubles title of the challenger, defeating players such as Sofia Arvidsson, Jovana Jakšić, Antonia Lottner, Jessica Pegula and Nicole Gibbs. In her second round match against Jakšić, Minella was down 4–6, 0–5, and had won the match 4–6, 7–5, 6–3, saving three match points along the way. This was Minella's second $50,000 title, her biggest to date. Minella's next tournament was the 2015 BGL Luxembourg Open, due to this being her home tournament she received a main draw wildcard into the singles event, however she had no luck in her draw once again, losing to former world number one Jelena Janković in the first round. She had more success in the doubles competition, where she partnered Julie Coin, reaching the quarterfinals. Minella's last tournament of the season was to be the 2015 Open de Limoges. Despite losing in qualifying to Anna Blinkova, Minella was a lucky loser into the main draw following Lesia Tsurenko's withdrawal. In the first round she managed to defeat Stefanie Vögele, 6–4, 6–2. However, she was not able to pass the second round, falling to former Roland Garros champion, Francesca Schiavone in straight sets. Despite the singles disappointment, Minella was able to finish her season on a high after winning the doubles competition partnering Barbora Krejčíková. This marked Minella's first tournament win on the WTA 125K series.

2016

In 2016, Minella started the year poorly, including a string of first round losses in Auckland, Melbourne and Launceston. At the 2016 Taiwan Open in Kaohsiung, she managed to score another WTA main draw win, defeating Naomi Osaka in the first round before falling to local favourite Hsieh Su-wei. However, Minella had no luck in her next few tournaments, bowing out in the first or second round of her next four events which included both ITF Challengers and WTA tournaments. In Fed Cup she began to turn the tide, boasting an unbeaten record in Europe/Africa Zone Group III, helping Luxembourg gain promotion to Group II in 2017 alongside teammates Claudine Schaul, Eléonora Molinaro and Merima Mujasevic. She had defeated top 200 players such as Maria Sakkari and Ons Jabeur.

Minella began her 2016 clay campaign in Prague, however there was no luck as she lost to Océane Dodin in the second qualifying round. A few more early losses in Cagnes-sur-Mer, Saint-Gaudens and Strasbourg had only given more worries to Minella's 2016 as she had failed to win back-to-back singles matches, excluding Fed Cup, for the entire year. This was not to change at the 2016 French Open though, as she lost to Klára Koukalová in the second round of qualifying. The 2016 Bol Open however proved to be a lucky charm for Minella as she started to turn her year around. This event saw her win her first WTA singles title in which she boasted wins over current top and former top 100 players Evgeniya Rodina, Varvara Lepchenko, Marina Erakovic, Ana Konjuh and Polona Hercog.

Minella was coached by Norbert Palmier from May 2008 until some time before March 2011, and is currently coached by Tim Sommer.

On 17 October 2014, Minella married her coach and boyfriend Tim Sommer in her home town of Esch-sur-Alzette.

Doubles (2–4)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	18 February 2012	Bogotá, Colombia	Clay	Stefanie Vögele	Eva Birnerová Alexandra Panova	2–6, 2–6
Runner-up	2.	12 January 2013	Hobart, Australia	Hard	Tímea Babos	Garbiñe Muguruza María Teresa Torró Flor	3–6, 6–7(5–7)
Winner	1.	23 February 2013	Bogotá, Colombia	Clay	Tímea Babos	Eva Birnerová Alexandra Panova	6–4, 6–3
Winner	2.	28 April 2013	Marrakech, Morocco	Clay	Tímea Babos	Petra Martić Kristina Mladenovic	6–3, 6–1
Runner-up	3.	14 September 2013	Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Hard	Olga Govortsova	Tímea Babos Yaroslava Shvedova	3–6, 3–6
Runner-up	4.	21 September 2014	Seoul, South Korea	Hard	Mona Barthel	Lara Arruabarrena Irina-Camelia Begu	3–6, 3–6

WTA 125K series finals

Singles (1–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	5 June 2016	Bol, Croatia	Clay	Polona Hercog	6–2, 6–3

Doubles (2–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	15 November 2015	Limoges, France	Hard (i)	Barbora Krejčíková	Margarita Gasparyan Oksana Kalashnikova	1–6, 7–5, [10–6]
Winner	2.	20 November 2016	Limoges, France	Hard (i)	Elise Mertens	Anna Smith Renata Voracova	6–4, 6–4

Singles (11–8)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	21 July 2003	Ancona, Italy	Clay	Liana Balaci	6–3, 3–6, 1–6
Runner-up	2.	29 March 2004	Napoli, Italy	Clay	Kirsten Flipkens	7–5, 3–6, 1–6
Winner	1.	17 May 2004	Zadar, Croatia	Clay	Matea Mezak	7–5, 5–7, 6–4
Winner	2.	1 August 2005	Gardone Val Trompia, Italy	Clay	Sandra Záhlavová	6–4, 6–3
Winner	3.	15 May 2006	Caserta, Italy	Clay	Alisa Kleybanova	6–2, 6–4
Runner-up	3.	22 May 2006	Campobasso, Italy	Clay	Alisa Kleybanova	6–2, 3–6, 3–6
Runner-up	4.	4 August 2008	Monteroni d'Arbia, Italy	Clay	Nathalie Vierin	1–6, 6–2, 6–7(5–7)
Winner	4.	13 April 2009	Tessenderlo, Belgium	Clay (i)	Youlia Fedossova	7–5, 6–3
Winner	5.	18 January 2010	Lutz, United States	Clay	Jamie Hampton	6–2, 4–6, 6–2
Runner-up	5.	8 February 2010	Laguna Niguel, United States	Hard	Olivia Sanchez	3–6, 4–6
Winner	6.	28 June 2010	Stuttgart, Germany	Clay	Elise Tamaëla	6–4, 6–2
Winner	7.	11 July 2011	Darmstadt, Germany	Clay	Karolína Plíšková	7–6(7–5), 6–2
Runner-up	6.	3 October 2011	Kōfu, Japan	Hard	Chang Kai-chen	4–6, 6–1, 4–6
Runner-up	7.	6 February 2012	Cali, Colombia	Clay	Alexandra Dulgheru	3–6, 6–1, 3–6
Runner-up	8.	9 July 2012	Biarritz, France	Clay	Romina Oprandi	5–7, 5–7
Winner	8.	4 November 2013	Captiva Island, United States	Hard	Gabriela Dabrowski	6–3, 6–3
Winner	9.	9 June 2014	Essen, Germany	Clay	Richèl Hogenkamp	6–2, 4–6, 6–3
Winner	10.	11 October 2015	Kirkland, United States	Hard	Nicole Gibbs	2–6, 7–5, 6–2
Winner	11.	25 September 2016	Albuquerque, United States	Hard	Verónica Cepede Royg	6-4, 7-5

Doubles (8–7)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	14 July 2003	Le Touquet, France	Clay	Pauline Parmentier	Natacha Randriantefy Aurélie Védy	2–6, 2–6
Winner	1.	29 March 2004	Napoli, Italy	Clay	Elke Clijsters	Michelle Gerards Marielle Hoogland	6–1, 6–0
Winner	2.	17 May 2004	Zadar, Croatia	Clay	Lisa Tognetti	Martina Babáková Michaela Michálková	w/o
Runner-up	2.	1 August 2005	Gardone Val Trompia, Italy	Clay	Petra Cetkovská	María Corbalán Sonia Iacovacci	w/o
Runner-up	3.	3 October 2005	Troy, United States	Hard	Salome Devidze	Julie Ditty Milagros Sequera	2–6, 2–6
Winner	3.	28 June 2010	Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany	Clay	Irena Pavlovic	Magdalena Kiszczyńska Erika Sema	6–3, 6–4
Winner	4.	27 June 2011	Cuneo, Italy	Clay	Stefanie Vögele	Eva Birnerová Vesna Dolonts	6–3, 6–2
Winner	5.	6 February 2012	Cali, Colombia	Clay	Karin Knapp	Alexandra Cadanțu Raluca Olaru	6–4, 6–3
Runner-up	4.	28 April 2014	Wiesbaden, Germany	Clay	Julia Glushko	Viktorija Golubic Diāna Marcinkēviča	4–6, 3–6
Winner	6.	10 April 2015	Medellín, Colombia	Clay	Lourdes Domínguez Lino	Mariana Duque Julia Glushko	7–5, 4–6, [10–5]
Runner-up	5.	27 September 2015	Monterrey, Mexico	Hard	Marina Melnikova	Ysaline Bonaventure Elise Mertens	4–6, 6–3, [9–11]
Winner	7.	10 October 2015	Kirkland, United States	Hard	Stephanie Foretz	Lesley Kerkhove Arantxa Rus	6–4, 4–6, [10–4]
Runner-up	6.	5 February 2016	Launceston, Australia	Hard	Nadiia Kichenok	You Xiaodi Zhu Lin	6–2, 5–7, [7–10]
Runner-up	7.	25 September 2016	Albuquerque, United States	Hard	Elise Mertens	Michaëlla Krajicek Maria Sanchez	2–6, 4–6
Winner	8.	17 December 2016	Dubai, UAE	Hard	Nina Stojanovic	Hsieh Su-Wei Valeria Savinykh	6–3, 3–6, [10–4]

Players who have been ranked World No. 1 are in boldface

Players who have been ranked in the World Top 10 are in italic

Singles

Doubles