Tamarine Tanasugarn

Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thai: แทมมารีน ธนสุกาญจน์, rtgs: Thæmmārīn Thans̄ukāỵcn̒,[tʰɛːmmāːrīːn tʰánásùkāːn]; born 24 May 1977) is a former professional Thai tennis player. She was born in Los Angeles, United States, and turned professional in 1994. She has been in the top 20 in both singles and doubles.
Tanasugarn's highest Women's Tennis Association (WTA) world ranking was no. 19, achieved on 13 May 2002, which is the highest ranking ever achieved for a Thai female player. She has won four singles titles and five doubles titles. She was briefly a doubles partner with Maria Sharapova, with whom she won two titles in 2003. Her highest world doubles ranking was no. 15, which she achieved on 13 September 2004. With Liezel Huber, she reached the 2004 US Open doubles quarterfinals, and at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, she reached the women's doubles semifinal with Marina Erakovic. Her biggest success so far came in 2008, when she reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.
In her career, Tanasugarn has defeated former and current no. 1 players, including Amélie Mauresmo, Jennifer Capriati, Jelena Janković, and Dinara Safina. She has also beaten Australian Open and French Open champion Mary Pierce.
Tanasugarn is regarded as a grass-court specialist; she has won most matches on the surface including two grass-court International titles. Tanasugarn at some point held the record of the most singles matches won on grass court among WTA active players. As of 8 July 2013, she was second (with 84 wins) among active players, and 12th on the all-time list.
Tanasugarn is also a regular competitor for the Thailand Fed Cup team, helping the team join the World Group II in 2005 and 2006, after beating Australia and Croatia in their play-off matches.

Tanasugarn produces her best game and strategy when she performs on grass. Tanasugarn is also known for her accurate flat ground strokes and a heavy slice serve for which are particularly effective on grass, Venus Williams has given an interview regarding Tanasugarn's game after their quarterfinal match in 2008 Wimbledon Championships "I think her game is really suited for the grass. Her serve is a slice that turns into you and it stays low. Her shots are really, really low to the ground. A lot of time I think I was battling just to stay down on the shots, and I felt good when I got one up in my strike zone". Kim Clijsters has once described Tanasugarn as a "Tricky Player". Tanasugarn's weakness has always been her serve.

Tanasugarn is currently coached by her best friend Andreea Ehritt-Vanc.

Junior

During her junior career, her expenses were provided by her father, Virachai Tanasugarn, a lawyer who was once a Thai basketball player and who inspired Tanasugarn to become a professional tennis player. At 17, Tanasugarn reached her Junior Grand Slam final at Wimbledon in 1995 with a win over Anna Kournikova in the semifinal, but lost to Poland's Aleksandra Olsza, 5–7, 6–7, in the final.

1994–1999

Tanasugarn turned pro in 1994, but made her WTA debut in the 1993 Pattaya Women's Open, in which she lost to Australian Rennae Stubbs, 4–6, 6–7(3–7). The following year. she made the second round in the same tournament by beating world no. 44, Marianne Werdel Witmeyer in the first round, 1–6, 7–5, 7–5. In 1995, Tanasugarn started participating in Grand Slams, but did not make it beyond the qualifying rounds. In 1996, Tanasugarn played her first WTA final at the Pattaya Women's Open, in which she lost to Ruxandra Dragomir, 6–7(4–7), 4–6. In 1997, she reached the third round of the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, beating Chanda Rubin in the first round. She reached a semifinal at Hobart and ended the year with a no. 46 ranking.

1998, Tanasugarn reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam in the Australian Open by defeating the reigning French Open Champion and world no. 6 Iva Majoli, 6–0, 6–2, in the third round. Tanasugarn also made her second fourth round of the year at Wimbledon, where she eventually lost to Martina Hingis. In 1999, she reached the fourth round at Wimbledon for a second time by defeating Frenchwoman Sandrine Testud, 6–2, 1–6, 6–3, in the third round. Tanasugarn ended the year ranked no. 72.

2000–2004

Tanasugarn partnered with Paradorn Srichaphan at the Hopman Cup in 2000. Tanasugarn beat Jelena Dokić of Australia, Barbara Schett of Austria, Ai Sugiyama of Japan, and Henrieta Nagyová of Slovakia. However, Tanasugarn lost in the women's singles final to Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, 6–3, 4–6, 4–6, having led 6–3, 3–0. In the men's singles final Paradorn Srichaphan lost to Wayne Ferreira, 6–7(12–14), 3–6. This result made them the first Asian team to reach the finals at the Hopman Cup. Tanasugarn reached her second WTA final at Birmingham with a win over Julie Halard-Decugis, but lost to Lisa Raymond. She also lost in the fourth round at Wimbledon to Serena Williams. Tanasugarn reached three semifinals at the Japan Open Tennis Championships, Kuala Lampur, and Shanghai. She represented Thailand in the 2000 Summer Olympics, but was defeated by Venus Williams. Her year-end ranking was no. 29, her first time in the top 30.

In 2001 Tanasugarn had her second and third top-ten wins against Nathalie Tauziat at Eastbourne and Amélie Mauresmo at Wimbledon and reached her third career final at Japan Open Tennis Championships, losing to Monica Seles, 3–6, 2–6. At the end of the season Tanasugarn was ranked in the top 30.

In 2002 Tanasugarn achieved her best ranking by reaching the fourth and fifth major finals at Canberra, losing to Isarael's Anna Smashnova, and at Doha, losing to Monica Seles, and the quarterfinals at the Toray Pan Pacific Open. On 13 May, Tanasugarn was ranked no. 19 in the world, her best career ranking to date. Tanasugarn ended the year ranked no. 28.

In 2003, Tanasugarn won her first tour major in Hyderabad, where she beat Maria Kirilenko in the quarterfinals, the Flavia Pennetta in the semifinals, and Iroda Tulyaganova from Uzbekistan in the final, 6–4, 6–4. Tanasugarn reached her second tier I quarterfinal in the Toray Pan Pacific Open, beating Silvia Farina Elia, but lost to Lindsay Davenport in two sets. Tanasugarn suffered her earliest exit at Wimbledon since she turned pro, losing to Akiko Morigami in the first round. Tanasugarn reached the fourth round at the US Open for the first time, beating Rita Grande, Patty Schnyder, and ninth seed Daniela Hantuchová. She lost to Amélie Mauresmo in two sets in the following round. Tanasugarn was ranked no. 34 at the end of the year.

In 2004, Tanasugarn reached her sixth fourth round at Wimbledon, although she lost to Ai Sugiyama in two sets. Tanasugarn was also a semifinalist in the Japan Open Tennis Championships, losing to Maria Sharapova.

2005–2007

Tanasugarn had to deal with multiple injuries, which affected most of her year in 2005. Her ranking dropped out of the top 100, and she played in Challenger-level tournaments to collect points.

In 2006, she once mentioned retiring from tennis, but, after she qualified to play in the main draw of Wimbledon and reached the third round, she decided to give it another shot. Tanasugarn reached her home country tournament final again in the PTT Bangkok Open, facing Vania King, and was two games away from taking the title. Leading in the final set 4–2, King fought back to win the match. Despite losing the match, Tanasugarn regained some confidence to get back to the tour. She finished that year ranked no. 75.

Unfortunately Tanasugarn still struggled with injuries in 2007 and had to play in many Challengers, ending the season ranked no. 124.

2008

Tanasugarn made a successful comeback in 2008. She decided to skip the clay-court season due to her difficulty playing on that surface and chose to play in hard-court Challengers she thought were more like grass. Tanasugarn won the singles title at the 2008 Kangaroo Cup in Gifu, defeating former world no. 4 Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan.

In the grass-court season, Tanasugarn beat the Austrian seed, Tamira Paszek, in Birmingham, but lost to Bethanie Mattek in the fourth round. A week later, Tanasugarn stunned many tennis fans at the Ordina Open when, ranked no. 85, she beat Kateryna Bondarenko, Ashley Harkleroad, Michaëlla Krajicek, and Alona Bondarenko to reach her eighth major final, beating the French Open runner-up Dinara Safina in two sets. She reached her seventh fourth round at Wimbledon, beating Petra Cetkovská, Vera Zvonareva and Marina Erakovic en route, and surprised the world no. 3, Jelena Janković with a two-set defeat in the fourth round. Despite making her Grand Slam quarterfinal debut, she lost to the eventual champion Venus Williams, 4–6, 3–6. Tanasugarn became the first Thai player to make a Grand Slam quarterfinal. Tanasugarn ended 2008 ranked no. 35, her best ranking in four years.

2009

Yaroslava Shvedova and Tamarine Tanasugarn in 2009 Pattaya Women's Open doubles final match

Tanasugarn was seeded 32nd in the Australian, Open, but lost early to María José Martínez Sánchez, 5–7, 3–6. She played in the Fed Cup for Thailand, losing to Samantha Stosur, 6–4, 5–7, 0–6, leaving Thailand in third place in the Asia/Oceania group, after Australia and New Zealand. Tanasugarn lost to Sania Mirza in straight sets in the quarterfinals of the Pattaya Women's Open. In doubles, she partnered Yaroslava Shvedova, and the team, seeded second, got into the final and won the match, beating Yuliya Beygelzimer and Vitalia Diatchenko, 6–3, 6–2.

At the 2009 French Open, Tanasugarn defeated Camille Pin, 6–3, 5–7, 7–5, in the first round. In the second round, she was beaten by eighth seed, and defending champion, Ana Ivanovic, 1–6, 2–6.

Tamarine Tanasugarn serving to Dinara Safina in their semifinal match at the Ordina Open

Tanasugarn started playing on grass courts at the 2009 Aegon Classic. In the first round, she defeated Julie Coin in straight sets, 7–6(1), 6–1. In the second round, Tanasugarn spent 2 hours 23 minutes on court, eventually losing to home favourite Naomi Cavaday in three sets, 6–7(5), 6–2, 4–6. In 's-Hertogenbosch. As defending champion, Tanasugarn defeated Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová and seventh seeded Iveta Benešová to reach the quarterfinals. There, she recovered from a set down to defeat third seeded Flavia Pennetta, 2–6, 6–3, 6–3. In the semifinals, Tanasugarn defeated Dinara Safina in straight sets, 7–5, 7–5. It was Tanasugarn's first career win over a reigning world no. 1. In the final, she beat Yanina Wickmayer, 6–3, 7–5, to successfully defend her title.

At Wimbledon Tanasugarn had an arm injury and lost to Arantxa Parra Santonja in the first round, 4–6, 4–6. Tanasugarn played the mixed doubles event for the first time, partnering with Rogier Wassen, but she scratched in the second round because of her injury.

Tanasugarn came back after her arm injury at the 2009 US Open, but lost to Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia in the first round, 3–6, 5–7.

2010

Tanasugarn started the year by playing at the Australian Open. She won her first Grand Slam first-round match in five years, with a 6–1, 7–6 victory over Sesil Karatantcheva, but lost to Kim Clijsters in the second round, 3–6, 3–6. At the PTT Pattaya Open, Tanasugarn worked her way past Alla Kudryavtseva, 6–1, 6–1, second seed Sabine Lisicki, 6–3, 3–6, 7–5, Anna Chakvetadze, 6–1, 6–4, and Sesil Karatantcheva, 6–2, 6–0. She finally lost to top seed and defending champion, Vera Zvonareva in a dramatic final, 4–6, 4–6.

Tanasugarn and her New Zealand partner Marina Erakovic won the PTT Pattaya Open doubles title, beating Anna Chakvetadze and Ksenia Pervak, 7–5, 6–1, giving Tanasugarn a successful defence of her homeland doubles title. Tanasugarn's next scheduled tournament was the Malaysian Open, where she lost to seventh seed Magdaléna Rybáriková in the first round, 5–7, 3–6. At the American fortnight tours, she entered the main draw in Indian Wells as a lucky loser and advanced into the second round, before losing to 19th seed Aravane Rezaï. In Miami, she lost to Pauline Parmentier in the final qualifying round. She also played several ITF tournaments in April, reaching the finals in Johannesburg.

After the middle of April, Tanasugarn did not play any tournaments and withdrew in Strasbourg due to an elbow injury. At Roland Garros, she lost to Daniela Hantuchová in the first round. Tanasugarn began playing her favourite surface, grass, at the Aegon Classic in Birmingham, surviving into the second round against Sania Mirza, 4–6, 7–5, 6–1, after Mirza failed to serve out the match at 5–4 and 30–0. She lost to Yanina Wickmayer in the next round, 4–6, 4–6. Tanasugarn then competed at the UNICEF Open in 's-Hertogenbosch, but was defeated in the first round. Tanasugarn suffered a first-round loss at Wimbledon and missed the US Open due to injuries. She won her fourth WTA title at Osaka, defeating Marion Bartoli en route and Kimiko Date-Krumm in the final.

2011

Despite losing in qualifying stages of Wimbledon with her partner Marina Erakovic, the doubles team received a lucky loser berth into the main draw and advanced to the semifinals with a 4–6, 7–6(1), 13–11 victory over third seeds Lisa Raymond and Liezel Huber. It was the first time that Tanasugarn (as well as Erakovic) had advanced to the semifinals of a Grand Slam event in any capacity.

2016- Retirement

She announced her retirement from professional tennis in June 2016.

Singles: 11 (4–7)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	18 November 1996	Pattaya Women's Open, Pattaya City, Thailand	Hard	Ruxandra Dragomir	6–7(4–7), 4–6
Runner-up	2.	12 June 2000	DFS Classic, Birmingham, United Kingdom	Grass	Lisa Raymond	2–6, 7–6(9–7), 4–6
Runner-up	3.	1 October 2001	Japan Open Tennis Championships, Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Monica Seles	3–6, 2–6
Runner-up	4.	7 January 2002	Richard Luton Properties Canberra International, Canberra, Australia	Hard	Anna Smashnova	5–7, 6–7(2–7)
Runner-up	5.	11 February 2002	Qatar Total Open, Doha, Qatar	Hard	Monica Seles	6–7(6–8), 3–6
Winner	6.	9 February 2003	AP Tourism Hyderabad Open, Hyderabad, India	Hard	Iroda Tulyaganova	6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	7.	9 October 2006	PTT Bangkok Open, Bangkok, Thailand	Hard	Vania King	6–2, 4–6, 4–6
Winner	8.	21 June 2008	Ordina Open, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Dinara Safina	7–5, 6–3
Winner	9.	20 June 2009	Ordina Open, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Yanina Wickmayer	6–3, 7–5
Runner-up	10.	14 February 2010	PTT Pattaya Open, Pattaya City, Thailand	Hard	Vera Zvonareva	4–6, 4–6
Winner	11.	17 October 2010	HP Open, Osaka, Japan	Hard	Kimiko Date-Krumm	7–5, 6–7(4–7), 6–1

Doubles: 16 (8–8)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1.	11 January 1998	ASB Classic, Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	Nana Miyagi	Julie Halard-Decugis Janette Husárová	6–4, 7–5
Runner-up	1.	16 August 1998	LA Women's Tennis Championships, Los Angeles, United States	Hard	Elena Tatarkova	Martina Hingis Natasha Zvereva	6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	2.	27 February 2000	Regions Morgan Keegan Championships and the Cellular South Cup, Oklahoma, United States	Hard	Elena Tatarkova	Kimberly Po-Messerli Corina Morariu	6–4, 4–6, 6–2
Winner	2.	22 October 2000	China Open, Shanghai, China	Hard	Lilia Osterloh	Rita Grande Meghann Shaughnessy	7–5, 6–1
Winner	3.	24 September 2001	Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic, Bali, Indonesia	Hard	Evie Dominikovic	Janet Lee Wynne Prakusya	7–6(1), 6–4
Runner-up	3.	14 October 2001	China Open, Shanghai, China	Hard	Evie Dominikovic	Lenka Němečková Liezel Huber	6–0, 7–5
Runner-up	4.	21 September 2003	China Open, Shanghai, China	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Émilie Loit Nicole Pratt	6–3, 6–3
Winner	4.	5 October 2003	Japan Open Tennis Championships, Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Maria Sharapova	Ansley Cargill Ashley Harkleroad	7–6(1), 6–0
Winner	5.	26 October 2003	Fortis Championships Luxembourg, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Hard (i)	Maria Sharapova	Elena Tatarkova Marlene Weingärtner	6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	5.	8 August 2004	Rogers Cup, Montreal, Canada	Hard	Liezel Huber	Ai Sugiyama Shinobu Asagoe	6–0, 6–3
Runner-up	6.	2 November 2008	Bell Challenge, Quebec City, Canada	Hard (i)	Jill Craybas	Anna-Lena Grönefeld Vania King	7–6(3), 6–4
Winner	6.	15 February 2009	Pattaya Women's Open, Pattaya City, Thailand	Hard	Yaroslava Shvedova	Yulia Beygelzimer Vitalia Diatchenko	6–3, 6–2
Winner	7.	14 February 2010	PTT Pattaya Open, Pattaya City, Thailand	Hard	Marina Erakovic	Anna Chakvetadze Ksenia Pervak	7–5, 6–1
Winner	8.	22 September 2012	Guangzhou International Women's Open, Guangzhou, China	Hard	Zhang Shuai	Jarmila Gajdošová Monica Niculescu	2–6, 6–2, [10–8]
Runner-up	7.	7 April 2013	Monterrey Open, Monterrey, Mexico	Hard	Eva Birnerová	Tímea Babos Kimiko Date-Krumm	6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	8.	15 February 2015	PTT Thailand Open, Pattaya, Thailand	Hard	Shuko Aoyama	Chan Hao-ching Chan Yung-jan	6–2, 4–6, [3–10]