Tamira Paszek

Tamira Shelah Paszek (born 6 December 1990 in Dornbirn) is an Austrian tennis player.
Paszek has won three singles titles on the WTA tour, as well as three singles and three doubles titles on the ITF circuit in her career. On 11 February 2013, she reached her best singles ranking of world number 26. On 6 May 2013, she peaked at world number 93 in the doubles rankings.

Paszek was introduced to tennis by her mother, Françoise Paszek, at age four-and-a-half. Her mother is a Chilean-born Austrian of Polish and French descent; and her father, Ariff Mohamed, a Tanzanian-born, Kenyan-raised Canadian of Indian descent. It is because of her maternal grandfather that Tamira has a Polish surname.

As a junior, Paszek was a finalist in the 2005 Girls' Singles Championship at Wimbledon and at the US Open – Girls' Singles in 2006.

In September 2005 she won her first title at an ITF tournament in Sofia. In October of the same year she received a wild card to appear at her first WTA tournament in Linz; she defeated Elena Vesnina in the first round and lost to Ana Ivanovic after a tough first set.

In 2006 she passed qualifications in Istanbul, where she lost in the second round to Catalina Castaño; and in Portorož at the Banka Koper Slovenia Open, where she won her first WTA title by defeating number 6 seed Maria Elena Camerin in straight sets. This was a career-first tour singles title in only her third tour main draw. That title made her the youngest tour singles titlist in 2006 and the seventh-youngest of all-time, the youngest winner being Tracy Austin. A month later, at the Zürich Open, she lost to Camerin in the second round of qualifying. She finished 2006 as world number 181 in the WTA rankings.

2007

Paszek started the 2007 WTA Tour at the Australian Open, where she qualified for the main draw and defeated top-40 player Séverine Brémond in straight sets in the first round, before losing to number 22 seed Vera Zvonareva.

After her loss to Li Na in the second round of the Miami Masters, Paszek broke into the top 100 of the WTA rankings. At the 2007 French Open she was defeated by Justine Henin in the second round.

At Paszek's first grass tournament of her career, she reached the third round in Birmingham, losing to Maria Sharapova in a tight match. At the 2007 Wimbledon Championships she reached the fourth round after beating two seeded players, number 17 seed Tatiana Golovin and number 12 seed Elena Dementieva; she then eventually lost to number 5 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets. The win pushed her up 19 places from number 54 to number 35, a career high and only a few spots from a guaranteed seeding at the US Open.

Paszek also participated at the Fed Cup for Austria in 2007. She won her first two matches in the group stage against Australia but lost both her matches in the World Group play-offs against Israel; a singles match against Shahar Pe'er and a doubles match, partnering Melanie Klaffner.

Paszek debuted on the 2007 US Open, reaching the fourth round, beating the number 24 and number 11 seeds, Francesca Schiavone and Patty Schnyder, on the way. She lost to the sixth seed, Anna Chakvetadze.

Paszek decided against defending her title in the Banka Koper Slovenia Open in Portorož, Slovenia, in favour of the larger China Open tournament in Beijing. However, she lost in the second round to fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva (whom she beat in Wimbledon) in less than an hour.

2008

At the 2008 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, Paszek made it to the semifinals, losing to veteran Lindsay Davenport. In the first round of the 2008 Australian Open, Paszek played third-seeded Jelena Janković of Serbia. Paszek easily won the first and Janković went on to win the second set. In the deciding set, Paszek led by two games and had three match points before Janković came back to win the three-hour match.

Following this she lost in the first round of Doha to Patty Schnyder. Then she competed for the first time as a seed in a tier 1 tournament at Indian Wells retiring in the third round to Casey Dellacqua. Then in Miami she was defeated by Anna Chakvetadze in the second round.

This started a losing streak of six straight matches running through the French Open and Wimbledon. At Wimbledon she lost her second marathon match of the year to Francesca Schiavone. It came to an end in Los Angeles where she defeated Aiko Nakamura only to lose to Flavia Pennetta in the second round.

On 31 July, Paszek beat world number one Ana Ivanovic in the third round of the Rogers Cup in Montreal in three sets. In the quarterfinals, she played Victoria Azarenka, to whom she lost. Then she lost in the first round of Cincinnati to Petra Cetkovská. At the US Open Paszek defeated the 23rd seed Maria Kirilenko, only then to lose to the lower ranked opponent Magdaléna Rybáriková.

Paszek was runner up in Bali. She reached the final after taking out the 7th seed Flavia Pennetta and the top seed Daniela Hantuchová. She lost the final against Patty Schnyder. She then withdrew from the Generali Ladies Linz due to injury.

2009

Paszek ended her professional relationship with coach Lari Passos and is now coached by Angel Giminez.

Paszek lost in the first round of the Australian Open to Australian wild card Jelena Dokić in three sets.

Paszek passed the first round at Indian Wells, winning in straight sets against Mara Santangelo, and lost in the second round against 21st seed Alisa Kleybanova.

2010

In January, Paszek lost in second round of qualifying in Auckland. After defeating Carly Gullickson she retired in her match against Rebecca Marino. Her next tournament was the 2010 Moorilla Hobart International. She scored a big win after defeating Roberta Vinci, but then lost to Gisela Dulko in a long three-setter.

Her next tournament was the 2010 Australian Open where she lost to Julia Görges in the first round. At the tournament in Paris, Paszek lost to eventual runner-up Lucie Šafářová. To reach the main draw at 2010 Dubai Tennis Championships, Paszek entered qualifying. She defeated Tsvetana Pironkova in first round, but then lost to Anna-Lena Grönefeld. After Dubai she entered at Indian Wells, but lost to Julie Coin. At the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open, Paszek defeated Anne Keothavong, but then lost to 22nd seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Paszek lost in early rounds of Marbella, Barcelona and Fes, and didn't enter the 2010 French Open. Instead, Paszek played the $25,000 ITF tournament in Izmir. She won that tournament, beating Çağla Büyükakçay. Her next tournament was ITF Budapest. She qualified, defeating Vanda Lukács and Jana Čepelová, and reached the second round, losing to Lenka Wienerová.

She then entered the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, qualified, but lost to Kurumi Nara in the second round.

She tried to qualify in Budapest defeating Eleni Daniilidou and Jessica Moore but lost to Andreja Klepač. Her next tournament was the 2010 ECM Prague Open where she entered qualifying. Paszek defeated Tadeja Majerič and then crushed first seed Anastasia Rodionova. She then lost to Liana Ungur. After losing the first set 6–2, Paszek went to play better, breaking Ungur serve and lead 2–0. On the other side Ungur came back broke twice to lead 3–2. Paszek then retired because of the heat and a stomach complaint. But, because Gisela Dulko withdrew, Paszek gained her chance to enter to the main draw. She faced Frenchwoman Alizé Cornet and lost in a match that lasted three hours and 40 minutes.

Paszek's next tournament was the 2010 Banka Koper Slovenia Open, where she defeated Jelena Kostanić Tošić for her first main draw win since Ponte Vedra Beach in 2009. She then faced Stefanie Vögele and lost.

After some bad losses in qualifying of the Premier tournaments, Paszek found her form in the 2010 US Open where she entered qualifying. She defeated Michaëlla Krajicek, Korea's Kim So-jing and Russia's Evgeniya Rodina to reach the main draw. In the final qualifying round, Paszek trailed Rodina 2–6 after the first set before coming back to win the second and blank the Russian in the third. In the first round of the main draw, she defeated 26th seed Lucie Šafářová, despite being three games behind in the second set. She lost to Chan Yung-jan in the second round.

Her next tournament was at the 2010 Bell Challenge. She defeated Marina Erakovic in the first and Jill Craybas in the second round. In her first quarterfinal of 2010 she defeated number 8 seed Sofia Arvidsson. She then crushed Christina McHale in the semifinal to book her place in the final, where she won the title by beating Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

2011

Paszek started 2011 ranked number 89 and lost in the first round of Auckland to Sofia Arvidsson. She qualified for Hobart and reached the second round of the main draw before falling to Jarmila Gajdošová. Prior to the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, Paszek had a standard year before she went on to reach the quarterfinals of Wimbledon for the first time in her career, defeating world number seven and sixth seed Francesca Schiavone (her first top 10 win of 2011) in an epic third round match that lasted three hours and 42 minutes. Paszek finally prevailed, hitting a total of 40 winners to 36 unforced errors. Paszek played Russian Ksenia Pervak in the fourth round. She went on winning, beating Pervak in three sets, reaching the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time. She played number four seed Victoria Azarenka in the quarterfinals. The match started on Court 1 but was moved to Centre Court after the first game due to rain. Paszek lost, however, in straight sets.

2012

Tamira Paszek in her Fed Cup singles match against Anett Kontaveit in Eilat, Israel, (February 2012)

Paszek began 2012 poorly, losing in the first round of the first five tournaments she entered. She recorded her first season win at the BNP Paribas Open, defeating Anastasiya Yakimova in three sets. She lost in the second round. Her next win came at the French Open warm-up event in Strasbourg, where she crushed Johanna Larsson in the first round. She was defeated by Alberta Brianti in the next round. She then fell in the first round in Nottingham, Paris, and Birmingham.

In June, Paszek won her first WTA title in two years, defeating Angelique Kerber at the Eastbourne grass court event. Paszek was 5–3 down in the deciding set and saved five championship points. On 27 June, playing on a covered centre court, Paszek upset former world number one and Wimbledon number 7 seed Caroline Wozniacki in the first round in an encounter lasting three hours and 12 minutes. She beat Alizé Cornet in the second round; Yanina Wickmayer in the third round and Roberta Vinci in the fourth to reach the quarterfinals, where she lost to Victoria Azarenka for the second successive year.

Paszek represented Austria in the Olympics but lost to Alizé Cornet in the first round. She had a great result at the Rogers Cup, starting with an upset over Julia Görges in the first round. In the second round, she moved past Victoria Azarenka when Azarenka retired early in the first set. After easily beating Carla Suárez Navarro in the third, she was defeated by Petra Kvitová in the quarterfinals. She lost in the first round of the US Open to Olga Govortsova. She rebounded, however, to reach the quarterfinals in Seoul before losing to world number 21 Varvara Lepchenko in three sets. Paszek then lost in the second round in Tokyo and Beijing respectively. Her final tournaments of the year were in Linz and Luxembourg, losing in the first round of both events. Paszek ended the year ranked world number 30. It was her best season to date.

2013

Paszek at the 2013 French Open

Paszek began the year at the 2013 Brisbane International. In the 1st round, she lost to Urszula Radwańska 2-6, 6-0, 6-2. After Brisbane, Paszek competed at the 2013 Apia International Sydney. She lost in the 1st round to Jelena Janković 6-2, 7-6(5).At the 2013 Australian Open, Paszek was the 30th seed. She achieved her first Australian Open victory since 2007 with an emphatic win over Stefanie Vögele in the 1st round 4-6, 6-4, 7-5. However, in the 2nd round, she was outplayed by American wildcard Madison Keys and lost 6-2, 6-1.

After the Australian Open, Paszek played at the 2013 Open GDF Suez. In the 1st round, she lost to Lucky Loser and eventual semifinalist Kiki Bertens 6-4, 7-5. At the 2013 Qatar Total Open, Paszek had another 1st round exit, losing to 13th seed Ana Ivanovic 6-1, 6-2.Seeded 23rd at the 2013 BNP Paribas Open, Paszek received a bye into the 2nd round.

Paszek's clay-court season began in Charleston at the Family Circle Cup, losing in the first round to American Grace Min after retiring while trailing 3-6. She then traveled to Europe where she lost in the first round of Oeiras and Strasbourg to Monica Niculescu and Virginie Razzano, respectively. Her poor season continued with another first-round loss to Melanie Oudin at the French Open, going down in straight sets.

She elected to contest a $75K tournament in Nottingham, opening her grass-court season with a hard-fought win over Anne Keothavong in the first round. However, she would progress no further as she was forced to retire against Alison Riske in the third set of their second-round encounter. In Birmingham, she was given a first-round bye but drew Riske again, and went down in three sets. Paszek entered the Aegon International as defending champion, but again went out at the first hurdle, losing to Caroline Wozniacki after having to retire early in the second set. Her final grass-court event was Wimbledon, where she was seeded 28th. She lost in the first round to Alexandra Cadanțu in straight sets.

Paszek took a two-week break following Wimbledon, making her next appearance on the hard-courts in Stanford, recording her third win of the season when Alla Kudryavtseva retired in the third set. She lost to Varvara Lepchenko in the second round. Her next tournament was the Southern California Open, suffering a 0-6, 0-6 thrashing at the hands of experienced Daniela Hantuchová of Slovakia. She then played qualifying of the Rogers Cup, losing a marathon match to Anastasia Rodionova in a final-set tiebreak. At the US Open, Paszek lost in the second round of qualifying to Andrea Hlaváčková.

After the US Open, she entered the Challenge Bell in Quebec City, but lost to Christina McHale in the first round. She then played two ITF Circuit events in the United States with limited singles success. However, she did capture the doubles title with Coco Vandeweghe in Las Vegas, marking her first tournament win in either singles or doubles in 2013. Her most impressive result of the year came in France at the Open GDF Suez Région Limousin, a $50,000 ITF tournament. Unseeded, she defeated Johanna Konta, Andreea Mitu (winning 11-9 in the final-set tiebreak), Nina Zander, and Silvia Soler Espinosa for a place in the final. There, she lost to Kristýna Plíšková. Despite the loss, she climbed back inside the top-200 and recorded her first set of consecutive wins since the 2012 Hansol Korea Open. She ended the year ranked world number 181.

2014

Paszek launched somewhat of a comeback during the 2014 season. Beginning the year in Australia, she lost in the first round of the ASB Classic and in the qualifying stages of the Australian Open. Having failed to defend the previous year's second round points, her ranking dropped outside the top-200 and she elected to contest a $25,000 ITF event in Rancho Santa Fe, where she rebounded by winning the tournament. The following week, she advanced to another $25,000 final in Surprise, this time holding 14 match points before succumbing to 4th seed Jovana Jakšić of Serbia.

Paszek continued to participate in lower-level ITF events and reached her next final at a $25,000 event in Wiesbaden, bowing out to Ekaterina Alexandrova in three sets. At the French Open, Paszek qualified for the main draw, without dropping a set in all three qualifying matches. In the first round of the main tournament, she was pitted against Alison Van Uytvanck and defeated the Belgian to advance to the second round. Her run was ended there, however, as she went down to recent Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulková in a straight-sets encounter.

She had a mediocre grass court season, winning just four matches in her Wimbledon warm-up tournaments, but did qualify for Wimbledon before losing there to 24th seed Kirsten Flipkens in a tough first-round match. She would proceed to play a slew of hard court events for the remainder of the year, but was not able to maintain form and only won four matches before the season's close. Paszek would end the year ranked world number 133.

Singles (3–1)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	24 September 2006	Banka Koper Slovenia Open, Portorož, Slovenia	Hard	Maria Elena Camerin	7–5, 6–1
Runner-up	1.	8 September 2008	Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic, Bali, Indonesia	Hard	Patty Schnyder	3–6, 0–6
Winner	2.	19 September 2010	Challenge Bell, Quebec City, Canada	Carpet (i)	Bethanie Mattek-Sands	7–6(8–6), 2–6, 7–5
Winner	3.	23 June 2012	Eastbourne International, Eastbourne, United Kingdom	Grass	Angelique Kerber	5–7, 6–3, 7–5

Singles

Doubles