Virginia Ruano Pascual
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| Date of birth: | September 21, 1973 |
| Place of birth: | Madrid, Spain |
| Country: | Spain |
| Residence: | Madrid, Spain |
| Height: | 5' 6 1/2 (1.69 m) |
| Weight: | 132 lb. (60 kg) |
| Plays: | Right |
| Turned pro: | January 1992 |
| Highest doubles ranking: | 1 (September 8, 2003) |
| Doubles titles: | 34 |
| Career prize money: | $4,349,325 (January 2006) |
| Grand Slam Record (Doubles) Titles: 8 |
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|---|---|
| Australian Open | W (2004) |
| French Open | W (2005, 2004, 2002, 2001) |
| Wimbledon | F (2006, 2003, 2002) |
| U.S. Open | W (2004, 2003, 2002) |
| Olympic record | |
| Women's Tennis | |
| Silver | 2004 – Doubles |
| 1996 – Singles | |
Virginia Ruano Pascual (born September 21, 1973) is a Spanish professional female tennis player. She was born in Madrid, Spain.
She has won three career singles titles but that's not the area where she has been most successful. In doubles, she has won 34 titles, including eight Grand Slam titles (all partnering Paola Suárez of Argentina)
Between 2002 and 2004 Virginia and Paola reached nine consecutive Grand Slam finals (won five, lost four) and they reached a least the semi-finals of the last twelve Grand Slam tournaments they played in (winning run came to an end when they lost in the Wimbledon semi-finals).
Contents |
[edit] Career in review
- 1989 - Played first ITF Circuit events, reaching one SF
- 1990 - Made Tour debut at Estoril as LL; on ITF Circuit, reached two singles SF and won first two doubles titles
- 1991 - Played three Tour main draws, reaching first QF at Sao Paulo
- 1992 - Turned pro in January, winning first pro singles title at ITF/Bilbao-ESP and making Grand Slam debut at US Open
- 1993 - Reached Tour QF at Liege and Kitzbuhel
- 1994 - Runner-up at ITF/Valladolid-ESP
- 1995 - First Top 100 finish; having never won a Grand Slam match, reached Roland Garros QF (l. to world No. 4 C. Martinez); qualified for Hilton Head (reaching 2r), Amelia Island (reaching 3r), Houston and Rome (l. 2r to world No. 2 Sanchez-Vicario in 3s); won ITF/Zaragoza-ESP; broke into Top 100 on May 8 at No. 98
- 1996 - Won ITF/Bronx-USA (d. Mauresmo in final); reached QF at Hobart and 3r at Amelia Island for second straight year; represented Spain at Atlanta Olympics, reaching singles 2r
- 1997 - Unseeded and ranked No. 108, won first WTA Tour singles title at Cardiff (d. Dechaume-Balleret in final); the following week, d. world No. 30 Frazier 60 60 to reach Madrid QF; recorded second ‘double bagel’ in three matches, d. Montolio en route to 3r at Roland Garros; later in the season, reached Palermo QF (l. to Schett 76 third set) and Warsaw SF
- 1998 - First Top 50 finish; won second Tour singles title at Budapest (d. Farina Elia in final in 3s); d. world No. 11 Tauziat in Hilton Head 2r; reached Wimbledon 4r for first time, leading S. Williams 75 41 in 3r when Williams retired due to injury; won career-first Tour doubles titles at Hobart, Budapest and Rome (all w/Suárez)
- 1999 - Reached QF at Hobart and 3r at Miami and Amelia Island; won Madrid doubles (w/Suárez)
- 2000 - Reached Madrid SF and qualified for Hilton Head (l. to Raymond in 2r in 3s) and Canadian Open (l. to Capriati in 2r in 3s); won Hilton Head and Sopot doubles titles (both w/Suárez)
- 2001 - Captured first Grand Slam titles at Roland Garros, claiming a ‘double-double’ in winning doubles (w/Suárez) and mixed doubles (w/Carbonell); in Wimbledon 1r, scored biggest win of singles career and biggest upset in women’s draw, d. world No. 1 Hingis 64 62, marking third time in Wimbledon seeding history (since 1927) that No.1 seed lost in 1r (Graf-1994, Hingis-1999; Court lost 2r after a 1r bye-1962); reached 3r at US Open for third time in four years; ranking jumped from No. 83 to No. 50, first time in Top 50 since July 1999; in doubles, in addition to winning Roland Garros, won titles at Antwerp (w/Callens), Madrid (w/Suárez) and Knokke-Heist (w/Serna); qualified for season-ending Championships (w/Suárez), reaching SF before Suárez injured her ankle and was forced to retire vs. No. 1 seeds Raymond/Stubbs
- 2002 - Best singles results were Brussels SF and three QF (incl. Rome as a qualifier), but throughout season established herself as one of world’s best doubles players, winning eight of 10 finals (seven w/Suárez, one w/Black); among titles were second Roland Garros and first US Open (both w/Suárez), a win that elevated Suárez (on September 9) to world No. 1 and Ruano Pascual to No. 2 (the highest for a Spaniard since Sanchez-Vicario spent her last weeks at No. 1 April 1997); also runner-up at Wimbledon to Williams sisters; seeded No. 1 in doubles at season-ending Championships (w/Suárez), upset in 1r by Fujiwara/Sugiyama
- 2003 - Ninth consecutive Top 100 finish; at Australian Open, reached first Grand Slam QF since 1995 Roland Garros (l. to Henin-Hardenne); at Tashkent, ended five-year, five-month singles title drought (eighth longest in Tour history), winning first event since 1998 Cardiff (d. Obata in final); another stellar year in doubles, reaching all four Grand Slam finals (w/Suárez) for a streak of seven straight dating back to 2002 Roland Garros, a feat unmatched since Navratilova/Shriver reached 11 straight major finals between 1983 Wimbledon and 1985 Australian Open; l. to Williams sisters at Australian Open after leading 3-1 third set; l. Clijsters/Sugiyama 97 third set at Roland Garros; l. again to Clijsters/Sugiyama at Wimbledon, but d. Kuznetsova/Navratilova to successfully defend US Open crown; won five doubles titles in 10 finals, the others being Charleston, Berlin and New Haven (all w/Suárez); on September 8, overtook partner Suárez at No. 1 on WTA Doubles Rankings for a single week; at fourth attempt, won first season-ending Championships title, d. Clijsters/Sugiyama in final and securing No. 2 season-ending individual ranking and No. 1 team honor
- 2004 - Tenth straight Top 100 finish in singles and another outstanding year in doubles; reached QF at Hasselt (l. to Camerin), 3r at Roland Garros (d. No.12 Sugiyama in 3s en route for third-best career win, l. to No.17 seed Schiavone) and Wimbledon (d. No.24 seed Pierce, l. to No.14 seed Farina Elia 26 64 75), and 2r at Australian Open (l. to No.20 seed Farina Elia in 3s) and US Open (l. to No.27 seed Pierce); went 1-0 in Spain's 3-2 Fed Cup 1r win vs. Switzerland (w/C.Martinez, d. Casanova/Gagliardi), 1-1 in 3-2 QF win vs. Belgium (l. to Callens 11-9 in third set, but d. Callens/Flipkens w/Medina Garrigues) and 0-1 in 5-0 SF loss to France (l. to Bartoli/Loit w/Marrero); in doubles (w/Suárez), won at Australian Open (career-first there), Roland Garros (third there, and ninth consecutive Grand Slam final, a feat unmatched since Navratilova/Shriver reached 11 straight major finals between 1983 Wimbledon and 1985 Australian Open) and US Open (seventh Grand Slam together), d. Kuznetsova/Likhovtseva in all three finals (l. in SF at Wimbledon to eventual champions Black/Stubbs); outside of Grand Slams (w/Suárez), won three titles (Indian Wells, Charleston and Luxembourg, their 26th title as a team), runner-up five times w/Suárez and seven overall (her 13 finals were a Tour-best in 2004) and SF four times (incl. season-ending Championships); won silver medal at Olympics (w/C.Martinez), l. 63 63 in final to T.Li/Sun of China (ninth Olympic tennis medal in history for Spain); won a Tour-best 65 doubles matches; withdrew from Sopot with right wrist injury
- 2005-
JANUARY - Made 2005 singles debut at Australian Open, losing to Jidkova in 1r.
FEBRUARY - Reached first singles SF in 16 months (2003 Tashkent) at Pattaya City, falling to No.7 seed Groenefeld; defeated Obziler, Weingartner and Serna to reach final four.
MARCH - Captured 30th career doubles title and first of 2005 with Suárez at Dubai, defeating No.2 seeds Kuznetsova/Molik in final; becomes just the 20th place in Open Era to capture 30 or more doubles titles; fell in 1r singles at Indian Wells to Randriantefy; won second doubles title of year at Indian Wells, again teaming with Suárez as top seeds to defeat No.2 seeds Petrova/Shaughnessy in final; reached 2r in singles at Miami, defeating wild card Kutuzova in 1r before three-set loss to No.27 seed Maleeva; also reached Miami SF as doubles top seeds (w/Suárez), but fell to No.3 seeds Kuznetsova/Molik.
APRIL - Defeated No.10 seed Sprem in 1r at Amelia Island before losing tough three-set match with qualifier Domachowska in 2r; fell to Stosur in 1r singles at Charleston; won 32nd career doubles title at Charleston, teaming with Martinez to defeat Benesova/Peschke in final; only fourth career doubles title won while playing with someone other than Suárez; as No.8 seed at Estoril, fell to qualifier Safarova in 1r.
MAY - Reached main draw in singles at Rome as lucky loser, but lost to Dulko in 1r; withdrew from doubles (w/Suárez) due to right quadriceps strain); reached 2r at Roland Garros in singles, defeating Yakimova in 1r before falling to No.10 seed Henin-Hardenne; by reaching 2r in both singles and doubles, surpasses $4 million mark in career prize money won, becoming only third Spanish player (Sanchez-Vicario, Martinez) to reach mark.
JUNE - Won fourth career title and second straight at Roland Garros with Suárez, defeating No.2 seeds Black/Huber in championship match; have now reached nine straight Grand Slam finals, second only to Navratilova/Shriver's 11 straight Slam finals; defeated Dominikovic in 1r at 's-Hertogenbosch before falling to Safarova in next match; at Wimbledon, lost to No.8 seed Petrova in 1r.
JULY - Fell to No.2 seed Pennetta in three sets in 1r match at Modena; teamed with Martinez at San Diego to win fifth doubles title of season, saving multiple match points in final vs. Hantuchova/Sugiyama to win title.
AUGUST - At Los Angeles, fell to wild card Craybas in 1r in singles; reached SF in doubles at Los Angeles (w/Martinez); as lucky loser at Toronto, fell to Razzano in 1r; reached doubles final at Toronto (w/Martinez), falling to Groenefeld/M.Navratilova in championship match.
[edit] Grand Slam Doubles
[edit] Titles
- 2001 French Open
- 2002 French Open
- 2002 U.S. Open
- 2003 U.S. Open
- 2004 Australian Open
- 2004 French Open
- 2004 U.S. Open
- 2005 French Open
[edit] Finals
- 2000 French Open (lost to Hingis/Pierce)
- 2002 Wimbledon (lost to S. Williams/V. Williams)
- 2003 Australian Open (lost to S. Williams/V. Williams)
- 2003 French Open (lost to Clijsters/Sugiyama)
- 2003 Wimbledon (lost to Clijsters/Sugiyama)
- 2006 Wimbledon (lost to Yan/Zheng)
[edit] Performance Timeline Doubles
Note: if not otherwise noted, tournament played with Suárez
| Tournament | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | QF | 1r1 | W | F | 3r | QF | 2r | 2r | 2r | QF | - | 1 |
| French Open | 2r | W | W | F | W | W | F | 2r | 2r | 4 | ||
| Wimbledon | F | - | SF | F | F | SF | QF | 3r | 2r | 1r | - | 0 |
| US Open | QF | SF1 | W | W | W | 3r | 1r | 2r | SF | 2r | 3 | |
| WTA Tour Championships | SF1 | SF | W | QF | SF | QF | - | - | - | - | 1 |
[edit] Awards
- Named WTA Tour Doubles Team of the Year for third straight year for 2004 with partner Paola Suárez.
- With partner Paola Suárez, received Premio Consagración Clarín al Mérito Deportivo 2003, an award presented to Argentine athletes for their achievements
- With partner Paola Suárez, named 2002 WTA Tour Doubles Team of the Year and 2002 ITF Women’s Doubles World Champions
- In 1993 helped Spain recapture the Fed Cup title and defend it in 1994
[edit] Others Facts
Coached by her brother, Juan Ramon Ruano. Omitted the hyphen between her family names in 1998. Father, Juan Manuel, works for Iberia Airlines; mother, Virginia, is a housewife; brother, Juan Ramon, is a tennis pro at a club; sister, Marbella, works in administration. Hobbies include listening to music, watching sports (especially handball) and going to movies. Favorites include the actor Kevin Costner, Hawaii and paella.
[edit] External links
- WTA Tour profile for Virginia Ruano Pascual
