Agnes Szavay

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The native form of this personal name is Szávay Ágnes. This article uses the Western name order.
Agnes Szavay
Agnes Szavay at French Open 2007
Nickname(s) Ági
Country Flag of Hungary Hungary
Residence Monte Carlo, Monaco
Date of birth December 29, 1988 (1988-12-29) (age 19)
Place of birth Kiskunhalas, Hungary
Height 1.71 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Weight 63 kg (140 lb/9.9 st)
Turned pro 2004
Plays Right; Two-handed backhand
Career prize money $823,553
Singles
Career record: 145-60
Career titles: 2 WTA, 3 ITF
Highest ranking: No. 13 (April 14, 2008)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open 1st (2008)
French Open 3rd (2008)
Wimbledon 2nd (2007)
US Open QF (2007)
Doubles
Career record: 74-43
Career titles: 2 WTA, 3 ITF
Highest ranking: No. 22 (September 24, 2007)

Infobox last updated on: May 12, 2008.

Agnes Szavay (Hungarian: Szávay Ágnes, pronounced [ˈaːɡnɛʃ ˈsaːvɒ.i], born December 29, 1988) is a tennis player from Hungary. She is currently the country's highest ranked tennis player. She won her first career WTA-level tournament in Palermo and followed it up with a win at the China Open in Beijing, where she stunned world number three Jelena Jankovic in the final. She had been the WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2007. She achieved her career high rank of #13 on April 14, 2008. Szavay is noted for her fast serve and powerful two-handed backhand.

Contents

[edit] Background

Szavay was born in Kiskunhalas, Hungary and grew up in Soltvadkert, Hungary. She started to play tennis at the age of six, with her parents acting as her first coaches and managers. Her previous coaches were Zoltán Újhidy, Levente Barátosi and Miklós Hornok. Currently her coaches are József Bocskay and Zoltán Kuharszky. She has a younger sister, Blanka, who is five years younger than her, who is also a professional tennis player.

[edit] Tennis career

[edit] 2007

Agnes won her first career WTA-level tournament in singles, in Palermo on July 22, 2007. The win pushed her into the top 40 of the rankings, at #37, for the first time. She also won one tournament in doubles, the Tier III Budapest Grand Prix, with Vladimira Uhlirova.

On August 25, 2007 Szavay reached the final of the Tier II WTA 2007 Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven defeating players such as Daniela Hantuchova, Alona Bondarenko and Samantha Stosur. She lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the finals after withdrawing due to a back injury although she was leading 6–4, 0–3.[1] At the conclusion of this tournament, she was ranked #31, her highest-ever ranking.

After her loss in the final, Szavay appeared on the 2007 US Open, where she reached the quarterfinals, beating #32 seed Michaella Krajicek, and #7 seed Nadia Petrova. She then lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova. She also reached semifinals in doubles, with Vladimira Uhlirova.

Szavay reached the final of her first tournament since the US Open, which is the Tier II China Open in Beijing. Szavay, the No. 6 seed, capitalized on the withdrawal of top-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach the semifinals. She defeated Chinese player Peng Shuai 6–1, 6–2 to advance to her second Tier II final. Peng had previously defeated multiple Grand Slam champions Martina Hingis in the second round and Amelie Mauresmo in the quarterfinals. Szavay completed her run with a victory over Jelena Jankovic 6–7(7), 7–5, 6–2 to claim her first Tier II title. She led 5–0 in the first set tiebreak before losing it 9–7. In the second set, she saved a match point at Jankovic's 5–1 lead with a second serve ace and won 9 consecutive games, turning the match in her favor. However, it was later revealed that Jankovic suffered from a neck injury and was physically impaired in most of the third set.[2] Szavay moved into the top 20 due to this performance, but in Seoul, she was forced to retire and end her season prematurely due to a thigh injury.

[edit] 2008

Szavay travelled to the 2008 Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts tournament in Gold Coast, Australia on December 31, 2007, kicking off her season on the 2008 WTA Tour. Szavay and Dinara Safina attained the third doubles seeding and won the tournament after defeting Yuliana Fedak and Aiko Nakamura 6–3, 6–2 in the first round, Nadia Petrova and Elena Vesnina 6–3, 6–4 in the quarterfinals, top seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber 6–3, 6–1 in the semifinals and second seeds Yan Zi and Zheng Jie 6–1, 6–2 in the final.[3]

While Szavay defeated Fedak in doubles, Fedak earned a lucky loser spot into the singles draw, where she met the eighth-seeded Szavay. Fedak eventually won 3–6, 7–5, 6–2.

Szavay continued her run in singles with a first round three-set loss to Ekaterina Makarova of Russia in the Australian Open although being seeded 20th.

After this start she gained back her earlier form and confidence. In Paris she defeted Olga Govortsova 6–1, 6–1, Tathiana Garbin in three sets 6–3, 4–6, 6–2 and in the quarterfinals Daniela Hantuchova 7–6, 6–1. In the semifinals she beat Elena Dementieva 6–3, 1–6, 7–5, before narrowly losing to Anna Chakvetadze in the final.

After Paris, Szavay lost her momentum and continued her run with first round losses against Alisa Kleybanova 6-2, 6-3 in Antwerp, Ai Sugiyama 7-6(3), 6-0 in Doha, Akiko Morigami 6-1, 6-4 in Dubai, Akgul Amanmuradova 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 in Bangalore and Elena Vesnina 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 in Miami.

When the clay season started Szavay seemed to regain her earlier form. She reached the Quarterfinals both in Amelia Islands (lost against Lindsay Davenport 6-4, 7-6(3)) and in Charleston (lost against Alize Cornet 7-5, 6-4). But in these two tournaments she got revenge for her previous first round losses. She defeated Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 6-1 (Amelia Island), Yuliana Fedak 6-0, 7-6(4), and Ai Sugiyama 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 (both in Charleston).

[edit] Career finals (17)

[edit] Singles (7)

[edit] Wins (5)

Legend (Singles)
Grand Slam Title (0)
Tier I (0)
Tier II (1)
Tier III (0)
Tier IV (1)
WTA Tour Championship (0)
ITF Circuit (3)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 20 September 2004 Ciampino, Italy Clay Flag of Switzerland Stefania Boffa 6–0, 6–2
2. 22 October 2006 Houston, U.S. Hard Flag of the United States Bethanie Mattek 2–6 6–4 6–1
3. 19 May 2007 Zagreb, Croatia Clay Flag of Croatia Nika Ozegovic 6–0 7–6(2)
4. 16 July 2007 Palermo, Italy Clay Flag of Germany Martina Muller 6–0, 6–1
5. 23 September 2007 Beijing, China Hard Flag of Serbia Jelena Jankovic 6–7(7), 7–5, 6–2

[edit] Runner-ups (2)

No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 25 August 2007 New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. Hard Flag of Russia Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–4, 0–3 retired
2. 10 February 2008 Paris, France Hard (i) Flag of Russia Anna Chakvetadze 3–6, 6–2, 2–6

[edit] Doubles (10)

[edit] Wins (5)

Legend (Doubles)
Grand Slam Title (0)
Tier I (0)
Tier II (0)
Tier III (2)
Tier IV (0)
WTA Tour Championship (0)
ITF Circuit (3)
No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents in the final Score
1. 10 April 2005 Dinan, France Clay Flag of the Netherlands Michaella Krajicek Flag of Ukraine Yulia Beygelzimer
Flag of Germany Sandra Klösel		 7–5, 7–5
2. 23 July 2006 Vittel, France Clay Flag of Ukraine Yulia Beygelzimer Flag of Romania Madalina Gojnea
Flag of Russia Ekaterina Makarova		 6–2, 7–5
3. 20 May 2007 Zagreb, Croatia Clay Flag of Finland Emma Laine Flag of Poland Klaudia Jans
Flag of Poland Alicja Rosolska		 6–1, 6–2
4. 23 April 2007 Budapest, Hungary Clay Flag of the Czech Republic Vladimira Uhlirova Flag of Germany Martina Muller
Flag of the Czech Republic Gabriela Navratilova		 7–5, 6–2
5. 5 January 2008 Gold Coast, Australia Hard Flag of Russia Dinara Safina Flag of the People's Republic of China Yan Zi
Flag of the People's Republic of China Zheng Jie		 6–1, 6–2

[edit] Runner-ups (5)

[edit] Singles performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the 2008 Rome Masters, which ended on May 18, 2008.

Tournament 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Career SR Career Win-Loss
Grand Slams
Australian Open A A LQ LQ 1R 0 / 3 0–1
French Open A A LQ 2R 3R 0 / 3 3–2
Wimbledon A A A 2R 0 / 1 1–1
U.S. Open A LQ A QF 0 / 2 4–1
Grand Slam Win-Loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 6–3 2–2 N/A 8–5
Year-End Championship
WTA Tour Championships A A A A 0 / 0 0–0
WTA Tier I tournaments
Doha1 A A A A 1R 0 / 1 0–1
Indian Wells A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0
Miami Masters A A A A 2R 0 / 1 0–1
Charleston A A A A QF 0 / 1 3–1
Berlin A A A A QF 0 / 1 3–1
Rome A A A A 2R 0 / 1 1–1
Toronto/Montréal A A A A 0 / 0 0–0
Tokyo A A A A 0 / 0 0–0
Moscow A A A A 0 / 0 0–0
Career Statistics
Tournaments played 1 11 6 16 12 N/A 46
Runner-up 0 0 0 1 1 N/A 2
Tournaments Won 0 0 0 2 0 N/A 2
Hardcourt Win-Loss 0–0 8–5 2–3 26–7 1–6 N/A 37–21
Clay Win-Loss 1–1 13–6 3–3 18–4 9–4 N/A 44–18
Grass Win-Loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 4–1 0–0 N/A 4–1
Carpet Win-Loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 3–2 4–2 N/A 7–4
Overall Win-Loss 1–1 21–11 5–6 51–14 14–12 N/A 92–443
Year End Ranking 378 166 189 19 N/A N/A
  • 1 As of 2008, Doha is a Tier I tournament, replacing San Diego and Zurich.
  • 2 Win/loss record does not include walkovers.
  • 3 If ITF women's circuit (54–17) participations are included, her overall win-loss record stands at 146–61.
  • LQ = lost in the qualifying tournament.
  • A = did not participate in the tournament.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Eaton-Robb, Pat., "Svetlana Kuznetsova wins Pilot Pen when Agnes Szavay retires with back injury", Yahoo! News, 2007-08-25, Retrieved on 2007-09-03
  2. ^ Back From The Brink in Beijing
  3. ^ Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts main draw doubles

[edit] External links

Awards
Preceded by
Tímea Nagy		 Hungarian Sportswoman of The Year
2007		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by
Agnieszka Radwanska		 WTA Newcomer of the Year
2007		 Succeeded by
Incumbent