Bettina Bunge

Bettina Bunge
Country  Germany[1]
Residence Coral Gables, Florida, USA
Born 13 June 1963 (1963-06-13) (age 48)
Adliswil, Switzerland
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Turned pro 1978
Retired 1989
Plays Right-handed
Career prize money $357,876
Singles
Career record 294–177
Career titles 4
Highest ranking No. 6 (28 March 1983)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open 3R (1981)
French Open 4R (1981)
Wimbledon SF (1982)
US Open 4R (1981, 1987)
Doubles
Career record 206–153
Career titles 4
Highest ranking No. 17 (19 January 1987)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open 2R (1980)
French Open SF (1981)
Wimbledon SF (1982)
US Open SF (1982)

Bettina Bunge (born 13 June 1963) is a retired German tennis player. She was born in Adliswil, Switzerland. She was part of a large group of successful German players in the 1980s, which also included Steffi Graf, Claudia Kohde-Kilsch, Sylvia Hanika, and Eva Pfaff.

Contents

Career

With German nationality as the daughter of a German businessman, she was born in Switzerland, and resided in Peru for more than 13 years. She was a national champion in Peru at the age of 13. She later moved to Miami, Florida. She speaks three languages, German, English, and Spanish. She dealt with a series of injuries throughout her career (injuries of ear and knee, among others).

Bunge was a professional player from 1978 to 1989, appearing for the first time at number 150 in July 1978. Her highest ranking was achieved in 1983 when she reached number 6. In 1982, she registered her all-time best achievement in Grand Slam singles competition when she reached the semifinals of Wimbledon.

She won four singles tournaments, including the tournaments at the German Open, Houston, and Tokyo in 1982, and Oakland in 1983. She was finalist in Sydney in 1979, Stockholm in 1980, Houston, Tampa, Cincinnati (indoor) and Tokyo in 1981, Mahwah in 1982 and Knokke in 1987.

Bunge won four doubles tournaments, including the tournaments of Pan Pacific in Tokyo with Steffi Graf in 1986 and The Belgian Open with Manuela Maleeva in 1987. She was a finalist at the German Open with Claudia Kohde-Kilsch in 1982, the Swiss Open with Eva Pfaff in 1985, and New England, also Pfaff, in 1987.

She was a part of the German Federation Cup Team from 1980 to 1983, 1985 to 1987 and 1989. She won the 1987 WTA Comeback of the Year Award. Bunge lives in Coral Gables, Florida.

Awards and recognitions

Titles (8)

Singles (4)

Legend
VS (4)
No. Date Location Surface Opponent in Final Score in Final
1. 21 February 1982 Houston, USA Carpet (I) Pam Shriver 6–2, 3–6, 6–2
2. 24 May 1982 Berlin, West Germany Clay Kathy Rinaldi 6–2, 6–2
3. 19 September 1982 Tokyo, Japan Carpet (I) Barbara Potter 7–6, 6–2
4. 27 February 1983 Oakland, USA Carpet (I) Sylvia Hanika 6–3, 6–3

Doubles (4)

Legend
VS (4)
No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents in Final Score in Final
1. 10 July 1983 Hamburg, West Germany Clay Claudia Kohde-Kilsch Ivanna Madruga-Osses
Catherine Tanvier		 7–5, 6–4
2. 17 July 1983 Freiburg, West Germany Clay Eva Pfaff Ivanna Madruga-Osses
Emilse Raponi-Longi		 6–1, 6–2
3. 14 September 1986 Tokyo, Japan Carpet (I) Steffi Graf Katerina Maleeva
Manuela Maleeva		 6–1, 6–7(4), 6–2
4. 12 July 1987 Knokke-Heist, Belgium Clay Manuela Maleeva Kathleen Horvath
Marcella Mesker		 4–6, 6–4, 6–4

Runner-ups (14)

Singles (8)

Legend
VS (8)
No. Date Location Surface Opponent in Final Score in Final
1. 23 December 1979 Sydney, Australia Grass Hana Mandlíková 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
2. 2 November 1980 Stockholm, Sweden Carpet (I) Hana Mandlíková 6-1, 7-5
3. 22 February 1981 Houston, USA Carpet (I) Hana Mandlíková 6-4, 6-4
4. 20 September 1981 Tokyo, Japan Carpet (I) Ann Kiyomura 6-4, 6-4
5. 11 October 1981 Tampa, USA Hard Martina Navratilova 6-2, 6-4
6. 17 January 1982 Cincinnati, USA Carpet (I) Barbara Potter 6-4, 7-6(3)
7. 29 August 1982 Mahwah, USA Hard Leigh-Anne Thompson 7-6(4), 6-3
8. 12 July 1987 Knokke-Heist, Belgium Clay Kathleen Horvath 6-1, 7-6(5)

Doubles (6)

Legend
VS(6)
No. Date Location Surface Partner Opponents in Final Score in Final
1. 24 May 1982 Berlin, West Germany Clay Claudia Kohde-Kilsch Liz Gordon
Beverly Mould		 6-3, 6-4
2. 7 October 1984 Manhattan Beach, USA Hard Eva Pfaff Chris Evert-Lloyd
Wendy Turnbull		 6-2, 6-4
3. 21 October 1984 Filderstadt, West Germany Carpet (I) Eva Pfaff Claudia Kohde-Kilsch
Helena Suková		 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
4. 18 November 1984 Brisbane, Australia Grass Eva Pfaff Martina Navratilova
Pam Shriver		 6-3, 6-2
5. 26 May 1985 Lugano, Switzerland Clay Eva Pfaff Bonnie Gadusek
Helena Suková		 6-2, 6-4
6. 8 November 1987 Worcester, USA Carpet (I) Eva Pfaff Elise Burgin
Rosalyn Fairbank		 6-4, 6-4

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Tournament 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 Career SR
Australian Open A A 1R 3R A A 2R 1R NH A A A 0 / 4
French Open A 3R 3R 4R 2R 2R 3R 3R 2R A A A 0 / 8
Wimbledon A 2R 3R 2R SF 1R 3R 3R QF 3R A A 0 / 9
U.S. Open 3R 1R 3R 4R 3R A 3R 1R 2R 4R A A 0 / 9
SR 0 / 1 0 / 3 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 3 0 / 2 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 3 0 / 2 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 30

See also

References

  1. ^ Before the German reunification, she played for West Germany

External links

Women's Tennis Association: Top German female singles tennis players as of 2 January 2012
1. Andrea Petkovic (10 ) · 2. Sabine Lisicki (15 ) · 3. Julia Görges (21 ) · 4. Angelique Kerber (32 ) · 5. Mona Barthel (69 )
6. Kristina Barrois (91 ) · 7. Kathrin Wörle (151 1) · 8. Sarah Gronert (203 1) · 9. Tatjana Malek (205 2) · 10. Annika Beck (227 3)