| Country | Czech Republic |
|---|---|
| Residence | Brno, Czech Republic |
| Born | 4 February 1987 Brno, Czechoslovakia |
| Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) |
| Turned pro | 2002 |
| Plays | Left-handed (two-handed backhand) |
| Career prize money | $2,453,231 |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 243–175 |
| Career titles | 4 WTA, 5 ITF |
| Highest ranking | No. 22 (20 August 2007) |
| Current ranking | No. 24 (24 October 2011) |
| Grand Slam results | |
| Australian Open | QF (2007) |
| French Open | 4R (2007) |
| Wimbledon | 3R (2007) |
| US Open | 3R (2007, 2011) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 30–62 |
| Career titles | 0 WTA, 1 ITF |
| Highest ranking | 72 (15 June 2009) |
| Grand Slam Doubles results | |
| Australian Open | 4R (2009) |
| French Open | 2R (2006, 2009) |
| Wimbledon | 2R (2005) |
| US Open | 3R (2008) |
| Last updated on: 10 October 2011. | |
Lucie Šafářová (Czech pronunciation: [ˈlutsɪjɛ ˈʃafaːr̝ovaː]) (born 4 February 1987) is a professional Czech tennis player. She was born in Brno.
Šafářová has won four WTA tour singles titles and reached the quarterfinals of the 2007 Australian Open, upsetting defending champion Amélie Mauresmo en-route. She has reached ten singles finals: Estoril (clay), 's-Hertogenbosch (grass), Forest Hills (hardcourt) in 2005; Gold Coast (hardcourt) in 2006; Open GDF Suez, Paris (carpet) in 2007; Forest Hills in 2008; Bell Challenge, Quebec City in 2009; Open GDF Suez, Paris (indoors) in 2010 and the BMW Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur and Danish Open, Copenhagen both in 2011. She is ranked World No. 27 as of 10 October 2011.
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Šafářová plays left-handed with a two-handed backhand, and possesses a high topspin forehand similar to that of male tennis star Rafael Nadal. Her timing off the ground allows her to project groundstrokes with power and she is quick to spot opportunities to take the initiative. Šafářová is notorious for having a volatile return, capable of hitting clean winners as well as unforced errors. Her preferred surface is clay.
Šafářová won in Portugal, but lost in the Netherlands to fellow Czech tennis player Klara Koukalová, 3–6, 6–2, 6–2. In August, she won her second tournament over Sania Mirza in the final.
Šafářová started off 2006 with a straight sets victory in the final of the Gold Coast tournament, upsetting world No. 6 Patty Schnyder in the semifinal, en route to the title. Also in 2006, she made her first Tier II semifinal at Amelia Island, upsetting Nicole Vaidišová in the round of 16. She later lost to eventual champion Nadia Petrova. Šafářová then made another semifinal, this time at the Tier IV Palermo. She was later defeated by Anabel Medina Garrigues.On August 19 she defeated Ana Ivanavic at the Rogers Cup in Toronto.
At the start of 2007, instead of defending her Gold Coast title, Šafářová played the Hopman Cup, representing the Czech Republic. Due to not defending the points at that tournament, she came into the first Slam of the year ranked No. 70 and unseeded. Yet, Šafářová made headlines at the 2007 Australian Open when she stunned the defending champion and No. 2 seed Amélie Mauresmo in the fourth round, 6–4, 6–3. She then lost to fellow Czech Nicole Vaidišová, 6–1, 6–4, in the quarterfinals. After the Australian Open, her ranking rose from No. 70 to No. 31.
Šafářová continued her good start to 2007 at the Open Gaz de France in Paris. She reached the final, defeating Tsvetana Pironkova in three sets and Nicole Vaidišová, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Justine Henin, all in straight sets. However, she failed against Nadia Petrova (4–6, 6–1, 6–4). She pulled out of her next event in Antwerp due to a shoulder injury.
Šafářová lost in R3 of both Indian Wells and Miami to Shahar Pe'er and Serena Williams, respectively. She defeated Daniela Hantuchová, 7–6, 4–6, 6–3, in the Czech Republic vs. Slovak Republic Fed Cup encounter. Šafářová then lost in the SF of Tier IV Estoril to Victoria Azarenka, 6–4, 6–0.
At Roland Garros, Šafářová defeated Mauresmo again, this time in the third round of Roland Garros. She won, 6–3, 7–6(3). It was the second time in a row that Šafářová had beaten Mauresmo in a Grand Slam, after winning their only previous encounter in January at the Australian Open. In the next round, Šafářová lost in three sets to Anna Chakvetadze.
As the #25 seed, Šafářová defeated Zuzana Ondrášková at Wimbledon, followed by a win over Eleni Daniilidou in three sets. However, she lost to #3 seed (and world #3 ranked) Jelena Janković in round 3, also in three sets, after coming within two points of another Grand Slam upset. After several long rallies and winners, the match was described as the best WTA match of 2007 up to that point and the best women's Wimbledon match in many years.
Šafářová entered the 2007 US Open as the #20 seed, defeating Jessica Moore in the first round and Andrea Petkovic in the second round. She fell to Marion Bartoli in the third round. Closing out the 2007 Grand Slams, she placed third round or better in all, and quarterfinals in the Australian Open.
At the beginning of 2008, Šafářová once again decided to enter the Perth Hopman Cup. She was ranked No. 23 took on the World 56 Alicia Molik. The Czechs lost the match, 7–5, 6–2, followed by a loss with her partner on and off the court, Tomáš Berdych, in mixed Doubles. She then competed against Serena Williams, who represented the United States. Šafářová lost the first set, 6–0. She managed to come back to win the second set, 6–2, but lost the final set, 7–5. Šafářová and Berdych lost the first set of the mixed doubles, 6–0. They eventually had to leave the tournament, due to Berdych's health concerns.
Šafářová's second competition of the year was the Medibank International. In round one, she faced Australia's Alicia Molik. Šafářová won the first set, 7–6. In the second set, Molik was up, 6–5, but Šafářová was able to force a tiebreaker. Both had set points and match points throughout the tiebreaker, but Šafářová was able to come out on top, 12–10, leaving the final score, 7–6, 7–6. She subsequently pulled out of the second round against world No. 1 Justine Henin.
Šafářová entered the Australian Open as the number 22 seed. In the first round, she faced Catalina Castaño of Colombia, losing, 1–6, 4–6, in 71 minutes. Later it was revealed that a gluteal strain was plaguing Šafářová during the match. She sustained the injury from her first round encounter against Molik at the 2008 Sydney Medibank International.
Competing at the Pacific Life Open in the United States, Šafářová, seeded number 26, lost, 6–7, 6–2, 4–6, in the second round to American Ashley Harkleroad. Following that, Šafářová played the Sony Ericcson Open, where she lost, 2–6, 1–6, in the third round to the number 4 seed Jelena Janković.
Šafářová began the year with a quarterfinal showing at the international hardcourt event in Brisbane. She defeated the Australians Isabella Holland and Samantha Stosur before being defeated by second-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 7–6(5), 6–4. After failing to qualify for the premier event in Sydney, Šafářová reached the third round of the Australian Open en route defeating Sybille Bammer and Marina Erakovic before losing to Marion Bartoli 3–6, 6–2, 6–1.
Šafářová started the 2010 season by reaching the quarter-finals of the 2010 Brisbane International before losing to eventual champion Kim Clijsters 6–1, 0–6, 6–4.
She then suffered disappointing first round losses. Firstly at the 2010 Moorilla Hobart International, retiring against Kateryna Bondarenko at 2–6, 7–6(4), 2–3 and secondly at the 2010 Australian Open, losing to 6th seed Venus Williams 2–6, 2–6.
Šafářová made her first final of the year at the 2010 Open GDF Suez in Paris by defeating Flavia Pennetta in the semi-finals 4–6, 6–3, 6–4. She won the first set but could not hold on, falling 7–6, 1–6, 4–6 to top seed Elena Dementieva in the final.
Šafářová then suffered 2 more first round losses at the 2010 Monterrey Open, losing to Julie Coin 7–5, 4–6, 4–6, and the 2010 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, losing to Julia Görges 5–7, 6–3, 3–6.
At the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open, Šafářová was unseeded and won her first round match, defeating Kaia Kanepi 6–7(1), 6–4, 6–3 and then defeated María José Martínez Sánchez in the second round 4–6, 7–6(3), 6–2 after being down match points at 5–2 in the second set. She will then fell to 4th seed Victoria Azarenka.
At the 2010 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Šafářová upset World No2 and top seed Caroline Wozniacki in the second round. She then fell, in three sets, to qualifier Anna Lapushchenkova in the quarterfinals.
Šafářová upset World No. 9 Agnieszka Radwańska in the third round of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia but lost to eventual champion María José Martínez Sánchez 7–6 6–4 in the quarterfinals.
Šafářová upset World No. 12 Maria Sharapova in the first round of the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open. She then defeated Olga Govortsova and Alexandra Dulgheru to advance to the quarterfinals where she beat World No. 18 Nadia Petrova. She retired from a thigh injury while trailing Aravane Rezaï 1–6 in the semifinals.
Šafářová is seeded 24th at the 2010 French Open. She defeated Jelena Dokić in the first round but was defeated by Polona Hercog 6–1, 6–2 in the second round.
Šafářová attended the 2011 Brisbane International and made it all the way to the quarterfinals with tough matches from Akgul Amanmuradova and Shahar Pe'er in between before losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6–2, 6–7(4), 6–3.
As the 31st seed at the 2011 Australian Open, Šafářová struggled through her first two rounds, defeating Shuai Zhang 7–5 4–6 6–1 in the first round, and Klára Zakopalová 6–3 6–7(2) 7–5 in the second. In the third round, she lost in two sets to World #2 Vera Zvonareva 6–4 7–6(9) having had set point in the second set.
Following the Australian Open, Šafářová defeated Daniela Hantuchová of Slovakia in the 2011 Fed Cup, but retired in her second rubber against Jana Čepelová.
Her next tournament was the 2011 Open GDF Suez where she fell to a resurgent Jelena Dokić in the first round 4–6 6–3 6–4. A week later at the 2011 Dubai Tennis Championships, Šafářová once again lost in the first round, this time to fellow Czech Klára Zakopalová 6–2 6–2. Her performance at the 2011 Qatar Ladies Open was more positive, as she defeated World #10 Agnieszka Radwańska 7–6(3) 6–3 before falling in 3 sets in the second round to Flavia Pennetta.
Šafářová had her best result in 2011 at the 2011 Malaysian Open, where she reached the final and held championship points against an in-form Jelena Dokić but succumbed 2–6 7–6(9) 6–4 having held two match points in the second set tiebreaker.
She reached the 2nd round of Indian Wells, beating Kristina Barrois in round 1 7–6(9) 6–7(5) 6–0, serving a WTA season high 18 aces, before losing a close match to 21 seed Petkovic 7–6(8) 7–5. The following week as 31st seed, she had a bye in round 1 of Miami before beating Patty Schnyder 6–2 6–4 in round 2. She then lost to 4th seed Sam Stosur 6–0 7–6(1) in round 3.
Šafářová was forced to pull out of the Czech Fed Cup tie against Belgium the following week due to a left thigh problem. She attempted to play Stuttgart, but lost 6–1 6–4 to Barrois. She then pulled out of Barcelona with the same leg injury.
Her next tournament was the premier Madrid event. She defeated Spanish player Anabel Medina-Garrigues 6–2 2–6 7–6(3), coming back from 0–3 and match point down in the third set to win. She followed this with a 6–4 4–6 7–5 win over 7th seed Jelena Jankovic in round 2, and a 6–3 6–3 win over Gajdosova in round 3, making this the second consecutive year she has reached the Madrid Quarterfinal. She lost a hard-fought match to 4th seed Azarenka 6–3 3–6 6–2 in the Quarterfinal.
In Rome the following week, she began with a 7–5 6–2 win over Kimiko Date-Krumm. In the 2nd round, she fell to Jankovic 6–0 6–3.
Unseeded at the French Open, she opened with a 6–1 6–1 win over Kirsten Flipkens. In round 2, she lead 6–2 4–2 against 17th seeded German Julia Görges, but eventually succumbed 2–6 7–5 6–2. In the doubles event she and Michaella Krajicek opened with a win over Miami champions A.Radwanska/Hantuchova 6–7(5) 6–3 6–2. In round 2, they defeated Pauline Parmentier/Kristina Mladenovic 2–6 7–6(3) 6–0 before falling to 5th seeded Madrid Champions Azarenka/Kirilenko 7–5 6–3. This marked her best doubles result at the French Open.
As the fourth seed in Copenhagen, she faced a series of tough three set wins, never winning the first set. Beating Konta, Krajicek, Zhang and Martic (after trailing 6–1 4–0), she lost the final to home favourite and world number 1 Caroline Wozniacki 6–1 6–4. She then travelled to Eastbourne, where she lost in the opening round to eventual champion Marion Bartoli 6–3 3–6 7–6(7) despite holding match point.
In wimbledon, Safarova was seeded 31. She defeated fellow Czech Lucie Hradecka 2–6 6–3 6–3 in round 1; her first win at Wimbledon since 2007. She was defeated by another Czech, Zakopalova in round 2 6–0 6–7(3) 6–4. She next played on clay in Bastad, but was taken out by Vesna Dolonts 6–3 6–4 in round 1.
She pulled out of tournaments in Baku and San Diego before returning to the tour in Toronto. Following wins over Polona Hercog and Simona Halep, she took out 8th seeded Francesca Schiavone 6–3 6–3 to reach her 2nd Toronto Quarterfinal. She lost this match to eventual champion Serena Williams 4–6 6–3 6–2. In Cincinnati the following week she defeated Zakopalova 6–2 6–2, but lost her 2nd round to 5th seed Li Na 6–3 6–4.
Seeded 27 at the US Open, she began by defeating Magdalena Rybarikova 2–6 6–3 6–2, signifiying her first US Open win since 2007. She then defeated American Wildcard Madison Keys 3–6 7–5 6–4, before a disappointing round 3 loss to Monica Niculescu. In Quebec City the week following the US Open, she lost in round 2 to Andrea Hlavackova as the 2nd seed.
Taking a small break, she reentered the tour in Beijing. She lost in the first round to Petkovic 7–6(5) 6–4. She followed this up with a semi-final appearance in Linz, Austria, losing to Dominika Cibulkova. The following week in the premier Moscow event, she took out 2nd seed Agnieszka Radwanska in round 2 6-4 4-6 6-4 before losing to Kaia Kanepi in the semi-final 6-7(4) 6-4 6-3.
To finish the year, Lucie was a part of the Czech Fed Cup team. Despite losing both her matches to the higher ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova and Anastacia Pavlyuchenkova, she became champion with the Czech team winning 3 rubbers to 2.
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| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score in the final |
| Winner | 1. | May 1, 2005 | Estoril, Portugal | Clay | Li Na | 6–7(4), 6–4, 6–3 |
| Runner-up | 1. | June 18, 2005 | 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands | Grass | Klára Zakopalová | 6–3, 2–6, 2–6 |
| Winner | 2. | August 20, 2005 | Forest Hills, United States | Hard | Sania Mirza | 3–6, 7–5, 6–4 |
| Winner | 3. | January 7, 2006 | Gold Coast, Australia | Hard | Flavia Pennetta | 6–3, 6–4 |
| Runner-up | 2. | February 5, 2007 | Paris, France | Carpet (i) | Nadia Petrova | 6–4, 1–6, 4–6 |
| Winner | 4. | August 23, 2008 | Forest Hills, New York, USA | Hard | Peng Shuai | 6–4, 6–2 |
| Runner-up | 3. | September 20, 2009 | Quebec City, Canada | Carpet | Melinda Czink | 6–4, 3–6, 5–7 |
| Runner-up | 4. | February 14, 2010 | Paris, France | Hard (i) | Elena Dementieva | 7–6(5), 1–6, 4–6 |
| Runner-up | 5. | March 6, 2011 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | Hard | Jelena Dokić | 6–2, 6–7(9), 4–6 |
| Runner-up | 6. | June 11, 2011 | Copenhagen, Denmark | Hard (i) | Caroline Wozniacki | 6–1, 6–4 |
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 Kremlin Cup, which ended on October 12, 2008.
| Tournament | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | W–L | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | LQ | 1R | QF | 1R | 3R | 1R | 3R | 8–6 | ||||||||||||
| French Open | 1R | 1R | 4R | 2R | 2R | 2R | 2R | 7–7 | ||||||||||||
| Wimbledon | 1R | A | 3R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 3–5 | ||||||||||||
| US Open | 1R | 2R | 3R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 3R | 5–7 | ||||||||||||
| Win–Loss | 0–3 | 1–3 | 11–4 | 1–4 | 3–4 | 1–4 | 6–4 | 23–26 | ||||||||||||
| WTA Premier Mandatory Tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Indian Wells | A | 3R | 3R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 3–6 | ||||||||||||
| Miami | A | 2R | 3R | 3R | 2R | 3R | 3R | 6–6 | ||||||||||||
| Madrid | Not Held | 3R | SF | QF | 9–3 | |||||||||||||||
| Beijing | Not Tier I | 2R | 1R | A | 1–2 | |||||||||||||||
| WTA Premier 5 Tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Dubai | Not Tier I | A | A | 1R | 0–1 | |||||||||||||||
| Rome | A | 2R | A | 1R | 2R | QF | 2R | 6–5 | ||||||||||||
| Cincinnati | Not Tier I | 2R | 1R | 2R | 2–3 | |||||||||||||||
| Montréal/Toronto | 1R | 2R | 2R | A | QF | 1R | QF | 8–6 | ||||||||||||
| Tokyo | A | A | A | A | 3R | 2R | 3–2 | |||||||||||||
| Former WTA Tier I Tournaments (currently neither Premier Mandatory nor Premier 5 events) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Doha | Not Tier I | 1R | Not Held | 2R | 1–2 | |||||||||||||||
| Berlin | A | A | Not Held | 3R | 2R | 3–2 | ||||||||||||||
| Zurich | Q | A | A | NTI | Not Held | 0–0 | ||||||||||||||
| Charleston | A | 3R | A | A | NM5 | 2–1 | ||||||||||||||
| Moscow | Q | A | A | 0–0 | ||||||||||||||||
| San Diego | A | 1R | 2R | Not Held | NM5 | 1–2 | ||||||||||||||
| Tournaments Won | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||||||||||||
| Year End Ranking | 50 | 41 | 24 | 63 | 40 | 33 | 25 | |||||||||||||
Šafářová speaks three languages, Czech, German and English. She was in a relationship with fellow Czech tennis player Tomáš Berdych until they broke in 2011.
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