María José Martínez Sánchez

For the American tennis player, see Maria Sanchez.
María José Martínez Sánchez
Country (sports)  Spain
Residence Barcelona, Spain
Born (1982-08-12) 12 August 1982
Yecla, Murcia, Spain
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Turned pro 1998
Plays Left-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money $3,386,560
Singles
Career record 357–238
Career titles 5 WTA, 12 ITF
Highest ranking No. 19 (10 May 2010)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open 3R (2009)
French Open 3R (2009, 2012)
Wimbledon 3R (2008, 2011)
US Open 3R (2009)
Doubles
Career record 384 - 181
Career titles 16 WTA, 22 ITF
Highest ranking No. 4 (05 July 2010)
Current ranking No. 126 (03 August 2015)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open QF (2009)
French Open SF (2010, 2012)
Wimbledon QF (2008, 2009, 2012)
US Open SF (2012)
Other doubles tournaments
Tour Finals W (2009)
Last updated on: 03 August 2015.
This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Martínez and the second or maternal family name is Sánchez.

María José Martínez Sánchez (born 12 August 1982) is a Spanish professional tennis player. In singles, she has won five WTA singles titles, the 2009 Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas, the 2009 Swedish Open, the Premier 5 event, 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, the 2011 Gastein Ladies and the 2011 Hansol Korea Open. She was also a runner-up at the 2008 Barcelona KIA. As a junior she won the 1999 Orange Bowl, a year-ending tennis event for junior players. She reached her career high ranking in singles of World No. 19 on 10 May 2010.

In doubles, Martínez Sánchez has won 14 WTA titles, nine of which came with Nuria Llagostera Vives, including the 2009 WTA Tour Championships. She has also won four titles with Anabel Medina Garrigues. Martínez Sánchez reached a career high doubles ranking of World No. 4 on 05 July 2010.

Early career

As a Junior, Martínez Sánchez won the 1999 Orange Bowl, a year-ending tennis event for Juniors. She made her first Grand Slam draw at the 2001 Australian Open losing to the 3rd seed Venus Williams.

2008

At the 2008 Wimbledon Championships, she advanced to the third round where she lost to eventual champion Venus Williams. In her next Grand Slam, the 2008 US Open, she lost in the first round to Sabine Lisicki.

She finished off the year of a ranking of 87, and only the second time of her career that she finish the year in the top 100 (her first being all the way back in 2001).

2009

Martínez Sánchez started the year playing at the 2009 Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year. In the first round, she upset the 32nd seed Tamarine Tanasugarn 7–5, 6–3. She then defeated Akgul Amanmuradova 6–2, 6–4 but lost in the third round to compatriot Carla Suárez Navarro 6–1, 6–4. In doubles, she and Nuria Llagostera Vives were seeded 11th and defeated 6th seeds Yan Zi and Zheng Jie in the third round but they lost a tough match in the quarterfinals to Nathalie Dechy and Mara Santangelo 3–6, 7–6, 7–6.

María José next played at the 2009 Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas where she was seeded 7th. She defeated Anastasiya Yakimova, Arantxa Parra Santonja and Betina Jozami to reach the semi-finals where she won a close match against Patricia Mayr 7–5, 7–5. She captured her first WTA singles titl when she defeated 3rd seed Gisela Dulko 6–3, 6–2 in the final. In doubles, Martínez Sánchez and Llagostera Vives were the top seeds and they reached the final where they beat second seeds Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta 7–5, 3–6, [10–7] to win their first doubles title of the year.

She reached the third round at Roland Garros. In that match against Serena Williams she was accused of cheating and poor sportsmanship.

Martínez Sánchez won her second singles title at the year at the 2009 Swedish Open. On the way she defeated 4th seed Kaia Kanepi, Carla Suárez Navarro and Gisela Dulko before beating top seed and World No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki 7–5, 6–4 in the final.

Martínez Sánchez and her partner Nuria Llagostera Vives won the year ending championships in doubles. As the third seeds, they defeated Venus Williams and Serena Williams 2–6, 6–4, [10–8] before winning the biggest title of their careers against World No. 1's Cara Black and Liezel Huber 7–6, 5–7, [10–8] in the final.

Maria qualified to play at the 2009 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali. She recovered from a first set deficit to beat Szávay in 3 sets 4–6, 6–4, 6–0 in her second group round robin match she beat Stosur in straight sets 7–6, 7–5 where Stosur served a 208kmps world record serve. In the semifinal she lost against Aravane Rezaï 6–2, 6–3, who clearly outplayed her on that day.

Overall, Martínez Sánchez had the greatest year of her career. The highlights were winning two singles WTA titles at Bogotá and Båstad (Sweden) and by reaching the third rounds at the Australian Open, French Open, US Open. She ended the year ranked World No. 30.

In doubles, she won seven titles with Nuria Llagostera Vives at Bogotá, Acapulco, Barcelona, Palermo, Toronto, New Haven and the most important, the WTA Tour Championships in Doha. She ended the year ranked World No. 5.

2010

Sánchez playing at the 2009 U.S. Open

Her first tournament of the year was winning the Hopman Cup with partner Tommy Robredo. They reached the Final after defeating top seeds Australia, the United States, and Romania without losing a single match. However she had a shock loss to young British prospect Laura Robson but was able to secure a 2–1 win for Spain.

Martínez Sánchez was seeded 24th at the 2010 Australian Open but lost in the second round to World No. 35 Zheng Jie 2–6, 6–2, 6–3.

At Indian Wells, she entered in the second round against A. Dulgheru and struggled through in three sets, 2–6 6–3 6–1. Then she went on winning in straight sets over Belarusian Victoria Azarenka in the third round, 7–6, 6–2, and another straight sets win over Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in the fourth round 6–4, 6–4. In the quarterfinals she was defeated by Samantha Stosur in straight sets, 3–6, 6–7.

Martínez Sánchez major breakthrough tournament came at the Italian Open, a Premier 5 event in Rome where nine of the top ten women were competing. She upset World No. 17 Francesca Schiavone, World No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki and then Lucie Šafářová in straight sets. She then defeated Ana Ivanovic in the semifinals 6–4, 6–2 and went on to beat World No. 7 Jelena Janković in the final 7–6, 7–5 to win the biggest title of her career so far. Due to her impressive performance in Rome, she became a top 20 player for the first time, at No.19. However, she was unable to carry any momentum at all into the 2010 French Open, suffering defeat in the first round, because her neck was injured while she was training the same day and she could hardly move the neck in the match.

She returned in Eastbourne, winning the first match against Vera Zvonareva and the second round again Aravane Rezaï. She was defeated in the quarterfinals by Marion Bartoli in a really hard match. But more bad luck came to María once again when her leg was injured due to bad movement before her quarterfinals doubles match. This time would be worse for she would miss Wimbledon and most of the summer season, before returning in New Haven and losing in the first round against wildcard Elena Dementieva.

In the 2010 US Open, she failed to repeat her 3rd round finish of the previous year, losing in the 2nd round against Patty Schnyder in a tight match 7–6, 6–4. Overall the result was good for Martínez Sánchez who had made a lot unforced errors and Schnyder who had her best match in the past few months.

2011

Martínez Sánchez started off the year at the 2011 Medibank International Sydney where she defeated Daniela Hantuchová in the first round 6–2, 6–4 before setting up a meeting with Alisa Kleybanova where she lost 6–2, 6–4. In the 2011 Australian Open Martínez Sánchez was seeded 26. In the first round she faced Gréta Arn who had recently won the 2011 ASB Classic event in Auckland. Martínez Sánchez won against Arn although was subsequently defeated by Frenchwoman Alizé Cornet in the second round.

At the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, Martínez Sánchez came from a set down to upset 15th seed Jelena Janković in the first round. She then made quick work of Romanian Monica Niculescu in the following match. She lost to 23rd seed and 5-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in the third round.

She has earned two International Championships in 2011. In July, Martínez Sánchez defeated Patricia Mayr-Achleitner 6–0, 7–4 at the Bad Gastein Ladies in Bad Gastein, Austria. She followed that win with a 7–6, 7–6 victory over Galina Voskoboeva at the Hansol Korea Open in September.

2012

[1]

2012 was a year of injury and struggles for Martínez Sánchez as she consequently fell out of the top 150 in singles.

After withdrawing from the Australian Open with a left knee injury, she failed to win a main draw match until the French Open, where she reached the 3rd round losing to 15th seed Dominika Cibulková, 2–6, 1–6. Martínez Sánchez experienced even more success in doubles where she reached the semis with Nuria Llagostera Vives losing to eventual champions and 4th seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.

Martínez Sánchez lost to Laura Robson and Ana Ivanovic both in 3 sets, at the Aegon International and Wimbledon respectively, the first sending her out of the top 50. However in doubles, again with Llagostera Vives, they won in Eastbourne without dropping a set and defeating the top 2 seeds, but they lost in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon to Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone in a tough three-setter.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Martínez Sánchez defeated Polona Hercog 6–4, 6–2, before being routed out by Victoria Azarenka 1–6, 2–6. She and Llagostera Vives routed Casey Dellacqua and Samantha Stosur 6–1, 6–1, before falling to Peng Shuai and Zheng Jie 4–6, 2–6.

The Spaniard then lost in the first round of both singles and doubles in tough matches at Montreal. She fell out of the top 100 of singles following the loss to Carla Suárez Navarro.

Despite falling first round again in singles in Cincinnati, Martínez Sánchez and Llagostera Vives were pushed in the first round by Olga Govortsova and Alla Kudryavtseva,[2] but fell to 8th seeds Katarina Srebotnik and Zheng Jie 4–6, 3–6.[3]

A good run at the US Open caused her to bounce back into the top 100 of singles and the top 15 of doubles. After a tough first round match with fellow veteran Mirjana Lučić winning 6–3, 7–5, she pushed eventual champ Serena Williams 6–2, 6–4.[4] The scoreline was easier than it looks however. After a series of tough wins with Llagostera Vives in doubles, they met the eventual champions Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci falling 2–6, 3–6.[5]

Entering the 2012 Hansol Korea Open as the defending champion, she played well defeating Eleni Daniilidou,[6] and Nadia Petrova via walkover, but lost in the quarterfinals where she was routed by Ekaterina Makarova 1–6, 1–6.[7] The loss sent her sprawling out of the top 100 to 137. Martínez Sánchez then lost in the first round of qualies at Tokyo, Beijing, and Osaka. In Osaka, she managed to push 2nd seed Zheng Jie to a tough three-setter losing 6–4, 5–7, 4–6 despite going up a set and 5–2.[8]

2015

After the pregnancy, she returned on the main tour in the Miami Open doubles draw pairing with Vera Dushevina.

WTA career finals

Singles: 6 (5–1)

Winner — Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
WTA Tour Championships (0–0)
Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (1–0)
Premier (0–0)
International (4–1)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Runner-up 1. 15 June 2008 Barcelona KIA, Barcelona, Spain Clay Russia Maria Kirilenko 6–0, 6–2
Winner 1. 22 February 2009 Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas, Bogotá, Colombia Clay Argentina Gisela Dulko 6–3, 6–2
Winner 2. 11 July 2009 Swedish Open, Båstad, Sweden Clay Denmark Caroline Wozniacki 7–5, 6–4
Winner 3. 8 May 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Rome, Italy Clay Serbia Jelena Janković 7–6(7–5), 7–5
Winner 4. 17 July 2011 Gastein Ladies, Bad Gastein, Austria Clay Austria Patricia Mayr-Achleitner 6–0, 7–5
Winner 5. 25 September 2011 Hansol Korea Open, Seoul, South Korea Hard Kazakhstan Galina Voskoboeva 7–6(7–0), 7–6(7–2)

Doubles: 26 (16–10)

Winner — Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
WTA Tour Championships (1–0)
Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (3–3)
Premier (2–1)
International (10–6)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Winner 1. 4 March 2001 Abierto Mexicano Telcel, Acapulco, Mexico Clay Spain Anabel Medina Garrigues Spain Virginia Ruano Pascual
Argentina Paola Suárez
6–4, 6–7(5–7), 7–5
Winner 2. 8 April 2001 Porto Open, Porto, Portugal Clay Spain Anabel Medina Garrigues France Alexandra Fusai
Italy Rita Grande
6–1, 6–7(5–7), 7–5
Winner 3. 6 May 2001 Croatian Bol Ladies Open, Bol, Croatia Clay Spain Anabel Medina Garrigues Russia Nadia Petrova
Slovenia Tina Pisnik
7–5, 6–4
Runner-up 1. 16 July 2001 Internazionali Femminili di Palermo, Palermo, Italy Clay Spain Anabel Medina Garrigues Italy Tathiana Garbin
Slovakia Janette Husárová
4–6, 6–2, 6–4
Runner-up 2. 29 July 2001 Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Casablanca, Morocco Clay Argentina María Emilia Salerni Bulgaria Lubomira Bacheva
Sweden Åsa Svensson
6–3, 6–7(4–7), 6–1
Winner 4. 5 August 2001 Davidoff Swiss Indoors, Basel, Switzerland Clay Spain Anabel Medina Garrigues South Africa Joannette Kruger
Spain Marta Marrero
7–6(7–5), 6–2
Runner-up 3. 11 August 2002 Nordea Nordic Light Open, Espoo, Finland Clay Spain Eva Bes-Ostariz Russia Svetlana Kuznetsova
Spain Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
6–3, 6–7(5–7), 6–3
Runner-up 4. 13 July 2003 Internazionali Femminili di Palermo, Palermo, Italy Clay Spain Arantxa Parra Santonja Italy Adriana Serra Zanetti
Italy Emily Stellato
6–4, 6–2
Winner 5. 2 March 2008 Abierto Mexicano Telcel, Acapulco, Mexico Clay Spain Nuria Llagostera Vives Czech Republic Iveta Benešová
Czech Republic Petra Cetkovská
6–2, 6–4
Runner-up 5. 11 May 2008 Qatar Telecom German Open, Berlin, Germany Clay Spain Nuria Llagostera Vives Zimbabwe Cara Black
United States Liezel Huber
3–6, 6–2, [10–2]
Runner-up 6. 15 June 2008 Barcelona KIA, Barcelona, Spain Clay Spain Nuria Llagostera Vives Spain Lourdes Domínguez Lino
Spain Arantxa Parra Santonja
4–6, 7–5, [10–4]
Winner 6. 21 February 2009 Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas, Bogotà, Colombia Clay Spain Nuria Llagostera Vives Argentina Gisela Dulko
Italy Flavia Pennetta
7–5, 3–6, [10–7]
Winner 7. 28 February 2009 Abierto Mexicano Telcel, Acapulco, Mexico Clay Spain Nuria Llagostera Vives Spain Lourdes Domínguez Lino
Spain Arantxa Parra Santonja
6–4, 6–2
Winner 8. 19 April 2009 Barcelona Ladies Open, Barcelona, Spain Clay Spain Nuria Llagostera Vives Romania Sorana Cîrstea
Slovenia Andreja Klepač
3–6, 6–2, [10–8]
Runner-up 7. 11 July 2009 Swedish Open, Båstad, Sweden Clay Spain Nuria Llagostera Vives Argentina Gisela Dulko
Italy Flavia Pennetta
6–2, 0–6, [10–5]
Winner 9. 19 July 2009 Internazionali Femminili di Palermo, Palermo, Italy Clay Spain Nuria Llagostera Vives Ukraine Mariya Koryttseva
Belarus Darya Kustova
6–1, 6–2
Runner-up 8. 16 August 2009 Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open, Cincinnati, United States Hard Spain Nuria Llagostera Vives Zimbabwe Cara Black
United States Liezel Huber
6–3, 0–6, [10–2]
Winner 10. 23 August 2009 Rogers Cup, Toronto, Canada Hard Spain Nuria Llagostera Vives Australia Samantha Stosur
Australia Rennae Stubbs
2–6, 7–5, [11–9]
Winner 11. 29 August 2009 Pilot Pen Tennis, New Haven, United States Hard Spain Nuria Llagostera Vives Czech Republic Iveta Benešová
Czech Republic Lucie Hradecká
6–2, 7–5
Winner 12. 1 November 2009 WTA Year End Championships, Doha, Qatar Hard Spain Nuria Llagostera Vives Zimbabwe Cara Black
United States Liezel Huber
7–6(7–0), 5–7, [10–7]
Winner 13. 20 February 2010 Dubai Tennis Championships, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Hard Spain Nuria Llagostera Vives Czech Republic Květa Peschke
Slovenia Katarina Srebotnik
7–6(7–5), 6–4
Runner-up 9. 9 May 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Rome, Italy Clay Spain Nuria Llagostera Vives Argentina Gisela Dulko
Italy Flavia Pennetta
6–4, 6–2
Runner-up 10. 23 October 2010 Kremlin Cup, Moscow, Russia Hard (i) Italy Sara Errani Argentina Gisela Dulko
Italy Flavia Pennetta
6–3, 2–6, [10–6]
Winner 14. 20 February 2011 Dubai Tennis Championships, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Hard United States Liezel Huber Czech Republic Květa Peschke
Slovenia Katarina Srebotnik
7–6(7–5), 6–3
Winner 15. 9 July 2011 Swedish Open, Båstad, Sweden Clay Spain Lourdes Domínguez Lino Spain Nuria Llagostera Vives
Spain Arantxa Parra Santonja
6–3, 6–3
Winner 16. 23 June 2012 Aegon International, Eastbourne, United Kingdom Grass Spain Nuria Llagostera Vives United States Liezel Huber
United States Lisa Raymond
6–4, ret.

Team events (1)

Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Partnering Opponents Score
Winner 1. 9 January 2010 Hopman Cup, Perth, Australia Hard Spain Tommy Robredo United Kingdom Andy Murray
United Kingdom Laura Robson
2–1

Singles performance timeline

Tournament2001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013SRW–L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open 1R 1R A A A A A Q2 3R 2R 2R A Q1 0 / 5 4–5
French Open 1R Q1 A A A A Q2 1R 3R 1R 2R 3R A 0 / 6 5–6
Wimbledon 1R A A A A Q3 Q1 3R 1R A 3R 1R A 0 / 5 4–5
US Open 1R A A A A 1R Q2 1R 3R 2R 1R 2R A 0 / 7 4–7
Win–Loss 0–4 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 2–3 6–4 2–3 4–4 3–3 0-0 0 / 23 17–23
WTA Premier Mandatory Tournaments
Indian Wells A Q2 A A A A A A Q1 QF 3R 1R A 0 / 3 4–3
Miami 1R A A A A A A A 2R 2R 3R A A 0 / 4 2–4
Madrid Not Held 1R 2R 1R A A 0 / 3 0–3
Beijing Not Held Not Tier I 3R 1R 2R Q1 A 0 / 3 3–3
WTA Premier 5 Tournaments
Dubai Not Tier I A 2R 1R NP5 0 / 2 1–2
Rome A Q1 A A A A A A QF W 1R 1R A 1 / 4 9–3
Cincinnati Not Held Not Tier I 2R A 1R 1R A 0 / 3 1–3
Canada A A A A A 1R A A A A 3R 1R A 0 / 3 2–3
Tokyo A A A A A A A A A 1R 1R Q1 A 0 / 2 0–2
Year-End Ranking 92 278 348 397 109 173 92 27 28 35 161 532

Women's doubles performance timeline

Tournament200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015SRW–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A 2R 1R A A A A A QF 3R 2R A 3R A A 0 / 6 9–5
French Open 1R 2R 1R A A A 3R QF 1R SF 3R SF 1R A 1R 0 / 11 16–11
Wimbledon 1R A A A A 3R 2R QF QF A 2R QF A A 2R 0 / 8 10–7
US Open 1R A A A A 2R A 2R QF 1R 3R SF A A 0 / 7 11–7
Win–Loss 0–3 2–2 0–2 0–0 0–0 3–2 3–2 7–3 9–4 6–4 6–4 11–3 2–2 0–0 1–2 0 / 32 50–30
Year-End Championship
WTA Tour Championships A A A A A A A A W A A A A A 1 / 1 2–0
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics Not Held A Not Held 1R Not Held 2R Not Held 0 / 2 1–2
WTA Premier Mandatory Tournaments
Indian Wells A 1R A A A A A A SF QF 1R 2R 1R A A 0 / 6 6–6
Miami A A A A A A A A QF 2R SF A QF A QF 0 / 5 10–4
Madrid Not Held QF SF 2R SF A A 2R 0 / 5 8–5
Beijing T IV Tier II QF QF 2R 2R A A 0 / 4 5–4
WTA Premier 5 Tournaments
Dubai Tier II A W W Premier 2 / 2 8–0
Doha Tier III Tier II A Not Held P 1R A A A 0 / 1 0–1
Rome A 1R 1R A A A A A SF F QF 1R 2R A 2R 0 / 8 7–8
Montréal / Toronto A A A A A 1R A A W A 1R 1R A A 1 / 4 5–3
Cincinnati NH Tier III F A 1R SF A A 0 / 3 7–3
Tokyo A A A A A A A A 1R 1R A A A A 0 / 2 0–2
Ranking 40 79 112 N/A 131 62 108 30 6 15 21 15 129 N/A

References

External links

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