Lilian Drescher

Born in Venezuela, Drescher was the Junior Orange Bowl (14 & Under) champion in 1979, at this stage representing her native country. In the 1980s she played for several years on the professional circuit, based in Switzerland.

Drescher represented Switzerland in the women's singles at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, which was a demonstration event.[1] The only Swiss player in the draw, she made it through to the quarter-finals, after beating Australia's Elizabeth Minter and then Renata Šašak of Yugoslavia, before being eliminated by sixth seeded Italian Raffaella Reggi. She also played Fed Cup tennis for Switzerland, in both 1984 and 1985, with the side making the second round each year. In 1985 she won a Fed Cup singles match against Czechoslovakia's Helena Suková, but Switzerland still lost the tie to the reigning champions, who went on to win the Cup again that year.[2]

On the WTA Tour she won one title, the 1984 Japan Open, which she managed to do without dropping a set all tournament, including a straight sets win over a young Gabriela Sabatini in the fourth round. She defeated American Shawn Foltz in the final. Early in 1985 she made the round of 16 at the Lipton International Players Championships in Delray Beach, the only tournament of the season outside of grand slams to feature a 128 player draw.[3] This performance took her into the top 50 of the world rankings.

She competed in the main draw of all four grand slam tournaments during her career and reached the second round on three occasions. One of her wins was against later Wimbledon champion Jana Novotna, who was making her grand slam debut, at the 1986 French Open.

She married Nicolas Kelaidis, a former Greek Davis Cup representative who had been a national coach in Switzerland in the 1980s. Their son, Carlos, plays collegiate tennis at Clemson University as of 2017 and has been a top 200 ranked junior on the international tour.[4]