Sun Tiantian

Sun Tiantian (Chinese: 孙甜甜; pinyin: Sūn Tiántián; Mandarin pronunciation: [swə́n tʰjɛ̌n tʰjɛ̌n]; born 12 October 1981) is a Chinese former professional tennis player. She won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in women's doubles along with her partner Li Ting.

Sun Tiantian
孙甜甜
Country (sports) China
ResidenceBeijing
Born (1981-10-12) 12 October 1981
Zhengzhou, Henan
Height1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Turned pro1999
Retired2010
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money$1,019,657
Singles
Career record217–156
Career titles1 WTA, 6 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 77 (19 March 2007)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open1R (2006, 2007)
French Open2R (2006)
Wimbledon2R (2004, 2006)
US Open2R (2005)
Doubles
Career record268–154
Career titles11 WTA, 13 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 16 (22 October 2007)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian OpenQF (2007)
French OpenQF (2005)
WimbledonQF (2007)
US Open3R (2005)
Mixed doubles
Career titles1
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian OpenW (2008)
French OpenSF (2007)
Wimbledon3R (2007, 2004)
US Open2R (2006)
Team competitions
Fed Cup16–10

Sun reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 77 in March 2007, winning her only WTA Tour singles title at the 2006 Tashkent Open, and a career-high doubles ranking of No. 16 in October 2007, winning eleven WTA titles and reaching the quarterfinals of three Grand Slam women's doubles tournaments, and winning the mixed doubles event at the 2008 Australian Open alongside Nenad Zimonjić.

Career

In September 2000, Sun won two successive $10k singles titles, a feat she would repeat in June 2001, when she won another two back-to-back.

In 2002, she found repeat success at the next level up, winning two $25k tournaments: firstly in April, at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (beating countrywoman Zheng Jie in the semifinal and Korean Jeon Mi-ra in the final); and then in August at Beijing (beating Zheng Jie in the semifinal again, and Rika Fujiwara in the final).

In 2003, she reached the final of a $50k tournament at Modena despite entering as a lucky loser to countrywoman Yan Zi in the final round of qualifying. Having defeated several high-quality opponents in the forms of Martina Suchá, Maret Ani and Gala León García, she lost in the final against Melinda Czink.

This year, she also gained entry into several WTA tournaments, most notably coming through qualifying at Doha by defeating Yuliana Fedak, Ľubomíra Kurhajcová and María Sánchez Lorenzo, only to lose in the deciding set of her opening round match against Nicole Pratt; and at the US Open after a narrow victory over Selima Sfar, only to lose to Saori Obata at the first hurdle in the main draw. But she finished the year ranked world No. 141.

In 2004, she qualified for the Australian Open after a win over Roberta Vinci, then qualified for Doha for the second year running. She went on to record impressive wins over Eva Birnerová and Sandra Kleinová to qualify for Miami; and over Camille Pin and Mara Santangelo to qualify for Amelia Island, where she also beat Cara Black in the main draw first round. At Wimbledon, she qualified with a win over Barbara Schwartz and won her first-round tie against Tathiana Garbin before succumbing to Anne Kremer in Round Two. At the end of the year, she lost in a tight three-set final in the first $50k Shenzhen tournament to countrywoman Li Na. Her year-end ranking had improved to world No. 118.

Sun also competed in the Summer Olympics, defeating Conchita Martínez and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain in the women's tennis doubles final to win a gold medal along with her partner Li Ting.

In 2005, she reached her first WTA singles quarterfinal at Hyderabad, defeating Tamarine Tanasugarn 6–2, 6–1 in the second round before losing a close match against prominent German player Anna-Lena Grönefeld 6–7, 3–6. After several near-misses in qualifying, she again made her mark in August; both at Los Angeles, where she took French star Marion Bartoli to three sets in the second round, and in the US Open, where she qualified with convincing straight-sets wins over Marlene Weingärtner and Ľudmila Cervanová and went on to defeat Samantha Stosur 6–3, 7–6 in the first round of the main draw before succumbing to Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain. But her career-best win to date was yet to come the following month at Beijing, where she defeated former world No. 1 player Serena Williams in the second round after an easy first-round victory over Tatiana Panova of Russia, only to be outperformed in her second WTA quarterfinal by rising star Maria Kirilenko. This run of results propelled her to a career-best ranking of world No. 88, but by the close of the year, she had slipped back slightly to world No. 105.

Early in 2006, Sun suffered some extremely tough draws, but fought every inch of the way in tight three-set losses to Amélie Mauresmo in the first round of the Australian Open and Nuria Llagostera Vives in the first round at Gold Coast, only to lose in qualifying for Doha and Dubai.

At the Tashkent Open, Sun fought her way past Iroda Tulyaganova in the final to win the first WTA Tour title of her career and became only the fourth Chinese woman to win a WTA title. On 9 October 2006, she moved to a new career high of world No. 81.

She is one of only two active players (the other is Sybille Bammer of Austria) to have a winning record against Serena Williams. In their only meeting, she defeated Williams 6–2, 7–6 in the round of 16 at Beijing in 2005.

On 27 January 2008, Sun captured her first Grand Slam title when she won the Australian Open mixed doubles crown, partnering with Nenad Zimonjić. The pair defeated Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi in two sets. They won the title with their fifth championship point.

Major finals

Mixed doubles: 1 title

Outcome Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Winner2008Australian OpenHard Nenad Zimonjić Sania Mirza
Mahesh Bhupathi
7–6(4), 6–4

Doubles: 1 gold medal

Outcome Year Location Surface Partner Opponents Score
Gold2004AthensHard Li Ting Conchita Martínez
Virginia Ruano
6–3, 6–3

WTA Tour career finals

Singles: 1 title

Winner - Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
Tier I (0–0)
Tier II (0–0)
Tier III (0–0)
Tier IV & V (1–0)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Winner 1. 8 October 2006 Tashkent Hard Iroda Tulyaganova 6–2, 6–4

Doubles: 21 (11 titles, 10 runner-ups)

Legend: Before 2009Legend: Starting in 2009
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
Tier I (0–1) Premier Mandatory (0–0)
Tier II (1–1) Premier 5 (0–0)
Tier III (6–4) Premier (0–0)
Tier IV & V (4–3) International (0–1)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Winner 1. 14 June 2003 Vienna Clay Li Ting Yan Zi
Zheng Jie
6–3, 6–4
Runner-up 1. 12 October 2003 Tashkent Hard Li Ting Yuliya Beygelzimer
Tatiana Poutchek
3–6, 6–7(0)
Winner 2. 2 November 2003 Quebec Hard(i) Li Ting Els Callens
Meilen Tu
6–3, 6–3
Winner 3. 9 November 2003 Pattaya Hard Li Ting Wynne Prakusya
Angelique Widjaja
6–4, 6–3
Runner-up 2. 22 February 2004 Hyderabad Hard Li Ting Liezel Huber
Sania Mirza
6–7(1), 4–6
Winner 4. 3 October 2004 Guangzhou Hard Li Ting Yang Shujing
Yu Ying
6–4, 6–1
Runner-up 3. 12 February 2005 Hyderabad Hard Li Ting Yan Zi
Zheng Jie
4–6, 1–6
Winner 5. 1 May 2005 Estoril Clay Li Ting Michaëlla Krajicek
Henrieta Nagyová
6–3, 6–1
Winner 6. 12 February 2006 Pattaya Hard Li Ting Yan Zi
Zheng Jie
3–6, 6–1, 7–6(5)
Runner-up 4. 4 March 2006 Doha Hard Li Ting Daniela Hantuchová
Ai Sugiyama
4–6, 4–6
Winner 7. 7 May 2006 Estoril Clay Li Ting Gisela Dulko
María Sánchez Lorenzo
6–2, 6–2
Winner 8. 1 October 2006 Guangzhou Hard Li Ting Vania King
Jelena Kostanić Tošić
6–4, 2–6, 7–5
Runner-up 5. 15 April 2007 Charleston Hard Peng Shuai Yan Zi
Zheng Jie
5–7, 0–6
Runner-up 6. 26 May 2007 Strasbourg Clay Alicia Molik Zheng Jie
Yan Zi
3–6, 4–6
Runner-up 7. 17 June 2007 Birmingham Grass Meilen Tu Chuang Chia-jung
Chan Yung-jan
6–7(3), 3–6
Runner-up 8. 19 October 2007 Guangzhou Hard Vania King Peng Shuai
Yan Zi
6–3, 6–4
Winner 9. 7 October 2007 Tokyo Hard Yan Zi Chuang Chia-jung
Vania King
1–6, 6–2, [10–6]
Winner 10. 14 October 2007 Bangkok Hard Yan Zi Ayumi Morita
Junri Namigata
w/o
Winner 11. 9 March 2008 Bangalore Hard Peng Shuai Chan Yung-jan
Chuang Chia-jung
6–4, 5–7, [10–8]
Runner-up 9. 21 September 2008 Guangzhou Hard Yan Zi Mariya Koryttseva
Tatiana Poutchek
4–6, 6–4, [8–10]
Runner-up 10. 20 September 2009 Guangzhou Hard Kimiko Date-Krumm Olga Govortsova
Tatiana Poutchek
6–3, 2–6, [8–10]

ITF finals

Singles (6-5)

$50,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Runner-up 1. 16 April 2000 Shenyang, China Hard Li Na 0–6, 4–6
Runner-up 2. 4 June 2000 Shenzhen, China Hard Kim Eun-ha 4–6, 3–6
Winner 3. 4 September 2000 Hangzhou, China Hard Zheng Jie 6–2, 6–2
Winner 4. 17 September 2000 Hohhot, China Hard Ding Ding 6–4, 6–3
Winner 5. 17 June 2001 Seoul, South Korea Hard Choi Jin-young 3–6, 6–3, 6–1
Winner 6. 24 June 2001 Incheon, South Korea Hard Chung Yang-jin 6-4, 6-3
Winner 7. 14 April 2002 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Hard Jeon Mi-ra 6-3, 6-4
Runner-up 8. 13 May 2002 Shanghai, China Hard Zheng Jie 2-6, 2-6
Winner 9. 6 August 2002 Beijing, China Hard Rika Fujiwara 6–3, 6–0
Runner-up 10. 20 July 2003 Modena, Italy Clay Melinda Czink 3–6, 3–6
Runner-up 11. 31 October 2004 Shenzhen, China Hard Li Na 3–6, 6–4, 2–6

Doubles (13-8)

Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Partnering Opponents Score
Winner 1. 13 June 1999 Shenyang, China Hard Chen Yan Chen Yin
Tuo Qi
6-2, 6-4
Winner 2. 10 September 2000 Zhejiang, China Hard Chen Yan Zheng Jie
Yan Zi
6-3, 7-5
Winner 3. 10 September 2000 Hohhot, China Hard Chen Yan Ding Ding
Tang Yan
6-0, 6-3
Runner-up 4. 4 June 2001 Hohhot, China Hard Chen Yan Zheng Jie
Yan Zi
4-6, 6-2, 3-6
Runner-up 5. 29 July 2001 Guangzhou, China Hard Chen Yan Li Ting
Tong Ka-po
5–7, 3–6
Winner 6. 27 January 2002 Hull, United Kingdom Hard (i) Zheng Jie Claire Curran
Elsa O'Riain
7–6(4), 7–5
Runner-up 7. 10 February 2002 Redbridge, Great Britain Hard (i) Helen Crook Magda Mihalache
Ekaterina Sysoeva
6–4, 4–6, 4–6
Winner 8. 11 August 2002 Beijing, China Hard Li Ting Yan Zi
Zheng Jie
7-5, 6-3
Winner 9. 23 February 2003 Columbus, United States Hard (i) Li Ting Bruna Colósio
Joana Cortez
6–3, 6–1
Winner 10. 2 March 2003 Saint Paul, United States Hard Li Ting Teryn Ashley
Abigail Spears
6-3, 6-1
Winner 11. 30 March 2003 Atlanta, United States Hard Li Ting Leanne Baker
Francesca Lubiani
4-6, 6-4, 6-4
Runner-up 12. 16 June 2003 Gorizia, Italy Clay Li Ting Yan Zi
Zheng Jie
6-7(5), 6-1, 4-6
Winner 13. 23 June 2003 Fontanafredda, Italy Clay Li Ting Maria Geznenge
Dragana Zarić
6–4, 6–3
Runner-up 14. 30 June 2003 Orbetello, Italy Clay Li Ting Yan Zi
Zheng Jie
2-6, 5-7
Winner 15. 13 July 2003 Modena, Italy Clay Li Ting Rika Fujiwara
Trudi Musgrave
3–6, 7–5, 7–5
Winner 16. 30 November 2003 Changsha, China Hard Li Ting Yan Zi
Zheng Jie
6-4, 6-2
Winner 17. 7 December 2003 Shenzhen, China Hard Li Ting Yan Zi
Zheng Jie
6-3, 3-6, 6-4
Runner-up 18. 6 June 2005 Beijing, China Hard Li Ting Yan Zi
Zheng Jie
1-6, 5-7
Winner 19. 16 August 2005 Bronx, United States Hard Li Ting Tatiana Poutchek
Anastasiya Yakimova
2–6, 6–2, 6–4
Runner-up 20. 17 May 2009 Saint-Gaudens, France Clay Kimiko Date Rika Fujiwara
Chanelle Scheepers
5–7, 4–6
Runner-up 21. 10 August 2009 Quanzhou, China Hard Hao Jie Han Xinyun
Kao Shao-yuan
6–1, 2–6, [6–10]

See also

References

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