Timea Bacsinszky

Bacsinszky's early tennis highlights included reaching the semifinals of three junior Grand Slam tournaments in 2004–05. Her breakthrough professional tournament was the 2006 Zurich Open, where she qualified then defeated Anastasia Myskina and Francesca Schiavone before losing to former No. 1, Maria Sharapova. Her early years on tour were a learning experience, and she finished both 2006 and 2007 ranked in the 120s.

Her singles ranking climbed in 2008, and she finished in the top 60 three straight years. Most important was reaching the semifinals of the Diamond Games in February, winning three qualifying and several main draw matches before losing to world No. 1 Justine Henin, in three sets. She won her first WTA singles title at the 2009 Luxembourg Open, then won her first three doubles titles the following year.

Bacsinszky suffered a serious foot injury in the spring of 2011, requiring surgery and a long recovery.[6] She returned at the Fed Cup the following February then used her protected ranking to play several WTA tournaments. She also played a number of ITF Women's Circuit events. However, she decided to skip the Olympics for personal reasons[7] and soon took a hiatus from tennis altogether. She ended up working in restaurants and bars while preparing to attend hotel management school.[8]

In May 2013, Bacsinszky received an email, stating she was eligible to compete in that month's French Open qualifier. With no practice and having to take time off work, she drove from Lausanne to Paris; she lost her first match but felt her passion for the game reignited. Thus she hired Dimitri Zavialoff, former coach of compatriot Stan Wawrinka, and committed herself to reviving her tennis career.[8][9][10] Her gradual return to the WTA Tour reached a big milestone at the 2014 Wuhan Open when she upset No. 4, Maria Sharapova, in the third round. A few weeks later, she won her fourth career doubles title.

Bacsinszky at the 2015 French Open

Bacsinszky began the year in Shenzhen, upsetting No. 4 Petra Kvitová in the semifinal before losing to No. 3 Simona Halep in her first WTA final in five years. She then reached the third round of the Australian Open followed by back-to-back titles in Mexico at Acapulco and Monterrey, beating Caroline Garcia in both finals. As a result, her ranking rose into the top 30 for the first time. She continued this good form at the Indian Wells Premier Mandatory, defeating No. 8 Ekaterina Makarova en route to the quarterfinals where she lost to No. 1 Serena Williams, thereby ending her win streak at a career-best 15 matches.[4]

At the French Open she advanced past the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time, once again upsetting Kvitová. She made it all the way to the semifinals and a rematch with No. 1 Williams; Bacsinszky led by a set and a break but lost the last ten games.[11] Then after making the quarterfinals of Wimbledon her ranking rose to 13.

The U.S. hard-court season however saw unstable results for her, falling in the first round of all four tournaments she entered, including losing to Barbora Strýcová in her opening match at the US Open. Entering the China Open in poor form, Bacsinszky beat Italian Camila Giorgi, qualifier Mariana Duque-Marino, and three former top-10 players including Carla Suárez Navarro, Sara Errani and Ana Ivanovic to advance her first ever Premier-Mandatory final where she lost to Garbiñe Muguruza in straight sets. Her run to the final put her in the top 10 in the WTA rankings for the first time.

She lost out on her run to the WTA Finals, however, because the last tournament she played (Luxembourg) held its final on Saturday and the points could not count for the race. She withdrew from the WTA Elite Trophy due to a left knee injury that had already forced her retirement in her first round match in Luxembourg. After the end of the season, Bacsinszky received the WTA's Most Improved Player Award, ending the year No. 12 in the rankings.

Bacsinszky's first two tournaments both ended in defeats as she lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Anna Karolína Schmiedlová at the Brisbane International and at the Sydney International, respectively. Her next tournament was the Australian Open, where she beat Kateřina Siniaková but lost to Annika Beck. At the Fed Cup, Bacsinszky lost both of her matches in Switzerland's tie against Germany, but these losses did not do any harm to Switzerland who beat Germany in the doubles. She then withdrew from the Dubai Tennis Championships. At the Qatar Open, Bacsinszky defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Yulia Putintseva before losing to eventual champion Carla Suárez Navarro. However, Bacsinszky was not able to defend her back-to-back title in Acapulco and Monterrey from 2015 as they were set in the same dates as the aforementioned tournaments.

In March, Bacsinszky reached the fourth round at Indian Wells beating Tsvetana Pironkova and Eugenie Bouchard respectively, but lost to Daria Kasatkina subsequently. She then made a surprising semifinal run at Miami Open, beating Agnieszka Radwańska and Simona Halep, two top-5 players, back-to-back. She lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets in the semifinal.

At the clay-court season, Bacsinszky won her fourth WTA title in Rabat, losing only one set in the tournament, and re-entered the top 10. She made the quarterfinals at Rome (losing to Garbine Muguruza) and reached her highest career ranking at No. 9. At the French Open, she beat Sílvia Soler Espinosa, Eugenie Bouchard, Pauline Parmentier and Venus Williams en route to her second straight quarterfinal, but lost to the unseeded Kiki Bertens.[12]

Coming to the grass-court season, Bacsinszky played Eastbourne but was defeated by the in-form Kristina Mladenovic in straight sets. At Wimbledon, she started her campaign by beating qualifier Luksika Kumkhum in the first round and set up a rematch of last year's fourth round match against Monica Niculescu. Similar to last year, Bacsinszky turned the match around with a comeback win by winning six games in a row in the last set. However, she lost in straight sets to the eventual quarterfinalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. She then reached the semifinals of the inaugural Ladies Championship Gstaad, losing to Kiki Bertens.

At the Summer Olympics, Bacsinszky suffered a shocking first round loss to China's Zhang Shuai; however, partnering with Martina Hingis for the first time ever in the doubles tournament, Bacsinszky earned her first Olympic medal, as they beat Daria Gavrilova/Samantha Stosur of Australia, Bethanie Mattek-Sands/CoCo Vandeweghe of the United States, Chan Hao-ching/Chan Yung-jan of Taipei and Andrea Hlaváčková/Lucie Hradecká of Czech Republic en route to the final where the pair lost to Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina of Russia. They become the first two Swiss female tennis Olympic medalists.

Bacsinszky had a round-two loss to Varvara Lepchenko in three tight sets in the US Open. She exited in the second round of the China Open, where she was runner-up the previous year. However, due to her strong first half of the season, Bacsinszky qualified for Elite Trophy in Zhuhai. At the last event of the season, she lost to Zhang Shuai in straight sets in one of the two round-robin matches, but concluded the season with a win against Tímea Babos. She ended the season ranked No. 15.

Bacsinszky withdrew from the Shenzhen Open and the Apia International Sydney due to injury.[13][14] With no warm-up match before the Australian Open, she matched her best result at this tournament with a third-round appearance, losing to Daria Gavrilova in three sets. Entering the Fed Cup as the Swiss No. 1, Bacsinszky won both of her rubbers against French player Alizé Cornet and Kristina Mladenovic. With injuries carried on from the Fed Cup, she had to retire in the first round of Doha and eventually withdrew from Dubai, the first Premier-5 event of the year. The Swiss, however, reached the second week of Indian Wells for the third consecutive year, only to retire against Karolína Plíšková due to wrist injury. She also had to withdraw from the Miami Open, where she was a semifinalist from the previous year. In the Fed Cup semifinal against Belarus, Bacsinszky beat Aryna Sabalenka but lost to Aliaksandra Sasnovich, and Switzerland eventually lost to Belarus 2-3 in that round.

Coming into the clay-court season with few tournaments played from the first quarter of the season, Bacsinszky struggled to go deep in different events including a loss to CiCi Bellis at Rabat as the defending champion; a second round loss at Madrid to Kiki Bertens, and a loss to Karolína Plíšková in the third round of Rome. The Swiss however did upset the reigning French Open champion Garbiñe Muguruza in first round of Madrid, her first top-10 win of the season and first win against the Spaniard.

At Roland Garros, Bacsinszky defeated Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo, Tunisian lucky loser Ons Jabeur and American Madison Brengle before beating the 2017 Australian Open runner-up Venus Williams in three sets to qualify for the quarterfinals. Bacsinszky then defeated home favourite Mladenovic but lost in the semifinal match against eventual champion Jelena Ostapenko from Latvia.

Bacsinszky reached the third round of Wimbledon where she lost to Agnieszka Radwańska after leading by a set. During the match, she suffered an injury to her quadriceps.[15] She later missed the US Open due to an injury of her right wrist,[16] and subsequently underwent a surgical procedure in October, thus ending her season prematurely.[17]

Bacsinszky returned to the tour in January at the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy. She lost in the first round to qualifier Elena Rybakina.[18] In doubles, she and Vera Zvonareva won the title beating Alla Kudryavtseva/Katarina Srebotnik in the final.[19]

Bacsinszky kicked off her 2019 season at the Shenzhen Open. She lost in the first round to fifth seed Maria Sharapova.[20] In Sydney at the Sydney International, Bacsinszky beat ninth seed Anastasija Sevastova and Sam Stosur in her first two rounds. She was defeated in her quarterfinal match by qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich.[21] At the Australian Open, Bacsinszky reached the third round where she lost to eighteenth seed Garbiñe Muguruza.[22]

In Russia at the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy, Bacsinszky was defeated in the first round by eighth seed and eventual finalist Donna Vekić.[23] At the Oracle Challenger Series – Indian Wells, Bacsinszky lost in the third round to Francesca Di Lorenzo.[24] In Indian Wells at the BNP Paribas Open, Bacsinszky was defeated in the final round of qualifying by Caty McNally.[25]

Beginning her clay-court season at the Ladies Open Lugano, Bacsinszky lost in the second round to Svetlana Kuznetsova.[26] During the Fed Cup tie versus the USA, Bacsinszky was defeated in both of her rubbers by Sloane Stephens and Sofia Kenin. The USA won the tie over Switzerland 3-2.[27] In Morocco at the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Bacsinszky lost in the second round to fourth seed Ajla Tomljanović.[28] Seeded fourth at the Open de Cagnes-sur-Mer, Bacsinszky reached the semifinal where she was defeated by eventual champion Christina McHale.[29] In Paris at the French Open, Bacsinszky fell in the second round of qualifying to Kurumi Nara.[30] Seeded seventh at the Bol Open, Bacsinszky made it to the quarterfinal round where she lost to top seed, defending champion, and eventual champion Tamara Zidanšek.[31]

In Eastbourne at the Eastbourne International, Bacsinszky was defeated in the first round of qualifying by compatriot Viktorija Golubic. At the Wimbledon Championships, Bacsinszky lost in the first round to ninth seed Sloane Stephens.[32] As the top seed at the Grand Est Open 88, Bacsinszky fell in the first round to Kurumi Nara. Playing in her country at the Ladies Open Lausanne, Bacsinszky lost in the first round to Jil Teichmann.[33]

Competing in New York at the US Open, Bacsinszky was defeated in the first round by Caty McNally.[34] In Korea at the Korea Open, Bacsinszky suffered a double bagel loss in the first round to American wildcard Kristie Ahn.[35] Due to not playing any more tournaments for the rest of the season, Bacsinszky ended the year ranked 125.