Gisela Dulko

Gisela Dulko

Country	Argentina
Residence	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Born	January 30, 1985 (1985-01-30) (age 26) Tigre, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Turned pro	2001
Retired	Active
Plays	Right–handed (two–handed backhand)
Career prize money	$3,675,036
Singles
Career record	300–224 (57%)
Career titles	4 WTA, 6 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 26 (November 21, 2005)
Current ranking	No. 65 (September 12, 2011)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	3R (2010)
French Open	4R (2006, 2011)
Wimbledon	3R (2004, 2006, 2008, 2009)
US Open	4R (2009)
Doubles
Career record	273–160
Career titles	17 WTA, 6 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 1 (November 1, 2010)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	W (2011)
French Open	QF (2007, 2010)
Wimbledon	SF (2010)
US Open	QF (2010)
WTA Championships	W (2010)
Last updated on: May 24, 2011.

Gisela Dulko (born January 30, 1985) is an Argentine female tennis player, who will, as of 4 July 2011, be ranked World No. 51 in singles^[1] and No. 4 in doubles.^[2] Although she enjoyed a modest success in singles, reaching No. 26 on November 21, 2005, and winning four WTA Tour titles, her speciality has been doubles, where she has been a World No. 1 player. Partnering with Flavia Pennetta, Dulko won the 2010 WTA Tour Championships and the 2011 Australian Open in doubles.

Early and personal life

Dulko was born and raised in Tigre, Buenos Aires Province. Her brother Alejandro, who is seven years her junior, is her coach.^[3] Dulko was born to Ana and now deceased Estanislao, who was of Hungarian descent.^[4] At the age of twelve, she moved from Argentina to Miami, Florida, in order to pursue a professional tennis career.^[3]

Dulko is married to fellow Argentine, Fernando Gago, who is a footballer currently playing for A.S. Roma.^[5]

Tennis career

1999–2008

As a Junior, she won three of the four Grand Slam events in doubles, including the 2000 US Open with María Emilia Salerni, the 2002 Australian Open with Angelique Widjaja, and the 2001 Wimbledon Championships with Ashley Harkleroad. As a professional, she has won sixteen doubles championships.

In singles, Dulko has had a less successful career, although she has been consistently ranked in the Top 50 over the last few years. On April 29, 2007, Dulko finally won her first WTA Tour title by defeating Sorana Cîrstea of Romania in the final of the Tier III event in Budapest. On August 25, 2007, Dulko won her second WTA Tour title at the Forest Hills Tier IV event defeating Virginie Razzano. On May 4, 2008, Dulko won her third WTA Tour title at the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem Tier IV event defeating Anabel Medina Garrigues.

2009

In January, she obtained an invite from Hong Kong Tennis Patrons' Association to play JB Group Classic 2009 with two Americans Coco Vandeweghe and Venus Williams, and then she started the year with a Quarterfinals appearance at the 2009 Moorilla Hobart International losing to Iveta Benešová. At the 2009 Australian Open she lost to eventual champion Serena Williams in the second round. In the 2009 Fed Cup first round, she gave her team their only wins when she defeated Americans Melanie Oudin and Jill Craybas. In the 2009 Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas she reached her first final of the year, but then lost to María José Martínez Sánchez. She then made good performances by reaching the quarterfinals of the 2009 Monterrey Open and 2009 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, and the Third Round of Mandatory Events in Indian Wells and Miami. She however lost in the second rounds of the 2009 Internazionali BNL d'Italia and 2009 Internationaux de Strasbourg and a first round exits in 2009 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open and the 2009 AEGON International.

She reached the third round in the next two Grand Slams, losing to Dominika Cibulková at the 2009 French Open, and to Nadia Petrova at the 2009 Wimbledon Championships. At the 2009 Wimbledon Championships, Dulko upset #24 seeded Maria Sharapova in three sets in the second round.

At the 2009 Swedish Open, she lost again to María José Martínez Sánchez, this time in the semifinals. She then made first round exits in the 2009 Internazionali Femminili di Palermo, the 2009 LA Women's Tennis Championships, the 2009 Pilot Pen Tennis and failed to qualify for the 2009 Rogers Cup. At the 2009 US Open, she made it to the Round of 16 before falling to Kateryna Bondarenko 6–0, 6–0 in just 47 minutes. Her last tournament of the year was at the 2009 Toray Pan Pacific Open were she reached the second round before losing to Iveta Benešová in three sets.

2010

She obtained an invite from the Hong Kong Tennis Patrons' Association once again to play Hong Kong Tennis Classic and won Silver Group Championships with two Americans Venus Williams and Michael Chang, and then she started the year at the 2010 Moorilla Hobart International where she reached the quarterfinals losing to Anabel Medina Garrigues. At the 2010 Australian Open, she upset Ana Ivanović in the second round before losing to 9th seed Vera Zvonareva. She then played in 2010 Copa BBVA-Colsanitas as the top seed, and made it to the semifinals before being upset by Angelique Kerber. There, she won the doubles title with Edina Gallovits. She then played in the 2010 Abierto Mexicano Telcel as the 3rd seed but lost to 5th seeded Spaniard Carla Suárez Navarro in the semifinals.

Seeded 31st at the 2010 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, she received a bye in the first round. In the second round she gained the biggest victory of her career by defeating former world No.1 Justine Henin in just over 2 hours. In the third round, she lost to No.5 seed Agnieszka Radwańska.

Unseeded at the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open, Dulko reached the third round by defeating Olga Govortsova and No.21 seed Alona Bondarenko. She then lost to Marion Bartoli in the fourth round. In doubles, Dulko teamed together with good friend Flavia Pennetta. Despite playing in only their third event together of the season, they won their first WTA Premier doubles title, beating Nadia Petrova and Samantha Stosur in three sets.

Dulko and Pennetta next teamed together in the 2010 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, and won the tournament, extending their winning streak to ten matches. Their winning streak was extended to fifteen matches by winning the 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. They extended their streak to 19 matches before losing in the final of the 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open to Serena and Venus Williams, the Australian Open and eventual French Open champions.

Dulko caused the first upset of the 2010 French Open with a first round victory over #10 Victoria Azarenka. Dulko was then defeated by Chanelle Scheepers in the second round. Dulko was then upset in the first round of her Wimbledon campaign by Monica Niculescu. She and Pennetta reached the semifinals of the doubles event there before losing.

Dulko then played at the 2010 Collector Swedish Open in Båstad where she was seeded fourth. Although Dulko overcame her doubles partner Flavia Pennetta in the semifinals, she fell in the final to French #2 Aravane Rezaï in three sets. Dulko and Pennetta went on to defend their doubles title there by defeating the Czech pair of Renata Voráčová and Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, earning their fourth team title of the season and seventh overall.

Dulko and Pennetta won a marathon doubles final at the 2010 Rogers Cup in Montreal, beating Květa Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik, for their fifth event of the season. Their very next event together was the 2010 U.S. Open, in which they were the top seeds for the event.

In singles, Dulko made it to the third round before losing to twentieth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. In doubles, Dulko and Panetta lost in the quarterfinals to Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova, the eventual champions.

At the 2010 China Open in Beijing, Dulko made it to the second round before falling to Maria Kirilenko. She would lose in the first round of her remaining tournaments. In doubles, Dulko and Pennetta fell in the final in Beijing to Olga Govortsova and Chan Yung-Jan, and then won their sixth combined event at the 2010 Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Because of their outstanding doubles efforts, Dulko and Pennetta were invited to the 2010 WTA Tour Championships in Doha, Qatar, where they are the top seeds. They ended up defeating Peschke and Srebotnik in the final to win the 2010 WTA Tour Championships

On November 1, 2010, Dulko became the world's Number 1 ranked doubles player.

2011

Dulko teamed with Pennetta to win their first Grand Slam event title by winning the 2011 Australian Open. Top seeds Dulko and Pennetta defeated Victoria Azarenka and Maria Kirilenko 2–6 7–5 6–1 in the final on January 28, 2011 to win the title.^[6]

Gisela made her first singles final of the year at the 2011 Abierto Mexicano Telcel where she was the number 4 seed. She eased past Anna Tatishvili and Silvia Soler Espinosa to advance to the quarterfinals and won against Laura Pous Tió 3–6, 7–5, 6–0. In the semifinals she dispatched Anabel Medina Garrigues 6–0, 6–2. She defeated Arantxa Parra Santonja in the finals, 6–3, 7–6(5) despite losing a 5–1 lead in the second set and having to save 3 set points down 5–6. It is her first title of the year, and her fourth career singles title.

Gisela struggled in her next few tournaments losing in the first rounds of Miami, Madrid and Rome and only reaching second round at 2011 BNP Paribas Open.

Gisela found her good form again at 2011 French Open advancing to the 4th round by defeating 2010 French Open finalist Samantha Stosur in three sets. However, she was forced to retire due to injury to her left leg early in the second set of her match against Marion Bartoli.

Career statistics

Main article: Gisela Dulko career statistics

Awards

• 2010 — WTA Award for Doubles Team of the Year (with Flavia Pennetta)
• 2010 — ITF Doubles World Champion (with Flavia Pennetta)

References

1. ^ "WTA Singles Rankings". Women's Tennis Association. June 13, 2011. http://www.wtatennis.com/page/RankingsSingles/0,,12781~0~1~100,00.html. Retrieved June 18, 2011. 
2. ^ "WTA Doubles Rankings". Women's Tennis Association. June 13, 2011. http://www.wtatennis.com/page/RankingsDoubles/0,,12781~0~1~100,00.html. Retrieved June 18, 2011. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Antes que tener la fama de Kournikova prefiero ganar muchos torneos". Sergio Oviedo (Gente). July 13, 2004. http://www.gente.com.ar/nota.php?ID=7579. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
4. ^ "Gisela Dulko". Women's Tennis Association. http://www.wtatennis.com/player/gisela-dulko_2257889_2117. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
5. ^ "La tenista Gisela Dulko y el futbolista Fernando Gago se casarán en julio". EFE. March 27, 2011. http://www.google.com/hostednews/epa/article/ALeqM5hL5qxCV4SgaM4ZOBGkwzcd8N61nA?docId=1495570. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
6. ^ "Flavia & Gisela's Missing Piece". Women's Tennis Association. January 28, 2011. http://www.wtatennis.com/doublesnews/20110128/flavia-giselas-missing-piece_2256567_2278751. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 

External links

• Gisela Dulko at the Women's Tennis Association
• Gisela Dulko at the International Tennis Federation

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Serena Williams & Venus Williams	WTA Doubles Team of the Year (with Flavia Pennetta) 2010	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Serena Williams & Venus Williams	ITF Doubles World Champion (with Flavia Pennetta) 2010	Succeeded by Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Dulko, Gisela
Alternative names	Dulko, Gisela
Short description	Tennis player
Date of birth	1985-01-30
Place of birth	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Date of death
Place of death