Marina Erakovic

Marina Erakovic

Erakovic at the 2009 ASB Classic
Country	New Zealand
Residence	Auckland, New Zealand
Born	6 March 1988 (1988-03-06) (age 23) Split, SFR Yugoslavia (now Croatia)
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Turned pro	2005
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	US$666,012
Singles
Career titles	0 WTA, 9 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 49 (7 July 2008)
Current ranking	No. 61 (10 October 2011)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	2R (2009)
French Open	2R (2008)
Wimbledon	3R (2008)
US Open	1R (2008, 2011)
Doubles
Career record	76–41
Career titles	5 WTA, 5 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 43 (27 October 2008)
Current ranking	No. 52 (4 July 2011)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	1R (2009, 2010, 2011)
French Open	1R (2008)
Wimbledon	SF (2011)
US Open	QF (2008)
Last updated on: 5 September 2010.

Marina Erakovic (Croatian: Marina Eraković) (born 6 March 1988) is a New Zealand professional tennis player of Croatian background. Her career high in Women's Tennis Association (WTA) doubles ranking is World No. 43, achieved on 27 October 2008, and in singles it is No. 49, achieved on 7 July 2008. As of 19 September 2011, she is World No. 63 and is the only New Zealand player in the top 100 of either the WTA or the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

Personal / Early life

She was born in Split, Croatia, Yugoslavia to a Croatian family, and emigrated to Auckland, New Zealand, in 1994 as a 6 year old with her family.  She attended St Thomas's Primary School and Glendowie College in Auckland.

Junior career

She teamed with Michaëlla Krajicek to win the 2004 US Open junior doubles title, and Victoria Azarenka to win 2005 Australian Open junior doubles title.  Erakovic was the runner-up in the 2004 and 2005 Wimbledon junior doubles with Monica Niculescu.

Professional career

2005–2007

In 2005 and 2006, Erakovic won five International Tennis Federation (ITF) singles titles.  She was a wildcard entry in the 2005 ASB Classic in Auckland where she lost in the second round.  She lost in the second round of qualifying for the 2006 French Open.

In 2007 Erakovic lost in the second round of qualifying for the Australian Open, the first round of qualifying for the French Open, the first round of qualifying for Wimbledon, and the third round of qualifying for the U.S. Open.  She was a wildcard entry in the 2007 ASB Classic where she lost in the second round.

2008

Erakovic received a wild card into the 2008 ASB Classic where she defeated World No. 67 American Ashley Harkleroad in the second round 7–6(5), 7–5, and defeated the top seed and World No. 22 Russian Vera Zvonareva 6–3, 2–6, 7–6(5) in a quarterfinal.^[1] She lost in the semifinals to World No. 90 Frenchwoman Aravane Rezaï 6–3, 7–5.^[2] Erakovic was the first New Zealander to reach the quarterfinals at this WTA event since Belinda Cordwell in 1990.^[3][4]

Erakovic lost in the first round of qualifying for the Australian Open.

At the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, Tennessee, Erakovic won five qualifying and main draw matches before defeating Russian Alla Kudryavtseva in the quarterfinals 4–6, 6–3, 6–3.  She then lost to Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals 6–0, 6–3. Following this tournament, Erakovic's world ranking entered the top 100 for the first time.^[5]

Erakovic lost in the first round of qualifying for the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California.

At the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Erakovic initially was awarded a wildcard into the qualifying portion of the tournament but was upgraded to a main draw wildcard after a withdrawal.^[6] Erakovic defeated World No. 34 Michaëlla Krajicek of the Netherlands in the second round 6–2, 3–6, 6–2 to set up a third round match with Venus Williams.^[7]  Erakovic then lost the match 6–2, 6–1.

Erakovic then lost in the second round of the ITF Circuit tournament in Monzón, Spain, the first round of the Tier IV Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem in Fes, Morocco, and the first round of the Tier III Istanbul Cup. In doubles, Erakovic and Polona Hercog were the runners-up at the Istanbul Cup.

At the French Open, World No. 80 Erakovic defeated World No. 56 Tathiana Garbin in the first round 6–7(9), 6–3, 6–3 before losing to third-seeded Jelena Janković in the second round 6–2, 7–6(5).  She was the first New Zealand-raised player to make the main draw of a Grand Slam singles tournament since 1993.^[8]

On grass, Erakovic won the Surbiton tournament in London,^[9] her ninth career ITF singles title, and then reached the semifinals at the DFS Classic in Birmingham, United Kingdom,^[10] which was her third career WTA tournament semifinal.

At the Ordina Open in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, Erakovic lost in the second round of the singles competition but won her first WTA doubles title with partner Michaëlla Krajicek.^[11]

At Wimbledon, Erakovic played her second career Grand Slam singles tournament.^[11]  She defeated Krajicek in the first round and Julia Görges in the second round before losing to Tamarine Tanasugarn in the third round 4–6, 6–4, 6–4.  She was the first New Zealand player to reach the third round at Wimbeldon since Belinda Cordwell in 1988.^[12]

Erakovic lost in the first round of five consecutive tournaments after Wimbledon.  She played for New Zealand at the Summer Olympics in Beijing, where she lost in the first round to wildcard Ayumi Morita from Japan.  At the US Open, Erakovic lost in the first round to Pauline Parmentier of France 6–3, 7–6(2) but reached the doubles quarterfinals with new partner Jelena Kostanić Tošić.  This was the first time a New Zealander had reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament in either singles or doubles since 1994.^[13]

2009

Erakovic began her 2009 season by participating in the 2009 ASB Classic. Playing in Auckland, in her home country of New Zealand, she ended her run of first-round exits by defeating Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain in the first round 7–5, 6–4. In the second round, she lost to top-seed Elena Dementieva of Russia 6–2, 6–3. At the Moorilla Hobart International, she was defeated by fourth-seeded Zheng Jie, 6–1, 4–6, 6–1 in the first round.

At the 2009 Australian Open, in her first participation in the event, Erakovic advanced to the second round by beating Petra Cetkovská 6–4, 7–5. In the second round she was defeated in a lengthy 2hr and 16min 3 setter by Lucie Šafářová 6–1, 3–6, 9–7.

In February, at the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, Tennessee, Erakovic defeated American players Julie Ditty 7–6(4), 6–0 and Melanie Oudin 4–6, 6–2, 6–3 before falling to Britain's Anne Keothavong 2–6, 6–1, 2–6 in the quarterfinals.

At the 2009 Monterrey Open in Mexico, a new event on the WTA tour, she lost in the first round to Maria Kirilenko, 4–6, 3–6. She also played doubles at the event with Šafářová, losing in the semifinals to the Czech pair of Iveta Benešová and Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová.

At the 2009 BNP Paribas Open, the first Premier Mandatory event of the year on the WTA Tour Erakovic lost in the first round to Tsvetana Pironkova 4–6, 1–6. She was then soundly beaten in the first round of the next Premier Mandatory event of the year, the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open by qualifier Karolina Šprem 0–6, 2–6.

Due to an ongoing hip injury, Erakovic missed the 2009 French Open.^[14] She has also withdrawn from Wimbledon with the same problem.^[15] Erakovic launched an official website in June 2009.^[16]

2010

Erakovic competed in singles and doubles at the 2010 ASB Classic, losing in the first round in both events.^[17][18] She then competed at the 2010 Australian Open, losing to eventual semi-finalist Li Na in the first round.  In doubles she and partner Casey Dellacqua lost to 11th seeded Russian pair Alla Kudryavtseva and Ekaterina Makarova in the first round.

Erakovic's next tournament was the 2010 PTT Pattaya Open where she again lost in the first round of the singles, however she and partner Tamarine Tanasugarn won the doubles title, Erakovic's fourth.^[19]

2011

Erakovic started her year with the 2011 ASB Classic in Auckland where she was a wildcard receiver. She lost in the first round against Elena Vesnina, 2–6, 2–6.

In the 2011 Australian Open she defeated Irena Pavlovic in the first round of qualifying draw, but lost round 2 to Kurumi Nara.

Erakovic took part in the 2011 French Open where she won 3 straight matches in the qualifying draw against Ajla Tomljanovic, Kurumi Nara and Petra Cetkovská, qualifying her for the main draw. In the first round of the main draw she lost 6–2 4–6 4–6 to Arantxa Rus.

At the qualifying tournament for Wimbledon, she qualified for the main when her opponent in the final qualifying round, Silvia Soler-Espinosa, was forced to retire due to injury.

Erakovic was beaten in the first round of the US Open by Mirjana Lučić after having come through 3 rounds of qualification.

Following the US Open, Erakovic entered the Bell Challenge held in Quebec City.  This was Erakovic's most successful WTA tour event to date, in singles, as she made it through to her first singles final.  To reach the final she defeated Caroline Garcia, Irina Falconi, former top tenner Daniela Hantuchova and defending champion Tamira Paszek.  In the final she lost to first time champion Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová.

WTA Career Finals

Singles: 1 (0–1)

Legend: Before 2009	Legend: Starting in 2009
Grand Slam tournaments (0)
Olympic Gold (0)
WTA Championships (0)
Tier I (0)	Premier Mandatory (0)
Tier II (0)	Premier 5 (0)
Tier III (0)	Premier (0)
Tier IV & V (0)	International (0/1)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1.	18 September 2011	Quebec City, Canada	Hard	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	6–4, 1–6, 0–6

Doubles: 7 (5-2)

Legend: Before 2009	Legend: Starting in 2009
Grand Slam tournaments (0)
WTA Championships (0)
Tier I (0)	Premier Mandatory (0)
Tier II (0)	Premier 5 (0)
Tier III (3/0)	Premier (0)
Tier IV & V (0)	International (2/2)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the Final	Score in the Final
Runner-up	1.	24 May 2008	Istanbul, Turkey	Clay	Polona Hercog	Jill Craybas Olga Govortsova	1-6, 2-6
Winner	1.	21 June 2008	's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Michaëlla Krajicek	Liga Dekmeijere Angelique Kerber	6–3, 6–2
Winner	2.	4 October 2008	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Jill Craybas	Ayumi Morita Aiko Nakamura	4–6, 7–5, 10–6
Winner	3.	26 October 2008	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Hard	Sorana Cîrstea	Vera Dushevina Mariya Koryttseva	2–6, 6–3, 10–8
Winner	4.	14 February 2010	Pattaya City, Thailand	Hard	Tamarine Tanasugarn	Anna Chakvetadze Ksenia Pervak	7–5, 6–1
Runner-up	2.	24 July 2010	Portorož, Slovenia	Hard	Anna Chakvetadze	Maria Kondratieva Vladimíra Uhlířová	4–6, 6–2, [7–10]
Runner-up	3.	8 January 2011	Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	Sofia Arvidsson	Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik	3–6, 0–6
Winner	5.	16 October 2011	Linz, Austria	Hard (i)	Elena Vesnina	Julia Görges Anna-Lena Grönefeld	7-5, 6-1

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 16 (11–5)

$100,000 tournaments

$75,000 tournaments

$50,000 tournaments

$25,000 tournaments

$10,000 tournaments

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	6 March 2005	Warrnambool, Australia	Grass	Daniella Dominikovic	6–3 4–6 6–4
Runner-up	1.	13 March 2005	Benalla, Australia	Grass	Yuan Meng	6–3 4–6 6–4
Winner	2.	20 March 2005	Yarrawonga, Australia	Grass	Emily Hewson	6–3 4–6 6–4
Winner	3.	3 September 2006	Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands	Clay	Andrea Petkovic	4–6 6–2 7–5
Winner	4.	15 October 2006	Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Casey Dellacqua	6–1 0–6 6–4
Winner	5.	29 October 2006	Beijing, China	Hard	Alla Kudryavtseva	6–2 6–1
Runner-up	2.	29 July 2007	La Coruña, Spain	Hard	Neuza Silva	6–0 5–7 3–6
Runner-up	3.	5 August 2007	Vigo, Spain	Hard	Olivia Sanchez	W/O
Winner	6.	14 October 2007	Rockhampton, Australia	Hard	Sophie Ferguson	7–6(5) 7–5
Winner	7.	21 October 2007	Gympie, Australia	Hard	Sophie Ferguson	6–4 6–3
Runner-up	4.	9 February 2008	Mildura, Australia	Grass	Chang Kai-chen	6–3 6–1
Runner-up	5.	17 February 2008	Berri, Australia	Grass	Nicole Kriz	4–6 6–4 6–7(3)
Winner	8.	7 June 2008	Surbiton, England	Grass	Anne Keothavong	6–4 6–2
Winner	9.	7 March 2011	Irapuato, Mexico	Hard	Andreja Klepač	7-5 6-4
Winner	10.	28 March 2011	Pelham, USA	Clay	Renata Voráčová	6-4 2-6 6-1
Winner	11.	4 April 2011	Jackson, USA	Clay	Ajla Tomljanović	6-1 6-2

Doubles: 10 (5–5)

$100,000 tournaments

$75,000 tournaments

$50,000 tournaments

$25,000 tournaments

$10,000 tournaments

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	29 October 2006	Beijing, China	Hard	Raquel Kops-Jones	Ji Chunmei Sun Shengnan	2–6 2–6
Winner	2.	30 June 2007	Padova, Italy	Clay	Maret Ani	Vanessa Henke Andrea Petkovic	6–4 6–4
Winner	3.	28 July 2007	La Coruña, Spain	Hard	Melanie South	Andrea Hlaváčková Justine Ozga	6–1 4–6 6–4
Winner	4.	15 December 2007	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Hard	Monica Niculescu	Yuliana Fedak Anna Lapushchenkova	7–6(1) 6–4
Winner	5.	7 February 2008	Mildura, Australia	Grass	Nicole Kriz	Monique Adamczak Christina Wheeler	6–4 6–4
Runner-up	6.	17 February 2008	Berri, Australia	Grass	Nicole Kriz	Shannon Golds Emelyn Starr	2–6 7–6(4) [10–3]
Winner	7.	28 November 2009	Toyota, Japan	Carpet	Tamarine Tanasugarn	Akari Inoue Akiko Yonemura	6–1 6–4
Runner-up	8.	16 April 2010	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Tamarine Tanasugarn	Vitalia Diatchenko Eirini Georgatou	3–6 7–5 [14–16]
Runner-up	9.	9 May 2010	Fukuoka, Japan	Carpet	Alexandra Panova	Misaki Doi Kotomi Takahata	4–6 4–6

Performance timeline

Tournament	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	W–L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open			Q2	Q1	2R	1R	Q2	3–5
French Open		Q2	Q1	2R			1R	5–4
Wimbledon			Q1	3R		Q2	2R	7–4
US Open	Q3		Q3	1R			1R	7–4
Win–Loss	2–1	1–1	3–4	3–4	1–1	1–2	11–4	22–17
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics	Not Held			1R	Not Held			0–1
WTA Premier Mandatory Tournaments
Indian Wells			Q1	Q1	1R			0–3
Key Biscayne				3R	1R			2–2
Madrid	Not Held							0–0
Beijing			1R					3–1
WTA Premier 5 Tournaments
Dubai	Not Tier I							0–0
Rome								0–0
Cincinnati			Not Held					0–0
Montreal / Toronto						Q1		0–1
Tokyo				1R				0–1
Year End Ranking	213	160	161	60	232	324	167

References

• Marina Erakovic at the International Tennis Federation

1. ^ "Erakovic makes a great start to year". New Zealand Herald. 6 January 2008. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=94&objectid=10485410. Retrieved 17 June 2008. 
2. ^ "Erakovic goes down, Davenport into final". New Zealand Herald. 4 January 2008. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/4/story.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10485273. Retrieved 17 June 2008. 
3. ^ "Erakovic through to quarters". New Zealand Herald. 2 January 2008. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/4/story.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10485028. Retrieved 17 June 2008. 
4. ^ "Erakovic advances to quarter-finals". The Press. 3 January 2008. http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/sport/199732/Erakovic-advances-to-quarter-finals. Retrieved 20 September 2011. 
5. ^ Brown, Michael (2 March 2008). "Marina celebrates in defeat". New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=94&objectid=10495562. Retrieved 17 June 2008. 
6. ^ NZPA (22 March 2008). "Erakovic nets Miami main draw wildcard". New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/4/story.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10499510. Retrieved 17 June 2008. 
7. ^ NZPA (29 March 2008). "Erakovic sets up meeting with Venus". New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=94&objectid=10500865. Retrieved 17 June 2008. 
8. ^ NZPA (29 May 2008). "Tennis: Erakovic through to second round at Roland Garros". New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=94&objectid=10513160. 
9. ^ NZPA (9 June 2008). "Erakovic makes leap up world rankings". New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/4/story.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10515323. Retrieved 17 June 2008. 
10. ^ "Erakovic reaches Edgbaston semis". New Zealand Herald. 14 June 2008. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=94&objectid=10516301. Retrieved 17 June 2008. 
11. ^ ^{a b} NZPA (21 June 2008). "Erakovic to play doubles partner at Wimbledon". Stuff.co.nz. http://www.stuff.co.nz/4592309a1823.html. Retrieved 21 June 2008. 
12. ^ NZPA (27 June 2008). "Erakovic eyes record after second round win". New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10518629. 
13. ^ NZPA (1 September 2008). "Tennis: Erakovic into quarterfinals at US Open". New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10529977. 
14. ^ "Hip Injury Still Pains Erakovic". 6 May 2009. http://tvnz.co.nz/tennis-news/hip-injury-still-pains-erakovic-2710134. Retrieved 23 May 2009. 
15. ^ "Marina Erakovic Withdraws from Wimbledon". 10 June 2009. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10577601. Retrieved 16 June 2009. 
16. ^ Marina Erakovic official site
17. ^ Deane, Steve (5 January 2010). "Too many errors dash hometown hopes". New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10618402. 
18. ^ "Tennis: Erakovic's bad day at the office". New Zealand Herald. 5 January 2010. 
19. ^ NZPA (15 February 2010). "Erakovic wins doubles title in Thailand". New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10626363. 

External links

• Official website of Marina Erakovic
• Marina Erakovic at the Women's Tennis Association

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