Anna Fitzpatrick (born 6 April 1989) is a British former professional tennis player.

Anna Fitzpatrick
Country (sports) United Kingdom
ResidenceSheffield, South Yorkshire, England
Born (1989-04-06) 6 April 1989 (age 35)
Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Turned pro2005
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money$96,813
Singles
Career record163–154
Career titles0 WTA, 3 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 318 (16 June 2008)
Grand Slam singles results
WimbledonQ2 (2007)
Doubles
Career record155–125
Career titles19 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 215 (12 May 2008)
Grand Slam doubles results
Wimbledon1R (2007, 2008)

Personal life

edit

Fitzpatrick attended St Thomas of Canterbury school in Sheffield, St Mary's Roman Catholic High School, Chesterfield and Woodhouse Grove School in Apperley Bridge, City of Bradford. She has three older brothers. Growing up, she played tennis at Beauchief Tennis Club and at Graves Tennis Centre.

Playing style

edit

Fitzpatrick liked to play aggressively, coming to the net as often as possible. When at the back of the court she was looking for opportunities to attack, and often tried to serve and volley to change the pace of the match. According to Fitzpatrick, her volley was "what [her] whole game is built on"[1] and her least favourite surface is clay.[2]

Career

edit

Junior (2003–2007)

edit

Fitzpatrick's first match on the junior ITF circuit came in July 2003 and her last in June 2007. During her four-year junior tennis career, she did not reach any tournament finals but reached the semi-finals of three tournaments, one of which was the 2007 Wimbledon girls' tournament where she lost to eventual champion, Urszula Radwańska, 6–7(3), 3–6. She also lost in the quarterfinals of a total of five tournaments. Her win–loss record for singles competition was 25–26.[3]

As a junior doubles competitor, Fitzpatrick won one tournament (partnering Jade Curtis) and was a runner-up in another. She was also a semi-finalist four times and lost in the quarterfinals in nine tournaments. One of the tournaments in which Fitzpatrick became a quarterfinalist was in the 2007 Wimbledon girls' doubles tournament with Jade Curtis. She ended her junior career with a doubles win–loss record of 27–28. Her career-high combined singles and doubles ranking was world No. 180 (achieved 9 July 2007).[3]

2004–2006

edit

Fitzpatrick played her first professional match on the adult ITF Circuit in September 2004 when she attempted to qualify for the $10k event in Manchester. She lost in the second round of qualifying. Her only other tournament during 2004 was the $10k in Bolton where she also lost in round two of qualifying. She finished 2004 without a world ranking.[4]

2005 saw Fitzpatrick play in a total of eleven ITF tournaments. She lost in round two in two tournaments, the first round in three and the qualifying stages a total of six times. Her first year-end ranking was world No. 1102.[4]

In 2006, Fitzpatrick made very little progress on the ITF Circuit until August when she won her first ever ITF title in the $10k event in Ilkley without losing a set in the entire tournament. She beat fellow British teen, Anna Smith, in the final, 6–4, 6–3. She carried this momentum over into her next tournament (Wrexham $10k) where she reached the semi-finals and she also made a run into the final of her next tournament, the $10k in London. She was beaten by Nadja Roma, 3–6, 3–6, in the final. She finished the season with her ranking at world No. 676.[4]

2007

edit

In March 2007, Fitzpatrick reached the third ITF singles final of her career in Sunderland $10k where she lost to Gaëlle Widmer in straight sets, 4–6, 1–6. In April she became a quarterfinalist in the $10,000 event in Bath and one month later she lost in the quarterfinals of a $25k event in Antalya as a qualifier. June saw Fitzpatrick make her debut on the WTA Tour when she was given a wildcard into the qualifying draw of the DFS Classic. She faced American, Lilia Osterloh, in the first round and was unable to capitalise on her one set lead, eventually losing, 7–5, 3–6, 1–6.

Fitzpatrick earned a wildcard into the qualifying event for Wimbledon one week later by winning two matches in the LTA Wildcard Play-offs. She managed to beat Junri Namigata, a player ranked 278 places above her, in the first round of the qualifying tournament with a score of 7–5, 6–0. The No. 8 seed in the qualifying tournament, Mathilde Johansson, proved too much for Fitzpatrick in round two and Fitzpatrick lost, 1–6, 2–6.[5] In July, she reached the semifinals of a $10k event in Calgary (where she won the doubles tournament to give her the first doubles title of her career) and in September she reached the semifinals of another $10k event, this one in Nottingham. She did not pass the second round in any other ITF tournaments that season and finished the year with a ranking of world No. 383.[4]

2008

edit

In April 2008, Fitzpatrick reached her first ITF quarterfinal of the year in Toluca, a $10k tournament. Just two weeks later she reached her second of the year, this one in Irapuato $25k. In June, the first of four consecutive wildcards allowed her direct entry into the main draw of the $50k event in Surbiton where she lost to Georgie Stoop in round one. Her second wild card of June entered her into the main draw of the DFS Classic, a Tier III tournament. She was beaten by Melanie South, 4–6, 4–6, in round one. Wild card number three allowed her access into the qualifying draw of the International Women's Open where world No. 62, Ekaterina Makarova, beat her in straight sets, 6–7(4), 3–6. Her fourth of four consecutive wild cards gave her entry into the qualifying draw of Wimbledon where she was beaten by Yuliana Fedak from Ukraine. In early August, Fitzpatrick injured her foot while playing in an ITF in Portugal. The injury turned out to be a stress fracture in her left foot and it put her out of action for the rest of the season and as a result, she ended the season ranked world No. 424.[4]

2009

edit

Fitzpatrick returned to the ITF Circuit in March 2009. In her first tournament since injuring her foot, she partnered Stefania Boffa to win the title at the $10k tournament in Bath. She and Boffa again joined forced in their next tournament, the $25k in Jersey, where they reached the semifinals. She made her first real impact in singles in July when she reached a $10k quarterfinal before immediately going on to reach the final of another $10k. She beat the fourth, fifth and sixth seeds before losing to Heather Watson, 6–4, 4–6, 2–6, in the final. In August, Fitzpatrick played her final tournament of 2009 (a $10k in London) where she was beaten by compatriot, Jocelyn Rae, in the semifinals. During this tournament, her foot injury worsened once again and forced her out until March/April 2010. As a result of this, Fitzpatrick's year-end singles ranking for 2009 was 761.[4]

ITF Circuit finals

edit

Singles (3–4)

edit
Legend
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments
Finals by surface
Hard (2–3)
Grass (1–1)
Result Date Tier Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Win 1 August 2006 10,000 Ilkley, United Kingdom Grass   Anna Smith 6–4, 6–3
Loss 22 August 2006 10,000 Cumberland, United Kingdom Hard   Nadja Roma 3–6, 3–6
Loss 14 March 2007 10,000 Sunderland, United Kingdom Hard (i)   Gaëlle Widmer 4–6, 1–6
Loss 14 July 2009 10,000 Frinton, United Kingdom Grass   Heather Watson 6–4, 4–6, 2–6
Win 3 November 2010 10,000 Sunderland, United Kingdom Hard (i)   Samantha Murray 6–2, 3–6, 7–5
Loss 10 November 2010 10,000 Loughborough, United Kingdom Hard (i)   Lara Michel 2–6, 2–6
Win 19 January 2011 10,000 Wrexham, United Kingdom Hard (i)   Jade Windley 6–7(3), 6–3, 7–5

Doubles (19–13)

edit
Finals by category
$50,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments (5–3)
$10,000 tournaments (14–10)
Finals by surface
Hard (18–10)
Clay (1–1)
Grass (0–2)
Result Date Tier Tournament Surface Partnering Opponents Score
Loss 2 August 2006 10,000 Ilkley, United Kingdom Grass   Joanna Craven   Danielle Brown
  Elizabeth Thomas
2–6, 1–6
Loss 14 May 2007 25,000 Antalya, Turkey Clay   Ana Veselinović   Korina Perkovic
  İpek Şenoğlu
6–1, 1–6, 4–6
Win 23 July 2007 10,000 Calgary, Canada Hard   Ana Veselinović   Soledad Esperón
  Agustina Lepore
6–4, 6–3
Loss 26 September 2007 25,000 Nottingham, United Kingdom Hard   Ana Veselinović   Emma Laine
  Caroline Maes
3–6, 7–6(4), [6–10]
Win 19 February 2008 25,000 Clearwater, United States Hard   Ana Veselinović   Chan Chin-wei
  Seiko Okamoto
6–2, 3–6, [10–6]
Win 26 February 2008 25,000 Fort Walton Beach, United States Hard   Ana Veselinović   Nicole Thyssen
  Pauline Wong
6–3, 7–6(4)
Win 29 April 2008 25,000 Coatzacoalcos, Mexico Hard   Anna Hawkins   María Irigoyen
  Agustina Lepore
6–2, 6–2
Loss 20 May 2008 10,000 Landisville, United States Hard   Stefania Boffa   Audra Cohen
  Heidi El Tabakh
6–2, 6–2
Loss 8 July 2008 25,000 Valladolid, Spain Hard   Stefania Boffa   Heidi El Tabakh
  Story Tweedie-Yates
2–6, 4–6
Win 19 March 2009 10,000 Bath, United Kingdom Hard (i)   Stefania Boffa   Veronika Chvojková
  Kateřina Vaňková
6–1, 6–1
Win 7 April 2009 10,000 Antalya, Turkey Hard   Hanne Skak Jensen   Sofia Kvatsabaia
  Avgusta Tsybysheva
7–6(3), 2–6, [10–7]
Loss 14 July 2009 10,000 Frinton, United Kingdom Grass   Emelyn Starr   Jocelyn Rae
  Jade Windley
3–6, 5–7
Loss 17 March 2010 10,000 Bath, United Kingdom Hard (i)   Jade Curtis   Malou Ejdesgaard
  Katarzyna Piter
3–6, 2–6
Win 21 June 2010 10,000 Alcobaça, Portugal Hard   Jade Windley   Mélanie Gloria
  Daniela Múñoz Gallegos
6–2, 6–1
Loss 28 July 2010 10,000 Chiswick, United Kingdom Hard   Jade Windley   Jocelyn Rae
  Emelyn Starr
1–6, 4–6
Win 3 November 2010 10,000 Sunderland, United Kingdom Hard (i)   Amanda Elliott   Tara Moore
  Francesca Stephenson
6–2, 6–3
Win 19 January 2011 10,000 Wrexham, United Kingdom Hard (i)   Jade Windley   Ulrikke Eikeri
  Nicola George
6–1, 6–0
Loss 8 February 2011 10,000 Vale do Lobo, Portugal Hard   Ulrikke Eikeri   Rocio de la Torre Sánchez
  Olga Sáez Larra
w/o
Win 10 May 2011 10,000 Heraklion, Greece Hard   Samantha Murray   Amanda Elliott
  Nicole Rottmann
6–3, 6–2
Loss 17 May 2011 10,000 Rethymno, Greece Hard   Jade Windley   Alexandra Artamonova
  Diāna Marcinkēviča
2–6, 3–6
Win 24 July 2011 25,000 Wrexham, United Kingdom Hard   Jade Windley   Melanie South
  Lenka Wienerová
6–2, 4–6, [10–3]
Win 10 September 2011 10,000 Madrid, Spain Hard   Jade Windley   Rocio de la Torre Sánchez
  Georgina García Pérez
1–6, 6–0, [10–8]
Win 9 January 2012 10,000 Glasgow, United Kingdom Hard (i)   Samantha Murray   Alexandra Walker
  Lisa Whybourn
6–2, 6–3
Win 27 February 2012 25,000 Wellington, New Zealand Hard   Chanel Simmonds   Han Sung-hee
  Yurina Koshino
6–3, 6–4
Loss 30 April 2012 10,000 Jakarta, Indonesia Hard   Jade Windley   Lu Jiaxiang
  Lu Jiajing
4–6, 4–6
Win 5 November 2012 10,000 Loughborough, United Kingdom Hard (i)   Jade Windley   Karen Barbat
  Lara Michel
6–2, 6–2
Win 12 November 2012 10,000 Edgbaston, United Kingdom Hard (i)   Jade Windley   Martina Kubiciková
  Chantal Škamlová
6–2, 6–3
Win 4 March 2013 10,000 Sutton, United Kingdom Hard (i)   Jade Windley   Martina Borecká
  Petra Krejsová
4–6, 7–6(7), [12–10]
Win 22 April 2013 10,000 Bournemouth, United Kingdom Clay   Jade Windley   Elyne Boeykens
  Karolina Wlodarczak
6–4, 6–1
Win 13 May 2013 10,000 Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt Hard   Ana Veselinović   Başak Eraydın
  Melis Sezer
2–6, 6–4, [10–3]
Loss 20 May 2013 10,000 Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt Hard   Kamila Kerimbayeva   Camilla Rosatello
  Zhu Aiwen
4–6, 3–6
Loss 29 July 2013 10,000 Nottingham, United Kingdom Hard   Daneika Borthwick   Anna Smith
  Melanie South
4–6, 2–6

References

edit
  1. ^ "Road to Wimbledon part four". www.news.bbc.co.uk. 5 July 2007. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
  2. ^ "Anna Fitzpatrick diary". www.news.bbc.co.uk. 20 August 2007.
  3. ^ a b "Anna Fitzpatrick". www.itftennis.com. International Tennis Federation.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Activity:FITZPATRICK, Anna (GBR)". www.itftennis.com.
  5. ^ "Road to Wimbledon part one". www.news.bbc.co.uk. 20 June 2007.
edit