Alicia Molik

2005: Rise to the top 10

Molik began 2005 by partnering Mark Philippoussis in the Hopman Cup. She then played in the Sydney International, defeating unseeded players the entire way through the tournament before taking the title over compatriot Samantha Stosur in the final, 6–7, 6–4, 7–5.^[1] Molik then played in the Australian Open as the 10th seed. She defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues in the first round, Aiko Nakamura in the second round and Tatiana Panova in the third round to set up a meeting with 8th seed Venus Williams in the fourth round. Molik defeated Williams in straight sets 7–5, 7–6 to become the first Australian woman to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals since 1988.^[2] Molik then played in her first ever grand slam quarterfinal against top seed Lindsay Davenport. Davenport defeated Molik in a marathon three set match, 6–4, 4–6, 9–7.^[3] Molik then won her first grand slam doubles title with Svetlana Kuznetsova. After the Australian Open, Molik rose into the top 10 in singles for the first time in her career, at No. 10.

Molik then played in the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp, making the semifinals before losing to Amélie Mauresmo 6–3, 7–6.^[4] However, she defeated Mauresmo in the Tier II Qatar Total Open semifinals 7–6, 6–1 to set up a meeting with second seed Maria Sharapova.^[5] Sharapova defeated Molik in the final 4–6, 6–1, 6–4. Molik then rose to No. 8 after the tournament.

As the 7th seed at the Tier I Indian Wells tournament, Molik made the fourth round before losing to a returning Justine Henin 4–6, 6–2, 2–6. This was the second last time in 2005 that Molik won past the first round at a tournament.

After crashing out of the tournament in Amelia Island, to Virginie Razzano 4–6, 4–6, Molik took an extended break due to an inner ear infection,^[6] which caused her to miss the entire clay court season including the French Open. Molik returned at the grass court season in Birmingham, however, lost in the second round after a first round bye to Laura Granville 4–6, 2–6. Molik then took another long break, missing Wimbledon, due to the ear infection.

She then played only one lead in tournament for the US Open, losing in the first round to Gisela Dulko 2–6, 4–6. Seeded 14th at the US Open, she lost in the first round to Shenay Perry 4–6, 4–6. Molik then won her last match of 2005 at the tournament in Bali as the third seed, making the second round before losing to Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 4–6, 2–6.^[7] Molik then lost in the first round in her last four tournaments of the year, Beijing, Filderstadt, Moscow and Zurich. She finished the year ranked 29th, with a 17–14 record.

Ear infection

In late 2005, Molik was diagnosed with vestibular neuronitis, an inner-ear condition caused by a virus that affected her balance, vision and energy level.^[8] In October 2005, she announced that she would be taking an extended break through the 2006 season in order to recover. Molik should be part of the team for Australia's Fed Cup group matches in April, but Australian Davis Cup Captain, David Taylor announced that she would not be selected as of lack of match play and rustiness. Instead, rookie Casey Dellacqua took her place.^[9]

2006: Return from illness

Molik made her return from the ear infection at the Italian Open in 2006, losing in the first round to Katarina Srebotnik 2–6, 0–6, and then lost to Austrian Tamira Paszek 7–5, 4–6, 4–6 in the first round in Istanbul.^[10] Molik then won her first match since returning at the French Open of 2006, reaching the third round after defeating two relative unknowns and then losing to 4th seeded Maria Sharapova 0–6, 5–7.^[10]

Molik then played a Wimbledon warm up in the Netherlands, losing in the first round to 5th Seed Ana Ivanovic 1–6, 6–3, 2–6. At Wimbledon, she reached the second round by defeating Yung-Jan Chan 7–6, 6–1, but then lost again to 21st seed Katarina Srebotnik, 2–6, 1–6.^[11]

Molik then lost in the first round of Stockholm, Montreal and New Haven. She had high hopes for the US Open, but was shocked 6–3, 6–2 in the first round by the 17-year-old Vania King. She gained revenge over King in the first round of the Guangzhou Open, reaching the quarterfinals after also scoring an upset victory over a top 50 player Lourdes Domínguez Lino and then lost to 1st seed Jelena Janković 3–6, 5–7.^[12] After these wins she broke back into the top 200 at 179 and then played in Tokyo where she defeated Jelena Kostanić 7–5, 6–3, before losing in the second round to Jamea Jackson 3–6, 1–6. Molik then suffered first round defeats in Bangkok, losing again to Vania King 1–6, 5–7, and Zürich, losing to Shahar Pe'er 1–6, 2–6. Molik then finished the year by losing in the first round of qualifying at the Generali Ladies Linz, 6–3, 5–7, 4–6 to Yaroslava Shvedova.

2007: Comeback gains momentum

Molik won a wildcard into the Australian Open by winning the Australian Open wildcard play-offs, where she defeated 16-year-old Australian Jessica Moore in the final 6–4, 6–4. In preparation for the Australian Open, Molik competed in the Hopman Cup in Perth and scored victories over world No. 6 Nadia Petrova, and Ashley Harkleroad. Her final Australian Open warm up tournament was the Hobart International where she reached the quarterfinals, beating two higher ranked opponents on her way before losing to doubles partner Sania Mirza. Molik also reached the doubles quarterfinals in Hobart with Mirza, before losing a close match to the No. 2 seeds.

During the Australian Open, Alicia Molik won through her first and second round matches against rising Chinese Taipei's Yung-Jan Chan 6–2, 7–6, and Estonian Kaia Kanepi 1–6, 6–3, 6–2, before losing a three-setter against the 8th seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, 6–3, 2–6, 0–6.^[13] With her impressive 3rd round performance, Molik improved her then-141 ranking to inside the top 100, the first time since withdrawing from numerous tournaments due to that ear infection.

After the Australian Open, Molik reached the second round in Pattya, Bangalore, Dubai and Doha, before playing in Indian Wells, where she reached the third round, losing to 10th seed Ana Ivanovic 2–6, 1–6.^[14] Molik then had three consecutive first round losses, in Miami, Amelia Island and Charleston. She then finally won a match in the clay season, in Strasbourg, before losing to Anabel Medina Garrigues. Molik then competed in the French Open, losing in the first round to 9th seed Anna Chakvetadze 2–6, 3–6. However, Molik teamed with Mara Santangelo to win her second Grand Slam doubles title at the French Open.^[15]

Molik then played in two Wimbledon warm up tournaments, reaching the second round in Birmingham, however, lost in the first round in Eastbourne to Melanie South 6–1, 3–6, 6–7. Molik was able to rebound, and easily won her first round match at Wimbledon, defeating Anastasia Rodionova 6–3, 6–2, before losing in the second round to Serena Williams 6–7, 3–6.^[16] Molik and Santangelo, the 6th seeds in the doubles tournament, made it to the semifinals before losing to eventual champions Cara Black and Liezel Huber. Also competing in the mixed doubles, Molik and partner Jonas Björkman made the final, before losing to Jelena Janković and Jamie Murray.

Molik then lost in the first round of two lead-in US Open tournaments, in Forest Hills and New Haven, before then falling in the first round at the US Open to Katarina Srebotnik. After the Open, Molik then reached the quarterfinals in Guangzhou, losing to Dominika Cibulková, and at the Japan Open in Tokyo, losing to Venus Williams 6–7, 3–6.^[17] Losses followed in the first round of the Kremlin Cup, and in qualifying at Zurich, before Molik qualified for the Generali Ladies Linz, reaching the main-draw second round where she lost to 6th seed Patty Schnyder, 4–6, 4–6.^[18]

Molik finished the year ranked 60 in the world, with a 25–24 singles record.

2008 and retirement

In 2008, she entered the Perth Hopman Cup where she defeated Lucie Šafářová 7–5, 6–2 in the first round of the round-robin competition, before losing to Sania Mirza and Serena Williams in ties involving India and the United States respectively. Her second competition of 2008 was the Medibank International where she again faced Šafářová, Šafářová winning 7–6, 7–6. Molik won her opening round at the Australian Open against Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, before falling to 18-year-old Czech sensation Nicole Vaidišová, 2–6, 3–6.

Molik's singles ranking continued to drop due to an elbow problem. Molik lost in the first round of singles qualifying at the French Open and Wimbledon in 2008, and did not win a main-draw match after January 2008. Molik has enjoyed erratic results in doubles, where she partnered Sun Tiantian and defeated Cara Black and Liezel Huber who were the top-seeds at the tournament in Sydney. She partnered Mara Santangelo at Wimbledon and the French Open, but fell in the first round of competition. Molik received a wildcard into the Beijing Olympics which she stated was "the best news I've had since 2004." Representing Australia alongside fellow countrywomen Sam Stosur and Casey Dellacqua, Molik was ousted in the first round by Spanish María José Martínez Sánchez 6–2, 6–2.

On 5 September, Molik announced her retirement from professional tennis after experiencing nagging leg and elbow problems.^[19]

She then started working for half a year as a commentator until she announced her comeback.

2009: Out of retirement

On 30 July 2009, Molik announced that she planned to embark on a comeback to tour tennis, claiming to be free of injury.^[20] Her first comeback tournament was in the 2009 New Haven doubles event.^[21] She entered the women's doubles at the Pilot Pen Tennis event as a wildcard with Meghann Shaughnessy, losing to the Spanish duo of María José Martínez Sánchez and Nuria Llagostera Vives.

Likewise, Molik lost her first-round doubles match with Shaughnessy at the US Open against Līga Dekmeijere and Julie Ditty 6–7(4), 1–6.

In September 2009, Molik entered a $25,000 ITF tournament in Darwin, which she ended up winning in both singles and doubles.

Molik won her doubles with compatriot Casey Dellacqua who is also on a comeback and Molik won her singles over rising star Monika Wejnert 3–6, 6–3, 6–1, and then backed up with a win at the bendigo ITF event. She then won another ITF event in Mildura, and reached the semifinals of another ITF in Perth. She then made it through to the Australian Open wildcard playoff quarterfinals after winning three out of three of her round robin matches, however suffered a shock loss to teenager Jessica Moore.

2010: Comeback at tour level

Alicia Molik at the 2010 US Open

After great success during the last three months of the 2009 season in ITF tournaments, Molik started 2010 ranked back inside the top 200.

Molik started her 2010 campaign at the Brisbane International. She defeated Ekaterina Makarova in the first round 6–4, 1–6, 6–4. In the second round, Molik was made to rethink about her comeback in the WTA Tour, losing to eventual champion Kim Clijsters 0–6, 3–6. After the disappointing loss, she travelled to Hobart to play the Moorilla International. In her first round match, she defeated her former doubles partner Sania Mirza in three sets. But just like her results at Brisbane, she lost in a much more tighter second round 6–7, 6–3, 3–6 to Carla Suárez Navarro. With needing more matches under her belt, she decided to play with compatriot Jelena Dokić in the doubles event at the same tournament. However, they lost in a very tight first round match 6–7, 7–6, [2–10].

Molik took part in both singles and doubles at the Australian Open with Meghann Shaughnessy. In singles, Molik lead 6–3, 5–2 before she lost to Julie Coin 6–3, 6–7, 3–6.

Molik then played in Australia's Fed Cup World Group II tie against Spain, however, she lost heavily in the reverse singles to Carla Suárez Navarro 1–6, 1–6. Molik then played in the Dubai Tennis Championships, where she defeated Australian Open semifinalist and 16th seed Zheng Jie 6–3, 4–6, 6–2 in the first round,^[22] and then lost to fellow qualifier Anna-Lena Grönefeld 4–6, 4–6. She then lost in the first round of the Malaysian Open to Alisa Kleybanova, 1–6, 4–6.^[23]

Molik then accepted a wild card into the Premier Mandatory event at Indian Wells. In the first round she defeated Tatjana Malek 6–3, 6–1,^[24] and then pulled off an upset by defeating the 29th seed Anabel Medina Garrigues 6–4, 5–7, 7–6. Molik played Elena Baltacha in the 3rd round, she dominated the match with a 6–0, 6–2 victory. She lost to Zheng Jie in the fourth round, In her first round to Miami Molik defeated Ashley Harkleroad in her comeback match 6–1, 6–1 in 45 minutes. In doubles, Molik has partnered with the 2009 Sony Ericsson doubles champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. Molik lost in the first round of 2010 French Open to Janković 0–6, 4–6.

Grand Slam tournament finals

Women's doubles: 2 titles

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	2005	Australian Open	Hard	Svetlana Kuznetsova	Lindsay Davenport Corina Morariu	6–3, 6–4
Winner	2007	French Open	Clay	Mara Santangelo	Katarina Srebotnik Ai Sugiyama	7–6(7–5), 6–4

Mixed doubles: 3 runners-up

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	2004	Wimbledon	Grass	Todd Woodbridge	Cara Black Wayne Black	6–3, 6–7(8–10), 4–6
Runner-up	2004	US Open	Hard	Todd Woodbridge	Vera Zvonareva Bob Bryan	3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	2007	Wimbledon	Grass	Jonas Björkman	Jelena Janković Jamie Murray	4–6, 6–3, 1–6

WTA Tier I & Premier Mandatory/Premier 5 finals

Singles: 1 title

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	2004	Zurich Open	Hard (i)	Maria Sharapova	4–6, 6–2, 6–3

Doubles: 1 title

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	2005	Miami Masters	Hard	Svetlana Kuznetsova	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	7–5, 6–7(5–7), 6–2

Singles wins (5)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	12 January 2003	Moorilla Hobart International	Hard	Amy Frazier	6–2, 4–6, 6–4
Winner	2.	8 August 2004	Nordea Nordic Light Open, Stockholm	Hard	Tatiana Perebiynis	6–1, 6–1
Winner	3.	24 October 2004	Zurich Open	Hard (i)	Maria Sharapova	4–6, 6–2, 6–3
Winner	4.	31 October 2004	Fortis Championships Luxembourg	Hard (i)	Dinara Safina	6–3, 6–4
Winner	5.	15 January 2005	Medibank International, Sydney	Hard	Samantha Stosur	6–7(5–7), 6–4, 7–5

Singles finalist (4)

• 2003: Sarasota (lost to Anastasia Myskina)
• 2003: Budapest (lost to Magüi Serna)
• 2004: Vienna (lost to Anna Smashnova)
• 2005: Doha (lost to Maria Sharapova)

Doubles

Wins (7)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
1.	14 June 2004	Hastings Direct International Championships, Eastbourne	Grass	Magüi Serna	Svetlana Kuznetsova Elena Likhovtseva	6–4, 6–4
2.	2 August 2004	Nordea Nordic Light Open, Stockholm	Hard	Barbara Schett	Emmanuelle Gagliardi Anna-Lena Grönefeld	6–3, 6–3
3.	1 November 2004	Advanta Championships, Philadelphia	Hard (i)	Lisa Raymond	Liezel Huber Corina Morariu	7–5, 6–4
4.	17 January 2005	Australian Open, Melbourne	Hard	Svetlana Kuznetsova	Lindsay Davenport Corina Morariu	6–3, 6–4
5.	21 February 2005	Qatar Total Open, Doha	Hard	Francesca Schiavone	Cara Black Liezel Huber	6–3, 6–4
6.	21 March 2005	NASDAQ-100 Open, Miami	Hard	Svetlana Kuznetsova	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	7–5, 6–7(5–7), 6–2
7.	28 May 2007	French Open, Paris	Clay	Mara Santangelo	Katarina Srebotnik Ai Sugiyama	7–6(7–5), 6–4

Singles: 1 bronze medal

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Bronze	2004	Athens	Hard	Anastasia Myskina	6–3, 6–4

Singles

Doubles