Anna Smashnova

Anna Smashnova
Country (sports)  Israel
Born (1976-07-16) July 16, 1976
Minsk, Soviet Union
Height 1.57 m (5 ft 2 in)
Turned pro January 1, 1991
Retired July 2007
Plays Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money $2,274,431
Singles
Career record 401–304
Career titles 12 WTA, 7 ITF
Highest ranking No. 15 (February 3, 2003)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open 3R (1995, 2003, 2005)
French Open 4R (1995, 1998)
Wimbledon 3R (2000)
US Open 3R (1994)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals 1R (2002)
Olympic Games 1R (2004)
Doubles
Career record 31–45
Highest ranking No. 275 (July 10, 2006)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open 1R (2006, 2007)
French Open 1R (2005, 2006)
Wimbledon 1R (2005, 2006)
US Open 2R (2005)

Anna Smashnova (Hebrew: אנה סמשנובה‎, Russian: Анна Смашнова; born July 16, 1976) is a former Israeli tennis player. She retired from professional tennis after Wimbledon 2007.

Smashnova, who has been noted for her somewhat appropriate last name,[1] reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 15 in 2003. She was in 13 finals, and won 12 of them. In addition, she won a junior Grand Slam championship, the 1991 French Open Girls Singles.

Early life

Smashnova was born in Minsk, Belarus, is Jewish, and was born to a Russian-Jewish family.[2][3][4] Her father Sasha is an engineer, and her mother is Zinal. She has a brother, Yura, who is a software analyst.[2] Smashnova graduated from American International High School outside Tel Aviv in 1995.[2] She completed her service in the Israel Defense Forces in 1997.[2]

Her family immigrated to Israel in September 1990, after Freddy Krivine, one of the founders of the Israel Tennis Centers, invited her to immigrate.[2][5]

Tennis career

Smashnova began playing tennis when she was six. She became the No. 1 junior in the Soviet Union at the age of ten.[1] She was the number 1 junior in the Soviet Union from age 10 until she moved to Israel at age 14.[2] She won the girls' Soviet Union youth championship in 1989 at the age of 14.[5]

After immigrating to Israel at age 15, Smashnova trained at the Israel Tennis Centers.[1][6] In 1991, she won the girls' singles title at the French Open at age 14.[7][2]

Smashnova was named Tennis Magazine/Rolex Watch Female Rookie of the Year in 1994.[2] At the 1994 French Open she upset world No. 5 Jana Novotná, 6–4, 6–2.[7] At the US Open in that year she upset world No. 14 Lori McNeil in straight sets.[7] She reached the fourth round of the French Open in 1995 and 1998.[7][8]

At the 1996 Australian Open she defeated world No. 15 Natasha Zvereva in three sets.[7] She won her first top-level WTA tour singles title in 1999 at Tashkent. She won her second career title in 2000, winning the Sanex Trophy in Belgium. Smashnova defeated Anna Kournikova in straight sets in her semifinal match, and went on to win the final against top-seed Dominique Van Roost.[7][8]

She had a breakthrough in 2002, winning four titles and beating 11 players ranked in the top 20, including Jelena Dokić, Justine Henin, and Kim Clijsters. In January 2002, Smashnova defeated Tatiana Panova in the ASB Classic at Auckland and top-seeded Tamarine Tanasugarn at the Canberra Classic. In March 2002 she upset world No. 13 Meghann Shaughnessy at Indian Wells. In April she defeated world No. 7 Justine Henin in Miami, and world No. 9 Jelena Dokić in Charleston. In May at the WTA German Open she upset world No. 3, Kim Clijsters, and world No. 14 Daniela Hantuchová, both in three sets.[7]

On June 16, 2002, Smashnova defeated defending champion Iroda Tulyaganova at the Wien Energie Grand Prix. In August she beat world No. 13 Elena Dementieva in San Diego. In September 2002, she beat Anna Kournikova in the finals of the Shanghai Open. According to The New York Times, Smashnova "was precise and controlled throughout the match, hitting perfect winners in stride... Kournikova didn't score a point until the third game of the first set when Smashnova hit a shot wide. 'She was like a wall today, hitting everything back', Kournikova said."[8] In October, she beat world No. 13 Chanda Rubin in Zurich. She played in the 2002 WTA Tour Championships, and lost in the first round to world No. 1 Serena Williams.[7]

On December 7, 2002, Anna married Claudio Pistolesi, her former coach (whom she later divorced), and played for a period of time as "Anna Pistolesi" and "Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi"; they later divorced.[8][5]

She won the 2003 Idea Prokom Open in Poland, beating Klára Koukalová in the finals in straight sets. Smashnova eliminated Karolina Šprem in the Nordic Light Open semifinal in Helsinki and defeated Jelena Kostanić in the final. At the Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven, she posted wins against Anastasia Myskina and Vera Zvonareva.[8] In October 2003 she defeated then world No. 13 Nadia Petrova in Moscow.[7]

She was on the Israeli Olympic Team in 2004.[2]

At the 2005 Australian Open, Smashnova defeated María Sánchez Lorenzo in the first round and Tamarine Tanasugarn in the second. She lost to Venus Williams (seeded eighth) in the third round.[8] In July 2006, Smashnova won her 12th tour title at Budapest, maintaining a 100% winning record in WTA Tour finals – a record she held alone for players who had won double-digit titles. That was wrecked in August 2006, when she lost in the final of the Forest Hills Tennis Classic women's event to Meghann Shaughnessy.[7]

In March 2007, Smashnova publicly announced on Israeli radio that she would retire from professional tennis after Wimbledon.[9] As it turned out, she lost in the first round to German Martina Müller by the "double bagel" scoreline, 0–6, 0–6.[7]

Fed Cup

She was on the Israeli Fed Cup Team from 1992-2005.[2] Smashnova holds the record for most ties played in Fed Cup competition – 61. She is 43–30 in Fed Cup competition for Israel from 1992–2006, including 7–3 on hard courts in singles.[10]

WTA finals

Singles 13 (12–1)

Legend (singles)
Grand Slam Title (0)
WTA Tour Championship (0)
Tier I (0)
Tier II (0)
Tier III (3)
Tier IV and V (9)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Winner 1. June 13, 1999 Tashkent, Uzbekistan Hard Belgium Laurence Courtois 6–3, 6–3
Winner 2. July 23, 2000 Knokke-Heist, Belgium Clay Belgium Dominique van Roost 6–2, 7–5
Winner 3. January 6, 2002 Auckland, New Zealand Hard Russia Tatiana Panova 6–2, 6–2
Winner 4. January 13, 2002 Canberra, Australia Hard Thailand Tamarine Tanasugarn 7–5, 7–6(7–2)
Winner 5. June 16, 2002 Vienna, Austria Clay Uzbekistan Iroda Tulyaganova 6–4, 6–1
Winner 6. September 15, 2002 Shanghai, China Hard Russia Anna Kournikova 6–2, 6–3
Winner 7. August 2, 2003 Sopot, Poland Clay Czech Republic Klára Zakopalová 6–2, 6–0
Winner 8. August 10, 2003 Helsinki, Finland Clay Croatia Jelena Kostanić 4–6, 6–4, 6–0
Winner 9. May 22, 2004 Vienna, Austria Clay Australia Alicia Molik 6–2, 3–6, 6–2
Winner 10. July 17, 2005 Modena, Italy Clay Italy Tathiana Garbin 6–6 ret.
Winner 11. August 31, 2005 Budapest, Hungary Clay Colombia Catalina Castaño 6–2, 6–2
Winner 12. July 30, 2006 Budapest, Hungary Clay Spain Lourdes Domínguez Lino 6–1, 6–3
Runner–up 1. August 26, 2006 Forest Hills, United States Hard United States Meghann Shaughnessy 6–1, 0–6, 4–6

ITF finals

Singles finals: 17 (7–10)

$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 in the final
Runner–up 1. 25 November 1991 Ramat HaSharon, Israel Hard South Africa Tessa Price 4–6 3–6
Winner 2. 11 July 1993 Erlangen, Germany Clay Germany Isabel Cueto 6–3, 6–1
Runner–up 3. 29 November 1993 Ramat HaSharon, Israel Hard Finland Petra Thorén 3–6, 3–6
Runner–up 4. 2 June 1997 Tashkent, Uzbekistan Hard Mexico Angélica Gavaldón 3–6, 2–6
Runner–up 5. 14 July 1997 Getxo, Spain Clay France Ségolène Berger 6–3, 3–6, 1–6
Winner 6. 17 November 1997 Jaffa, Israel Hard Israel Tzipora Obziler 6–3, 6–2
Runner–up 7. 6 October 1997 Indian Wells, United States Hard Japan Miho Saeki 1–6, 4–6
Runner–up 8. 29 March 1998 Woodlands, United States Hard Germany Elena Pampoulova 6–2, 1–6, 5–7
Winner 9. 12 April 1998 Athens, Greece Clay Hungary Rita Kuti-Kis 1–6, 6–2, 6–2
Runner–up 10. 4 May 1997 Cardiff, United Kingdom Clay Czech Republic Květa Peschke 5–7, 4–6
Winner 11. 17 May 1998 Porto, Portugal Clay France Alexia Dechaume-Balleret 6–2, 6–2
Winner 12. 4 October 1998 Santa Clara, United States Hard United States Amy Frazier 2–6, 6–4, 6–2
Runner–up 13. 3 October 1999 Santa Clara, United States Hard Zimbabwe Cara Black 2–6, 1–6
Winner 14. 17 October 1999 Largo, United States Hard United States Marissa Irvin 7–6(7–2), 6–1
Runner–up 15. 9 September 2001 Fano, Italy Clay Czech Republic Zuzana Ondrášková 6–3, 1–6, 5–7
Runner–up 15. 16 September 2001 Bordeaux, France Clay Bulgaria Lubomira Bacheva 6–4, 1–6, 0–6
Winner 17. 11 June 2006 Prostějov, Czech Republic Clay Italy Romina Oprandi w/o

Doubles finals: 2 (0–2)

Outcome NO Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents in the final Score
Runner–up 1. 20 April 1997 Bari, Italy Clay Israel Tzipora Obziler Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Sandra Načuk
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dragana Zarić		 4–6, 2–6
Runner–up 2. 17 November 1997 Jaffa, Israel Hard Israel Tzipora Obziler Israel Nataly Cahana
Netherlands Maaike Koutstaal		 2–6, 1–6

Head-to-head record against other players

Smashnova's win-loss record against certain players who have been ranked world No. 10 or higher is as follows:

Players who have been ranked world No. 1 are in boldface.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Sporting Heroes for 60 years: No. 17 Anna Smashnova," The Jerusalem Post.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Anna Smashnova" | WTA Tennis
  3. ↑ Day by Day in Jewish Sports History - Bob Wechsler
  4. ↑ American Jewish Year
  5. 1 2 3 "Smashnova ends distinguished career with 6-0, 6-0 loss to Germany's Muller" - Haaretz
  6. ↑ ITC Champions Archived October 10, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Anna Smashnova" | WTA Tennis
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Smashnova, Anna (aka Anna Pistolesi)". Jews In Sports. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  9. ↑ "Smashnova to retire," Ynetnews.
  10. ↑ Fed Cup – Player Profile
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