Lesley Hunt

Lesley Hunt (born 29 May 1950) is a former tennis player from Perth, Western Australia.

Lesley Hunt
Country (sports) Australia
Born (1950-05-29) 29 May 1950
Perth, Australia
Height168 cm (5 ft 6 in)[1]
Retired1979
PlaysRight-handed
Singles
Career record69–69
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian OpenSF (1971)
French Open4R (1968)
Wimbledon4R (1971, 1973)
US OpenQF (1970, 1971, 1974, 1978)
Doubles
Career record79–60
Career titles1
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian OpenF (1971)
French OpenSF (1971)
WimbledonQF (1970, 1972, 1973)
US OpenSF (1972, 1974)
Team competitions
Fed CupW (1971)

Particularly noted as a junior player, in 1964 at the age of 14 she won a rare double in the Western Australian Women's open, taking both the Open and Junior titles. She won the Australian junior championship in 1967 and 1968 and reached the final of the Wimbledon Junior Invitational in 1968. That year she also won the French and United States Junior Championships.[2] In 1968 she won the Australian and French Open Junior titles and the Australian Open Junior title again the following year.

In 1974 she was ranked number 3 in Australia. Between 1967 and 1979 she was never outside the top six in Australia, while playing amongst contemporaries in Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, Kerry Reid and Wendy Turnbull.

Hunt was seeded once in the United States championships (number 8 in 1974); twice at the French Championships (number 4 in 1976 & 7 in 1977; and once at the Australian Championships (number 5 in 1974), but was never seeded at Wimbledon. She was runner-up in the 1971 Virginia Slims tournament, losing to Margaret Court and in 1976 reached the final of the Italian Open. Two years later in 1978 she made her first international open victory with a win in the Swiss Open. She reached the finals of the Canadian and Italian Opens in the same year, as well as the quarterfinals at the US Open.

As a doubles player she won the U.S Open Hardcourt and Claycourt titles with Evonne Goolagong.

In December 1970 she joined with Court and Goolagong in the 1971 Federation Cup victory over Great Britain at Royal King's Park Tennis Club. In the final match she partnered with Court, beating Virginia Wade and Winnie Shaw.

Hunt was inducted into the Western Australian Hall of Champions in 1993.

WTA Tour finals

Doubles 3 (1–2)

Legend
Grand Slam0
WTA Championships0
Tier I0
Tier II0
Tier III0
Tier IV & V
Titles by surface
Hard0
Clay0
Grass1
Carpet0
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Runner-up 1. 14 January 1971 Australian Open, Australia Grass Joy Emerson Margaret Court
Evonne Goolagong
0–6, 0–6
Runner-up 2. 15 October 1978 US Indoors, USA Carpet Ilana Kloss Kerry Reid
Wendy Turnbull
3–6, 3–6
Winner 3. 26 November 1978 Christchurch, New Zealand Grass Sharon Walsh Katja Ebbinghaus
Sylvia Hanika
6–1, 7–5

References

  1. Bostic, Stephanie, ed. (1979). USTA Player Records 1978. United States Tennis Association (USTA). p. 203.
  2. W.A. Hall of Champions inductee booklet. (2006) Published by the Western Australian Institute of Sport


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