Paola Suárez

Paola Suárez (American Spanish: [paˈola ˈswaɾes]; born 23 June 1976) is a retired tennis player from Argentina. She was one of the most prominent women's doubles players throughout the early and mid-2000s, winning eight Grand Slam titles, all of them with Virginia Ruano Pascual, and holding the No. 1 doubles ranking for 87 non-consecutive weeks. She was also a singles semifinalist at the 2004 French Open.

Paola Suárez

Country (sports)	Argentina
Residence	Munro, Argentina
Born	(1976-06-23) 23 June 1976 Pergamino, Argentina
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Turned pro	1 March 1991
Retired	2007, 2014
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$5,217,775
Singles
Career record	371–239
Career titles	4 WTA, 12 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 9 (7 June 2004)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	4R (2001)
French Open	SF (2004)
Wimbledon	QF (2004)
US Open	QF (2003)
Doubles
Career record	513–192
Career titles	44 WTA, 7 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 1 (9 September 2002)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	W (2004)
French Open	W (2001, 2002, 2004, 2005)
Wimbledon	F (2002, 2003, 2006)
US Open	W (2002, 2003, 2004)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	F (2002)
French Open	F (2001)
Wimbledon	3R (2000, 2003)
US Open	2R (2000, 2003, 2007)
Medal record Olympic Games 2004 Athens Women's doubles

Career

Suárez began playing professional tennis at the age of 15. In 1994, she joined the professional tour as a singles player.

Suárez won four WTA titles (2004 Canberra, 2003 Vienna, 1998 & 2001 Bogotá) and 12 other minor tournaments. In 2004, she reached her only Grand Slam singles semi-final by defeating the 18th seed and future Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova, but lost to Elena Dementieva. That year, she reached her highest WTA ranking of No. 9, to become the highest-ranked Argentine women's player since Gabriela Sabatini achieved the No. 3 ranking in 1989. Also in 2004, she won the bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Athens for the women's doubles with Patricia Tarabini.

She had the best results in doubles, playing with Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain for 32 of her 39 titles. They won the French Open on four occasions, the US Open three times, the Australian Open in 2004. Suárez and Ruano Pascual were the No. 1 female pair for three consecutive years after 9 September 2002 and were the WTA Tour Doubles Team of the Year in 2002, 2003 and 2004. They also reached nine straight Grand Slam finals, two short of Navratilova and Shriver's record of eleven.

In 2005, she announced her forthcoming retirement for personal reasons. In June 2005, she went on labrum hip clinical intervention, with a recovery time of three to four months. She restarted playing in Sydney in January 2006 with Ruano Pascual, reaching the final, but suffered a calf injury short after. Later that year, she also reached the final of Wimbledon with Ruano Pascual, marking her third appearance in a final there.

Suárez returned to the circuit with a victory over Dinara Safina, ranked No. 15, in the San Diego singles tournament.

On 1 September 2007, Suárez retired after losing in the mixed doubles second round at the US Open. She partnered Kevin Ullyett and lost to Jamie Murray and Liezel Huber, 5–7, 4–6.

She briefly returned to the WTA doubles tour in 2012, partnering her fellow Argentinian Gisela Dulko. The pair played at the London Summer Olympics but lost in the first round.[1][2][3]

In her career, Suárez earned more than $5.2 million, with four singles titles on the WTA Tour, and eight doubles Grand Slam titles.

Significant finals

Grand Slam tournaments

Doubles: 14 (8–6)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	2000	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Martina Hingis Mary Pierce	2–6, 4–6
Winner	2001	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Jelena Dokić Conchita Martínez	6–2, 6–1
Winner	2002	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	2002	Wimbledon	Grass	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Serena Williams Venus Williams	2–6, 5–7
Winner	2002	US Open	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Elena Dementieva Janette Husárová	6–2, 6–1
Runner-up	2003	Australian Open	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Serena Williams Venus Williams	6–4, 4–6, 3–6
Runner-up	2003	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Kim Clijsters Ai Sugiyama	7–6^(7–5), 2–6, 7–9
Runner-up	2003	Wimbledon	Grass	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Kim Clijsters Ai Sugiyama	4–6, 4–6
Winner	2003	US Open	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Svetlana Kuznetsova Martina Navratilova	6–2, 6–3
Winner	2004	Australian Open	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Svetlana Kuznetsova Elena Likhovtseva	6–4, 6–3
Winner	2004	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Svetlana Kuznetsova Elena Likhovtseva	6–0, 6–3
Winner	2004	US Open	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Svetlana Kuznetsova Elena Likhovtseva	6–4, 7–5
Winner	2005	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Cara Black Liezel Huber	4–6, 6–3, 6–3
Runner-up	2006	Wimbledon	Grass	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	3–6, 6–3, 2–6

Mixed doubles: 2 (0–2)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	2001	French Open	Clay	Jaime Oncins	Tomás Carbonell Virginia Ruano Pascual	5–7, 3–6
Runner-up	2002	Australian Open	Hard	Gastón Etlis	Daniela Hantuchová Kevin Ullyett	3–6, 2–6

Olympic games

Doubles: 1 (1–0)

Outcome	Year	Location	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Bronze	2004	Athens	Hard	Patricia Tarabini	Shinobu Asagoe Ai Sugiyama	6–3, 6–3

WTA career finals

Singles 8 (4–4)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0/0)
WTA Championships (0/0)
Tier I (0/0)
Tier II (0/0)
Tier III (2/2)
Tier IV & V (2/2)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	22 February 1998	Bogotá	Clay	Sonya Jeyaseelan	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	1.	17 May 1999	Madrid	Clay	Lindsay Davenport	6–1, 6–3
Runner-up	2.	20 February 2000	São Paulo	Clay	Rita Kuti-Kis	4–6, 6–4, 7–5
Runner-up	3.	7 January 2001	Auckland	Hard	Meilen Tu	7–6^(12–10), 6–2
Winner	2.	25 February 2001	Bogotá	Clay	Rita Kuti-Kis	6–2, 6–4
Runner-up	4.	3 March 2002	Acapulco	Clay	Katarina Srebotnik	6–7^(1–7), 6–4, 6–2
Winner	3.	14 June 2003	Vienna	Clay	Karolina Šprem	7–6^(7–0), 2–6, 6–4
Winner	4.	17 January 2004	Canberra	Hard	Silvia Farina Elia	3–6, 6–4, 7–6^(7–5)

Doubles: 69 (44–25)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (8–6)
WTA Championships (1–0)
Tier I (9–9)
Tier II (5–6)
Tier III (10–2)
Tier IV & V (11–2)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	5 May 1996	Bol	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Alexia Dechaume-Balleret Alexandra Fusai	6–7^(5–7), 6–3, 6–4
Winner	2.	18 January 1998	Hobart	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Julie Halard-Decugis Janette Husárová	7–6^(8–6), 6–3
Winner	3.	22 February 1998	Bogotá	Clay	Janette Husárová	Melissa Mazzotta Ekaterina Sysoeva	3–6, 6–2, 6–3
Winner	4.	26 April 1998	Budapest	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Cătălina Cristea Laura Montalvo	4–6, 6–1, 6–1
Winner	5.	3 May 1998	Bol	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Joannette Kruger Mirjana Lučić	w/o
Winner	6.	10 May 1998	Rome	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Amanda Coetzer Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	7–6^(7–1), 6–4
Winner	7.	12 July 1998	Maria Lankowitz	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Tina Križan Katarina Srebotnik	6–1, 6–2
Runner-up	1.	21 February 1999	Bogotá	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Christína Papadáki Seda Noorlander	6–4, 7–6^(7–5)
Winner	8.	23 May 1999	Madrid	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	María Fernanda Landa Marlene Weingärtner	6–2, 0–6, 6–0
Winner	9.	18 July 1999	Sopot	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Gala León García María Sánchez Lorenzo	6–4, 6–3
Winner	10.	10 October 1999	São Paulo	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Janette Husárová Florencia Labat	6–7^(1–7), 7–5, 7–5
Winner	11.	20 February 2000	Bogotá	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Rita Kuti-Kis Petra Mandula	6–4, 6–2
Winner	12.	27 February 2000	São Paulo	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Janette Husárová Florencia Labat	5–7, 6–4, 6–3
Winner	13.	23 April 2000	Hilton Head	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Conchita Martínez Patricia Tarabini	7–5, 6–3
Runner-up	2.	11 June 2000	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Martina Hingis Mary Pierce	6–2, 6–4
Winner	14.	16 July 2000	Klagenfurt	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Barbara Schett Patty Schnyder	7–6^(7–5), 6–1
Winner	15.	23 July 2000	Sopot	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Åsa Carlsson Rita Grande	7–5, 6–1
Runner-up	3.	21 August 2000	New Haven	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Julie Halard-Decugis Ai Sugiyama	6–4, 5–7, 6–2
Runner-up	4.	8 October 2000	Tokyo	Hard	Nana Miyagi	Julie Halard-Decugis Ai Sugiyama	6–0, 6–2
Runner-up	5.	19 February 2001	Bogotá	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Tathiana Garbin Janette Husárová	6–4, 2–6, 6–4
Runner-up	6.	4 March 2001	Acapulco	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Anabel Medina Garrigues María José Martínez Sánchez	6–4, 6–7^(5–7), 7–5
Runner-up	7.	11 March 2001	Indian Wells	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Nicole Arendt Ai Sugiyama	6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	8.	22 April 2001	Charleston	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	5–7, 7–6^(7–5), 6–3
Runner-up	9.	20 May 2001	Rome	Clay	Patricia Tarabini	Cara Black Elena Likhovtseva	6–1, 6–1
Winner	16.	26 May 2001	Madrid	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	7–5, 2–6, 7–6^(7–4)
Winner	17.	10 June 2001	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Jelena Dokić Conchita Martínez	6–2, 6–1
Winner	18.	15 July 2001	Vienna	Clay	Patricia Tarabini	Vanessa Henke Lenka Němečková	6–4, 6–2
Winner	19.	24 February 2002	Bogotá	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Tina Križan Katarina Srebotnik	6–2, 6–1
Winner	20.	3 March 2002	Acapulco	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Tina Križan Katarina Srebotnik	7–5, 6–1
Runner-up	10.	1 April 2002	Miami	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	7–6^(7–4), 6–7^(4–7), 6–3
Winner	21.	19 May 2002	Rome	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Conchita Martínez Patricia Tarabini	6–3, 6–4
Winner	22.	9 June 2002	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	11.	24 June 2002	Wimbledon	Grass	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Serena Williams Venus Williams	6–2, 7–5
Winner	23.	18 August 2002	Montreal	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Rika Fujiwara Ai Sugiyama	6–4, 7–6^(7–4)
Winner	24.	8 September 2002	US Open	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Elena Dementieva Janette Husárová	6–2, 6–1
Winner	25.	14 September 2002	Bahia	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Émilie Loit Rossana de los Ríos	6–4, 6–1
Runner-up	12.	24 September 2002	Leipzig	Carpet	Janette Husárová	Alexandra Stevenson Serena Williams	6–3, 7–5
Runner-up	13.	13 October 2002	Filderstadt	Hard (i)	Meghann Shaughnessy	Lindsay Davenport Lisa Raymond	6–2, 6–4
Runner-up	14.	13 January 2003	Australian Open	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Serena Williams Venus Williams	4–6, 6–4, 6–3
Winner	26.	13 April 2003	Charleston	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Janette Husárová Conchita Martínez	6–0, 6–3
Runner-up	15.	20 April 2003	Amelia Island	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Lindsay Davenport Lisa Raymond	7–5, 6–2
Winner	27.	11 May 2003	Berlin	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Kim Clijsters Ai Sugiyama	6–3, 4–6, 6–4
Runner-up	16.	8 June 2003	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Kim Clijsters Ai Sugiyama	6–7^(5–7), 6–2, 9–7
Runner-up	17.	6 July 2003	Wimbledon	Grass	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Kim Clijsters Ai Sugiyama	6–4, 6–4
Winner	28.	23 August 2003	New Haven	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Alicia Molik Magüi Serna	7–6^(8–6), 6–3
Winner	29.	7 September 2003	US Open	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Svetlana Kuznetsova Martina Navratilova	6–2, 6–3
Runner-up	18.	19 October 2003	Zürich	Hard (i)	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Kim Clijsters Ai Sugiyama	7–6^(7–3), 6–2
Winner	30.	10 November 2003	Los Angeles	Hard (i)	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Kim Clijsters Ai Sugiyama	6–4, 3–6, 6–3
Runner-up	19.	5 January 2004	Auckland	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Mervana Jugić-Salkić Jelena Kostanić Tošić	7–6^(8–6), 3–6, 6–1
Winner	31.	1 February 2004	Australian Open	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Svetlana Kuznetsova Elena Likhovtseva	6–4, 6–3
Winner	32.	21 March 2004	Indian Wells	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Svetlana Kuznetsova Elena Likhovtseva	6–1, 6–2
Winner	33.	18 April 2004	Charleston	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Martina Navratilova Lisa Raymond	6–4, 6–1
Runner-up	20.	10 May 2004	Rome	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Nadia Petrova Meghann Shaughnessy	2–6, 6–3, 6–3
Winner	34.	3 June 2004	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Svetlana Kuznetsova Elena Likhovtseva	6–0, 6–3
Runner-up	21.	26 July 2004	San Diego	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Cara Black Rennae Stubbs	4–6, 6–1, 6–4
Winner	35.	11 September 2004	US Open	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Svetlana Kuznetsova Martina Navratilova	6–4, 7–5
Runner-up	22.	17 October 2004	Moscow	Carpet	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Anastasia Myskina Vera Zvonareva	6–3, 4–6, 6–2
Runner-up	23.	24 October 2004	Zürich	Hard (i)	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Cara Black Rennae Stubbs	6–4, 6–4
Winner	36.	31 October 2004	Luxembourg City	Hard (i)	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Jill Craybas Marlene Weingärtner	6–1, 6–7^(1–7), 6–3
Winner	37.	5 March 2005	Dubai	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Svetlana Kuznetsova Alicia Molik	6–7^(7–9), 6–2, 6–1
Winner	38.	19 March 2005	Indian Wells	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Nadia Petrova Meghann Shaughnessy	7–6^(7–3), 6–1
Winner	39.	4 June 2005	French Open	Clay	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Cara Black Liezel Huber	4–6, 6–3, 6–3
Runner-up	24.	17 January 2006	Sydney	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Corina Morariu Rennae Stubbs	6–3, 5–7, 6–2
Runner-up	25.	8 July 2006	Wimbledon	Grass	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Zheng Jie Yan Zi	6–3, 3–6, 6–2
Winner	40.	13 August 2006	Los Angeles	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Daniela Hantuchová Ai Sugiyama	6–3, 6–4
Winner	41.	24 September 2006	Beijing	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Anna Chakvetadze Elena Vesnina	6–2, 6–4
Winner	42.	1 October 2006	Seoul	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual	Chuang Chia-jung Mariana Díaz Oliva	6–2, 6–3
Winner	43.	6 January 2007	Auckland	Hard	Janette Husárová	Hsieh Su-wei Shikha Uberoi	6–0, 6–2
Winner	44.	25 February 2007	Bogotá	Clay	Lourdes Domínguez Lino	Flavia Pennetta Roberta Vinci	1–6, 6–3, [11–9]

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Tournament	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Australian Open	A	A	A	2R	2R	1R	1R	4R	1R	3R	3R	A	A	LQ
French Open	1R	2R	2R	1R	2R	2R	1R	2R	QF	3R	SF	1R	A	LQ
Wimbledon	1R	A	1R	1R	1R	1R	3R	1R	1R	4R	QF	A	A	LQ
US Open	2R	1R	2R	3R	1R	2R	1R	1R	2R	QF	3R	A	A	LQ

Doubles performance timeline

Tournament	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	SR	W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	A	QF	2R	2R	2R	QF	3R	F	W	A	QF	1R	A	A	A	A	A	1 / 10	23–9
French Open	A	A	1R	1R	2R	2R	F	W	W	F	W	W	2R	1R	A	A	A	A	2R	4 / 13	38–9
Wimbledon	A	A	1R	1R	2R	3R	QF	SF	F	F	SF	A	F	1R	A	A	A	A	1R	0 / 12	29–11
US Open	A	A	1R	2R	SF	2R	1R	3R	W	W	W	A	QF	1R	A	A	A	A	A	3 / 11	28–8
Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	0–3	4–4	7–4	5–4	9–4	15–3	19–2	20–3	21–1	6–0	11–4	0–4	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–2	8 / 46	118–37
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics	Not Held		1R	Not Held			2R	Not Held			SF-B	Not Held			A	Not Held			1R	0 / 4	6–4
Year-end championships
Tour Championships	A	A	A	A	A	A	QF	SF	QF	W	SF	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1 / 5	3–4

Record against top-10 players

Suárez's match record against players who have been ranked in the top 10, with those who have been ranked No. 1 in boldface

• Patty Schnyder 5–4
• Mary Pierce 4–2
• Barbara Schett 3–2
• Jelena Dokic 2–0
• Anna Kournikova 2–0
• Svetlana Kuznetsova 2–0
• Alicia Molik 2–0
• Dinara Safina 2–0
• Daniela Hantuchová 2–1
• Francesca Schiavone 2–1
• Nadia Petrova 2–2
• Sandrine Testud 2–2
• Magdalena Maleeva 2–3
• Amélie Mauresmo 2–3
• Ai Sugiyama 2–3
• Vera Zvonareva 2–3
• Anke Huber 1–0
• Maria Kirilenko 1–0
• Barbara Paulus 1–0
• Lucie Šafářová 1–0
• Maria Sharapova 1–0
• Nathalie Tauziat 1–0
• Andrea Temesvári 1–0
• Serena Williams 1–0
• Jelena Janković 1–1
• Iva Majoli 1–1
• Anastasia Myskina 1–1
• Mary Joe Fernandez 1–2
• Chanda Rubin 1–2
• Elena Dementieva 1–3
• Amanda Coetzer 1–5
• Victoria Azarenka 0–1
• Anna Chakvetadze 0–1
• Zina Garrison 0–1
• Julie Halard-Decugis 0–1
• Justine Henin 0–1
• Brenda Schultz-McCarthy 0–1
• Irina Spîrlea 0–1
• Helena Suková 0–1
• Marion Bartoli 0–2
• Conchita Martínez 0–2
• Monica Seles 0–2
• Venus Williams 0–2
• Natasha Zvereva 0–2
• Jennifer Capriati 0–3
• Kim Clijsters 0–3
• Steffi Graf 0–3
• Dominique Monami 0–4
• Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 0–4
• Lindsay Davenport 0–7

References

1. Suárez Back On Court, Plays First Match Back Archived 20 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 April 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 April 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links

• Paola Suárez at the Women's Tennis Association
• Paola Suárez at the International Tennis Federation
• Paola Suárez at the Fed Cup
• Ole 2005, on her retirement
• Paola and Virginia
• Paola Suarez at the TheTennisTimes