Corina Morariu

Corina Maria Morariu (born January 26, 1978) is an American former professional tennis player.

Corina Morariu
Morariu at the 2009 US Open
Full nameCorina Maria Morariu
Country (sports) United States
ResidenceBoca Raton, Florida, U.S.
Born (1978-01-26) January 26, 1978
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Turned pro1994
Retired2007
PlaysRight-handed
Prize money$1,733,916
Singles
Career record160–134
Career titles1 WTA, 5 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 29 (24 August 1998)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open2R (1998)
French Open2R (1998, 2000, 2003)
Wimbledon3R (1998, 1999)
US Open2R (1997)
Doubles
Career record248–158
Career titles13 WTA, 9 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 1 (3 April 2000)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian OpenF (2001, 2005)
French OpenSF (2005)
WimbledonW (1999)
US OpenQF (1999, 2002, 2005, 2007)
Mixed doubles
Career record21–22
Career titles1
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian OpenW (2001)
French OpenQF (2003, 2005)
Wimbledon3R (2006)
US OpenSF (2002, 2005)

Morariu (pronounced: mo-RA-R'ju) was born in Detroit, Michigan, and turned professional in 1994. Mainly known as a doubles specialist, she won the women's doubles title at Wimbledon in 1999 with Lindsay Davenport. She also won the mixed-doubles title at the 2001 Australian Open with Ellis Ferreira. She reached the Australian Open women's doubles final with Davenport in 2005. She also reached the world No. 1 ranking in doubles in 2000.[1]

In 2001, Morariu was diagnosed with leukemia and began a program of chemotherapy.[2] During this time, Jennifer Capriati dedicated her 2001 French Open victory to Morariu. She also received an inspirational letter from Lance Armstrong, a cancer survivor.[3] After recovering from cancer, along with shoulder surgery, Morariu was largely restricted to doubles play.[1] The WTA then created the Corina Comeback Award, which was presented to Morariu by Capriati.[4]

Corina Morariu retired from the tour in 2007. She is an International Sports Ambassador for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and has released a memoir titled Living Through the Racket: How I Survived Leukemia...and Rediscovered My Self.[4] Following her retirement, she began working as a commentator for Tennis Channel.[5]

Major finals

Grand Slam

Doubles: 1 title, 2 runner-ups
Outcome Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Winner1999WimbledonGrass Lindsay Davenport Mariaan de Swardt
Elena Tatarkova		6–4, 6–4
Runner-up2001Australian OpenHard Lindsay Davenport Serena Williams
Venus Williams		2–6, 6–2, 4–6
Runner-up2005Australian OpenHard Lindsay Davenport Svetlana Kuznetsova
Alicia Molik		3–6, 4–6

Mixed doubles: 1 title
Outcome Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Winner2001Australian OpenHard Ellis Ferreira Barbara Schett
Joshua Eagle		6–1, 6–3

WTA career finals
Corina Morariu hitting a forehand

Singles: 4 (1–3)
Legend
Tier I (0–0)
Tier II (0–0)
Tier III (0–1)
Tier IV (1–2)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Runner-up 1. May 1997 Croatian Bol Ladies Open Clay Mirjana Lučić 5–7, 7–6(9–7), 6–7(5–7)
Runner-up 2. April 1998 Japan Open, Tokyo Hard Ai Sugiyama 3–6, 3–6
Runner-up 3. May 1998 Croatian Bol Ladies Open Clay Mirjana Lučić 2–6, 4–6
Winner 1. May 1999 Croatian Bol Ladies Open Clay Julie Halard-Decugis 6–2, 6–0

Doubles: 20 (13–7)
Legend
Grand Slam (1–2)
WTA Championships (0–0)
Tier I (1–2)
Tier II (3–2)
Tier III (7–1)
Tier IV (1–0)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Runner-up 1. April 20, 1997 Japan Open, Tokyo Hard Kerry-Anne Guse Alexia Dechaume-Balleret
Rika Hiraki		 4–6, 2–6
Winner 1. November 22, 1997 Pattaya Open, Pattaya City Hard Kristine Kunce Florencia Labat
Dominique Monami		 6–3, 6–4
Winner 2. January 8, 1999 Brisbane International, Gold Coast Hard Larisa Neiland Kristine Kunce
Irina Spîrlea		 6–3, 6–4
Winner 3. April 17, 1999 Japan Open, Tokyo Hard Kimberly Po Kerry-Anne Guse
Catherine Barclay		 6–3, 6–2
Winner 4. June 12, 1999 Aegon Classic, Birmingham Grass Larisa Neiland Inés Gorrochategui
Alexandra Fusai		 6–4, 6–4
Winner 5. July 3, 1999 Wimbledon Championships, London Grass Lindsay Davenport Mariaan de Swardt
Elena Tatarkova		 6–4, 6–4
Winner 6. July 31, 1999 Bank of the West Classic, Stanford Hard Lindsay Davenport Anna Kournikova
Elena Likhovtseva		 6–4, 6–4
Winner 7. August 7, 1999 Southern California Open, San Diego Hard Lindsay Davenport Venus Williams
Serena Williams		 6–4, 6–1
Winner 8. February 26, 2000 Cellular South Cup, Oklahoma City Hard (i) Kimberly Po Tamarine Tanasugarn
Elena Tatarkova		 6–4, 4–6, 6–2
Winner 9. March 17, 2000 Indian Wells Masters Hard Lindsay Davenport Anna Kournikova
Natasha Zvereva		 6–2, 6–3
Winner 10. May 6, 2000 Croatian Bol Ladies Open Clay Julie Halard-Decugis Katarina Srebotnik
Tina Križan		 6–2, 6–2
Runner-up 2. May 14, 2000 German Open, Berlin Clay Amanda Coetzer Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
Conchita Martínez		 6–3, 2–6, 6–7(7–9)
Winner 11. October 14, 2000 Japan Open, Tokyo Hard Julie Halard-Decugis Tina Križan
Katarina Srebotnik		 6–1, 6–2
Runner-up 3. January 27, 2001 Australian Open, Melbourne Hard Lindsay Davenport Serena Williams
Venus Williams		 2–6, 6–2, 4–6
Runner-up 4. November 7, 2004 Advanta Championships, Philadelphia Hard (i) Liezel Huber Lisa Raymond
Alicia Molik		 5–7, 4–6
Runner-up 5. January 29, 2005 Australian Open, Melbourne Hard Lindsay Davenport Svetlana Kuznetsova
Alicia Molik		 3–6, 4–6
Runner-up 6. February 6, 2005 Pan Pacific Open, Tokyo Carpet (i) Lindsay Davenport Janette Husárová
Elena Likhovtseva		 4–6, 3–6
Winner 12. January 12, 2006 Medibank International, Sydney Hard Rennae Stubbs Paola Suárez
Virginia Ruano Pascual		 6–3, 5–7, 6–2
Winner 13. September 16, 2006 Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic, Bali Hard Lindsay Davenport Natalie Grandin
Trudi Musgrave		 6–3, 6–4
Runner-up 7. October 29, 2006 Generali Ladies Linz Hard (i) Katarina Srebotnik Lisa Raymond
Samantha Stosur		 3–6, 0–6

ITF Circuit finals
$100,000 tournaments
$75,000 tournaments
$50,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments

Singles (5–0)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Winner 1. August 22, 1994 Nicolosi, Italy Hard Giulia Casoni 7–5, 7–6(5)
Winner 2. May 22, 1995 Salzburg, Austria Clay Patricia Wartusch 6–2, 6–2
Winner 3. May 29, 1995 Katowice, Poland Clay Ewa Radzikowska 6–4, 6–2
Winner 4. August 21, 1995 Sochi, Russia Clay Anne-Gaëlle Sidot 6–4, 4–6, 6–0
Winner 5. February 23, 1997 Bogotá, Colombia Clay Lenka Němečková 6–2, 6–3

Doubles (9–4)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Runner-up 1. July 17, 1994 Olsztyn, Poland Clay Henrieta Nagyová Marielle Bruens
Amanda Hopmans		 4–6, 7–5, 5–7
Winner 2. August 22, 1994 Nicolosi, Italy Hard Loretta Sheales Natalie Frawley
Jenny Anne Fetch		 6–1, 7–5
Winner 3. January 30, 1995 İstanbul, Turkey Hard Christina Zachariadou Dora Djilianova
Desislava Topalova		 6–3, 7–5
Runner-up 4. April 3, 1995 Athens, Greece Clay Christina Zachariadou Denisa Chládková
Patrícia Marková		 2–6, 5–7
Winner 5. May 22, 1995 Salzburg, Austria Clay Aarthi Venkatesan Tjaša Jezernik
Marina Lazarovska		 w/o
Winner 6. August 14, 1995 Carthage, Tunisia Clay Christina Zachariadou Denisa Chládková
Daphne van de Zande		 6–4, 7–6(7)
Winner 7. August 27, 1995 Sochi, Russia Hard Elena Tatarkova Natalia Egorova
Petra Thorén		 6–3, 7–5
Runner-up 8. August 28, 1995 Athens, Greece Clay Christina Zachariadou Magdalena Grzybowska
Henrieta Nagyová		 w/o
Winner 9. December 4, 1995 Cergy, France Hard (i) Angela Lettiere Dally Randriantefy
Natacha Randriantefy		 6–3, 7–5
Winner 10. January 27, 1996 Mission, United States Hard Angela Lettiere Shannan McCarthy
Julie Steven		 7–6(7), 6–2
Winner 11. February 17, 1996 Midland, United States Hard (i) Angela Lettiere Katrina Adams
Debbie Graham		 7–6(4), 7–6(6)
Runner-up 12. May 19, 1996 Athens, Greece Clay Angela Lettiere Liezel Horn
Christína Papadáki		 5–7, 2–6
Winner 13. October 12, 1997 Sedona, United States Hard Cătălina Cristea Liezel Horn
Paola Suárez		 7–5, 6–2

Women's doubles performance timeline
Tournament1995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007SRW–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A 2R 2R 2R SF F A A 3R F 1R 1R 0 / 9 19–9
French Open A 1R 1R 3R 2R A A A 1R A SF A 1R 0 / 7 7–7
Wimbledon A 1R 2R 2R W A A A 1R A 2R A 1R 1 / 7 9–6
US Open A 3R 1R 1R QF A A QF 1R 2R QF 2R QF 0 / 10 16–10
Win–Loss 0–0 2–3 2–4 4–4 11–3 4–1 5–1 3–1 0–3 3–2 13–4 1–2 3–4 1 / 33 51–32
Year-end championships
Tour Championships A A A A SF A A A A A A A A 0 / 1 1–1
Year-end ranking
Ranking 187 81 66 49 6 14 57 78 156 24 15 34 76

Awards
  • The Corina Comeback Award (established by the WTA and named after her; she was the first recipient)[4]
  • The 2002 WTA Tour Comeback Player of the Year Award[4]

References
  1. DeSimone, Bonnie (26 March 2007). "Corina Morariu happy to be on tour". ESPN. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
  2. Banerjee, Sudeshna (28 July 2009). "Corina Morariu: The Braveheart Who Defied Death". Bleacherreport.com. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  3. DeSimone, Bonnie (26 May 2002). "She won't stay down for long". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
  4. "WTA Profile". wtatennis.com. Archived from the original on 13 April 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
  5. Thurmond, Sarah (12 February 2010). "Q&A With Corina Morariu, Cancer Survivor and Former Pro". tennis.com. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
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