Klára Koukalová

Klára Koukalová

File:Klára Koukalová (16238215658).jpg Koukalová at the 2014 Kremlin Cup
Full name	Klára Koukalová
Country (sports)	Czech Republic
Residence	Prague, Czech Republic
Born	(1982-02-24) 24 February 1982 Prague, Czechoslovakia
Height	1.66 m
Turned pro	1999
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$4,061,701
Singles
Career record	507–431
Career titles	3 WTA, 7 ITF
Highest ranking	20 (15 April 2013)
Current ranking	131 (16 May 2016)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	3R (2003)
French Open	4R (2012)
Wimbledon	4R (2010)
US Open	1R (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games	1R (2004, 2008, 2012)
Doubles
Career record	105–147
Career titles	4 WTA, 0 ITF
Highest ranking	31 (19 May 2014)
Current ranking	455 (16 May 2016)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2008, 2011, 2014)
French Open	3R (2012)
Wimbledon	2R (2010, 2011, 2014)
US Open	3R (2014)
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Wimbledon	1R (2014)
US Open	1R (2014)
Team competitions
Fed Cup	10–5
Last updated on: 16 May 2016.

Klára Koukalová (born 24 February 1982) is a Czech tennis player. She was born and still lives in Prague.

Career

Koukalová made her Grand Slam debut at the 2003 Australian Open, defeating fellow qualifier and Grand Slam debutante Maria Sharapova in the first round before going on to upset sixth-seed Monica Seles in the second round. Koukalová's run ended in the third round.

In January 2006, she played comeback player Martina Hingis, at the WTA tournament in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, where she lost in the second round. Koukalová was seeded 29th at the 2006 Australian Open, but lost in the first round to Ekaterina Bychkova. In that year, Koukalová had ten first-round losses in singles and failed to win a doubles match.

In 2008, Koukalová reached the final of the inaugural Cachantun Cup in Chile. She played the top seed Flavia Pennetta, but was forced to retire due to a sprained ankle. This also forced her to withdraw from the next tournament in Bogotá, where she had made the quarterfinals in 2007.

Koukalová's biggest win came at the 2009 Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella, Spain. She defeated world number 1 and ten-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams in three sets. Williams was also her first round opponent at the 2009 French Open, where Koulalová lost.

Koukalová gained another good win over a top-5 player, defeating Dinara Safina in the first round of the 2010 Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open.

In the first round of the 2010 Polsat Warsaw Open, Koukalová caused a big upset by defeating fourth seed and world number 14 Marion Bartoli. She was then defeated by world number 205 Gréta Arn in the second round.

At the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, Koukalová advanced to the fourth round for the first time at a Grand Slam. She scored upset wins over 18th seed Aravane Rezaï and tenth seed Flavia Pennetta, before falling to qualifier Kaia Kanepi.

Koukalová made the final at the 2010 e-Boks Danish Open, where she lost to then world number 3 Caroline Wozniacki. Koukalová defeated Rossana de los Rios, Tatjana Malek, Sorana Cîrstea, and Li Na en route to the final. After this tournament, she could not match her performance as she went on to do poorly in her last four tournaments, only advancing to the second round at the 2010 Generali Ladies Linz, where she lost to Patty Schnyder.

Koukalová started her 2011 season at the Hobart International, after having to withdraw from the Brisbane International. She made the semifinals in Hobart, upsetting the top seeded Marion Bartoli in the quarterfinals, before falling to her doubles partner Jarmila Groth.

At the 2011 Australian Open, Koukalová defeated American Melanie Oudin in three sets in the first round, before falling to fellow Czech Lucie Šafářová in three sets in the second round. This was Koukalová's first victory at the Australian Open since 2003.

Koukalová was seeded 31st for the 2011 French Open, her first seeding at a Grand Slam since 2006. She was upset in the first round by Taiwanese qualifier Chan Yung-jan.

After her defeat at Roland Garros, Koukalová traveled to Copenhagen to defend her finalist points from the year before. Seeded second, she was upset in the first round by German Kathrin Wörle.

Koukalová then returned to the site of her greatest Grand Slam accomplishment, Wimbledon. Unseeded, she came from a set down to defeat British wildcard Emily Webley-Smith in the first round. In the second round, she avenged her Australian Open loss by upsetting 31st seed Lucie Šafářová in three sets. In the third round, Koukalová fell to eventual finalist Maria Sharapova.

After Wimbledon, Koukalová made the semifinals in Budapest, where she lost to the eventual champion Roberta Vinci, and then made the quarterfinals in Palermo, where she lost to eventual finalist Polona Hercog.

Koukalová played in the 2013 US Open and lost in the first round to Hsieh Su-wei. Remarkably, this was her tenth first round loss at the US Open out of 10 appearances in the main draw.

In 2014, Koukalová won her third WTA singles title in Florianópolis. In the final she defeated second seed Garbiñe Muguruza, winning 11 games in a row from 4–6, 2–5 down to take the title. She also made the final at two other tournaments: at the 2014 Hobart International where she lost Garbiñe Muguruza and at the 2014 Rio Open losing to Kurumi Nara.

Personal life

On 6 June 2006, Klára married Czech footballer Jan Zakopal, but they divorced in January 2014. From June 2006 to March 2014, she used her married name Zakopalová while competing, switching back to Koukalová in April 2014.

WTA finals

Singles (3–12)

Legend Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) WTA Tour Championships (0–0) Tier I / Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (0–0) Tier II / Premier (0–0) Tier III, IV & V / International (3–12)

Finals by surface Hard (2–3) Clay (0–7) Grass (1–1) Carpet (0–1)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	20 May 2001	Belgian Open, Antwerp, Belgium	Clay	Barbara Rittner	3–6, 2–6
Runner-up	2.	14 July 2002	Grand Prix SAR, Casablanca, Morocco	Clay	Patricia Wartusch	7–5, 3–6, 3–6
Runner-up	3.	2 August 2003	Idea Prokom Open, Sopot, Poland (1)	Clay	Anna Smashnova	2–6, 0–6
Runner-up	4.	19 June 2004	Ordina Open, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Mary Pierce	6–7(6–8), 2–6
Runner-up	5.	14 August 2004	Idea Prokom Open, Sopot, Poland (2)	Clay	Flavia Pennetta	5–7, 6–3, 3–6
Winner	1.	18 June 2005	Ordina Open, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Lucie Šafářová	3–6, 6–2, 6–2
Runner-up	6.	24 July 2005	Internazionali Femminili di Palermo, Palermo, Italy	Clay	Anabel Medina	4–6, 0–6
Winner	2.	25 September 2005	Banka Koper Slovenia Open, Portorož, Slovenia	Hard	Katarina Srebotnik	6–2, 4–6, 6–3
Runner-up	7.	17 February 2008	Cachantún Cup, Viña del Mar, Chile	Clay	Flavia Pennetta	4–6, 4–5 ret.
Runner-up	8.	8 August 2010	e-Boks Danish Open, Copenhagen, Denmark	Carpet (i)	Caroline Wozniacki	2–6, 6–7(5–7)
Runner-up	9.	26 September 2010	Hansol Korea Open, Seoul, South Korea	Hard	Alisa Kleybanova	1–6, 3–6
Runner-up	10.	6 January 2013	Shenzhen Open, Shenzhen, China	Hard	Li Na	3–6, 6–1, 5–7
Runner-up	11.	11 January 2014	Hobart International, Hobart, Australia	Hard	Garbiñe Muguruza	4–6, 0–6
Runner-up	12.	23 February 2014	Rio Open, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Clay	Kurumi Nara	1–6, 6–4, 1–6
Winner	3.	1 March 2014	Brasil Tennis Cup, Florianópolis, Brazil	Hard	Garbiñe Muguruza	4–6, 7–5, 6–0

Doubles (4–6)

Legend Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) WTA Tour Championships (0–0) Tier I / Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (0–0) Tier II / Premier (0–2) Tier III, IV & V / International (4–4)

Finals by surface Hard (2–4) Clay (1–1) Grass (1–1) Carpet (0–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	17 September 2001	Bell Challenge, Quebec City, Canada	Hard (i)	Alena Vašková	Samantha Reeves Adriana Serra Zanetti	5–7, 6–4, 3–6
Runner-up	2.	25 July 2009	Banka Koper Slovenia Open, Portorož, Slovenia	Hard	Camille Pin	Julia Görges Vladimíra Uhlířová	4–6, 2–6
Runner-up	3.	24 October 2009	Kremlin Cup, Moscow, Russia	Hard	Maria Kondratieva	Maria Kirilenko Nadia Petrova	2–6, 2–6
Winner	1.	18 June 2011	UNICEF Open, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Dominika Cibulková Flavia Pennetta	1–6, 6–4, [10–7]
Runner-up	4.	16 July 2011	Internazionali Femminili di Palermo, Palermo, Italy	Clay	Andrea Hlaváčková	Sara Errani Roberta Vinci	5–7, 1–6
Runner-up	5.	22 June 2013	Aegon International, Eastbourne, United Kingdom	Grass	Monica Niculescu	Nadia Petrova Katarina Srebotnik	3–6, 3–6
Winner	2.	21 July 2013	Swedish Open, Båstad, Sweden	Clay	Anabel Medina Garrigues	Alexandra Dulgheru Flavia Pennetta	6–1, 6–4
Winner	3.	4 January 2014	Shenzhen Open, Shenzhen, China	Hard	Monica Niculescu	Lyudmyla Kichenok Nadiia Kichenok	6–3, 6–4
Winner	4.	11 January 2014	Hobart International, Hobart, Australia	Hard	Monica Niculescu	Lisa Raymond Zhang Shuai	6–2, 6–7(5–7), [10–8]
Runner-up	6.	13 April 2014	Katowice Open, Katowice, Poland	Hard (i)	Monica Niculescu	Yuliya Beygelzimer Olga Savchuk	4–6, 7–5, [7–10]

Grand Slam performance timeline

Singles

Tournament	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	W–L
Australian Open	3R	1R	2R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	2R	1R	2R	1R	2R	1R	6–14
French Open	1R	2R	2R	1R	A	2R	1R	2R	1R	4R	1R	1R	1R		7–12
Wimbledon	1R	2R	1R	1R	A	1R	1R	4R	3R	3R	3R	2R	1R		11–12
US Open	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	LQ	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R		0–13
Win–Loss	2–4	2–4	2–4	0–4	0–2	1–4	0–3	4–4	3–4	5–4	3–4	1–4	1–4	0–1	24–50
Tournaments won	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	3
Year-end ranking	62	46	36	125	62	75	95	41	41	28	35	41	100

Doubles

Tournament	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	W–L
Australian Open	A	1R	A	2R	1R	A	2R	1R	1R	2R	1R	3–8
French Open	1R	1R	A	1R	A	1R	2R	3R	1R	2R	1R	4–9
Wimbledon	1R	1R	1R	1R	A	2R	2R	1R	1R	2R	1R	3–10
US Open	1R	1R	1R	1R	A	2R	1R	2R	1R	3R	1R	4–10
Win–Loss	0–3	0–4	0–2	1–4	0–1	2–3	3–4	3–4	0–4	5–4	0–4	14–37

External links

• Klára Koukalová at the Women's Tennis Association
• Klára Koukalová at the Fed Cup