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Alexandra Stevenson
Alexandra Stevenson (born December 15, 1980, in La Jolla,
California) is a professional tennis player from the United States.
Stevenson shocked the tennis world in 1999 when, in her first
appearance at Wimbledon, she became the first woman qualifier in the Open
Era to reach the semi-finals. In the fourth round, she saved one match point
against Lisa Raymond in a 2-6, 7-6, 6-1 win. She then beat Jelena Dokic in
three sets in the quarter-finals, before finally being knocked-out in straight
sets by the eventual-champion Lindsay Davenport. Stevenson joined Chris Evert
and Anna Kournikova as the only women in recent times to reach the semi-finals
on their Wimbledon debut.
Since her dramatic first year as a professional in 1999,
2002 has been Stevenson's most successful year on the tour. She finished
runner-up in two top-level tournaments that year in Memphis and Linz. And
she also won one tour doubles title at Leipzig, partnering Serena Williams.
Since 2002, Stevenson has been hampered by injuries and has
struggled to find her form. An extensive labral tear in her right shoulder
sustained in January 2003 required surgery. This was done on September 21,
2004.
As a junior player, Stevenson won the US Open girls' doubles
title in 1997. She was ranked the No. 5 junior in the US in 1996.
Stevenson has been coached by her mother, Samantha Stevenson.
The identity of her father was not publicly known at the time she became
professional in 1999. But it was soon revealed that her father was the former
NBA star Julius Erving, who had a relationship with Samantha Stevenson in
1980, when Stevenson was a sports writer in Philadelphia and Erving was playing
for the Philadelphia 76ers.
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