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Conchita Martínez
Conchita Martínez (born April 16, 1972 in Monzón,
Huesca, Spain) is a professional tennis player from Spain. She won the women's
singles title at Wimbledon in 1994. She also finished runner-up at the Australian
Open in 1998, and the French Open in 2000.
Martínez turned professional in 1988. In 1992, she
was a Silver Medalist in the women's doubles at the Olympic Games in Barcelona
(partnering Arantxa Sánchez Vicario), and also runner-up in the women's
doubles at the French Open.
In 1993, Martínez became the first Spanish woman in
sixty-five years since Lili de Alvarez to reach the semi-finals at Wimbledon.
Martínez lost to Steffi Graf 7-6, 6-3.
In 1994 Martínez reached the Wimbledon final, where
she faced the 9-time former Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova. Navratilova's
last Wimbledon triumph had come four years earlier, but many observers felt
that the 37 year-old Czech-born American was the favourite going into the
match given her long track record of success on grass courts, whereas Martínez's
most significant tournament victories up to that time had been on slower-playing
surfaces, particularly clay courts. However Martínez seized her moment
and won in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
In 1995, Martínez was a semi-finalist at all four
of the Grand Slam tournaments and reached her career-high singles ranking
of World No. 2. In 1993 she became the first Spaniard to win the Italian
Open since Lili de Alvarez captured the title in 1930. Martínez went
on to become the first player to win the Italian Open title for four consecutive
years. She also partnered Sánchez Vicario to claim a women's doubles
Olympic Bronze Medal in Atlanta.
1998 saw Martínez reach her second career Grand Slam
final. She was defeated in the final of the Australian Open by Martina Hingis
6-3, 6-3. She also helped Spain win the Fed Cup that year, beating Patty
Schnyder of Switzerland 6-3, 2-6, 9-7 in three hours and 19 minutes in a
marathon match during the final.
Martínez reached the final of the French Open in 2000,
where she lost to Mary Pierce 6-2, 7-5.
In 2001, Martínez was runner-up in the women's doubles
at the French Open (partnering Jelena Dokic).
Martínez won her second Olympic Silver Medal in the
women's doubles in 2004 in Athens (partnering Virginia Ruano Pascual).
In 2005, Martínez won her first singles title for
five years at Pattaya, Thailand, bringing her career total to 33 top-level
singles titles, 9 of which are Tier I events, and 13 doubles titles.
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