Personal

Coached by Marco Panichi ... Baseliner with preference for clay courts; best shot is one-handed backhand ... Father, Sasha, is an engineer; mother is Zina; brother, Yura, is a software analyst ... Family has lived in Israel since September 1990 ... Graduated from American International High School, outside Tel Aviv, in 1995 ... Completed mandatory service in the Israeli Army in 1997 ... Enjoys watching movies and reading ... Hobbies include listening to music ... Loves chocolate.

Career Highlights

SINGLES
Winner (12): 2006 - Budapest, ITF/Prostejov-CZE; 2005 - Modena, Budapest; 2004 - Vienna; 2003 - Sopot, Helsinki; 2002 - Auckland, Canberra, Vienna, Shanghai; 2000 - Knokke-Heist; 1999 - Tashkent, ITF/Largo-USA; 1998 - ITF/Athens-GRE, ITF/Oporto-POR, ITF/Santa Clara-USA; 1997 - ITF/Jaffa-ISR; 1993 - ITF/Erlangen-GER.
Finalist (1): 2006 - Forest Hills.
Semifinalist (8): 2005 - Istanbul; 2003 - Auckland, Moscow; 2002 - Berlin; 2001 - Basel; 2000 - Strasbourg, Palermo; 1998 - Sopot.

ADDITIONAL
Israeli Fed Cup Team 1992-2005. Israeli Olympic Team 2004.

Career in Review

1990 - Debuted at ITF/Ashkelon 2-ISR, reaching SF.

1991 - Turned pro on January 1; ranked No.405, made Tour debut at St. Petersburg (l. 1r to Durie); reached final of ITF/Ramat Hasharon 3-ISR.

1992 - Qualified for Auckland and Wellington.

1993 - Won first pro singles title at ITF/Erlangen-GER as a LL.

1994 - First Top 100 finish; ranked No.94, d. world No.5 Novotna in 1r of Roland Garros (first Top 5 win); d. No.15 McNeil in 1r of US Open.

1995 - Upset No.14 seed Frazier 61 62 to reach 4r at Roland Garros.

1996 - Upset No.12 seed Zvereva in 1r of Australian Open.

1997 - Won ITF/Jaffa-ISR (second pro title).

1998 - Reached 4r at Roland Garros, equaling career-best Grand Slam showing; won three ITF Circuit titles and reached first Tour SF at Sopot.

1999 - Won first Tour singles title at Tashkent (d. Courtois in final); also won ITF/Largo, FL-USA (sixth ITF Circuit title).

2000 - Won second career title at Knokke-Heist, d. No.16 Van Roost in final; also SF at Strasbourg and Palermo, QF at Auckland, Hannover (first Tier I QF) and Shanghai; reached Wimbledon 3r for first time.

2001 - Reached SF at Basel, QF at Bol, Antwerp and Vienna; two-time runner-up on ITF Circuit.

2002 - First Top 20 finish following breakthrough season, winning four singles titles and scoring first Top 5 win in eight years; started season with 10-match win streak, winning Auckland (d. Panova in final) and Canberra (d. Tanasugarn in final) in consecutive weeks (unseeded at both); other titles came at Vienna (d. No.18 Schnyder in QF and No.17 Tulyaganova in final) and Shanghai (d. Kournikova in final); after Vienna (June 17), broke into Top 20 (at No.17); scored career-best Tier I results, reaching first QF at Indian Wells (d. No.13 Shaughnessy) and first SF at Berlin (first Israeli Tier I semifinalist), d. No.3 Clijsters in 2r for first Top 5 win since 1994; also d. No.7 Henin en route to Miami 3r; throughout season, scored nine Top 20 wins, three of them Top 10; debuted at season-ending Championships, falling 1r to world No.1 S.Williams.

2003 - Second Top 20 finish; reached career-high ranking of No.15 on February 3; captured consecutive clay titles at Sopot (d. Koukalova in final) and Helsinki (d. qualifier Kostanic in final after trailing 64 42); extended win streak to 12 by reaching New Haven QF, d. No.8 Myskina and No.14 Zvonareva en route (l. to Capriati in 3s); vs. Zvonareva, scored greatest match comeback of career, trailing 60 51, 0-30 (serving), winning 06 76(5) 62; also reached SF of Auckland (retiring vs. Cho with leg cramps due to heat illness) and second career Tier I at Moscow (d. Petrova, Kuznetsova and Bovina before falling to Myskina); four QF appearances were at Tier II events; reached 3r at Australian Open, best Grand Slam result in two-and-a-half years; l. to Mauresmo three consecutive weeks (Warsaw QF, Berlin 3r, Rome 3r); in Linz QF, Zvonareva gained revenge for New Haven loss, winning 75 third set after trailing 5-1 and saving 3mp; withdrew from Canberra while recovering from heat illness suffered in Auckland.

2004 - Season highlighted by title run at Vienna; as No.2 seed, d. three seeds (No.7 Serna, No.5 Frazier and No.6 Molik) in last three rounds for ninth career title; QF at Sydney (l. to Schiavone), Warsaw (l. to Zvonareva), Rome (l. to Capriati) and Stanford (l. to V.Williams); 3r six other times, incl. Indian Wells, Miami and Roland Garros (retired with cramps leading 60 67(2) 10 vs. eventual finalist and No.10 Dementieva, after leading 60 20 and having been 2-0 lifetime against the Russian previously); biggest win of year in 1r of Filderstadt, d. No.14 Sugiyama (ret. from 2r vs. Zuluaga w/left groin strain); at Olympics, 1r in singles; ret. in 1r vs. Golovin at Paris [Indoors] w/muscle cramping and in 2r vs. Kleinova at Stockholm w/right hamstring tendonitis.

2005 - Eighth Top 50 finish, highlighted by 10th and 11th career Tour singles titles; captured Tier IV clay court titles at Modena (seeded No.5, upset No.2 seed Pennetta 75 63 in SF, winning title when Garbin ret. down 3-0 in first-set tie-break w/heat illness) and Budapest (as top seed, d. Casta±o in final; dropped 12 games in five matches, tying her for least amount of games lost en route to a title in 2005); maintained perfect record in career Tour singles finals, improving to 11-0; SF at Istanbul (as No.3 seed, l. to No.2 seed Vaidisova in 3s); 3r twice, at Australian Open (as No.27 seed, l. to No.8 seed V.Williams) and Miami (as No.30 seed, l. to top seed Mauresmo); 2r eight times, incl. Rome (d. No.18 Likhovtseva in 1r for best win of season), Roland Garros (d. No.18 Jankovic in 1r for equal-best win of season) and US Open (l. to No.23 seed Golovin); only 1r loss at a major came at Wimbledon (l. to No.13 seed Likhovtseva; was ninth 1r loss in 11 career appearances); surpassed $2 million in career earnings; withdrew from Indian Wells w/illness.

2006 - Ninth consecutive (and 11th overall) Top 100 finish for Israeli veteran; season highlighted by 12th career Tour singles title run at Budapest (as No.8 seed, upset top seed Castaño in QF and No.5 seed Domínguez Lino 61 63 in final; improved to 12-0 lifetime in Tour singles finals; was her first ever successful Tour singles title defense); perfect record blemished with first ever runner-up finish, at Forest Hills (d. Sucha in QF for 400th career singles match win en route to final, falling 16 60 64 to Shaughnessy); 3r twice, at Indian Wells (l. to Groenefeld in 3s) and Berlin (l. to Schnyder); 2r five times; fell 1r eight times, incl. all four Grand Slams; captured seventh career ITF Circuit singles title at $75K ITF/Prostejov-CZE; struggled with injuries throughout season – ret. during 2r at Acapuclo w/heat illness and from Miami 1r w/right wrist injury, withdrawing from San Diego and Los Angeles w/right shoulder injury and from Portoroz w/foot injury; 1r loss to Schnyder at US Open was last match played in 2006.