Amelie Mauresmo fact file

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July 08, 2006 21:38 IST

Factbox on Amelie Mauresmo, who became the first Frenchwoman to win the Wimbledon singles title since 1925 on Saturday.

Nationality: French

Age: 27

Lives: Geneva, Switzerland

Plays: Right-handed

Grand Slam titles: Two (2006 Australian Open, 2006 Wimbledon)

Current singles ranking: 1

Started playing tennis at age four after being inspired by Yannick Noah winning the 1983 French Open.

1995: Qualified for the French Open as a 15-year-old.

1998: Made first WTA tour final in Berlin, losing to Conchita Martinez. Finished year ranked 29th.

1999: Breakthrough year on the tour. Made final of Australian Open as unseeded player, beating top seed Lindsay Davenport before losing 6-2 6-3 to Martina Hingis. Won first career title at Bratislava. Finished in top-10 (10th) for first time.

2000: Won Sydney International beating world number one Hingis in semi-finals and number two Davenport in final. Spent seven weeks off tour with lower back injury. Returned to tour in May but forced to withdraw from tournaments in July-September with recurrence of back injury.

2001: Had 16-match winning streak taking three successive titles at Paris, Nice and Amelia Island. Surpassed Mary Pierce as top-ranked Frenchwoman. Made quarter-finals at U.S. Open. Finished the year ranked ninth.

2002: Made at least the quarter-finals in 14 of the 17 tournaments she played including advancing to the final four at Wimbledon and U.S. Open. Fourth player in Open era outside the top-four to make successive Grand Slam semi-finals, losing to Serena Williams at Wimbledon and Venus Williams in New York.

2003: Consistent season highlighted by first top-five finish and leading France to second Fed Cup title. Rib injury forced her to withdraw from Wimbledon. Made quarter-finals at Roland Garros and U.S. Open. Won titles at Warsaw and Philadelphia.  

2004: Won five titles and made the quarter-finals at Australian Open, Roland Garros and U.S. Open and semi-finals at Wimbledon. Suffered back injury in fourth round at Melbourne Park handing Colombia's Fabiola Zuluaga a walkover. Injury forced withdrawal from six further tournaments. Won silver medal at Athens Olympics, losing to Belgium's Justine Henin-Hardenne. First Frenchwoman to attain number one ranking in September.

2005: Won four titles and finished inside the top-three for second year in a row. Finally broke through in "big" events when she won the season-ending WTA championships in Los Angeles, beating Pierce in the final.

2006: Won first Grand Slam title when she beat Henin-Hardenne after the Belgian retired through illness. Was the third match she had won due to opponent retiring, beating Michaella Krajicek (third round) and Kim Clijsters in the semi-final.

Captured second Grand Slam title when she beat Henin-Hardenne 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the Wimbledon final, thus becoming the first Frenchwoman since Suzanne Lenglen in 1925 to win the singles title at the All England Club.

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