Eleni Daniilidou

Eleni Daniilidou
Ελένη Δανιηλίδου

Country (sports)	Greece
Residence	Thessaloniki, Greece
Born	(1982-09-19) 19 September 1982 Chania, Crete, Greece
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Turned pro	1996
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	$2,920,511
Singles
Career record	486–398
Career titles	5 WTA, 11 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 14 (12 May 2003)
Current ranking	No. 758 (22 August 2016)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	4R (2003)
French Open	3R (2003)
Wimbledon	4R (2002)
US Open	4R (2004)
Doubles
Career record	287–268
Career titles	3 WTA, 16 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 21 (29 January 2007)
Current ranking	No. 544 (22 August 2016)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	QF (2005)
French Open	SF (2006)
Wimbledon	QF (2006)
US Open	2R (2004, 2007)
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	F (2003)
French Open	1R (2007)
Wimbledon	2R (2006)
US Open	2R (2003)
Team competitions
Fed Cup	29–15
Last updated on: 22 August 2016.

Eleni Daniilidou (Greek: Ελένη Δανιηλίδου; [eleˈni ðaniˈiliðu]; born 19 September 1982) is a Greek tennis player born in Chania, on the island of Crete.

Arguably the best Greek tennis player of the Open Era, she has won five WTA singles titles and three doubles titles. In 2003, she reached the Australian Open mixed doubles final, making her the first Greek player to have reached a Grand Slam final. Her highest singles ranking has been 14th, making her the only tennis player from Greece, male or female, to have reached the top 20. By beating Justine Henin in the first round of the 2005 Wimbledon Championships, she became the first player to defeat a reigning French Open champion in the first round of Wimbledon.

Career summary

Daniilidou begun her professional career in 1996, making the final of her first ITF event, having barely turned 14. She achieved her first ranking in 1998, finishing that year as the world No. 294. In 2001, she broke into the top 100 following a third round appearance at the U.S. Open.

2002 was the best year of Daniilidou's career, finishing it at No. 22 in the world. She won her first WTA Tour singles title at the Ordina Open, beating Amélie Mauresmo, Elena Dementieva and Henin; and reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time at Wimbledon. At the end of the year, she reached her second WTA final at the 2002 Brasil Open – Women's Singles event, beating Monica Seles en route, but lost to Anastasia Myskina.

Daniilidou started 2003 by winning her second WTA title at the ASB Classic and reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open, results which saw her break into the top 20 for the first time, reaching a career high of No. 14 after the Qatar Telecom German Open. She also reached the semifinals of the Open Gaz de France and the DFS Classic.

Daniilidou successfully defended her title at the ASB Classic in 2004, her third WTA singles title. She reached the semifinals at the prestigious NASDAQ-100 Open, beating Jennifer Capriati en route. Later that year she equalled her best Grand Slam performance at the US Open by reaching the fourth round.

2005 was a relatively poor year for Daniilidou, becoming the first since 2001 where she did not win a title. She did, however, cause a huge upset at Wimbledon, beating the reigning French Open champion, Justine Henin. It was the first time the French Open champion had ever lost in the first round of Wimbledon. It also brought the end of Henin's 24-match win streak dating back to the beginning of the clay season. Daniilidou eventually lost in the third round, her best Grand Slam performance of the year. She also reached the semifinals of a lower level WTA event in Portoroz, Slovenia.

She recovered slightly in 2006, going back into the top 50 and winning her fourth WTA singles title at the Hansol Korea Open. She also reached the semifinals of the Ordina Open. She remained in the top 50 in 2007 with her best result being a semifinal at the Pilot Pen Tennis, where she beat Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals after saving a match point.

2008 was an injury-plagued season for Daniilidou, missing almost half the year with a right knee injury. She won her fifth – and to date, last – WTA singles title at the Moorilla Hobart International, but missed several months of events from March. She returned at the Summer Olympics in August, but failed to win a match for the rest of the season, ultimately finishing the year outside the top 100 for the first time since 2000.

In 2009, she played mostly on the ITF Women's Circuit, reaching the final at events in Midland, Westende and Athens but failing to win any of them. In 2010, she continued to play mostly on the ITF Circuit. She returned to Grand Slam play for the first time since 2008 at Wimbledon by qualifying for the main draw, but lost in the first round.

In 2011, she qualified for the French Open, but lost to veteran Jill Craybas in the first round. She was given a wildcard to play in the main draw of the Wimbledon Championships. She recorded her first grand slam victory in nearly four years there by defeating American Coco Vandeweghe in straight sets, before losing to Ana Ivanović in straight sets in the second round.

Grand Slam finals

Mixed Doubles: 1 (0–1)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	2003	Australian Open	Hard	Todd Woodbridge	Leander Paes Martina Navratilova	4–6, 5–7

WTA career finals

Singles: 6 (5–1)

Outcome	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	22 June 2002	Ordina Open, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Elena Dementieva	3–6, 6–2, 6–3
Runner-up	14 September 2002	Brasil Open, Bahia, Brazil	Hard	Anastasia Myskina	3–6, 6–0, 2–6
Winner	5 January 2003	ASB Classic, Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	Yoon Jeong Cho	6–4, 4–6, 7–6(7–2)
Winner	10 January 2004	ASB Classic, Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	Ashley Harkleroad	6–3, 6–2
Winner	1 October 2006	Hansol Korea Open Tennis Championships, Seoul, South Korea	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	6–3, 2–6, 7–6(7–3)
Winner	11 January 2008	Moorilla Hobart International, Hobart, Australia	Hard	Vera Zvonareva	W–O

Doubles: 12 (3–9)

Outcome	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	4 May 2003	J&S Cup, Warsaw, Poland	Clay	Francesca Schiavone	Liezel Huber Magdalena Maleeva	6–3, 4–6, 2–6
Runner-up	16 February 2004	Proximus Diamond Games, Antwerp, Belgium	Hard	Myriam Casanova	Cara Black Els Callens	2–6, 1–6
Winner	12 June 2004	Bank of the West Classic, Stanford, United States	Hard	Nicole Pratt	Claudine Schaul Iveta Benešová	6–2, 6–4
Runner-up	12 June 2005	AEGON Classic, Birmingham, United Kingdom	Grass	Jennifer Russell	Daniela Hantuchová Ai Sugiyama	2–6, 3–6
Runner-up	30 November 2006	Gaz de France Stars, Hasselt, Belgium	Carpet	Jasmin Wöhr	Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur	2–6, 3–6
Runner-up	24 September 2007	Hansol Korea Open Tennis Championships, Seoul, South Korea	Hard	Jasmin Wöhr	Chuang Chia-jung Hsieh Su-wei	2–6, 2–6
Runner-up	7 January 2008	Moorilla Hobart International, Hobart, Australia	Hard	Jasmin Wöhr	Anabel Medina Garrigues Virginia Ruano Pascual	2–6, 4–6
Winner	26 July 2010	İstanbul Cup, Istanbul, Turkey	Hard	Jasmin Wöhr	Maria Kondratieva Vladimíra Uhlířová	6–4, 1–6, [11–9]
Runner-up	30 April 2011	Estoril Open, Estoril, Portugal	Clay	Michaëlla Krajicek	Alisa Kleybanova Galina Voskoboeva	4–6, 2–6
Winner	16 September 2011	Tashkent Open, Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Hard	Vitalia Diatchenko	Lyudmyla Kichenok Nadiya Kichenok	6–4, 6–3
Runner-up	21 July 2013	Gastein Ladies, Bad Gastein, Austria	Clay	Kristina Barrois	Sandra Klemenschits Andreja Klepač	1–6, 4–6
Runner-up	28 July 2013	Baku Cup, Baku, Azerbaijan	Hard	Aleksandra Krunić	Irina Buryachok Oksana Kalashnikova	4–6, 7–6(7–3), [10–4]

Performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

Head to Head

• Serena Williams 0–5
• Venus Williams 0–2
• Kim Clijsters 0–2
• Lindsay Davenport 0–3
• Jelena Jankovic 0–1
• Nadia Petrova 1–3
• Dinara Safina 2–2
• Justine Henin 2–2
• Maria Sharapova 0–5

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eleni Daniilidou.

• Eleni Daniilidou at the Women's Tennis Association
• Eleni Daniilidou at the International Tennis Federation
• Eleni Daniilidou at the Fed Cup
  
• Official website