Eleni Daniilidou

Eleni Daniilidou
Ελένη Δανιηλίδου
Country (sports)	Greece
Residence	Thessaloniki
Born	19 September 1982 (age 39); Chania, Crete
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Turned pro	1996
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	$2,929,165
Singles
Career record	509–431 (54.1%)
Career titles	5 WTA, 11 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 14 (12 May 2003)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	4R (2003)
French Open	3R (2003)
Wimbledon	4R (2002)
US Open	4R (2004)
Doubles
Career record	298–277 (51.8%)
Career titles	3 WTA, 16 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 21 (29 January 2007)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	QF (2005)
French Open	SF (2006)
Wimbledon	QF (2006)
US Open	2R (2004, 2007)
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 (65.9%)

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

She is considered one of the best Greek tennis players of the Open Era, winning five singles titles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour. In 2003, she reached the mixed-doubles final of the Australian Open, making her the first Greek player to have reached a Grand Slam final. Her highest singles ranking is world No. 14, making her the only female tennis player from Greece to have reached the top 20 until Maria Sakkari in February 2020. No male tennis player had achieved this until Stefanos Tsitsipas reached 15th place in August 2018. 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 began 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 US Open.

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

Daniilidou started 2003 by winning her second WTA title at the Auckland Open 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 German Open. She also reached the semifinals of the Paris Indoors and the DFS Classic.

Daniilidou successfully defended her title at Auckland in 2004, her third WTA singles title. She reached the semifinals at the prestigious Miami 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 Korea Open. She also reached the semifinals of the Ordina Open, and remained in the top 50 in 2007 with her best result being a semifinal at the Connecticut Open, 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 last WTA singles title at the 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.

Grand Slam finals[]

Mixed doubles: 1 (runner-up)[]

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	2003	Australian Open	Hard	Todd Woodbridge	Leander Paes Martina Navratilova	4–6, 5–7

WTA career finals[]

Singles: 6 (5 titles, 1 runner–up)[]

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
Tier I (0–0)
Tier II (0–1)
Tier III, IV & V (5–0)

Finals by surface
Hard (4–1)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (1–0)
Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Jun 2002	Rosmalen Championships, Netherlands	Tier III	Grass	Elena Dementieva	3–6, 6–2, 6–3
Loss	1–1	Sep 2002	Brasil Open, Brazil	Tier II	Hard	Anastasia Myskina	3–6, 6–0, 2–6
Win	2–1	Jan 2003	Auckland Open, New Zealand	Tier IV	Hard	Cho Yoon-jeong	6–4, 4–6, 7–6^(7–2)
Win	3–1	Jan 2004	Auckland Open, New Zealand (2)	Tier IV	Hard	Ashley Harkleroad	6–3, 6–2
Win	4–1	Oct 2006	Korea Open, South Korea	Tier IV	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	6–3, 2–6, 7–6^(7–3)
Win	5–1	Jan 2008	Hobart International, Australia	Tier IV	Hard	Vera Zvonareva	w/o

Doubles: 12 (3 titles, 9 runner–ups)[]

Legend (pre/post 2010)
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
Tier I / Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (0–0)
Tier II / Premier (1–2)
Tier III, IV & V / International (2–7)

Finals by surface
Hard (3–4)
Clay (0–3)
Grass (0–1)
Carpet (0–1)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	May 2003	Warsaw Open, Poland	Tier II	Clay	Francesca Schiavone	Liezel Huber Magdalena Maleeva	6–3, 4–6, 2–6
Loss	0–2	Feb 2004	Diamond Games, Belgium	Tier II	Hard	Myriam Casanova	Cara Black Els Callens	2–6, 1–6
Win	1–2	Jun 2004	Bank of the West Classic, United States	Tier II	Hard	Nicole Pratt	Claudine Schaul Iveta Benešová	6–2, 6–4
Loss	1–3	Jun 2005	Birmingham Classic, Great Britain	Tier III	Grass	Jennifer Russell	Daniela Hantuchová Ai Sugiyama	2–6, 3–6
Loss	1–4	Nov 2006	Gaz de France Stars, Belgium	Tier III	Carpet (i)	Jasmin Wöhr	Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur	2–6, 3–6
Loss	1–5	Sep 2007	Korea Open, South Korea	Tier IV	Hard	Jasmin Wöhr	Chuang Chia-jung Hsieh Su-wei	2–6, 2–6
Loss	1–6	Jan 2008	Hobart International, Australia	Tier IV	Hard	Jasmin Wöhr	Anabel Medina Garrigues Virginia Ruano Pascual	2–6, 4–6
Win	2–6	Jul 2010	İstanbul Cup, Turkey	International	Hard	Jasmin Wöhr	Maria Kondratieva Vladimíra Uhlířová	6–4, 1–6, [11–9]
Loss	2–7	Apr 2011	Estoril Open, Portugal	International	Clay	Michaëlla Krajicek	Alisa Kleybanova Galina Voskoboeva	4–6, 2–6
Win	3–7	Sep 2011	Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan	International	Hard	Vitalia Diatchenko	Lyudmyla Kichenok Nadiya Kichenok	6–4, 6–3
Loss	3–8	Jul 2013	Gastein Ladies, Austria	International	Clay	Kristina Barrois	Sandra Klemenschits Andreja Klepač	1–6, 4–6
Loss	3–9	Jul 2013	Baku Cup, Azerbaijan	International	Hard	Aleksandra Krunić	Irina Buryachok Oksana Kalashnikova	4–6, 7–6^(7–3), [10–4]

ITF Circuit finals[]

$100,000 tournaments
$75,000 tournaments
$50,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments

Singles: 16 (11 titles, 5 runner-ups)[]

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Sep 1996	ITF Thessaloniki, Greece	Hard	Nóra Köves	3–6, 2–6
Win	1–1	Aug 1998	ITF Southsea, Great Britain	Grass	Manisha Malhotra	7–6^(7–5), 6–3
Win	2–1	Aug 1998	ITF İstanbul, Turkey	Hard	Riei Kawamata	6–0, 6–1
Win	3–1	Aug 1998	ITF Skiathos, Greece	Carpet	Tatiana Poutchek	6–3, 6–4
Win	4–1	Aug 1998	ITF Xanthi, Greece	Hard	Lizzie Jelfs	6–2, 6–0
Win	5–1	Sep 1999	ITF Thessaloniki, Greece	Carpet	Clarisa Fernández	6–2, 6–2
Win	6–1	Aug 2000	ITF Kastoria, Greece	Carpet	Jolanda Mens	6–3, 6–1
Win	7–1	Apr 2001	ITF Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Hard	Anikó Kapros	6–4, 6–4
Win	8–1	Apr 2001	ITF Taranto, Italy	Clay	Edina Gallovits-Hall	7–5, 6–2
Loss	8–2	Feb 2009	ITF Midland, United States	Hard (i)	Lucie Hradecká	3–6, 3–6
Loss	8–3	Aug 2009	ITF Westende, Belgium	Hard	Estelle Guisard	1–6, 2–6
Loss	8–4	Sep 2009	ITF Athens, Greece	Hard	Jelena Dokic	2–6, 1–6
Win	9–4	Oct 2010	ITF Athens, Greece	Hard	Laura Pous Tió	6–4, 6–1
Win	10–4	May 2011	ITF Nottingham, Great Britain	Grass	Olga Govortsova	1–6, 6–4, 6–2
Win	11–4	Jul 2011	ITF Pozoblanco, Spain	Hard	Elitsa Kostova	6–3, 6–2
Loss	11–5	Oct 2012	ITF Barnstaple, Great Britain	Hard (i)	Annika Beck	7–6^(7–1), 2–6, 2–6

Doubles: 29 (16 titles, 13 runner-ups)[]

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	3 August 1998	ITF Southsea, Great Britain	Grass	Lucy Wood	Lizzie Jelfs Mareze Joubert	2–6, 3–6
Winner	1.	10 August 1998	ITF İstanbul, Turkey	Hard	Nataly Cahana	Duygu Akşit Oal Gülberk Gültekin	3–6, 6–3, 6–3
Winner	2.	24 August 1998	ITF Skiathos, Greece	Carpet	Evagelia Roussi	Marina Lazarovska Tatiana Poutchek	3–6, 6–4, 6–2
Winner	3.	31 August 1998	ITF Xanthi, Greece	Hard	Evagelia Roussi	Dragana Ilić Ljiljana Nanušević	6–0, 6–3
Winner	4.	28 September 1998	ITF Thessaloniki, Greece	Clay	Christína Papadáki	Ľudmila Cervanová Magdalena Kučerová	7–6^(7–5), 4–6, 7–5
Winner	5.	20 September 1999	ITF Thessaloniki	Carpet	Surina De Beer	Adriana Barna Adrienn Hegedűs	6–2, 6–3
Winner	6.	21 August 2000	ITF Kastoria, Greece	Carpet	Evagelia Roussi	Sandra Klemenschits Daniela Klemenschits	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	2.	4 September 2000	ITF Fano, Italy	Clay	Alicia Ortuño	Rosa María Andrés Rodríguez Conchita Martínez Granados	2–6, 4–6
Winner	7.	16 October 2000	ITF Joué-lès-Tours, France	Hard (i)	Maria Geznenge	Mia Buric Laura Dell'Angelo	5–3, 4–1, 4–0
Runner-up	3.	29 January 2001	ITF Tipton, Great Britain	Hard (i)	Maria Geznenge	Helen Crook Victoria Davies	6–2, 4–6, 4–6
Winner	8.	12 February 2001	ITF Sutton, Great Britain	Hard (i)	Lydia Steinbach	Amanda Hopmans Patty Van Acker	6–0, 6–4
Runner-up	4.	25 March 2001	ITF Cholet, France	Clay (i)	Germana Di Natale	Yuliya Beygelzimer Anastasia Rodionova	1–6, 6–7^(5–7)
Winner	9.	9 April 2001	ITF Dinan, France	Clay (i)	Caroline Schneider	Vanessa Henke Syna Schmidle	6–3, 7–6^(7–4)
Runner-up	5.	27 March 2009	ITF La Palma, Spain	Hard	Jasmin Wöhr	Lu Jingjing Sun Shengnan	2–6, 7–5, [5–10]
Runner-up	6.	5 June 2009	ITF Nottingham, Great Britain	Grass	Rika Fujiwara	Alexa Glatch Natalie Grandin	3–6, 6–2, [7–10]
Winner	10.	28 September 2009	ITF Athens, Greece	Hard	Jasmin Wöhr	Timea Bacsinszky Tathiana Garbin	6–2, 5–7, [10–4]
Winner	11.	2 November 2009	ITF Ismaning, Germany	Carpet (i)	Jasmin Wöhr	Ekaterina Dzehalevich Eva Hrdinová	6–2, 4–6, [10–5]
Winner	12.	13 September 2010	ITF Sofia, Bulgaria	Hard	Jasmin Wöhr	Sandra Klemenschits Tatjana Maria	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	7.	3 October 2010	ITF Athens	Hard	Petra Martić	Vitalia Diatchenko İpek Şenoğlu	w/o
Winner	13.	9 June 2012	ITF Nottingham	Grass	Casey Dellacqua	Laura Robson Heather Watson	6–4, 6–2
Winner	14.	16 September 2013	ITF Albuquerque, United States	Hard	CoCo Vandeweghe	Melanie Oudin Taylor Townsend	6–4, 7–6^(7–2)
Runner-up	8.	20 December 2013	ITF Ankara, Turkey	Hard	Aleksandra Krunić	Yuliya Beygelzimer Çağla Büyükakçay	3–6, 3–6
Runner-up	9.	24 March 2014	ITF Croissy-Beaubourg, France	Hard (i)	Kristina Barrois	Margarita Gasparyan Lyudmyla Kichenok	2–6, 4–6
Runner-up	10.	5 May 2014	ITF Fukuoka, Japan	Grass	Naomi Broady	Shuko Aoyama Eri Hozumi	3–6, 4–6
Winner	15.	9 March 2015	ITF Amiens, France	Clay	Ilka Csöregi	Elizaveta Ianchuk Olga Ianchuk	6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	11.	21 February 2016	ITF Antalya	Clay	Arina Folts	Petia Arshinkova Elena Gabriela Ruse	6–7^(0–7), 4–6
Runner-up	12.	25 April 2016	ITF Manisa, Turkey	Hard	Margarita Lazareva	Abbie Myers Melis Sezer	4–6, 4–6
Winner	16.	11 July 2016	ITF Imola, Italy	Carpet	Lisa Sabino	Martina Di Giuseppe Maria Masini	4–6, 6–2, [10–4]
Runner-up	13.	27 March 2017	ITF İstanbul	Hard (i)	Vlada Ekshibarova	Ekaterina Kazionova Elena Rybakina	1–6, 3–6

Grand Slam performance timelines[]

**Key**
W	F	SF	QF	#R	RR	Q#	DNQ	A	NH

(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held. SR=strike rate (events won/competed)

Singles[]

Tournament	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	W–L
Australian Open	A	3R	4R	3R	1R	1R	1R	1R	Q2	Q2	Q2	2R	2R	Q1	9–9
French Open	Q3	2R	3R	1R	1R	1R	1R	A	A	Q1	1R	1R	Q2	A	3–8
Wimbledon	2R	4R	2R	1R	3R	1R	2R	A	A	1R	2R	1R	Q2	A	10–10
US Open	3R	1R	1R	4R	1R	2R	2R	1R	A	Q1	1R	1R	1R	A	7–11
Win–Loss	3–2	6–4	7–4	5–4	2–4	1–4	2–4	0–2	0–0	0–1	1–3	1–4	1–2	0–0	29–38

Doubles[]

Tournament	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	W–L
Australian Open	3R	1R	1R	QF	1R	3R	1R	A	A	2R	1R	1R	A	8–10
French Open	A	3R	1R	1R	SF	2R	A	A	1R	1R	2R	A	A	8–8
Wimbledon	A	1R	1R	2R	QF	2R	A	A	1R	1R	1R	A	1R	5–9
US Open	A	1R	2R	1R	A	2R	1R	A	1R	2R	1R	1R	A	3–9
Win–Loss	2–1	2–4	1–4	4–4	7–3	5–4	0–2	0–0	0–3	2–4	1–4	0–2	0–1	24–36

Head-to-head records[]

Serena Williams: 0–8
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

Top-10 wins[]

Daniilidou has won 7 matches against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.^[1]

#	Player	Rank	Event	Surface	Rd	Score	Rank ED
2002
1	Justine Henin-Hardenne	7	's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	SF	4–6, 7–6^(11–9), 6–3	51
2	Monica Seles	5	Bahia, Brazil	Hard	SF	6–1, 7–5	34
2003
3	Jelena Dokić	10	Paris, France	Carpet (i)	QF	6–1, 6–3	18
2004
4	Jennifer Capriati	5	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Hard	R16	6–4, 7–6^(7–2)	35
5	Jennifer Capriati	7	Miami, United States	Hard	R32	6–2, 6–4	35
2005
6	Justine Henin-Hardenne	7	Wimbledon, United Kingdom	Grass	R128	7–6^(8–6), 2–6, 7–5	76
7	Svetlana Kuznetsova	4	San Diego, United States	Hard	R32	6–4, 6–4	63

References[]

^ "Eleni Daniilidou". Tennis Abstract.

External links[]

Eleni Daniilidou at the Women's Tennis Association
Eleni Daniilidou at the International Tennis Federation
Eleni Daniilidou at the Billie Jean King Cup
Official website

[1] "Eleni Daniilidou". Tennis Abstract.

[1]