Ellen Perez

Ellen Perez

Perez at the 2021 French Open
Country (sports)	Australia
Residence	Melbourne, Australia
Born	(1995-10-10) 10 October 1995 (age 26) Shellharbour, Australia
Height	1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Plays	Left-handed (two-handed backhand)
College	University of Georgia (2014–2017)
Prize money	US$ 750,515
Singles
Career record	148–122 (54.8%)
Career titles	2 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 162 (12 August 2019)
Current ranking	No. 196 (3 January 2022)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	1R (2019)
French Open	Q3 (2021)
Wimbledon	1R (2021)
US Open	1R (2016)
Doubles
Career record	192–100 (65.8%)
Career titles	3 WTA, 1 WTA 125
Highest ranking	No. 40 (31 August 2020)
Current ranking	No. 42 (3 January 2022)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2018, 2022)
French Open	2R (2021)
Wimbledon	1R (2021)
US Open	3R (2019)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2021, 2022)
US Open	QF (2021)
Last updated on: 5 January 2022.

Ellen Perez (born 10 October 1995) is a tennis player from Australia.

She has won three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, one doubles title on the WTA Challenger Tour, as well as two singles and 16 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. Her career-high rankings in singles and doubles are 162 and 40, respectively, achieved in August 2019 and August 2020.

Perez made her Grand Slam main-draw debut at the 2016 Australian Open in doubles with Belinda Woolcock; they lost in the first round to Jessica Moore and Storm Sanders. She made her first singles Grand Slam appearance at the 2016 US Open after winning the Australian Wildcard Playoff. She attended the University of Georgia in the U.S. from 2014 to 2017.

Personal life[]

Ellen is the daughter of John and Milića Perez and sister to Matt Perez. Ellen is of Spanish descent on her Father's side and of Macedonian descent on her Mother’s side. She picked up a tennis racket at the age of three after receiving a totem tennis pole as a Christmas gift, and she started regular coaching at the age of seven. In 2012, she won the Gallipoli Youth Cup held in Ipswich, Queensland.^[1]

Career[]

2012–2014: The beginnings[]

Perez made her ITF Circuit debut in March 2012 in Bundaberg, losing in three sets to Jennifer Elie. In September 2013, she recorded her first main-draw singles win in Toowoomba after qualifying. Perez reached the quarterfinals losing to Azra Hadzic. In December 2013, she won her first ITF doubles title in Hong Kong with Abbie Myers.

In 2014, Perez reached the quarterfinal of the Burnie International and Melbourne, and then competed on the ITF Circuit in Europe until June when she started attending college in the United States. Perez ended 2014 with a singles rank of 655 and a doubles rank of 517.

2015–2016: First Grand Slam appearance[]

In June 2015, Perez returned to play at Bethany Beach where she qualified and reached the singles quarterfinals and the doubles final. The following week in Charlotte, she reached the doubles final. She played across U.S. ITF events for the remainder of 2015.

Perez started her 2016 season in June in U.S. without qualifying for the main draw. In July, she qualified for and won her first singles ITF title in Brussels without dropping a set. She reached a semifinal and final at two subsequent events.^[2] Perez won four doubles titles in five weeks across June and July 2016.

In August, Perez won the Australian Wildcard Playoff to make her Grand Slam singles debut at the US Open. She lost to Zhang Shuai in straight sets. Perez said of the experience "It definitely didn’t go as planned, or as hoped, but it was great to be able to have my Grand Slam debut and get out on court in front of all the fans and what-not. It was nice."^[3] She ended 2016 with a singles rank of 632 and doubles rank of 414.

2017–2018: First WTA match win[]

Perez began the season with a wildcard into the Sydney International qualifying where she defeated Kateryna Kozlova, ranked 101 in the world.^[4] She lost to Naomi Broady in the second round. At the Australian Open qualifying, Perez defeated Tadeja Majerič, then lost to Ana Bogdan.

She returned to play in June where she reached three consecutive doubles finals, winning one. Doubles success continued throughout the rest of the year. In July, Perez qualified for and reached the singles final of Gatineau. This increased her singles ranking to a career high of 363.^[5] Perez returned to Australia and reached the semi final of Toowoomba and quarter final of Cairns.

Perez began the 2018 season after being given wildcard into the Sydney International where she upset world No. 11, Kristina Mladenovic, in the first round. Her first win on the WTA Tour came when Mladenovic retired with the score 4–6, 2–4.^[6] Perez lost in round two to Ashleigh Barty.^[7]

At the Australian Open, Perez lost in the first round of qualifying to Valentini Grammatikopoulou. Perez made the second round at Burnie, Launceston and Perth, and then reached the final of the ACT Clay Court International in April, losing to Jaimee Fourlis. Perez traveled to Europe and North America's ITF Circuit with limited success. In September, she attempted to qualify for two WTA tournaments in Asia before returning to Australia in October where she reached four consecutive ITF finals.

2019–2020[]

2021[]

Perez commenced 2021 retiring in the first round of the Grampians Trophy. She made the second round of qualifying in both Australian Open and Adelaide International. In March, she won the Abierto Zapopan in doubles with Astra Sharma, it was her second WTA title.

In May, Perez reached the third and final round of the French Open. In June, she qualified for Wimbledon, but lost in the first round to fellow qualifier Clara Burel

In July, Perez partnered Samantha Stosur in ladies' doubles at the 2020 Olympic Games, where they reached the quarterfinal. In the same month, Perez reached the final of the ITF event in Lisbon, Portugal. In October, she reached another ITF final in Portugal.^[8] Perez ended 2021 with a singles rank of 196 and a doubles rank of 42.

2022[]

Perez lost in the first round of the 2022 Australian Open – Women's Singles Qualifying.^[9]

Grand Slam performance timelines[]

Singles[]

Doubles[]

WTA career finals[]

Doubles: 8 (3 titles, 5 runner-ups)[]

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	May 2019	Internationaux de Strasbourg, France	International	Clay	Daria Gavrilova	Duan Yingying Han Xinyun	6–4, 6–3
Loss	1–1	Jun 2019	Nottingham Open, United Kingdom	International	Grass	Arina Rodionova	Desirae Krawczyk Giuliana Olmos	6–7(5–7), 5–7
Loss	1–2	Feb 2020	Hua Hin Championships, Thailand	International	Hard	Barbara Haas	Arina Rodionova Storm Sanders	3–6, 3–6
Loss	1–3	Sep 2020	İstanbul Cup, Turkey	International	Clay	Storm Sanders	Alexa Guarachi Desirae Krawczyk	1–6, 3–6
Win	2–3	Mar 2021	Abierto Zapopan, Mexico	WTA 250	Hard	Astra Sharma	Desirae Krawczyk Giuliana Olmos	6–4, 6–4
Loss	2–4	Apr 2021	Charleston Open, United States	WTA 250	Clay	Storm Sanders	Hailey Baptiste Caty McNally	7–6(7–4), 4–6, [6–10]
Loss	2–5	Jun 2021	Birmingham Classic, United Kingdom	WTA 250	Grass	Ons Jabeur	Marie Bouzková Lucie Hradecká	4–6, 6–2, [8–10]
Win	3–5	Oct 2021	Tenerife Open, Spain	WTA 250	Hard	Ulrikke Eikeri	Lyudmyla Kichenok Marta Kostyuk	6–3, 6–3

WTA 125 tournament finals[]

Doubles: 1 (1 title)[]

Result	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	Nov 2019	Houston Challenger, United States	Hard	Luisa Stefani	Sharon Fichman Ena Shibahara	1–6, 6–4, [10–5]

ITF Circuit finals[]

Singles: 11 (2 titles, 9 runner–ups)[]

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Jul 2016	ITF Brussels, Belgium	10,000	Clay	Kimberley Zimmermann	6–2, 6–3
Loss	1–1	Aug 2016	ITF Rebecq, Belgium	10,000	Clay		6–3, 1–6, 2–6
Loss	1–2	Jul 2017	ITF Gatineau, Canada	25,000	Hard	Aleksandra Wozniak	6–7(4), 4–6
Loss	1–3	Apr 2018	Clay Court International, Australia	25,000	Clay	Jaimee Fourlis	3–6, 2–6
Loss	1–4	Sep 2018	Darwin International, Australia	60,000	Hard	Kimberly Birrell	3–6, 3–6
Loss	1–5	Oct 2018	ITF Brisbane, Australia	25,000	Hard	Xu Shilin	4–6, 3–6
Loss	1–6	Oct 2018	ITF Toowoomba, Australia	25,000	Hard	Zoe Hives	0–6, 2–6
Loss	1–7	Oct 2018	Bendigo International, Australia	60,000	Hard	Priscilla Hon	4–6, 6–4, 5–7
Win	2–7	Jul 2019	Braidy Industries Classic, United States	60,000	Hard	Zoe Hives	6–2, 3–2 ret.
Loss	2–8	Jul 2021	ITF Lisbon, Portugal	25,000	Hard	Lulu Sun	4–6, 4–6
Loss	2–9	Oct 2021	ITF Loulé, Portugal	25,000	Hard	Harmony Tan	4–6, 4–6

Doubles: 26 (17 titles, 9 runner–ups)[]

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Dec 2013	ITF Hong Kong, China (SAR)	10,000	Hard	Abbie Myers	Lee Ya-hsuan Chuang Chia-jung	4–6, 6–3, [10–8]
Loss	1–1	Apr 2014	ITF Glen Iris, Australia	15,000	Hard	Tammi Patterson	Aleksandrina Naydenova Jessica Moore	4–6, 2–6
Loss	1–2	Jun 2015	ITF Bethany Beach, United States	10,000	Clay	Belinda Woolcock	Sophie Chang	4–6, 1–6
Loss	1–3	Jun 2015	ITF Charlotte, United States	10,000	Clay	Lauren Herring	Maria Fernanda Alves Renata Zarazúa	4–6, 7–6(6) [8–10]
Win	2–3	Jun 2016	ITF Baton Rouge, United States	25,000	Hard	Lauren Herring	Jamie Loeb Ingrid Neel	6–3, 6–3
Win	3–3	Jul 2016	ITF Brussels, Belgium	10,000	Clay	Carolina Meligeni Alves	Karin Kennel	6–2, 6–3
Win	4–3	Jul 2016	ITF Saint-Gervais, France	10,000	Clay	Abbie Myers	Fatma Al-Nabhani Estelle Cascino	7–6(5), 6–2
Win	5–3	Jul 2016	ITF Maaseik, Belgium	10,000	Clay	Sally Peers	Chiara Scholl	6–2, 6–2
Loss	5–4	Jun 2017	ITF Sumter, United States	25,000	Hard	Luisa Stefani	Kaitlyn Christian Giuliana Olmos	2–6, 6–3, [7–10]
Win	6–4	Jun 2017	ITF Baton Rouge, United States	25,000	Hard	Luisa Stefani	Francesca Di Lorenzo Julia Elbaba	6–3, 6–4
Loss	6–5	Jul 2017	ITF Auburn, United States	25,000	Hard	Luisa Stefani	Emina Bektas Alexa Guarachi	6–4, 4–6, [5–10]
Win	7–5	Jul 2017	Challenger de Granby, Canada	60,000	Hard	Carol Zhao	Alexa Guarachi Olivia Tjandramulia	6–2, 6–2
Win	8–5	Aug 2017	ITF Fort Worth, United States	25,000	Hard	Giuliana Olmos	Miharu Imanishi Ayaka Okuno	6–4, 6–3
Loss	8–6	Nov 2017	Canberra International, Australia	60,000	Hard	Jessica Moore	Asia Muhammad Arina Rodionova	4–6, 4–6
Win	9–6	Feb 2018	Launceston International, Australia	25,000	Hard	Jessica Moore	Laura Robson Valeria Savinykh	7–6(5), 6–4
Win	10–6	Feb 2018	ITF Perth, Australia	25,000	Hard	Jessica Moore	Olivia Tjandramulia Belinda Woolcock	6–7(6), 6–1, [7–9] ret.
Loss	10–7	May 2018	ITF Caserta, Italy	25,000	Clay	Jaimee Fourlis	Chen Pei-hsuan Wu Fang-hsien	6–7(6), 3–6
Win	11–7	Jun 2018	Surbiton Trophy, United Kingdom	100,000	Grass	Jessica Moore	Arina Rodionova Yanina Wickmayer	4–6, 7–5, [10–3]
Loss	11–8	Jul 2018	Berkeley Club Challenge, United States	60,000	Hard	Sabrina Santamaria	Nicole Gibbs Asia Muhammad	4–6, 1–6
Win	12–8	Jul 2018	Challenger de Granby, Canada (2)	60,000	Hard	Arina Rodionova	Erika Sema	7–5, 6–4
Win	13–8	Aug 2018	Koser Jewelers Challenge, United States	60,000	Hard	Arina Rodionova	Chen Pei-hsuan Wu Fang-hsien	6–0, 6–2
Win	14–8	Oct 2018	Bendigo International, Australia	60,000	Hard	Arina Rodionova	Eri Hozumi Risa Ozaki	7–5, 6–1
Win	15–8	Nov 2018	Canberra International, Australia (2)	60,000	Hard	Arina Rodionova	Naiktha Bains Destanee Aiava	6–7(5), 6–3, [10–7]
Win	16–8	Jan 2019	Burnie International, Australia	60,000	Hard	Arina Rodionova	Irina Khromacheva Maryna Zanevska	6–4, 6–3
Loss	16–9	Jun 2019	Ilkley Trophy, United Kingdom	100,000	Grass	Arina Rodionova	Beatriz Haddad Maia Luisa Stefani	4–6, 7–6(5), [4–10]
Win	17–9	Jan 2020	Burnie International, Australia (2)	60,000	Hard	Storm Sanders	Desirae Krawczyk Asia Muhammad	6–3, 6–2

References[]

External links[]

• Ellen Perez at the Women's Tennis Association
• Ellen Perez at the International Tennis Federation
• Ellen Perez at Tennis Australia
• Ellen Perez at the Georgia Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs