Sunitha Rao

Sunitha Rao

Rao at the 2008 Coleman Vision Tennis Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Country (sports)	United States (2000–09)  India (2007–09; Fed Cup and Olympic tournaments only)
Residence	Bradenton, Florida, U.S.
Born	(1985-10-27) October 27, 1985 (age 36) Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.
Height	5 ft 7 in (170 cm)
Turned pro	2004
Retired	2009
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$ 238,224
Singles
Career record	196–188
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 144 (July 7, 2008)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	Q3 (2003, 2005)
French Open	Q2 (2005, 2006)
Wimbledon	Q3 (2003)
US Open	Q3 (2007)
Doubles
Career record	107–105
Career titles	0 WTA, 8 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 108 (May 19, 2008)
Other doubles tournaments
Olympic Games	2R (2008)

Sunitha Rao (born October 27, 1985) is an Indian-American former professional tennis player.

She has won 8 doubles titles on the ITF circuit in her career. On July 7, 2008, she reached her best singles ranking of world number 144.^[1] On May 19, 2008, she peaked at world number 108 in the doubles rankings.

Playing for India at the Fed Cup, Rao has a win–loss record of 5–6.^[2] Rao also is the fourth female tennis player in history representing India to enter the top-200 world rankings, after Nirupama Sanjeev, Shikha Uberoi, and Sania Mirza.

Personal life[]

Sunitha was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, and raised by parents Manohar and Savithri.

Career[]

2002–2007[]

Rao played her first WTA match at the 2002 Brasil Open – Women's Singles event, where she defeated Vanessa Henke in the first round. She was beaten by Anastasia Myskina in the second round.

Rao played at the Hansol Korea Open 2004 where she was beaten by Miho Saeki in the first round. Rao participated at the Internationaux de Strasbourg 2005, but was overpowered by Iveta Benešová in the first round. Then she played at the Sunfeast Open where she beat Neha Uberoi in the first round before falling to Elena Likhovtseva.

She took part at the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic 2006, where she lost to Angelique Widjaja in the First Round. She also suffered a first round defeat at the 2006 Sunfeast Open to Nicole Pratt. Rao defeated Sandy Gumulya in the First Round of the Sunfeast Open to advance to the second round where she lost to Anne Keothavong. She then lost in the first round of the 2007 Challenge Bell to Alina Jidkova.

2008[]

Rao received an entry into the PTT Pattaya Open via a Lucky Loser spot. She beat Junri Namigata before losing to Ekaterina Bychkova. Then, at the Copa Colsanitas, she lost to Edina Gallovits in the first round.

Rao received the best result of her WTA career at the 2008 DFS Classic in Birmingham. She beat Petra Kvitová (who would be the future world no.2 and Wimbledon titlist) in the first round and Naomi Cavaday in the second before falling to Alona Bondarenko in the third round.

She partnered with Sania Mirza, representing India in the women's doubles event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.^[3][4] They got a walk-over in round one, but lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina of Russia in round two.

Rao announced retirement from tennis in 2009.

ITF finals[]

Singles (0–7)[]

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1.	February 24, 2002	Mumbai, India	Hard	Peng Shuai	3–6, 6–7(3–7)
Runner-up	2.	November 10, 2002	Mexico City, Mexico	Hard	Olga Vymetálková	6–7(2–7), 3–6
Runner-up	3.	October 17, 2004	Mackay, Australia	Hard	Evie Dominikovic	5–7, 3–6
Runner-up	4.	October 24, 2004	Rockhampton, Australia	Hard	Evie Dominikovic	0–6, 0–2 ret.
Runner-up	5.	July 8, 2007	Southlake, United States	Hard	Alexa Glatch	2–6, 5–7
Runner-up	6.	October 14, 2007	San Francisco, United States	Hard	Ashley Harkleroad	1–6, 2–6
Runner-up	7.	March 22, 2008	Noida, India	Hard	Anastasija Sevastova	2–6, 1–6

Doubles (8–7)[]

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	January 18, 2004	Tampa, United States	Hard	Milangela Morales	Alisa Kleybanova Mayumi Yamamoto	2–6, 4–6
Runner-up	2.	May 16, 2004	Charlottesville, United States	Clay	Vilmarie Castellvi	Erica Krauth Jessica Lehnhoff	0–6, 1–6
Winner	1.	November 14, 2004	Port Pirie, Australia	Hard	Casey Dellacqua	Daniella Dominikovic Evie Dominikovic	4–6, 6–3, 7–6(8–6)
Winner	2.	November 13, 2005	Port Pirie, Australia	Hard	Gréta Arn	Monique Adamczak Christina Horiatopoulos	6–4, 3–6, 6–2
Winner	3.	November 27, 2005	Mount Gambier, Australia	Hard	Ryoko Fuda	Gréta Arn Anastasia Rodionova	6–1, ret.
Winner	4.	May 7, 2006	Charlottesville, United States	Clay	Marie-Ève Pelletier	Maria Fernanda Alves Lilia Osterloh	6–7(6–8), 6–2, 6–3
Runner-up	3.	July 23, 2006	Hammond, United States	Hard	Ryōko Fuda	Christina Fusano Raquel Kops-Jones	6–7(3–7), 6–4, 1–6
Runner-up	4.	October 8, 2006	Traralgon, Australia	Hard	Casey Dellacqua	Christina Horiatopoulos Raquel Kops-Jones	2–6, 6–7(5–7)
Winner	5.	October 15, 2006	Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Casey Dellacqua	Daniella Dominikovic Evie Dominikovic	6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	5.	January 20, 2007	Fort Walton Beach, United States	Hard	Marie-Ève Pelletier	Angelika Bachmann Tetiana Luzhanska	7–5, 6–7(7–9), 6–7(4–7)
Winner	6.	June 2, 2007	Carson, United States	Hard	Kim Grant	Angela Haynes Lindsay Lee-Waters	6–4, 6–4
Winner	7.	June 17, 2007	Allentown, United States	Hard	Ryōko Fuda	Angela Haynes Lindsay Lee-Waters	6–7(3–7), 6–4, 6–1
Runner-up	6.	March 14, 2008	New Delhi, India	Hard	Aurélie Védy	Ji Chunmei Sun Shengnan	6–2, 2–6, [4–10]
Winner	8.	May 11, 2008	Zagreb, Croatia	Clay	Melinda Czink	Stéphanie Foretz Jelena Kostanić Tošić	6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	7.	October 5, 2008	Troy, United States	Hard	Angela Haynes	Raquel Kops-Jones Abigail Spears	2–6, 0–6

References[]

External links[]

• Sunitha Rao at the Women's Tennis Association
• Sunitha Rao at the International Tennis Federation
• Sunitha Rao at the Billie Jean Cup
• Sunitha Rao at tennisabstract.com
• Sunitha Rao at Olympics.com
• Sunitha Rao at Olympedia

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