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Ágnes Szávay

Country (sports)	Hungary
Residence	Monte Carlo, Monaco
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Turned pro	2004
Plays	Right; Two-handed backhand
Prize money	$823,553
Singles
Career record	145-60
Career titles	2 WTA, 3 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 13 (April 14, 2008)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	1st (2008)
French Open	3rd (2008)
Wimbledon	2nd (2007)
US Open	QF (2007)
Doubles
Career record	74-43
Career titles	2 WTA, 3 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 22 (September 24, 2007)
Last updated on: May 12, 2008.

Ágnes Szávay (Template:Lang-hu, IPA: [ˈaːɡnɛʃ ˈsaːvɒ.i], born December 29, 1988) is a tennis player from Hungary. She is currently the country's highest ranked tennis player. She won her first career WTA-level tournament in Palermo and followed it up with a win at the China Open in Beijing, where she stunned world number three Jelena Janković in the final. She had been the WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2007. She achieved her career high rank of #13 on April 14, 2008. Szávay is noted for her fast serve and powerful two-handed backhand.

Background

Szávay was born in Kiskunhalas, Hungary and grew up in Soltvadkert, Hungary. She started to play tennis at the age of six, with her parents acting as her first coaches and managers. Her previous coaches were Zoltán Újhidy, Levente Barátosi and Miklós Hornok. Currently her coaches are József Bocskay and Zoltán Kuharszky. She has a younger sister, Blanka, who is five years younger than her, who is also a professional tennis player.

Tennis career

2007

Szávay won her first career WTA-level tournament in singles, in Palermo on July 22, 2007. The win pushed her into the top 40 of the rankings, at #37, for the first time. She also won one tournament in doubles, the Tier III Budapest Grand Prix, with Vladimira Uhlirova.

On August 25, 2007 she reached the final of the Tier II WTA 2007 Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven defeating players such as Daniela Hantuchová, Alona Bondarenko and Samantha Stosur. She lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the finals after withdrawing due to a back injury although she was leading 6–4, 0–3. At the conclusion of this tournament, she was ranked #31, her highest-ever ranking.

After her loss in the final, Szávay appeared on the 2007 US Open, where she reached the quarterfinals, beating #32 seed Michaëlla Krajicek, and #7 seed Nadia Petrova. She then lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova. She also reached semifinals in doubles, with Vladimira Uhlirova.

Szávay reached the final of her first tournament since the US Open, which is the Tier II China Open in Beijing. Szávay, the No. 6 seed, capitalized on the withdrawal of top-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach the semifinals. She defeated Chinese player Peng Shuai 6–1, 6–2 to advance to her second Tier II final. Peng had previously defeated multiple Grand Slam champions Martina Hingis in the second round and Amélie Mauresmo in the quarterfinals. Szávay completed her run with a victory over Jelena Janković 6–7(7), 7–5, 6–2 to claim her first Tier II title. She led 5–0 in the first set tiebreak before losing it 9–7. In the second set, she saved a match point at Janković's 5–1 lead with a second serve ace and won 9 consecutive games, turning the match in her favor. However, it was later revealed that Janković suffered from a neck injury and was physically impaired in most of the third set. Szávay moved into the top 20 due to this performance, but in Seoul, she was forced to retire and end her season prematurely due to a thigh injury.

2008

Szávay travelled to the 2008 Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts tournament in Gold Coast, Australia on December 31, 2007, kicking off her season on the 2008 WTA Tour. Szávay and Dinara Safina attained the third doubles seeding and won the tournament after defeting Yuliana Fedak and Aiko Nakamura 6–3, 6–2 in the first round, Nadia Petrova and Elena Vesnina 6–3, 6–4 in the quarterfinals, top seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber 6–3, 6–1 in the semifinals and second seeds Yan Zi and Zheng Jie 6–1, 6–2 in the final.

While Szávay defeated Fedak in doubles, Fedak earned a lucky loser spot into the singles draw, where she met the eighth-seeded Szávay. Fedak eventually won 3–6, 7–5, 6–2.

Szávay continued her run in singles with a first round three-set loss to Ekaterina Makarova of Russia in the Australian Open although being seeded 20th.

After this start she gained back her earlier form and confidence. In Paris she defeted Olga Govortsova 6–1, 6–1, Tathiana Garbin in three sets 6–3, 4–6, 6–2 and in the quarterfinals Daniela Hantuchová 7–6, 6–1. In the semifinals she beat Elena Dementieva 6–3, 1–6, 7–5, before narrowly losing to Anna Chakvetadze in the final.

After Paris, Szávay lost her momentum and continued her run with first round losses against Alisa Kleybanova 6-2, 6-3 in Antwerp, Ai Sugiyama 7-6(3), 6-0 in Doha, Akiko Morigami 6-1, 6-4 in Dubai, Akgul Amanmuradova 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 in Bangalore and Elena Vesnina 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 in Miami.

When the clay season started Szávay seemed to regain her earlier form. She reached the Quarterfinals both in Amelia Islands (lost against Lindsay Davenport 6-4, 7-6(3)) and in Charleston (lost against Alize Cornet 7-5, 6-4). But in these two tournaments she got revenge for her previous first round losses. She defeated Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 6-1 (Amelia Island), Yuliana Fedak 6-0, 7-6(4), and Ai Sugiyama 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 (both in Charleston).

Career finals (17)

Singles (7)

Wins (5)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	20 September, 2004	Ciampino, Italy	Clay	Stefania Boffa	6–0, 6–2
2.	22 October, 2006	Houston, U.S.	Hard	Bethanie Mattek	2–6 6–4 6–1
3.	19 May, 2007	Zagreb, Croatia	Clay	Nika Ožegović	6–0 7–6(2)
4.	16 July, 2007	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Martina Muller	6–0, 6–1
5.	23 September, 2007	Beijing, China	Hard	Jelena Janković	6–7(7), 7–5, 6–2

Runner-ups (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	25 August, 2007	New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.	Hard	Svetlana Kuznetsova	6–4, 0–3 retired
2.	10 February, 2008	Paris, France	Hard (i)	Anna Chakvetadze	3–6, 6–2, 2–6

Doubles (10)

Wins (5)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	10 April 2005	Dinan, France	Clay	Michaella Krajicek	Yulia Beygelzimer Sandra Klösel	7–5, 7–5
2.	23 July 2006	Vittel, France	Clay	Yulia Beygelzimer	Madalina Gojnea Ekaterina Makarova	6–2, 7–5
3.	20 May 2007	Zagreb, Croatia	Clay	Emma Laine	Klaudia Jans Alicja Rosolska	6–1, 6–2
4.	23 April 2007	Budapest, Hungary	Clay	Vladimira Uhlirova	Martina Müller Gabriela Navratilova	7–5, 6–2
5.	5 January 2008	Gold Coast, Australia	Hard	Dinara Safina	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	6–1, 6–2

Runner-ups (5)

• 2004: Budapest (w/ Nemeth)
• 2005: Hasselt (w/ Krajicek)
• 2006: Bogotá (w/ Woehr)
• 2007: Doha (w/ Uhlirova)
• 2007: Bad Gastein (w/ Uhlirova)

Singles performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the 2008 Rome Masters, which ended on May 18, 2008.

• As of 2008, Doha is a Tier I tournament, replacing San Diego and Zurich.
• Win/loss record does not include walkovers.
• If ITF women's circuit (54–17) participations are included, her overall win-loss record stands at 148–62.
• LQ = lost in the qualifying tournament.
• A = did not participate in the tournament.

References

1. Eaton-Robb, Pat., "Svetlana Kuznetsova wins Pilot Pen when Agnes Szávay retires with back injury", Yahoo! News, 2007-08-25, Retrieved on 2007-09-03
2. Back From The Brink in Beijing
3. Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts main draw doubles

External links

• Homepage Template:Hu icon
• WTA Tour profile for Ágnes Szávay
• Wimbledon 2007, Top Seed Szávay Qualifies
• Szávay beats Hantuchova in New Haven
• Szávayy statistics

• Hungarian tennis players
• People from Bács-Kiskun
• 1988 births
• Living people