Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Colonies Chris (talk | contribs) at 14:54, 25 October 2008 (sp, date & link fixes using AWB). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Jill Craybas

Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Huntington Beach, California
Height	1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Turned pro	1996
Plays	Right; Two-handed backhand
Prize money	$1,690,452
Singles
Career record	322–303
Career titles	1 WTA (4 ITF)
Highest ranking	No. 39 (April 17, 2006)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	3rd (2004)
French Open	2nd (2001, 2007)
Wimbledon	4th (2005)
US Open	2nd (2004, 2005, 2006)
Doubles
Career record	90–148
Career titles	4 WTA
Highest ranking	No. 41 (June 23, 2008)
Last updated on: October 6, 2008.

Jill Craybas (born July 4, 1974, Providence, Rhode Island) is an American professional tennis player.

Career

Before entering the professional ranks in 1996, she attended and graduated from the University of Florida in Gainesville, and was the 1996 NCAA Singles Champion. Her major was telecommunications and she has said in interviews that she hopes to enter this field (film or TV production) when her playing days are over. She credits all her achievements to her longtime coach, Michael Daly. Michael has worked with her from the start of her tennis career.

Craybas has won one WTA title at the Tokyo Japan Open. She beat Silvija Talaja in the final after trailing 0–4 in the third set. In the 2006 season, Craybas had reached one quarterfinal at Hobart as the eighth seed, losing to unseeded Italian Mara Santangelo in three sets. She has also reached the semi-finals of a Tier III event in Memphis, a fourth-round showing at the Tier I event in Miami and a further quarter-final appearance at Stanford in late July.

Craybas is best known for her 2005 defeat of Serena Williams in the 3rd round of Wimbledon. She beat Williams 6–3, 7–6, then lost to Serena's older sister, Venus Williams 6–0, 6–2.

On March 25, 2006, Craybas once again served up an early round defeat of a top seeded player. This time it was No. 2 seed Kim Clijsters in the 2nd round of the NASDAQ-100 tournament. After having lead in both the 1st and 3rd sets, Clijsters eventually lost by a score of 5–7, 6–3, 5–7. It was Clijsters earliest ever exit from the NASDAQ-100, and Clijsters was the defending champion.

Craybas, who may be a veteran on the tour nowadays, is thought to be playing the best tennis of her life. However, after having a successful start to 2006, has fallen short of what was expected of her from her dramatically impressive start, losing to lower-ranked opponents in first rounds or having difficult first round draws against the top players in the world.

She began her 2007 by reaching the semi-finals of a Tier IV event in Auckland, New Zealand. She beat all of her opponents in straight sets before bowing out to Russian Vera Zvonareva 3–6 5–7. She next took part in the Tier II event in Sydney, where she lost in the last round of qualifying to Russian Vera Dushevina in three sets, 1–6 6–3 1–6. At the first grand slam of the year at the Australian Open, she suffered a first-round loss to the number 10 seeded Nicole Vaidišová in three sets, 4–6 7–5 1–6. Jill bounced back into winning form at her next tournament in the USA, at an ITF tournament in Midland. As the number one seed, she beat all of her opponents in straight sets until a hard-fought 2–6 6–3 6–3 victory over the number two seed and fellow American Laura Granville. Due to her lower ranking she has suffered in tough draws, not going further than the second round of any tournament since.

At the start of 2008, Jill Craybas entered the Pattaya Women's Open in Pattaya, Thailand, where, as the 7th seed, she played some of the best tennis of her career and beat Olga Savchuk 6–1, 6–1 in the first round, Renata Voráčová 2–6, 6–1, 6–3 in the second round and Andreja Klepač 6–4, 6–4 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals she beat Akgul Amanmuradova 6–4, 6–0 and lost to the top seed Agnieszka Radwańska in a tie-break in the third set, 2–6, 6–1, 6–7. Craybas's ranking improved from 77 to 60 due to her results.

Jill Craybas was won the Istanbul Cup in doubles.

Jill will represent the United States at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the tennis singles event. She became the last qualifier for the event, replacing Tamira Paszek of Austria. The opening came available when fellow American Ashley Harkleroad elected to skip the games.

WTA Titles

Singles Titles

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	March 15, 1998	Nuevo Lareda	Hard	Marina Petrovic	6–2 6–2
2.	February 11, 2001	Rockford, Illinois	Hard (I)	Adriana Serra Zanetti	6-4 6-3
3.	October 6, 2002	Tokyo	Hard	Silvija Talaja	2-6 6-4 6-4
4.	February 15, 2004	Midland, Michigan	Hard (I)	Nicole Vaidišová	6-2 6-4
5.	February 11, 2007	Midland	Hard (I)	Laura Granville	2-6 6-3 6-3

External links

• Jill Craybas at the Women's Tennis Association

References

1. http://www.itftennis.com/olympics/news/newsarticle.asp?articleid=19057
2. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2008-06-03-3513293212_x.htm

• 1974 births
• Living people
• University of Florida alumni
• American tennis players
• People from Providence, Rhode Island
• Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics
• Olympic tennis players of the United States