Clara Burel (; born 24 March 2001) is a French

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player. On 21 February 2022, she peaked at No. 74 in the WTA singles rankings. In singles, she reached two

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

junior finals and won two silver medals at the Youth Summer Olympics. In 2018, she became the junior world No. 1.

Junior career

In 2018, Burel reached the junior singles final at three major events, the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

, the US Open and the Youth Summer Olympics (YOG). Partnering with compatriot

Hugo Gaston Hugo Gaston (; born 26 September 2000) is a French tennis player. His career high ATP ranking in singles is world No. 58, which he achieved on 11 July 2022, and in doubles is world No. 220, which he achieved on 16 May 2022. He won the 2018 Aust ...

, she also won the mixed doubles bronze medal at the YOG. In October, Burel qualified for the

ITF Junior Masters The ITF Junior Masters is a year-end singles tournament for the top-ranked 18-and-under tennis players on the ITF Junior Circuit (ITF Junior World Ranking). It is the second most prestigious annual junior event in terms of rankings points awarded, ...

, where she captured her first major title. She became the junior world No. 1 the next week, on October 29. Junior Grand Slam results - Singles: * Australian Open: F (2018) * French Open: 3R (2018) * Wimbledon: 3R (2018) * US Open: F (2018) Junior Grand Slam results - Doubles: * Australian Open: 2R (2018) * French Open: 2R (2017, 2018) * Wimbledon: QF (2018) * US Open: 2R (2018)

Professional career

2018: First final

Following her final in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Burel was selected as an alternate in the French Fed Cup team for the 2018 first round against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. In September, she reached her first final on the Pro Circuit at Clermont-Ferrand, falling to

Lesley Kerkhove Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove (born 4 November 1991) is a professional tennis player from the Netherlands. She has won one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as nine singles and 17 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 6 June 2022, she reached ...

2019: Grand Slam debut

Burel was a wildcard entrant in the

, where she lost in the first round to

Carla Suárez Navarro Carla Suárez Navarro (; born 3 September 1988, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A former top 10 singles player, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 6 on 29 February 2016, and a be ...

2020: French Open debut and third round

In 2020, Burel received wild cards for two WTA and the Grand Slam home tournaments. In

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

in March, she lost in the first round to

Jil Teichmann Jil Belén Teichmann (born 15 July 1997) is a Swiss professional tennis player. She has been ranked by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) as high as world No. 21 in singles and No. 74 in doubles. She has won two singles titles and one doubles ...

. In

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

in September, she knocked out

Kateryna Bondarenko Kateryna Volodymyrivna Volodko (née Bondarenko; uk, Катерина Володимирівна Бондаренко; born 8 August 1986) is a tennis player from Ukraine. She was the doubles champion in 2008 at the Australian Open, partnering ...

before falling in the second round to

Zhang Shuai Zhang Shuai (; ; born 21 January 1989) is a Chinese professional tennis player. She is a two-time Grand Slam champion in women's doubles, having won the 2019 Australian Open and the 2021 US Open, both alongside Samantha Stosur. Zhang also ...

. At the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

the following week, she beat

Arantxa Rus Arantxa Rus (; born 13 December 1990) is a Dutch tennis player. In 2008, she won the girl's singles title at the 2008 Australian Open – Girls' singles, Australian Open, defeating Jessica Moore (tennis), Jessica Moore from Australia in the final ...

in the first round, and

Kaja Juvan Kaja Juvan (born 25 November 2000) is a Slovenian tennis player who turned professional on 17 October 2016. Juvan has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 58, achieved on 6 June 2022, and peaked at No. 99 in the doubles rankings on 11 July ...

in the second round to reach the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career becoming the youngest Frenchwoman since 18-year-old

Alizé Cornet Alizé Cornet (; born 22 January 1990) is a French professional tennis player. Cornet has won six singles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as three singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, ITF Circu ...

did so in 2008.

2021: First WTA final and top 100 debut

In July 2021, Burel reached her first WTA final at the Ladies Open Lausanne, losing in three sets to

Tamara Zidanšek Tamara Zidanšek (; born 26 December 1997) is a Slovenian tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of No. 22 in singles and No. 54 in doubles, and is the current number-one Slovene tennis player in singles. She has won one singles title an ...

. As a result, she made her top 100 debut at world No. 98, on 19 July 2021.

2022: First WTA 1000 win, US Open third round

She qualified for the US Open, and reached the third round defeating Wimbledon champion and 25th seed,

Elena Rybakina Elena Andreyevna Rybakina (born 17 June 1999) is a Kazakhstani professional tennis player. She is the reigning champion at Wimbledon and the first Kazakhstani player to win a title at a major. She is also the first to be ranked in the world's to ...

, and

Alison Van Uytvanck Alison Van Uytvanck (; born 26 March 1994) is a Belgian professional tennis player. Van Uytvanck has won five singles and two doubles WTA Tour titles and three Challenger Tour singles titles, as well as 12 singles and two doubles titles on th ...

, before losing to sixth seed

Aryna Sabalenka Aryna Siarhiejeŭna Sabalenka ( be, Арына Сяргееўна Сабаленка; russian: Арина Сергеевна Соболенко, ''Arina Sergeyevna Sobolenko'', born 5 May 1998) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She ha ...

. As a result, she moved close to 30 positions up in the rankings to No. 102.

Performance timelines

''Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.''

Singles

''Current through the 2022 US Open.''

Doubles

WTA career finals

Singles: 1 (runner-up)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 8 (3 titles, 5 runner–ups)

Junior Grand Slam tournament finals

Singles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

Notes

References

External links

* * * 2001 births Living people French female tennis players Sportspeople from Rennes People from Lannion Tennis players at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics Sportspeople from Côtes-d'Armor 21st-century French women {{France-tennis-bio-stub