Gisela Dulko (; born 30 January 1985) is a retired Argentine tennis player. Although she enjoyed modest success in singles, reaching a career-high ranking of world No. 26 and winning four WTA titles, her speciality was doubles, where she achieved the world No. 1 ranking and won 17 WTA titles. Partnering with

Flavia Pennetta Flavia Pennetta (; born 25 February 1982) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She became Italy's first top-ten female singles player on 17 August 2009 and the first Italian to be ranked world No. 1 in doubles, on 28 February 2011. ...

, Dulko won the 2010 WTA Tour Championships and the 2011 Australian Open. She also reached the mixed-doubles final at the 2011 US Open, with

Eduardo Schwank Eduardo Jonatan Schwank (; also known as ''Schwanka''; born 23 April 1986) is a retired professional tennis player from Argentina. In 2011, he reached the finals of the French Open in men's doubles partnering Juan Sebastian Cabal and of the US ...

. During her career, Dulko upset a number of top players on the tour, including

Maria Sharapova Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ( , ; rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Шара́пова, p=mɐˈrʲijə ʂɐˈrapəvə, a=Maria_sharapova.ogg; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis player. She competed on the WTA Tour from 2 ...

in the second round of Wimbledon in 2009,

Samantha Stosur Samantha Jane Stosur ( ; born 30 March 1984) is an Australian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she first achieved on 6 February 2006 and held for 61 consecutive weeks. Also a former top ten s ...

in the third round of Roland Garros in 2011, and Martina Navratilova in the second round of Wimbledon in 2004 and in Navratilova's final

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 ...

singles match. Dulko retired from professional tennis on 18 November 2012, aged 27.

Early life

Gisela was born and raised in Tigre, Buenos Aires Province. Her brother Alejandro, who is seven years her senior, was her coach. Gisela was born to Ana and now deceased Estanislao Dulko, who was of Hungarian descent. At the age of twelve, she moved from Argentina to

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, to pursue a professional tennis career.

Career

1999–2008

As a junior, she won three Grand Slam events in doubles: the 2000 US Open with

María Emilia Salerni María Emilia Salerni (born 14 May 1983), known as "Pitu Salerni", is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. On 25 February 2008, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 65. On 23 September 2002, she peaked at No. 45 in t ...

, the 2002 Australian Open with

Angelique Widjaja Angelique Widjaja (; born 12 December 1984) is a retired Indonesian professional tennis player. She won the junior championships at Wimbledon in 2001, defeating Dinara Safina. She reached a peak of No. 55 in the WTA singles rankings in March 2 ...

, and the 2001 Wimbledon Championships with

Ashley Harkleroad Ashley Harkleroad Adams (born May 2, 1985) is a former professional American tennis player. She reached a career-high ranking in singles of 39 in June 2003. Career Raised in Chickamauga, Georgia (near Chattanooga, Tennessee), Harkleroad turned p ...

. On 29 April 2007, she won her first WTA title by defeating

Sorana Cîrstea Sorana Mihaela Cîrstea (; born 7 April 1990) is a Romanian professional tennis player. In singles, she achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 21 on 12 August 2013. In doubles, her career-high ranking is No. 35, which she reached on 9 March ...

of Romania in the final of the Tier-III event in Budapest. On 25 August 2007, Dulko won her second WTA title at the Forest Hills Tier-IV event, defeating

Virginie Razzano Virginie Razzano (born 12 May 1983) is a former French professional tennis player. She won two WTA Tour singles titles, both of them in 2007. Razzano reached her career-high WTA singles ranking of world No. 16 on 14 September 2009. She represe ...

. On 4 May 2008, she won her third WTA title at the

Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem The Morocco Open or Rabat Grand Prix (for sponsorship reasons called the Grand Prix de SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem), is a women's professional tennis tournament currently held in Rabat, Morocco. This WTA Tour event is classified as an Internat ...

Tier-IV event, defeating

Anabel Medina Garrigues Ana Isabel Medina Garrigues (, ; born 31 July 1982) is a Spanish tennis coach and former professional player. As a player she reached a career-high ranking of world No. 16 in 2020, and won 11 singles and 28 doubles titles, including the 2008 ...

2009

In January, she played at the Hong Kong Tennis Classic with two Americans,

CoCo Vandeweghe Colleen "CoCo" Vandeweghe ( ) (born Colleen Mullarkey; December 6, 1991) is an American professional tennis player. A former Junior US Open champion and top 10 singles player, she has also won two WTA titles, both at the Rosmalen Grass Court C ...

and

Venus Williams Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, Williams has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open. She is ...

, and then started the year with a quarter-final appearance at the

Hobart International The Hobart International is a women's professional tennis tournament held at the Hobart International Tennis Centre in Hobart, Australia. Held since 1994, it forms a part of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour and is classed as an Interna ...

, losing to

Iveta Benešová Iveta Benešová () (formerly Melzer, cs, Melzerová; born 1 February 1983) is a Czech former tennis player. She began playing tennis at age of seven and turned professional in 1998. She won two WTA Tour singles and 14 doubles tournaments, and ...

. At the Australian Open she lost to the eventual champion,

Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...

, in the second round. In the first round of the

Fed Cup The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was cha ...

, she gave her team their only wins when she defeated Americans

Melanie Oudin Melanie Jennings Oudin (born September 23, 1991) is an American former professional tennis player. The former world junior No. 2 was a member of the American Fed Cup team from 2009 to 2011 and the winner of the 2011 US Open mixed-doubles title ...

and

Jill Craybas Jill N. Craybas (born July 4, 1974) is an American former professional tennis player. From the 2000 US Open to the 2011 US Open, Craybas competed in 45 consecutive Grand Slam main draws; her best result coming in the 2005 Wimbledon Championships ...

. In the

Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas The Copa Colsanitas is a women's professional tennis tournament held in Bogotá, Colombia at the Centro de Alto Rendimiento. Held since 1998, this WTA 250 tournament is played on outdoor clay courts A clay court is one of the types of tenni ...

she reached her first final of the year, but lost to

María José Martínez Sánchez María José Martínez Sánchez (; born 12 August 1982) is a Spanish retired professional tennis player. In singles, she has won five WTA singles titles, her biggest being a Premier 5 title at the 2010 Italian Open where she defeated two form ...

. She then reached the quarter-finals of the

Monterrey Open The Monterrey Open is a professional women's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. The event is affiliated with the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and is part of the 250 series on the WTA Tour. From 2009 to 2013, the tournament wa ...

and the

Porsche Tennis Grand Prix The Stuttgart Open, also known by its sponsored name Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, is a women's tennis tournament held in Stuttgart, Germany (until 2005, in Filderstadt, a southern suburb of Stuttgart). Held since 1978, the tournament is the oldest w ...

, and the third round of mandatory events in Indian Wells and

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

. However, she lost in the second rounds of the

Internazionali BNL d'Italia The Italian Open ( it, Internazionali d'Italia; literally: ''Italy's Internationals''), originally called the Italian International Championships, is a tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is one of the most important clay tennis tournament ...

and

Internationaux de Strasbourg The Internationaux de Strasbourg (formally known as the Strasbourg Grand Prix) is a professional women's tennis tournament held in Strasbourg, France. It is an International-level outdoor event of the WTA Tour played on clay courts. The tournamen ...

and made first round exits at the

Madrid Open There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open: * Madrid Open (golf) The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...

and the

Aegon International The Eastbourne International is a tennis tournament on the WTA Tour and the ATP Tour held at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club, Eastbourne, United Kingdom. Held since 1974, it is classified as a WTA 500 series on the WTA Tour and an ATP Tour ...

. She reached the third round in the next two Grand Slams, losing to

Dominika Cibulková Dominika Cibulková (; born 6 May 1989) is a Slovak former professional tennis player. She is the 2016 WTA Finals champion, becoming the fourth player (after Serena Williams in 2001, Maria Sharapova in 2004 and Petra Kvitová in 2011) to win ...

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 ...

, and then to

Nadia Petrova Nadezhda Viktorovna "Nadia" Petrova (russian: Надежда Викторовна Петрова ; born 8 June 1982) is a Russian former professional tennis player. A former top-five player in both singles and doubles, she reached a career-high ...

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

after she had upset the 24th seed,

, in three sets in the second round. At the

Swedish Open Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

, she lost again to Martínez Sánchez, this time in the semi-finals. She then made first-round exits in the Internazionali Femminili di Palermo, the LA Women's Tennis Championships and the

Pilot Pen Tennis The Connecticut Open was a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was a WTA Premier Tournament on the WTA Tour until its final edition in 2018. From 2005 through 2010 the tournament was also part of the ATP World Tour 2 ...

, and failed to qualify for the

Rogers Cup The Canadian Open (french: Tournoi de tennis du Canada), also known as the Canada Masters, and currently branded as the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament held in Ontario and Quebec. T ...

. At the US Open, she made it to the round of 16 before falling to

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 ...

0–6, 0–6 in just 47 minutes. Her last tournament of the year was at the Toray Pan Pacific Open, where she reached the second round before losing to Benešová in three sets.

2010

She again played at the Hong Kong Tennis Classic, and won Silver Group Championships with

and

Michael Chang Michael Te-pei Chang (born February 22, 1972) is an American former professional tennis player and coach. He is the youngest man in history to win a singles major, winning the 1989 French Open at 17 years and 109 days old. Chang won a total of ...

, and then she started the year at the

, where she reached the quarter-finals, losing to Medina Garrigues. At the Australian Open, she upset Ana Ivanovic in the second round before losing to the ninth seed

Vera Zvonareva Vera Igorevna Zvonareva ( rus, Вера Игоревна Звонарёва, p=ˈvʲɛrə ˈiɡərʲɪvnə zvənɐˈrʲɵvə, a=Vera zvonareva.ogg; born 7 September 1984) is a Russian professional tennis player. She was introduced to tennis at ...

. She then played in Copa BBVA-Colsanitas as the top seed, and made it to the semi-finals before being upset by

Angelique Kerber Angelique Kerber (; born 18 January 1988) is a German professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 1, for a total of 34 weeks, and won three major titles at the 2016 Australian Open, the 2016 US Open, and the 2018 Wi ...

. At the same tournament, she won the doubles title with

Edina Gallovits Klaudia Edina Gallovits-Hall (née Gallovits; born December 10, 1984) is a Romanian Americans, Romanian-born American tennis player. Her career-high ranking of No. 54 she achieved on April 28, 2008. She represented Romania until April 2015, then ...

. She then played in the

Abierto Mexicano Telcel The Mexican Open (currently sponsored by Telcel and HSBC and called the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC) is a men's professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts, and usually held annually in late February at the Arena GN ...

as the third seed, but lost to the fifth-seeded

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 b ...

in the semi-finals. Seeded 31st at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, she gained the biggest victory of her career by defeating the former world No. 1,

Justine Henin Justine Henin (; born 1 June 1982) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. She spent a total of 117 weeks as the world No. 1 and was the year-end No. 1 in 2003, 2006 and 2007. Henin, coming from a country with limited success in te ...

. In the third round, she lost to the No. 5 seed,

Agnieszka Radwańska Agnieszka Roma Radwańska (; born 6 March 1989) is a Polish former professional tennis player. She won 20 career singles WTA Tour titles, two doubles titles, and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 on 9 July 2012. Her achiev ...

. Unseeded at the

Sony Ericsson Open The Miami Open (also known as the Miami Masters, and currently branded as the Miami Open presented by Itaú for sponsorship reasons) is a tennis tournament held at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. It is part of the men's ATP Tour Mas ...

, Dulko reached the third round by defeating

Olga Govortsova Olga Alekseyevna Govortsova ( be, Вольга Аляксееўна Гаварцова (Volha Alyakseyeuna Havartsova); ; born 23 August 1988) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. On 23 June 2008, she achieved a career-high singles ranki ...

and the No. 21 seed

Alona Bondarenko Alona Volodymyrivna Bondarenko Dyachok ( uk, Альона Володимирівна Бондаренко; born 13 August 1984) is a Ukrainian former tennis player. Her younger sister Kateryna Bondarenko plays on the WTA Tour. Her career-high s ...

. She then lost to

Marion Bartoli Marion Bartoli (; born 2 October 1984) is a French former professional tennis player. Bartoli won the 2013 Wimbledon Championships singles title after previously being runner-up in 2007, and was a semifinalist at the 2011 French Open. She also ...

. In the doubles, Dulko and

won their first WTA Premier title, beating Petrova and

in three sets. Dulko and Pennetta also won the

in Stuttgart and the

Internazionali d'Italia The Italian Open ( it, Internazionali d'Italia; literally: ''Italy's Internationals''), originally called the Italian International Championships, is a tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is one of the most important clay tennis tournament ...

in Rome, and extended their winning streak to 19 matches before losing in the final of the

to Serena and Venus Williams. Dulko caused the first upset of the

with a first round victory over the No. 10 seed,

Victoria Azarenka Victória Fyódarauna Azárenka ( be, Вікторыя Фёдараўна Азаранка; Russian: Виктория Фёдоровна Азаренко; born 31 July 1989) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. Azarenka is a former w ...

. Dulko was then defeated by

Chanelle Scheepers Chanelle Scheepers ( ; born 13 March 1984) is a retired South African tennis player. She won one singles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as 12 singles and 20 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit in her career. On 10 Octobe ...

in the second round. Dulko lost in the first round of her Wimbledon campaign by

Monica Niculescu Monica Niculescu (born 25 September 1987) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked by the Women's Tennis Association as high as 28 in singles and 11 in doubles. Niculescu has won several titles: three singles and ten double ...

. She and Pennetta reached the semi-finals of the doubles event. Dulko then played at the

in Båstad, where she was seeded 4th. Although Dulko overcame Pennetta in the semi-finals, she fell in the final to the French No. 2 seed,

Aravane Rezaï Aravane Rezaï (; fa, ارغوان رضایی ''Arghavān-e Rezāyi'' , born 14 March 1987) is an Iranian–French tennis player. She has defeated many top players on the WTA Tour, such as Justine Henin, Venus Williams, Victoria Azarenk ...

, in three sets. Dulko and Pennetta went on to defend their doubles title by defeating the Czech pair of

Renata Voráčová Renata Voráčová (; born 6 October 1983) is a Czech professional tennis player. Voráčová has won 11 doubles titles on the WTA Tour and three on WTA 125 tournaments, as well as 15 singles and 56 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 11 Oc ...

and

Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová Barbora (; ) is a Czech and Slovak female given name. It was derived from the Greek word ''barbaros'' ( el, βαρβαρος) meaning "foreign", a variant of " Barbara". It is the 36th most popular given name in the Czech Republic (as of 2007). ...

. Dulko and Pennetta won a marathon doubles final at the

in Montreal, beating

Květa Peschke Květoslava Peschke (née Hrdličková; born 9 July 1975) is a Czech retired professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles. She reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 26 in November 2005, winning one WTA singles title ...

and

Katarina Srebotnik Katarina Srebotnik (born 12 March 1981) is a Slovenian retired professional tennis player. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 20 on 7 August 2006. On 4 July 2011, she reached No. 1 of the WTA doubles rankings, holding this ...

, for their fifth title of the season. Their next event together was the US Open, in which they were the top seeds but lost in the quarter-finals to

Vania King Vania King (born February 3, 1989) is an American former tennis player. A former top-ten doubles player, King won both the Wimbledon and US Open women's doubles titles in 2010 with partner Yaroslava Shvedova, with whom she also reached the f ...

and

Yaroslava Shvedova Yaroslava Vyacheslavovna Shvedova (; born 12 September 1987) is a Kazakhstani former professional tennis player. Before 2008, she represented her country of birth, Russia. She won one singles title and 13 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, plus o ...

, the eventual champions. In the singles, Dulko reached to the third round before losing to the No. 20 seed,

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Anastasia Sergeyevna "Nastia" Pavlyuchenkova (russian: Анастаси́я "Настя" Серге́евна Павлюче́нкова; born 3 July 1991) is an inactive Russian professional tennis player. A junior prodigy, Pavlyuchenkova won ...

. At the China Open in Beijing, Dulko made it to the second round before falling to

Maria Kirilenko Maria Yuryevna Kirilenko ( rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Кириле́нко, p=mɐˈrʲijə kʲɪrʲɪˈlʲɛnkə ; born 25 January 1987) is a Russian former professional tennis player. A junior Grand Slam champion at the 2002 US Open a ...

. In the doubles, Dulko and Pennetta lost in the final to

and

Chan Yung-jan Latisha Chan (born 17 August 1989), formerly known by her Chinese name Chan Yung-jan (; ), is a Taiwanese tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. She has won 33 career titles in doubles, including a Grand Slam title at the 2017 ...

, and then won their sixth event of the season at the

Kremlin Cup The Kremlin Cup (russian: Кубок Кремля) is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts, which was suspended in 2022. It was part of the ATP Tour 250 series of the ATP Tour and was a Premier Tournament on the WTA ...

in Moscow. Dulko and Pennetta were invited to the Tour Championships in Doha as the top seeds, and defeated Peschke and Srebotnik in the final to win the year-end championship. On 1 November 2010, Dulko became the world No. 1 ranked doubles player.

2011–2012

Dulko and Pennetta to won their first Grand Slam event title at the 2011 Australian Open, defeating Azarenka and Kirilenko 2–6, 7–5, 6–1 in the final. Dulko reached her first singles final of the year at the

, where she was the fourth seed. There she defeated

Arantxa Parra Santonja Arantxa Parra Santonja (; born 9 November 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. She turned pro in 2000 and retired in 2019. In her career, Parra Santonja won eleven doubles titles on the WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide ...

to win her fourth career singles title. She struggled in her next few tournaments, losing in the first rounds of Miami, Madrid, and Rome, and only reaching the second round at the BNP Paribas Open, but found form again at the

, advancing to the fourth round by defeating the 2010 finalist Stosur in three sets. However, she was forced to retire due to a leg injury in the second set of her match against Bartoli.

Career statistics

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 1 (1–0)

Mixed doubles: 1 (0–1)

Doubles performance timeline

Personal life

Dulko was married to the Argentinian international footballer

Fernando Gago Fernando Rubén Gago (; born 10 April 1986) is an Argentine professional former player and football manager of Racing Club. During his 16-year club career, limited by multiple serious injuries, Gago played as a defensive midfielder and deep-lyi ...

. The couple has two sons and a daughter. The couple separated in 2021, after he had an affair with one of her friends.

Awards

* 2010 — WTA Award for Doubles Team of the Year (with

) * 2010 — ITF Doubles World Champion (with Flavia Pennetta)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dulko, Gisela 1985 births Living people Argentine female tennis players Argentine people of Hungarian descent Australian Open (tennis) junior champions Association footballers' wives and girlfriends Olympic tennis players of Argentina Sportspeople from Buenos Aires Province Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics US Open (tennis) junior champions Wimbledon junior champions Hopman Cup competitors Australian Open (tennis) champions Wimbledon champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' doubles People from Tigre, Buenos Aires WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players ITF World Champions