María-Isabel Fernández de Soto (born 18 September 1950) is a former professional

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 from Colombia.

Biography

Fernández, who is originally from Cali, took a tennis scholarship to the University of South Florida at the age of 19. After a year of college, she joined the international tennis circuit and became the first Colombian woman to play professionally. She made several WTA quarterfinals but was most successful on tour as a doubles player. She represented Colombia in the 1972 Federation Cup and won five of her six singles matches. Her two Grand Slam semifinals were both in doubles: the mixed doubles at the

1973 French Open The 1973 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament ran from 21 May until 3 June. It was the 77th staging of the French Open, and the second Grand S ...

with Jairo Velasco and women's doubles at the

1973 Wimbledon Championships The 1973 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The tournament was scheduled to be held from Monday 25 June ...

with

Fiorella Bonicelli Fiorella Bonicelli (born 21 December 1951) is a retired professional tennis player from Uruguay. She was born in Lima, Peru but grew up in Montevideo, Uruguay where she started playing tennis when at age 11. During her career, she won the 197 ...

. Fernández won her first WTA title with

Martina Navratilova Martina Navratilova ( cs, Martina Navrátilová ; ; born October 18, 1956) is a Czech–American, former professional tennis player. Widely considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, Navratilova won 18 major singles titles, 31 maj ...

at the 1974

Virginia Slims of Dallas The Virginia Slims of Dallas inaugurated as the Maureen Connolly Memorial was a defunct WTA Tour affiliated women's tennis tournament From 1979 through 1982 the event was known as the Avon Championships of Dallas. It was played from 1970 to 1989 ...

. The following year, she won another title at the 1975 U.S. Clay Court Championships with

as her partner. Since retiring, she has worked as a tennis coach, and she is now a tennis pro at the Sawmill club in New York.

WTA Tour finals

Doubles (2–1)

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez Desoto, Isabel 1950 births Living people Colombian female tennis players Sportspeople from Cali Colombian expatriates in the United States Tennis players at the 1967 Pan American Games Pan American Games competitors for Colombia South Florida Bulls women's tennis players