Marianne Werdel (born October 17, 1967) is an American former professional tennis player. Werdel was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and played on the

WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour. WTA Tour tourna ...

from 1982 to 1997. She is also known as Marianne Witmeyer or Werdel-Witmeyer. She won 19 national junior titles. In 1988 Werdel suffered a partially herniated disc, forcing a two-month absence from the tour. At the

1995 Australian Open The 1995 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Flinders Park in Melbourne in Victoria in Australia. It was the 83rd edition of the Australian Open and was held from 16 through 29 January 1995. Seniors Men's s ...

, unseeded Marianne Werdel defeated fifth-seeded

Gabriela Sabatini Gabriela Beatriz Sabatini (; born 16 May 1970) is an Argentine-Italian former professional tennis player. A former world No. 3 in both singles and doubles, Sabatini was one of the leading players from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, amassing 41 ...

of Argentina in a first-round match. Werdel won the first set, but Sabatini raced out to a 3–0 lead in the second set before twice losing her serve. Werdel won four consecutive games to close out the match in straight sets, dismissing Sabatini 6–4, 6–4. Werdel had also beaten Sabatini two years earlier at a tournament in Japan. After she had disposed of Sabatini, Werdel continued to work her way through the draw beating

Park Sung-hee Park Sung-hee (Hangul: 박성희; born 17 February 1975) is a former tennis player from South Korea. Career Park who turned professional in 1989 won seven singles and seven doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. In her career, she reache ...

Elena Makarova Elena Alekseyevna Makarova (russian: Елена Алексеевна Макарова, ; born 1 February 1973), is a former Russian professional tennis player. Makarova played in the WTA Tour between 1991 and 1999. Her best performances were i ...

Barbara Paulus Barbara Paulus (born 1 September 1970) is a former professional top-ten tennis player from Austria. She began playing on the WTA Tour in 1986 and retired in 2001. During her career, she won a total of seven WTA tournaments (six singles titles, on ...

and

Angélica Gavaldón Angélica Gavaldón Loaiza (born 3 October 1973) is a Mexican retired tennis player. Gavaldón has dual nationality, was born in the United States and comes from a Mexican family, and turned pro in 1990. That same year, she qualified for the ...

en route to a semifinal encounter with the top-seed and world No. 1

Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Aránzazu Isabel María "Arantxa" Sánchez Vicario (; born 18 December 1971) is a Spanish former List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 tennis player. She won 14 Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam titles: four in singles, ...

. In their two previous meetings, Werdel had lost both times to Sánchez Vicario. This time proved no different as Sánchez Vicario defeated Werdel in two sets. In reaching the semifinals, the 1995 Australian Open proved to be the best result Werdel would have in Grand Slam singles competition. She defeated Sánchez Vicario two months later in the third round of the Lipton Championships in

Key Biscayne Key Biscayne ( es, Cayo Vizcaíno, link=no) is an island located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, located between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay. It is the southernmost of the barrier islands along the Atlantic coast of Florida, and lies sout ...

. Werdel was coached by Woody Blocher. On 21 November 1992, she married

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player

Ron Witmeyer Ronald Herman Witmeyer (born June 28, 1967) is an American former first baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the Oakland Athletics during their 1991 season. Listed at 6' 3", 215 lb., he batted and threw left handed. Amateur career B ...

WTA career finals

Singles: 6 runner-ups

Doubles: 6 runner-ups

References

External links

* * 1967 births Living people American female tennis players Tennis players from Los Angeles 21st-century American women {{US-tennis-bio-stub