Mercedes María Paz (; born 27 June 1966) is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. She won three singles titles 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 ...

and reached a career-high ranking of world No. 28 in April 1991. Her best Grand Slam result was the fourth round at the

1986 French Open The 1986 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament was held from 26 May until 8 June. It was the 90th staging of the French Open, and the first Gran ...

and the 1990 French Open. Paz unexpectedly defeated defending champion

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 the second round of the 1990 French Open. Later that year, at the Virginia Slims of Worcester, Paz also defeated Sánchez Vicario in the round of 16. Five years before, in the semifinals of the 1985 Brazil Open, she beat top-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 ...

en route to beating Peruvian

Laura Arraya Laura Arraya (born 12 January 1964) is a retired Peruvian tennis player. She was also known by her married name Laura Gildemeister. Career At a young age, Argentine-born Arraya emigrated to Peru with her family and acquired Peruvian nationalit ...

for the title. In so doing, Paz became the first Argentinian woman to capture a major WTA event. In addition to wins over Sánchez Vicario and Sabatini, she also defeated top-seeded

Jana Novotná Jana Novotná (; 2 October 1968 – 19 November 2017) was a Czech professional tennis player. She played a serve and volley game, an increasingly rare style of play among women during her career. Novotná won the women's singles title at Wimbled ...

in three sets to reach the semifinals of the Belgian Ladies Open in Brussels in 1989. The previous year, at the 1988 Hilton Head tournament, Paz had defeated Novotná in the round of 32 for the first time.

WTA career finals

Singles 6 (3 titles, 3 runner-ups)

Doubles 40 (22 titles, 18 runner-ups)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles (2–3)

Doubles (9–3)

Notes

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paz, Mercedes 1966 births Living people Argentine female tennis players Olympic tennis players of Argentina Sportspeople from Tucumán Province Tennis players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 1995 Pan American Games US Open (tennis) junior champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' doubles Pan American Games medalists in tennis Pan American Games gold medalists for Argentina Competitors at the 1982 Southern Cross Games South American Games gold medalists for Argentina South American Games silver medalists for Argentina South American Games medalists in tennis Tennis players at the 1983 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games