Nathalie Baudone-Furlan (born 12 July 1972) 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 Italy.

Biography

Baudone was born in Belgium but represented Italy during her career. As a junior she reached the girls' doubles semi-finals at the 1990 US Open, with

Silvia Farina Elia Silvia Farina Elia (; born 27 April 1972) is a former professional tennis player from Italy. She won three WTA singles titles, reached the quarterfinals of the 2003 Wimbledon Championships and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. ...

. She won two medals at the

1991 Mediterranean Games The XI Mediterranean Games, commonly known as the 1991 Mediterranean Games, were the 11th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Athens, Greece, from 28 June to 12 July 1991, where 2,762 athletes (2,176 men and 586 women) from 18 countries p ...

in Athens, a gold partnering

Katia Piccolini Katia Piccolini (born 15 January 1973) is a former tennis player from Italy, who competed on the WTA Tour from 1988 to 1999. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 37 in July 1991 and competed in the 1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer ...

in the doubles and a bronze in the singles event.

Professional tennis

Baudone's first

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 ...

quarter-final came in 1992, at the

Internazionali Femminili di Palermo The Internazionali Femminili di Palermo, also known as the Palermo Ladies Open, is a women's tennis tournament in Palermo, Italy that is played on outdoor clay courts at the Country Time Club. The first two editions were part of the Satellite Circu ...

tournament in her home country. In 1993 she reached her highest ranking of 71 in the world, soon after reaching the third round of the French Open. At the 1993 US Open she lost a close match to 13th seed

Mary Pierce Mary Caroline Pierce (born 15 January 1975) is a retired tennis professional who represented France internationally in team competitions and the Olympics. She was born in Canada to an American father and a French mother, and holds citizenship of ...

in the first round, which was decided by a final set tie-break. She also was a quarter-finalist at

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital of ...

that year. At the 1994 Canadian Open she won three matches to make her third WTA Tour quarter-final. Her run in the tournament, which was a

Tier I The WTA Tier I tournaments were Women's Tennis Association tennis elite tournaments held from 1990 until the end of the 2008 season. From 1988 to 1990, the different levels of WTA tournaments were referred to by the term 'Category', and there ...

event, included wins over seeded players

Nathalie Tauziat Nathalie Tauziat (born 17 October 1967) is a French former professional tennis player. She was the runner-up in women's singles at the 1998 Wimbledon Championships and runner-up in the women's doubles at the 2001 US Open partnering Kimberl ...

and

Lori McNeil Lori McNeil (born December 18, 1963) is an American tennis coach and former top 10 professional tennis player. McNeil was a singles semifinalist at the US Open in 1987 and Wimbledon in 1994, a women's doubles finalist at the Australian Open in ...

. She made the third round of both the French Open and US Open in 1995. Notably her performance at the French Open included becoming the first player to beat

Amélie Mauresmo Amélie Simone Mauresmo (; born 5 July 1979) is a French former List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 tennis player and tournament director. Mauresmo won two Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major singles titles at the ...

in a

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 ...

match and ended at the hands of eventual champion

Steffi Graf Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 for a record 377 weeks and won 22 major singles titles, ...

. In 1996 she appeared in three

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 ...

ties for

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

Personal life

Baudone has been married to former Italian tennis player

Renzo Furlan Renzo Furlan (born 17 May 1970) is a former tennis player from Italy. Having turned professional in 1988, Furlan represented his native country at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was defeated in the quarter finals by Indi ...

since 1996.

ITF finals

Singles (2–0)

Doubles (3-1)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baudone, Nathalie 1972 births Living people Italian female tennis players Sportspeople from Liège Italian people of Belgian descent Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Italy Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Italy Naturalised citizens of Italy Naturalised tennis players Mediterranean Games medalists in tennis Competitors at the 1991 Mediterranean Games 20th-century Italian women 21st-century Italian women