Sun Tiantian (; ; born 12 October 1981) is a Chinese former professional

tennis player 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 cove ...

. She won the gold medal at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

in women's doubles along with her partner Li Ting. Sun reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 77 in March 2007, winning her only

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 ...

singles title at the 2006 Tashkent Open, and a career-high doubles ranking of No. 16 in October 2007, winning eleven WTA titles and reaching the quarterfinals of three Grand Slam women's doubles tournaments, and winning the mixed doubles event at the

2008 Australian Open The 2008 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 96th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 14 throug ...

alongside

Nenad Zimonjić Nenad Zimonjić ( sr-Cyrl, Ненад Зимоњић, ; born 4 June 1976) is a Serbian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles. He is an eight-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2008 and 2009 Wimbledon Cham ...

Career

In September 2000, Sun won two successive $10k singles titles, a feat she would repeat in June 2001, when she won another two back-to-back. In 2002, she found repeat success at the next level up, winning two $25k tournaments: firstly in April, at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (beating countrywoman

Zheng Jie Zheng Jie (born 5 July 1983) is a retired tennis player from China. In May 2009, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 15. Zheng is one of the most successful tennis players from China. She won four WTA singles titles – Ho ...

in the semifinal and Korean

Jeon Mi-ra Jeon Mi-ra ( ko, 전미라, born 6 February 1978) is a South Korean former professional tennis player. She was the runner-up in the 1994 Wimbledon Championships girls' singles tournament, losing to Martina Hingis, 5–7, 4–6. As a professio ...

in the final); and then in August at Beijing (beating Zheng Jie in the semifinal again, and

Rika Fujiwara is a retired Japanese tennis player. On 22 August 2005, Fujiwara reached her best singles ranking of world No. 84. On 11 November 2002, she peaked at No. 13 in the WTA doubles rankings. At the 2002 Australian Open, Fujiwara partnered with S ...

in the final). In 2003, she reached the final of a $50k tournament at Modena despite entering as a lucky loser to countrywoman Yan Zi in the final round of qualifying. Having defeated several high-quality opponents in the forms of

Martina Suchá Martina Suchá (; born 20 November 1980) is a former professional tennis player from Slovakia. On 22 April 2002, Suchá reached her career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 37. She helped the Slovak team to win the 2002 Fed Cup, beating Natha ...

Maret Ani Maret Ani (born 31 January 1982) is a retired tennis player from Estonia. At the start of 2006, she was the top-ranked player in Estonia, before losing that spot to Kaia Kanepi. Ani was a junior basketball champion, but devoted herself to tenni ...

and Gala León García, she lost in the final against

Melinda Czink Melinda Czink (born 22 October 1982) is a former professional tennis player from Hungary. On 21 September 2009, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 37. Czink reached two WTA Tour singles finals. In 2005, she lost to Ana Iva ...

. This year, she also gained entry into several WTA tournaments, most notably coming through qualifying at Doha by defeating

Yuliana Fedak Yuliana Leonidivna Fedak ( uk, Юліана Леонідівна Федак; born 8 June 1983) is a retired Ukrainian tennis player. Fedak has a career high WTA singles ranking of 63, achieved on 18 September 2006. Fedak also has a career high W ...

, Ľubomíra Kurhajcová and

María Sánchez Lorenzo María Antonia Sánchez Lorenzo (born 7 November 1977) is a retired tennis player from Spain. Her highest WTA ranking has been world No. 33, a position she achieved in April 2004. She played two-handed on both sides, and her favourite sur ...

, only to lose in the deciding set of her opening round match against

Nicole Pratt Nicole Pratt (born 5 March 1973) is a retired tennis player from Australia. Pratt was born in Mackay, Queensland. She is the middle sibling of five children of cane farmers and was taught to play by her father, George, who was a top junior pl ...

; and at the US Open after a narrow victory over

Selima Sfar Selima Sfar ( ar, سليمة صفر ; born 8 July 1977) is a retired Tunisian tennis player. She turned professional in 1999 and has been ranked as high as 75th in the world (16 July 2001). Sfar is the second highest ranked female Tunisian and A ...

, only to lose to

Saori Obata , Obata Saori, born 23 April 1978 is a retired female tennis player from Japan. She turned professional in April 1996, and in February 2004, she achieved her career-high singles ranking of 39, and on the same day she reached her career-high doub ...

at the first hurdle in the main draw. But she finished the year ranked world No. 141. In 2004, she qualified for the Australian Open after a win over

Roberta Vinci Roberta Vinci (; born 18 February 1983) is an Italian professional padel and former tennis player. In doubles tennis, she won five major tournaments and reached the world No. 1 position. She also reached a career-high ranking of world No. 7 in ...

, then qualified for Doha for the second year running. She went on to record impressive wins over

Eva Birnerová Eva Birnerová (born 14 August 1984) is a Czech former tennis player. In her career, she won three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as eight singles and 11 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 29 January 2007, she reached her be ...

and

Sandra Kleinová Sandra Kleinová (born 8 May 1978) is a retired Czech tennis player. Born in Prague, Kleinová reached the Fed Cup final in Nagoya in 1995. She was part of the Czech Republic Fed Cup team in 1997. Her highest WTA singles ranking is 41st, which ...

to qualify for Miami; and over

Camille Pin Camille Pin (born 25 August 1981) is a French former professional tennis player. Her 2006 season was rather successful, for a player ranked lower than the top 100 in the WTA Tour. After a second-round loss to Serena Williams in the Australian Op ...

and

Mara Santangelo Mara Santangelo (born 28 June 1981) is a retired tennis player from Italy and Grand Slam champion in double. Tennis career Santangelo reached the fourth round at the 2004 Australian Open, defeating 16th-seeded Magüi Serna, Barbara Schett, a ...

to qualify for Amelia Island, where she also beat

Cara Black Cara Cavell Black (born 17 February 1979) is a Zimbabwean former professional tennis player. Black was primarily a doubles specialist, winning 60 WTA Tour and 11 ITF doubles titles. A former doubles world No. 1, she won ten major titles. By ...

in the main draw first round. At Wimbledon, she qualified with a win over Barbara Schwartz and won her first-round tie against

Tathiana Garbin Tathiana Garbin (; born 30 June 1977) is an Italian retired tennis player. She was best known for her surprise defeat of the defending champion and the reigning world No. 1, Justine Henin, in the second round of the 2004 French Open. The winne ...

before succumbing to

Anne Kremer Anne Kremer (born 17 October 1975) is a Luxembourgish retired tennis player. Anne won two singles titles on the WTA Tour. On 29 July 2002, she achieved her best WTA ranking of world No. 18. Anne completed her schooling at the Athénée de Luxe ...

in Round Two. At the end of the year, she lost in a tight three-set final in the first $50k Shenzhen tournament to countrywoman

Li Na Li Na (born 26 February 1982) is a Chinese former professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high WTA ranking of world No. 2 on 17 February 2014. Over the course of her career, Li won nine WTA Tour singles titles including two Grand Sl ...

. Her year-end ranking had improved to world No. 118. Sun also competed in the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

, defeating

Conchita Martínez "Conchita" Martínez Bernat (born 16 April 1972) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. She was the first Spaniard to win the women's singles title at The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon, doing so in 1994 Wimbledon Championships � ...

and

Virginia Ruano Pascual Virginia Ruano Pascual (; born 21 September 1973) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. She had moderate success in singles, winning three career Women's Tennis Association (WTA) titles as well as reaching two Grand Slam quarterfinals ...

of Spain in the women's doubles final to win a gold medal along with her partner Li Ting. In 2005, she reached her first WTA singles quarterfinal at Hyderabad, defeating

Tamarine Tanasugarn Tamarine Tanasugarn ( th, แทมมารีน ธนสุกาญจน์, , ; born 24 May 1977) is a Thai former tennis player. Born in Los Angeles, she turned professional in 1994, and has been in the top 20 in both singles and doubl ...

6–2, 6–1 in the second round before losing a close match against prominent German player

Anna-Lena Grönefeld Anna-Lena Grönefeld (also spelled Groenefeld; born 4 June 1985) is a German former professional tennis player. Competing as a professional from 2003 until 2019, she won one singles title on the WTA Tour, at the 2006 Mexican Open, and reached t ...

6–7, 3–6. After several near-misses in qualifying, she again made her mark in August; both at Los Angeles, where she took French star

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 als ...

to three sets in the second round, and in the US Open, where she qualified with convincing straight-sets wins over

Marlene Weingärtner Marlene Weingärtner (born 30 January 1980) is a retired tennis player from Germany. She is a former top 40 player in both singles and doubles. The most remarkable moment of her career was her first-round match at the 2003 Australian Open when ...

and

Ľudmila Cervanová Ľudmila Cervanová (; born 15 October 1979 in Piešťany, Czechoslovakia) is a retired tennis player from Slovakia. She turned professional in 1997, and reached career-high rankings of world No. 58 in singles in March 2004 and No. 186 in doubles ...

and went on to defeat

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 ...

, 6–3, 7–6 in the first round of the main draw, before succumbing to

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 ...

of Spain. But her career-best win to date was yet to come the following month at Beijing, where she defeated former world No. 1 player

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 straight sets in the second round after an easy first-round victory over

Tatiana Panova Tatiana Urayevna Panova (born 13 August 1976, Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union

of Russia, only to be outperformed in her second WTA quarterfinal by rising star

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 ...

. This run of results propelled her to a career-best ranking of world No. 88, but by the close of the year, she had slipped back slightly to world No. 105. Early in 2006, Sun suffered some extremely tough draws, but fought every inch of the way in tight three-set losses to

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 the first round of the Australian Open and

Nuria Llagostera Vives Nuria Llagostera Vives (; born 16 May 1980) is a retired Spanish tennis player. In June 2005, Llagostera Vives reached her best singles ranking of world No. 35. In November 2009, she peaked at No. 5 in the WTA doubles rankings. Professional ca ...

in the first round at Gold Coast, only to lose in qualifying for Doha and Dubai. At the

Tashkent Open The Tashkent Open by Zeromax is a women's tennis tournament held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Held since 1999, this WTA Tour event is an International tournament and is played on outdoor hard courts. Since 2014, the event has been scheduled in early ...

, Sun fought her way past

Iroda Tulyaganova Iroda Tulyaganova ( uz, Ирода Тўлаганов, translit=Iroda To'laganova; born 7 January 1982) is a former professional tennis player from Uzbekistan. Tulyaganova has career-high WTA rankings of 16 in singles (reached in June 2002) and ...

in the final to win the first WTA Tour title of her career and became only the fourth Chinese woman to win a WTA title. On 9 October 2006, she moved to a new career high of world No. 81. She is one of only two active players (the other is

Sybille Bammer Sybille Bammer (born 27 April 1980) is a former professional tennis player from Austria. Her career-high ranking is No. 19, which she achieved on 17 December 2007. She was one of three mothers on the WTA Tour, having taken time off at age 21 to ...

of Austria) to have a winning record against Serena Williams. In their only meeting, she defeated Williams 6–2, 7–6 in the round of 16 at Beijing in 2005. On 27 January 2008, Sun captured her first Grand Slam title when she won the Australian Open mixed doubles crown, partnering with

. The pair defeated

Sania Mirza Sania Mirza (; born 15 November 1986) is an Indian professional tennis player. A former doubles world No. 1, she has won six major titles – three in women's doubles and three in mixed doubles. From 2003 until her retirement from singles in ...

and

Mahesh Bhupathi Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi (born 7 June 1974) is an Indian former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. In 1997, he became the first Indian to win a major tournament (with Rika Hiraki). With his win at the 2006 Australian Open mixed doubles, he ...

in two sets. They won the title with their fifth championship point.

Major finals

Grand Slam finals

Mixed doubles: 1 title

Olympic finals

Doubles: 1 gold medal

WTA career finals

Singles: 1 title

Doubles: 21 (11 titles, 10 runner-ups)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 11 (6–5)

Doubles: 21 (13–8)

References

Chinese duo win Olympic tennis gold

China Daily ''China Daily'' () is an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Overview ''China Daily'' has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in China. T ...

2004-08-23

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sun, Tiantian 1981 births Living people Chinese female tennis players Olympic gold medalists for China Olympic tennis players of China People from Zhengzhou Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in tennis Asian Games medalists in tennis Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Tennis players from Henan Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2002 Asian Games Tennis players at the 2006 Asian Games Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games Asian Games bronze medalists for China Australian Open (tennis) champions