Virginia Ruano Pascual (; born 21 September 1973) is a Spanish 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 cov ...

player. She had moderate success in

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

, winning three career

Women's Tennis Association The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women and was founded to create a better future for women's tenn ...

(WTA) titles as well as reaching two Grand Slam quarterfinals and a top-30 ranking, but she had been far more successful in

doubles Men's doubles, Women's doubles or Mixed doubles are sports having two players per side, including; * Beach volleyball * Doubles badminton * Doubles curling * Footvolley * Doubles pickleball * Doubles squash * Doubles table tennis * Doubles te ...

. She won 43 career WTA doubles titles, including eleven at Grand Slam tournaments: ten in women's doubles (eight partnering Paola Suárez, and two partnering

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 ...

) and one in

mixed doubles Mixed doubles or mixed pairs is a form of mixed-sex sports that consists of teams of one man and one woman. This variation of competition is prominent in curling and racket sports, such as tennis, table tennis and badminton (where it is known ...

(partnering

Tomás Carbonell Tomás Carbonell Lladó (born 7 August 1968) is a former professional tennis player from Spain. Carbonell won 2 singles and 22 doubles titles on the ATP Tour in his career. He won French Open in 2001 in mixed doubles with Virginia Ruano Pasc ...

). Between 2002 and 2004, along with Suárez, she reached nine consecutive Grand Slam tournament finals (won five) and they reached at least the semifinals of the last twelve Grand Slam tournaments they played. Their winning run came to an end when they lost in the

2009 Wimbledon The 2009 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 123rd edition of the Wimbledon Championships and was held f ...

semifinals. Alongside Suarez, the pair was names as a

ITF World Champions The International Tennis Federation (ITF) designates a World Champion each year based on performances throughout the year, emphasising the Grand Slam tournaments,ITF Constitution, p.26, Rule 2.2(a)(iii) and also considering team events such as th ...

for the three consecutive years in-a-row (2002-2004).

Personal life

Her father, Juan Manuel, works for Iberia Airlines; her mother, Virginia, is a housewife. Her brother, Juan Ramon, is a tennis pro at a club and also serves as her coach and her sister, Marbella, works in administration. Initially, she hyphenated her family names, but she has omitted the hyphen since 1998.

Career

Women's doubles

Grand Slams

Ruano Pascual was very successful at the Grand Slams. In total, she won 10 titles in doubles events. She lifted the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ve ...

trophy six times. The first one she won in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

along with Paola Suárez, with whom she one year ago played final but they lost. In

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, she defended her title again with Suárez. The following year, she also reached final but finished as a runner-up, again with Suárez. The pair then triumphed again in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

and

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

. After three years without reaching final at the French Open, in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

she won another title but this time with

. They successfully defended their title in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

. French Open is not the only Grand Slam she has won. In

, with Suarez, she won her first and only

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Ope ...

title. At the US Open, she collected three titles. Her first final and also title was in

with Suarez. After that, the pair defended their title in the following two years (

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

and

). Despite not winning any title at the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is pla ...

, she finished as a runner-up three times (

and

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

). Along with her success in women's doubles, she also won one mixed doubles title at the 2001 French Open. Alongside Suárez, the pair was names as a

for the three consecutive years in-a-row (2002-2004).

Other significant results

Along with great performances at the highest-level tournaments (Grand Slams), she had success on the WTA Premier Mandatory&5 tournaments as well. It all started with the title at the

Italian Open Italian Open may refer to: *Italian Open (tennis), a Masters 1000 level tennis tournament played in Rome each year. *Italian Open (golf) The DS Automobiles Italian Open ( it, Open d'Italia) is the men's national open golf championship of Italy. I ...

in 1998, that also was her first either quarterfinal, semifinal or final on this level. In 2000, she done well at the

Charleston Open The Credit One Charleston Open, formerly known as the Volvo Car Open and the Family Circle Cup, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in ...

, winning her second level title. Two years later, she went step further, winning two titles (

& Canadian Open). After winning per two titles in 2003 and 2004, in 2005 she won three titles to get to the total number of 11 titles from this level. Her last title was the 2005 San Diego Open. At most of the level tournaments, she had at least quarterfinal with one exception, the China Open that was reclassifed as WTA Premier Mandatory tournament just two years before Ruano Pascual retirement. She also has one year-end championships title at the 2003 WTA Tour Championships.

Ranking and national contribution

Being one of the most successful doubles players, she did not leave her mark only on the Grand Slams & WTA Premier Mandatory/5 tournaments. She also is former world No. 1 that she achieved in September 2003. In the end of 2004, she finished year as top ranked player. In 2005, she also spend some weeks at the highest position, but finished year as world No. 4. Until her retirement in 2010, she spend at least one week inside top 10 in each season. She also left her mark playing for Spain at the national competitions. At 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 ina ...

, she won two

silver medals A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

, in

with

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 Wimbledon, doing so in 1994. Martínez also was the runner-up at the 1998 Austral ...

and in

with Medina Garrigues.

Singles

Along with her doubles success, she had solid singles career as well. In April 1999, she get to the place of 28. She has won three WTA titles. At the Grand Slams, she reached two quarterfinals; at the French Open in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

and Australian Open in

Performance timelines

''Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.''

Singles

Doubles

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 10 titles, 6 runner-ups

Mixed doubles: 1 title

Other significant finals

WTA Tour Championships finals

Doubles: 1 title

Summer Olympics finals

Doubles: 2 silver medals

WTA Premier Mandatory & 5 finals

Doubles: 22 (11 titles, 11 runner-ups)

WTA career finals

Singles: 3 titles

Doubles: 78 (43 titles, 35 runner-ups)

ITF finals

Singles: 7 (4 titles, 3 runner-ups)

Doubles: 18 (10 titles, 8 runner-ups)

Awards

* Named WTA Tour Doubles Team of the Year for third straight year for 2004 with partner Paola Suárez. * With partner Paola Suárez, received Premio Consagración Clarín al Mérito Deportivo 2003, an award presented to Argentine athletes for their achievements * With partner Paola Suárez, named 2002 WTA Tour Doubles Team of the Year and 2002 ITF Women's Doubles World Champions * In 1993 helped Spain recapture the

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 chan ...

title and defended it in 1994

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruano Pascual, Virginia 1973 births Living people Tennis players from Madrid Spanish female tennis players Olympic tennis players of Spain Tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Australian Open (tennis) champions French Open champions US Open (tennis) champions Olympic silver medalists for Spain Olympic medalists in tennis Hopman Cup competitors Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Spain Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Spain Competitors at the 1993 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in tennis WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players ITF World Champions