Clarisa Fernández (born 28 August 1981) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. She is best known for her semifinal appearance at the 2002 French Open, the first Argentine since Sabatini in 1992 to reach that stage. Fernández was ranked 87th in the world at the time of her shocking result. She defeated, in order, Lubomira Bacheva, Jelena Kostanić, Kim Clijsters (No. 4),

Elena Dementieva Elena Viacheslavovna Dementieva (, ; born 15 October 1981) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She was WTA rankings, ranked world No. 3 in women's singles and world No. 5 in women's doubles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Dem ...

(No. 13), and

Paola Suárez Paola Suárez (; born 23 June 1976) is a retired tennis player from Argentina. She was one of the most prominent women's doubles players throughout the early and mid-2000s, winning eight Grand Slam titles, all of them with Virginia Ruano Pascua ...

, before losing to second-seeded

Venus Williams Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American inactive tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA for 11 wee ...

, in straight sets. Fernández, a crafty left-handed player, turned professional in 1998. She did not have much success before her appearance at the French Open. She has six ITF titles to her name, including one in 2006. Since 2003, Fernández had been plagued with injuries. She suffered from

tendinitis Tendinopathy is a type of tendon disorder that results in pain, swelling, and impaired function. The pain is typically worse with movement. It most commonly occurs around the shoulder ( rotator cuff tendinitis, biceps tendinitis), elbow ( tenn ...

in her left shoulder, an injury to her left wrist, and to her right knee. Fernández enjoyed playing on hard and

grass Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...

courts. She was coached by Leonardo Lerda. Her tennis inspirations were

Pete Sampras Pete Sampras (born August 12, 1971) is an American former professional tennis player. One of the most successful tennis players of all time, he was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the A ...

and

Martina Navratilova Martina Navratilova (, ; ; born October18, 1956) is a Czech-American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, singles for 332 weeks (List of WTA number ...

. In April 2008, Fernández announced her retirement from professional tennis after a lengthy battle with knee injuries.

ITF finals

Singles: 10 (7–3)

Doubles: 10 (6–4)

Head-to-head records

Record against top-ten players

Fernández' match records against players who have been ranked in the top 10, with those who have been ranked No. 1 in boldface * Kim Clijsters 1–0 *

1–0 *

Petra Kvitová Petra Kvitová (; born 8 March 1990) is a Czech professional tennis player. Known for her powerful left-handed groundstrokes and variety, Kvitová has won 31 career singles titles, including two Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major titles ...

1–0 * Mary Pierce 1–0 * Ai Sugiyama 1–0 *

1–1 *

Anastasia Myskina Anastasia Andreyevna Myskina ( ; born 8 July 1981) is a Russian former professional tennis player. Myskina won the 2004 French Open singles title, becoming the first Russian woman to win a major singles title. Due to this victory, she rose to ...

1–3 *

Flavia Pennetta Flavia Pennetta (; born 25 February 1982) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She became Italy's first top-ten female singles player on 17 August 2009 and the first Italian to be ranked List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis pla ...

1–4 *

Lindsay Davenport Lindsay Ann Davenport Leach (born June 8, 1976) is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 98 weeks (including as the year-end No. 1 four ...

0–1 *

Daniela Hantuchová Daniela Hantuchová (; born 23 April 1983) is a Slovak tennis commentator and retired player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first WTA Tour title at the Indian Wells Open, defeating Martin ...

0–1 *

Justine Henin Justine Henin (; born 1 June 1982) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 117 weeks, i ...

0–1 *

Martina Hingis Martina Hingis (, ; born 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 209 weeks ( fifth-most of all time) and as the world No. ...

0–1 *

Magdalena Maleeva Magdalena Georgieva Maleeva (, ; born 1 April 1975) is a Bulgarian former professional tennis player. Her best WTA singles ranking was world No. 4. She played on the WTA Tour competing in singles and doubles, from April 1989 to October 2005 ...

0–1 *

Amélie Mauresmo Amélie Simone Mauresmo (; born 5 July 1979) is a French former professional tennis player, tennis coach, and tournament director. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 39 weeks. Maur ...

0–1 *

Alicia Molik Alicia Molik (born 27 January 1981) is an Australian former professional tennis player. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8 and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 6. Molik won a bronze medal in singles for Australi ...

0–1 *

Nadia Petrova Nadezhda Viktorovna "Nadia" Petrova ( ; born 8 June 1982) is a Russian former professional tennis player. A former top-five player in both singles and doubles, she reached a career-high ranking of No. 3 in the world in both disciplines (doing s ...

0–1 *

0–1 * Barbara Schett 0–3

References

External links

* * * 1981 births Living people Argentine female tennis players Argentine sportspeople of Spanish descent Tennis players from Córdoba, Argentina Tennis players at the 1999 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for Argentina Pan American Games bronze medalists in tennis Competitors at the 1998 South American Games South American Games gold medalists for Argentina South American Games bronze medalists for Argentina South American Games medalists in tennis Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games 21st-century Argentine sportswomen {{Argentina-tennis-bio-stub