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 (also known as the Hologic WTA Tour for sponsorship reasons) is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women and organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125 series, and third-tier is the ITF Wome ...

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 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 professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 12 weeks, as well as ...

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 en route to beating Peruvian Laura Arraya 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 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 for 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 gold 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