Sunitha Rao

Sunitha Rao

Sunitha Rao at the 2008 Coleman Vision Tennis Championships in Albuquerque, United States
Country (sports)	India
Residence	Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Born	October 27, 1985 Jersey City, New Jersey, United States
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Turned pro	2004
Retired	2009
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$ 238,224
Singles
Career record	196–188
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 144 (July 7, 2008)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	Q3 (2003, 2005)
French Open	Q2 (2005, 2006)
Wimbledon	Q3 (2003)
US Open	Q3 (2007)
Doubles
Career record	107–105
Career titles	0 WTA, 8 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 108 (May 19, 2008)
Grand Slam Doubles results
US Open	Q1 (2001)
Other doubles tournaments
Olympic Games	2R (2008)

Sunitha Rao (Kannada: ಸುನಿತಾ ರಾವ್; born October 27, 1985) is a former American professional tennis player. Rao has 8 career titles on the ITF Women's Circuit and has reached 7 finals in singles. She has played on many WTA Tour events.

Sunitha has played for India on the Fed Cup and 2008 Summer Olympics, and played for United States on all other occasions.

Personal life

Sunitha was born and raised by parents Manohar and Savithri in Jersey City, New Jersey. Her family spoke Kannada. Her parents are originally from Mangalore in Karnataka, India. Sunitha speaks some Kannada.

Her family now lives in Bradenton, Florida. Sunitha currently is staying in Boston, Massachusetts where she studies at Babson College.

WTA career

2002–2007

Rao played her first WTA match at the 2002 Brasil Open – Women's Singles event, where she defeated Vanessa Henke in the first round. She was beaten by Anastasia Myskina in the second round.

Sunitha played at the Hansol Korea Open 2004 where she was beaten by Miho Saeki in the first round. Rao participated at the Internationaux de Strasbourg 2005, but was overpowered by Iveta Benešová in the first round. Then she played at the Sunfeast Open where she beat Neha Uberoi in the first round before falling to Elena Likhovtseva.

Sunitha took part at the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic 2006, where she lost to Angelique Widjaja in the First Round. She also suffered a first round defeat at the 2007 Sunfeast Open to Nicole Pratt. Rao defeated Sandy Gumulya in the First Round of the Sunfeast Open to advance to the second round where she lost to Anne Keothavong. She then lost in the first round of the Bell Challenge to Alina Jidkova.

2008

Sunitha received an entry into the PTT Pattaya Open via a Lucky Loser spot. She beat Junri Namigata before losing to Ekaterina Bychkova. Then, at the Copa Colsanitas, she lost to Edina Gallovits in the first round.

Rao received the best result of her WTA career at the 2008 DFS Classic in Birmingham. She beat Petra Kvitová (who would be the future world no.2 and Wimbledon titlist) in the first round and Naomi Cavaday in the second before falling to Alona Bondarenko in the third round.

She partnered with Sania Mirza, representing India in the women's doubles event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.^[1] They got a walk-over in round one, but lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina of Russia in round two.

Career statistics

ITF Circuit finals

Singles (0-7)

$100,000 tournaments

$75,000 tournaments

$50,000 tournaments

$25,000 tournaments

$10,000 tournaments

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	22 March 2008	Noida, India	Hard	Anastasija Sevastova	6–2, 6–1
Runner-up	2.	October 14, 2007	San Francisco, United States	Hard	Ashley Harkleroad	6–1, 6–2
Runner-up	3.	July 8, 2007	Southlake, United States	Hard	Alexa Glatch	6–2, 7–5
Runner-up	4.	October 24, 2004	Rockhampton, Australia	Hard	Evie Dominikovic	6–0, 2–0^r
Runner-up	5.	October 17, 2004	Mackay, Australia	Hard	Evie Dominikovic	7–5, 6–3
Runner-up	6.	November 10, 2002	Mexico City, Mexico	Hard	Olga Blahotová	7–6^(7-2), 6–3
Runner-up	7.	February 24, 2002	Mumbai, India	Hard	Peng Shuai	6–3, 7–6^(7-3)

Doubles (8-7)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	October 5, 2008	Troy, United States	Hard	Angela Haynes	Raquel Kops-Jones Abigail Spears	6–2, 6–0
Winner	2.	May 11, 2008	Zagreb, Croatia	Clay	Melinda Czink	Stéphanie Foretz Jelena Kostanić Tošić	6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	3.	March 14, 2008	New Delhi, India	Hard	Aurélie Védy	Ji Chunmei Sun Shengnan	2–6, 6–2, [10–4]
Winner	4.	June 17, 2007	Allentown, United States	Hard	Ryoko Fuda	Angela Haynes Lindsay Lee-Waters	6–7^(3-7), 6–4, 6–1
Winner	5.	June 2, 2007	Carson, United States	Hard	Kim Grant	Angela Haynes Lindsay Lee-Waters	6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	6.	January 20, 2007	Fort Walton Beach, United States	Hard	Marie-Ève Pelletier	Angelika Bachmann Tetiana Luzhanska	5–7, 7–6^(9-7), 7–6^(7-4)
Winner	7.	October 15, 2006	Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Casey Dellacqua	Daniella Dominikovic Evie Dominikovic	6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	8.	October 8, 2006	Traralgon, Australia	Hard	Casey Dellacqua	Christina Horiatopoulos Raquel Kops-Jones	6–2, 7–6^(7-5)
Runner-up	9.	July 23, 2006	Hammond, United States	Hard	Ryoko Fuda	Christina Fusano Raquel Kops-Jones	7–6^(7-3), 4–6, 6–1
Winner	10.	May 7, 2006	Charlottesville, United States	Clay	Marie-Ève Pelletier	Maria Fernanda Alves Lilia Osterloh	6–7^(6-8), 6–2, 6–3
Winner	11.	November 27, 2005	Mount Gambier, Australia	Hard	Ryoko Fuda	Gréta Arn Anastasia Rodionova	6–1, ret.
Winner	12.	November 13, 2005	Port Pirie, Australia	Hard	Gréta Arn	Monique Adamczak Christina Horiatopoulos	6–4, 3–6, 6–2
Winner	13.	November 14, 2004	Port Pirie, Australia	Hard	Casey Dellacqua	Daniella Dominikovic Evie Dominikovic	4–6, 6–3, 7–6^(8-6)
Runner-up	14.	May 16, 2004	Charlottesville, United States	Clay	Vilmarie Castellvi	Erica Krauth Jessica Lehnhoff	6–0, 6–1
Runner-up	15.	January 18, 2004	Tampa, United States	Hard	Milangela Morales	Alisa Kleybanova Mayumi Yamamoto	6–2, 6–4

References

1. India names 57-member squad for Beijing Olympics

External links

• Sunitha Rao at the Women's Tennis Association
• Sunitha Rao at the International Tennis Federation