Corina Morariu

Corina Maria Morariu (born January 26, 1978) is an American former professional tennis player of Romanian descent.

Corina Morariu

Morariu at the 2009 US Open
Full name	Corina Maria Morariu
Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Boca Raton, Florida, U.S.
Born	January 26, 1978 Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Turned pro	1994
Retired	2007
Plays	Right-handed
Prize money	$1,733,916
Singles
Career record	160–134
Career titles	1 WTA, 5 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 29 (24 August 1998)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	2R (1998)
French Open	2R (1998, 2000, 2003)
Wimbledon	3R (1998, 1999)
US Open	2R (1997)
Doubles
Career record	248–158
Career titles	13 WTA, 9 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 1 (3 April 2000)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	F (2001, 2005)
French Open	SF (2005)
Wimbledon	W (1999)
US Open	QF (1999, 2002, 2005, 2007)
Mixed doubles
Career record	21–22
Career titles	1
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	W (2001)
French Open	QF (2003, 2005)
Wimbledon	3R (2006)
US Open	SF (2002, 2005)

Morariu (pronounced: mo-RA-R'ju) was born in Detroit, Michigan, and turned professional in 1994. Mainly known as a doubles specialist, she won the women's doubles title at Wimbledon in 1999 with Lindsay Davenport. She also won the mixed-doubles title at the 2001 Australian Open with Ellis Ferreira. She reached the Australian Open women's doubles final with Davenport in 2005. She also reached the world No. 1 ranking in doubles in 2000.[1]

In 2001, Morariu was diagnosed with leukemia and began a program of chemotherapy.[2] During this time, Jennifer Capriati dedicated her 2001 French Open victory to Morariu. She also received an inspirational letter from Lance Armstrong, a cancer survivor.[3] After recovering from cancer, along with shoulder surgery, Morariu was largely restricted to doubles play.[1] The WTA then created the Corina Comeback Award, which was presented to Morariu by Capriati.[4]

Corina Morariu retired from the tour in 2007. She is an International Sports Ambassador for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and has released a memoir titled Living Through the Racket: How I Survived Leukemia...and Rediscovered My Self.[4] Following her retirement, she began working as a commentator for Tennis Channel.[5]

Major finals

Doubles: 1 title, 2 runner-ups

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1999	Wimbledon	Grass	Lindsay Davenport	Mariaan de Swardt Elena Tatarkova	6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	2001	Australian Open	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	Serena Williams Venus Williams	2–6, 6–2, 4–6
Runner-up	2005	Australian Open	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	Svetlana Kuznetsova Alicia Molik	3–6, 4–6

Mixed doubles: 1 title

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	2001	Australian Open	Hard	Ellis Ferreira	Barbara Schett Joshua Eagle	6–1, 6–3

WTA career finals

Corina Morariu hitting a forehand

Singles: 4 (1–3)

Legend
Tier I (0–0)
Tier II (0–0)
Tier III (0–1)
Tier IV (1–2)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	May 1997	Croatian Bol Ladies Open	Clay	Mirjana Lučić	5–7, 7–6^(9–7), 6–7^(5–7)
Runner-up	2.	April 1998	Japan Open, Tokyo	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	3–6, 3–6
Runner-up	3.	May 1998	Croatian Bol Ladies Open	Clay	Mirjana Lučić	2–6, 4–6
Winner	1.	May 1999	Croatian Bol Ladies Open	Clay	Julie Halard-Decugis	6–2, 6–0

Doubles: 20 (13–7)

Legend
Grand Slam (1–2)
WTA Championships (0–0)
Tier I (1–2)
Tier II (3–2)
Tier III (7–1)
Tier IV (1–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	April 20, 1997	Japan Open, Tokyo	Hard	Kerry-Anne Guse	Alexia Dechaume-Balleret Rika Hiraki	4–6, 2–6
Winner	1.	November 22, 1997	Pattaya Open, Pattaya City	Hard	Kristine Kunce	Florencia Labat Dominique Monami	6–3, 6–4
Winner	2.	January 8, 1999	Brisbane International, Gold Coast	Hard	Larisa Neiland	Kristine Kunce Irina Spîrlea	6–3, 6–4
Winner	3.	April 17, 1999	Japan Open, Tokyo	Hard	Kimberly Po	Kerry-Anne Guse Catherine Barclay	6–3, 6–2
Winner	4.	June 12, 1999	Aegon Classic, Birmingham	Grass	Larisa Neiland	Inés Gorrochategui Alexandra Fusai	6–4, 6–4
Winner	5.	July 3, 1999	Wimbledon Championships, London	Grass	Lindsay Davenport	Mariaan de Swardt Elena Tatarkova	6–4, 6–4
Winner	6.	July 31, 1999	Bank of the West Classic, Stanford	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	Anna Kournikova Elena Likhovtseva	6–4, 6–4
Winner	7.	August 7, 1999	Southern California Open, San Diego	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	Venus Williams Serena Williams	6–4, 6–1
Winner	8.	February 26, 2000	Cellular South Cup, Oklahoma City	Hard (i)	Kimberly Po	Tamarine Tanasugarn Elena Tatarkova	6–4, 4–6, 6–2
Winner	9.	March 17, 2000	Indian Wells Masters	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	Anna Kournikova Natasha Zvereva	6–2, 6–3
Winner	10.	May 6, 2000	Croatian Bol Ladies Open	Clay	Julie Halard-Decugis	Katarina Srebotnik Tina Križan	6–2, 6–2
Runner-up	2.	May 14, 2000	German Open, Berlin	Clay	Amanda Coetzer	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Conchita Martínez	6–3, 2–6, 6–7^(7–9)
Winner	11.	October 14, 2000	Japan Open, Tokyo	Hard	Julie Halard-Decugis	Tina Križan Katarina Srebotnik	6–1, 6–2
Runner-up	3.	January 27, 2001	Australian Open, Melbourne	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	Serena Williams Venus Williams	2–6, 6–2, 4–6
Runner-up	4.	November 7, 2004	Advanta Championships, Philadelphia	Hard (i)	Liezel Huber	Lisa Raymond Alicia Molik	5–7, 4–6
Runner-up	5.	January 29, 2005	Australian Open, Melbourne	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	Svetlana Kuznetsova Alicia Molik	3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	6.	February 6, 2005	Pan Pacific Open, Tokyo	Carpet (i)	Lindsay Davenport	Janette Husárová Elena Likhovtseva	4–6, 3–6
Winner	12.	January 12, 2006	Medibank International, Sydney	Hard	Rennae Stubbs	Paola Suárez Virginia Ruano Pascual	6–3, 5–7, 6–2
Winner	13.	September 16, 2006	Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic, Bali	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	Natalie Grandin Trudi Musgrave	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	7.	October 29, 2006	Generali Ladies Linz	Hard (i)	Katarina Srebotnik	Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur	3–6, 0–6

ITF Circuit finals

$100,000 tournaments

$75,000 tournaments

$50,000 tournaments

$25,000 tournaments

$10,000 tournaments

Singles (5–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	August 22, 1994	Nicolosi, Italy	Hard	Giulia Casoni	7–5, 7–6^(5)
Winner	2.	May 22, 1995	Salzburg, Austria	Clay	Patricia Wartusch	6–2, 6–2
Winner	3.	May 29, 1995	Katowice, Poland	Clay	Ewa Radzikowska	6–4, 6–2
Winner	4.	August 21, 1995	Sochi, Russia	Clay	Anne-Gaëlle Sidot	6–4, 4–6, 6–0
Winner	5.	February 23, 1997	Bogotá, Colombia	Clay	Lenka Němečková	6–2, 6–3

Doubles (9–4)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	July 17, 1994	Olsztyn, Poland	Clay	Henrieta Nagyová	Marielle Bruens Amanda Hopmans	4–6, 7–5, 5–7
Winner	2.	August 22, 1994	Nicolosi, Italy	Hard	Loretta Sheales	Natalie Frawley Jenny Anne Fetch	6–1, 7–5
Winner	3.	January 30, 1995	İstanbul, Turkey	Hard	Christina Zachariadou	Dora Djilianova Desislava Topalova	6–3, 7–5
Runner-up	4.	April 3, 1995	Athens, Greece	Clay	Christina Zachariadou	Denisa Chládková Patrícia Marková	2–6, 5–7
Winner	5.	May 22, 1995	Salzburg, Austria	Clay	Aarthi Venkatesan	Tjaša Jezernik Marina Lazarovska	w/o
Winner	6.	August 14, 1995	Carthage, Tunisia	Clay	Christina Zachariadou	Denisa Chládková Daphne van de Zande	6–4, 7–6^(7)
Winner	7.	August 27, 1995	Sochi, Russia	Hard	Elena Tatarkova	Natalia Egorova Petra Thorén	6–3, 7–5
Runner-up	8.	August 28, 1995	Athens, Greece	Clay	Christina Zachariadou	Magdalena Grzybowska Henrieta Nagyová	w/o
Winner	9.	December 4, 1995	Cergy, France	Hard (i)	Angela Lettiere	Dally Randriantefy Natacha Randriantefy	6–3, 7–5
Winner	10.	January 27, 1996	Mission, United States	Hard	Angela Lettiere	Shannan McCarthy Julie Steven	7–6^(7), 6–2
Winner	11.	February 17, 1996	Midland, United States	Hard (i)	Angela Lettiere	Katrina Adams Debbie Graham	7–6^(4), 7–6^(6)
Runner-up	12.	May 19, 1996	Athens, Greece	Clay	Angela Lettiere	Liezel Horn Christína Papadáki	5–7, 2–6
Winner	13.	October 12, 1997	Sedona, United States	Hard	Cătălina Cristea	Liezel Horn Paola Suárez	7–5, 6–2

Women's doubles performance timeline

Tournament	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	SR	W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	2R	2R	2R	SF	F	A	A	3R	F	1R	1R	0 / 9	19–9
French Open	A	1R	1R	3R	2R	A	A	A	1R	A	SF	A	1R	0 / 7	7–7
Wimbledon	A	1R	2R	2R	W	A	A	A	1R	A	2R	A	1R	1 / 7	9–6
US Open	A	3R	1R	1R	QF	A	A	QF	1R	2R	QF	2R	QF	0 / 10	16–10
Win–Loss	0–0	2–3	2–4	4–4	11–3	4–1	5–1	3–1	0–3	3–2	13–4	1–2	3–4	1 / 33	51–32
Year-end championships
Tour Championships	A	A	A	A	SF	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 1	1–1
Year-end ranking
Ranking	187	81	66	49	6	14	57	78	156	24	15	34	76

Awards

• The Corina Comeback Award (established by the WTA and named after her; she was the first recipient)[4]
• The 2002 WTA Tour Comeback Player of the Year Award[4]

References

1. DeSimone, Bonnie (26 March 2007). "Corina Morariu happy to be on tour". ESPN. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
2. Banerjee, Sudeshna (28 July 2009). "Corina Morariu: The Braveheart Who Defied Death". Bleacherreport.com. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
3. DeSimone, Bonnie (26 May 2002). "She won't stay down for long". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
4. "WTA Profile". wtatennis.com. Archived from the original on 13 April 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
5. Thurmond, Sarah (12 February 2010). "Q&A With Corina Morariu, Cancer Survivor and Former Pro". tennis.com. Retrieved 19 March 2012.

External links

• Corina Morariu at the Women's Tennis Association
• Corina Morariu at the International Tennis Federation
• Corina Morariu at the Billie Jean King Cup