Jane O'Donoghue

Jane O'Donoghue (born 29 March 1983) is a retired British tennis player who turned professional in 2000 and played her last match on the pro circuit in 2007. During her career, she won three ITF singles and six ITF doubles titles. In July 2006, she reached a career-high singles ranking of 189, and over one year later she reached 184 in the world in the doubles rankings. O'Donoghue reached the second round of her home Grand Slam, Wimbledon two years in a row, in 2004 and 2005.[1][2] After retirement, she began working for the LTA as a coach and currently coaches British junior, Katy Dunne.[3]

Jane O’Donoghue
Country (sports) United Kingdom
 England
ResidenceAshton-in-Makerfield, Greater Manchester
Born (1983-03-29) 29 March 1983
Higher End, Wigan, Greater Manchester
Height1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Turned pro2000
Retired2007
PlaysRight-handed
Prize money$177,156
Singles
Career record153–174
Career titles3 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 189 (26 July 2004)
Grand Slam Singles results
Wimbledon2R (2004, 2005)
Doubles
Career record93–95
Career titles6 ITF
Highest ranking184 (22 August 2005)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Wimbledon2R (2005)

Personal life

O'Donoghue was born in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester in 1983. Her father, John, is a PE teacher, her mother works in a bank and her two older brothers, Paul and Mark, both studied at the University of Oxford. She has 10 GCSEs all of which are grade A. She began playing tennis aged nine and turned professional at the age of 17. Other than tennis, her interests are football, netball and music.[4][5]

Career

Junior (1997–2001)

O'Donoghue competed on the junior ITF Circuit from July 1997 until June 2001. She won one singles title over the course of her four-year career, at the 2001 Japan Open Junior Championships, and also became a semifinalist four times and a quarterfinalist on eight occasions. She reached the second round of Wimbledon twice in 2000 and 2001 but her greatest junior Grand Slam success came in 2001 when Jane reached the third round of the Australian Open. Her junior career ended with a singles win-loss record of 40–32 and a career-high ranking of world No. 28 (achieved 2 January 2001).[6]

O'Donoghue won her only junior doubles title in August 1999 partnering Elena Baltacha. Aside from this she also reached three more finals, three semifinals and seven quarterfinals. With Anna Hawkins as her partner, she managed to reach the second round of Wimbledon girls' doubles in 2001 where they lost to Gisela Dulko and Ashley Harkleroad. This was the furthest Jane progressed in a Grand Slam doubles tournament. This success led her to finish her career with a doubles win-loss record of 25–30 and a career-high ranking of world No. 73 (achieved 5 February 2001).[6]

1998–2001

O'Donoghue played her first match on the adult ITF Circuit in September 1998 in the qualifying draw for the $10k in Sunderland. She lost in the second round of the qualifying tournament and finished the season without a world ranking.[7]

She attempted to qualify for three $10k events in 1999 but did not win a match. She again finished the season without a world ranking.[7]

O'Donoghue started her 2000 season with her first ever main draw ITF appearance courtesy of a wildcard into the $10k event in Hatfield where she fell in round one. She was beaten by fellow Brit, Alice Barnes, in round one of the ITF in Swansea before being given a wild card into the qualifying draw of Wimbledon and again being beaten by Barnes in her first match. In August, O'Donoghue made a surprise run to the final of a $10k in Bath where she was beaten by Susi Bensch and she continued her momentum by following this up with a run to the quarterfinals of an ITF in London ($10k). She finished the year with a ranking of world no. 564.[7]

O'Donoghue had very little in the way of success on the ITF Circuit in 2001 but was nevertheless given a wildcard into the qualifying draw of Wimbledon where she beat world No. 136, Maja Palaversic, in the first round before losing to Stéphanie Foretz in her second match. O'Donoghue's next tournament was in the $25k in Felixstowe where she had to retire in the first round. She did not compete again that year. Her year-end ranking was world No. 471.[7]

2002

Returning to the tour in January 2002, O'Donoghue reached the quarterfinals of the $10k in Hull. In March, she reached the semifinals of the $10k in Amiens as a qualifier and two months later in May, she won her first professional title in Bournemouth, beating Yvonne Doyle in the final in straight sets. Just two weeks later she won the second ITF title of her career, this one in Hatfield, beating all three top seeds on the way to the title. In June, she made her debut on the WTA Tour in the qualifying draw of the Tier III DFS Classic in Birmingham, courtesy of a wildcard. She lost to Antonella Serra Zanetti. This was immediately followed by another wildcard into the qualifying draw of a British WTA tournament, the Tier II Britannic Asset Management International where she was beaten by Marissa Irvin. She then received a wildcard into the main draw of Wimbledon where she lost to the top seed Venus Williams in the first round. In the second half of the year, she reached two quarterfinals of $25k tournaments and finished the year with a ranking of world No. 295.[7]

2003

In her first tournament of 2003 saw Jane reach the semifinals of the $10k in Tallahassee. She competed for Great Britain in the Fed Cup and won one out of three singles rubbers as well as losing her only doubles rubber. In May she reached the final of the $10k event in Edinburgh and lost to Elise Tamaëla. She then entered the $25k in Surbiton and reached the quarterfinals before losing to Anne Keothavong. She beat compatriot, Elena Baltacha, in the first round of the DFS Classic in June to give her the first win of her career on the WTA Tour; world No. 13, Magdalena Maleeva, beat her in the second round. This was followed up with a wildcard into the Aegon International qualifying draw where she lost in the first round. She was also given a wildcard into Wimbledon and was beaten in round one by Marlene Weingärtner. She then reached the quarterfinals of the $25k in Toruń and in September, the semifinals of another $25k, this one in Glasgow. Her season-ending ranking was world No. 235.[7]

2004

O'Donoghue began her 2004 season by reaching the quarterfinals of a $50k in Waikoloa where she lost a three set match to María Emilia Salerni. She competed in doubles as part of the British team in the Fed Cup partnering Amanda Janes in one match and Elena Baltacha in the other two. They won two out of their three matches, the one they lost being against sisters, Gabriela and Monica Niculescu. In April and May she reached two consecutive $25k quarterfinals in Bari and Stockholm, losing to Kateryna Bondarenko and Hanna Nooni respectively. In June she received a wild card into the DFS Classic, a Tier III event, where she was beaten in round one by Émilie Loit. She then headed to the qualifying draw for the Hastings Direct International (again courtesy of a wildcard) where she was beaten in the first round of qualifying by fellow Brit, Elena Baltacha. The third of three consecutive wild cards granted her direct entry into Wimbledon, her home Grand Slam event. O'Donoghue managed to make the most of this opportunity by beating Lindsay Lee-Waters the first round, to give her the first Grand Slam main-draw victory of her career.[1] Following Wimbledon, she reached the quarterfinals of another $25k before failing to qualify for a number of lower-tier WTA tournaments. In August, she lost a tight match in the first round of qualifying for the US Open to Vanina García Sokol, 6–7(4), 6–7(4). She finished the rest of the year without progressing past the second round in any ITF tournaments and her year-end ranking was world No. 231.[7]

2005

2005 began with three consecutive first-round losses for O'Donoghue in ITF events, although she and Katie O'Brien did team up to win the doubles title in the first event of the year in Tipton. In February she reached two consecutive $25k quarterfinals, losing to Rika Fujiwara and Olga Savchuk. She had some degree of success in $50k events in May, reaching the semifinals of one in Gifu and the quarterfinals of the next in Fukuoka. In April she and O'Brien played three doubles rubbers together as part of the Great Britain team in the Fed Cup when they won one out of three matches. As in 2004, she received consecutive wildcards into the qualifying draws for the DFS Classic and the Hastings Direct International where she was beaten in the first round of qualifying in both events. She was again given a wildcard into Wimbledon where she battled to beat Anna-Lena Grönefeld, 1–6, 6–1, 6–4, in the first round, only to be overcome by Nathalie Dechy in round two.[2] She and Baltacha also teamed up to reach the second round in doubles by beating Mariana Díaz Oliva and Martina Suchá. She had no more success on the ITF Circuit until late November when she reached the quarterfinals two $25k events in Australia. Her year-end ranking was world No. 250.[7]

2006

2006 did not begin well for O'Donoghue; before heading into the qualifying draws for the DFS Classic, the Aegon International and Wimbledon, she had accumulated a win-loss record of 3–15 in main draw ITF matches. She lost in straight sets in the first round of the qualifying draws for both the DFS Classic and the Hastings Direct International and then reached the second round of qualifying for Wimbledon. Following this, she reached her first ITF semifinal of the season in a $10k in Frinton where she lost to Georgie Stoop. In August she was the runner-up in another $10k and a quarterfinalist in yet another. She reached the quarterfinals of only one more ITF tournament before the end of the year and her season-ending ranking was world No. 336.[7]

2007

In March 2007 O'Donoghue won the title in a $10k event in Jersey before going on to reach the semifinals of her next in Sunderland and the quarterfinals of her next in Bath. She then lost in the qualifying draws for a number of higher-tier ITF tournaments before retiring from professional tennis in April.[7]

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 6 (3–3)
Legend
$100,000 tournaments
$75,000 tournaments
$50,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments
Finals by surface
Hard (1–2)
Clay (2–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Outcome W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Runner-up 0–1 7 Aug 2000 ITF Bath, Great Britain 10,000 Hard Susi Bensch 4–6, 7–6(7–5), 2–6
Winner 1–1 29 Apr 2002 ITF Bournemouth, Great Britain 10,000 Clay Yvonne Doyle 6–3, 6–4
Winner 2–1 14 May 2002 ITF Hatfield, Great Britain 10,000 Clay Ekaterina Sysoeva 7–6(7–6), 6–1
Runner-up 2–2 5 May 2003 ITF Edinburgh, Great Britain 10,000 Clay Elise Tamaëla 3–6, 3–6
Runner-up 2–3 14 Aug 2006 ITF Wrexham, Great Britain 10,000 Hard Irena Pavlovic 3–6, 7–6(7–6), 6–7(5–7)
Winner 3–3 7 Mar 2007 ITF Jersey, Great Britain 10,000 Hard Gaëlle Widmer 4–6, 6–2, 6–4

Doubles: 11 (6–5)
Legend
$100,000 tournaments
$75,000 tournaments
$50,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments
Finals by surface
Hard (4–3)
Clay (1–1)
Grass (1–1)
Carpet (0–0)
Outcome W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partnering Opponents Score
Winner 1–0 29 Apr 2002 ITF Bournemouth, Great Britain 10,000 Clay Anna Hawkins İpek Şenoğlu
Christina Zachariadou		 6–0, 6–0
Runner-up 1–1 14 May 2002 ITF Hatfield, Great Britain 10,000 Clay Anna Hawkins Irina Bulykina
Ekaterina Sysoeva		 6–4, 4–6, 6–7(8–10)
Runner-up 1–2 25 Nov 2002 ITF Mount Gambier, Australia 25,000 Hard Chanelle Scheepers Daniella Dominikovic
Evie Dominikovic		 w/o
Winner 2–2 12 Oct 2004 ITF Sunderland, Great Britain 25,000 Hard Elena Baltacha Eva Fislová
Stanislava Hrozenská		 6–1, 4–6, 6–2
Winner 3–2 18 Jan 2005 ITF Tipton, Great Britain 10,000 Hard Surina De Beer Katie O'Brien
Melanie South		 6–4, 6–2
Runner-up 3–3 10 Jul 2006 ITF Felixstowe, Great Britain 25,000 Grass Sarah Borwell Trudi Musgrave
Christina Wheeler		 2–6, 4–6
Winner 4–3 17 Jul 2006 ITF Frinton, Great Britain 10,000 Grass Georgie Gent Danielle Brown
Ana Četnik		 6–4, 4–6, 6–2
Runner-up 4–4 7 Aug 2006 ITF Wrexham, Great Britain 10,000 Hard Karen Paterson Lindsay Cox
Anna Hawkins		 3–6, 3–6
Winner 5–4 22 Aug 2006 ITF Cumberland, Great Britain 10,000 Hard Karen Paterson Laura Peterzen
Emily Webley-Smith		 6–3, 6–3
Runner-up 5–5 28 Aug 2006 ITF Mollerusa, Spain 10,000 Hard Karen Paterson Michaela Johansson
Nadja Roma		 3–6, 6–2, 3–6
Winner 6–5 14 Mar 2007 ITF Sunderland, Great Britain 10,000 Hard Anna Hawkins Ria Dörnemann
Emily Webley-Smith		 6–4, 6–7(5–7), 6–3

Grand Slam performance timeline
Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# A NH
(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; (NH) not held. SR=strike rate (events won/competed)
Tournament20002001200220032004200520062007Career W-L
Australian Open A A A A A A A A 0–0
French Open A A A A A A A A 0–0
Wimbledon LQ LQ 1R 1R 2R 2R LQ A 2–4
US Open A A A LQ LQ LQ A A 0–0
Win–Loss 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–1 1–1 1–1 0–0 0–0 2–4
Year-end ranking 564 474 295 235 231 250 336 656 –

References
  1. Harris, Nick (23 June 2004). "Baltacha win breathes life into British game". London: www.independent.co.uk. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  2. Elworthy, Scarlett (23 June 2005). "O'Donoghue upbeat for Dechy clash". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  3. "Katy moves on with bright future ahead". www.everyball.net. 4 July 2011. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  4. "Borough Life Summer 2006: Jane eyes centre court glory". www.wigan.gov.uk.
  5. Craig, Olga (23 June 2002). "Venus versus Jane". London: www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  6. "Jane O'Donoghue". www.itftennis.com. International Tennis Federation.
  7. "Activity: O'DONOGHUE, Jane (GBR)". www.itftennis.com.
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