Sonja Molnar

Sonja Molnar-Palmer (born April 29, 1990) is a Canadian former professional tennis player. She reached a career high WTA singles ranking of 488 on January 6, 2014. She played for the Iowa Hawkeyes from 2009 to 2012 and turned professional after. Molnar played her last match in August 2015 at the Challenger de Gatineau.[1]

Sonja Molnar-Palmer

Country (sports)	Canada
Residence	Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Born	April 29, 1990 Brampton, Ontario, Canada
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Turned pro	2012
Retired	2015
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
College	Iowa Hawkeyes
Prize money	US$28,639
Singles
Career record	68–62 (52.3%)
Career titles	0 WTA, 3 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 488 (January 6, 2014)
Doubles
Career record	44–48 (47.8%)
Career titles	0 WTA, 1 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 274 (October 27, 2014)

Tennis career

2008–12

Molnar made her debut in July 2008 at the ITF $25,000 in Waterloo, reaching the second round in singles and the quarterfinals in doubles.[2] Molnar decided to go to College instead of turning professional in 2009 and was a four-time All-Big Ten performer for the Iowa Hawkeyes until 2012. She was also named Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2009 and finished her career with 100 singles victories for only 32 losses, the third highest total in program history.[3] She also amassed a 69–44 record in doubles.[4] In August 2012, Molnar was awarded a wildcard to play qualies at the WTA tournament in Montreal, but lost to Mirjana Lučić-Baroni in the first round.[5]

2013

Molnar won her first professional singles title at the beginning of January at the ITF $10,000 in Fort-de-France with a victory over Sherazad Benamar.[3] She also reached a week later her first professional doubles final at the 10K in Saint Martin.[6] In October, Molnar made it to semifinals in doubles of the ITF 25K in Tampico.[7] Molnar reached at the end of October the semifinals in doubles of the ITF $50,000 in Toronto.[8]

2014–15

In mid-January 2014 at the ITF 10K in Saint Martin, Molnar made it to the second professional singles final of her career, but was defeated by Hsu Ching-wen.[9] At the Sumter ITF 10K in May 2014, she reached the second professional doubles final of her career, but lost to Sophie Chang and Andie Daniell.[10] A week later at the ITF $10,000 in Hilton Head Island, Molnar won her first pro doubles title with a straight sets win over Lauren Albanese and Macall Harkins.[11] At the end of June 2014, Molnar won the second singles title of her career with a victory over Tori Kinard at the ITF 10K in Victoria.[12] In September 2014 at the Coupe Banque Nationale, she was awarded a wildcard in doubles which was her first WTA main draw. She lost in the quarterfinals to Barbora Krejčíková and Tatjana Maria.[13] In late October 2014, Molnar reached her biggest doubles final to date at the ITF 50K in Saguenay where she was eliminated by Ysaline Bonaventure and Nicola Slater.[14] In late January 2015, Molnar reached the doubles final of the ITF 10K in Saint Martin but lost in straight sets to Alexa Guarachi and Ayaka Okuno.[15] In June 2015, she won her third pro singles title after defeating Alexa Graham at the ITF $10,000 in Bethany Beach.[16] She played her last match in August 2015 at the Challenger de Gatineau[1]

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 4 (3 titles, 1 runner-up)

Legend
$100,000 tournaments (0–0)
$75,000 tournaments (0–0)
$50,000 tournaments (0–0)
$25,000 tournaments (0–0)
$10,000 / $15,000 tournaments (3–1)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Jan 2013	Fort-de-France, France	10,000	Hard	Sherazad Benamar	6–2, 6–0
Loss	1–1	Jan 2014	Saint Martin, France	10,000	Hard	Hsu Ching-wen	6–4, 4–6, 0–6
Win	2–1	Jun 2014	Victoria, Canada	10,000	Hard (i)	Tori Kinard	6–4, 7–5
Win	3–1	Jun 2015	Bethany Beach, United States	10,000	Clay	Alexa Graham	6–1, 7–5

Doubles: 5 (1 title, 4 runners-up)

Legend
$100,000 tournaments (0–0)
$75,000 tournaments (0–0)
$50,000 tournaments (0–1)
$25,000 tournaments (0–0)
$10,000 / $15,000 tournaments (1–3)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Jan 2013	Saint Martin, France	10,000	Hard	Erin Clark	Estelle Cascino Lea Tholey	3–6, 3–6
Loss	0–2	May 2014	Sumter, United States	10,000	Hard	Caitlin Whoriskey	Sophie Chang Andie Daniell	1–6, 3–6
Win	1–2	Jun 2014	Hilton Head Island, United States	10,000	Hard	Caitlin Whoriskey	Lauren Albanese Macall Harkins	6–3, 6–4
Loss	1–3	Oct 2014	Saguenay, Canada	50,000	Hard (i)	Caitlin Whoriskey	Ysaline Bonaventure Nicola Slater	4–6, 4–6
Loss	1–4	Jan 2015	Saint Martin, France	10,000	Hard	Lena Litvak	Alexa Guarachi Ayaka Okuno	5–7, 3–6

Record against top 100 players

Molnar's win-loss record (0–2, 0%) against players who were ranked world No. 100 or higher when played is as follows:[17]

• Madison Keys 0–1
• Mirjana Lučić-Baroni 0–1

References

1. "ITF profile - Sonja Molnar". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved May 8, 2017.
2. "Drawsheet: $25,000 Waterloo". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
3. "Molnar wins professional tournament - Former Hawkeye takes home Martinique championship". HawkEyeSports.com. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
4. "Iowa Hawkeyes profile - Sonja Molnar". HawkEyeSports.com. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
5. "Peliwo, Pokrajac bow out of Rogers Cup qualifying". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
6. "Drawsheet: $10,000 Saint Martin (Guadeloupe)". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
7. "Drawsheet: $25,000 Tampico". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved October 12, 2013.
8. "Drawsheet: $50,000 Toronto". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
9. "Drawsheet: $10,000 Saint Martin (Guadeloupe)". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
10. "Drawsheet: $10,000 Sumter, SC". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved June 16, 2014.
11. "Drawsheet: $10,000 Hilton Head Island, SC". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved June 16, 2014.
12. "Drawsheet: $10,000 Victoria, BC". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
13. "Doubles main draw" (PDF). WTATennis.com. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
14. "Drawsheet: $50,000 Saguenay". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
15. "Drawsheet: $10,000 Saint Martin (Guadeloupe)". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
16. "Drawsheet: $10,000 Bethany Beach, DE". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
17. "Results". WTATennis.com. Retrieved July 24, 2016.

External links

• Sonja Molnar at the Women's Tennis Association
• Sonja Molnar at the International Tennis Federation
• Iowa Hawkeyes profile