Iveta Benešová

Iveta Benešová (Czech pronunciation: [ˈɪvɛta ˈbɛnɛʃovaː]) (formerly Melzer, Czech: Melzerová; born 1 February 1983) is a Czech former tennis player. She began playing tennis at age of seven and turned professional in 1998. She won two WTA Tour singles and 14 doubles tournaments, and one Grand Slam title in mixed doubles, partnering with Jürgen Melzer at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships. On 14 September 2012, she married Melzer and adopted his family name (until 2015). She announced her retirement from professional tennis on 13 August 2014.

Iveta Benešová

Benešová at the 2011 Australian Open
Country (sports)	Czech Republic
Residence	Most
Born	1 February 1983 Most, Czechoslovakia
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Turned pro	1998
Retired	2014
Plays	Left-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$3,329,488
Singles
Career record	378–332
Career titles	2 WTA, 4 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 25 (6 April 2009)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	4R (2011, 2012)
French Open	3R (2008, 2009)
Wimbledon	2R (2007, 2009, 2011)
US Open	2R (2004, 2008, 2010)
Doubles
Career record	269–224
Career titles	14 WTA, 4 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 17 (31 January 2011)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	3R (2008, 2011)
French Open	3R (2005, 2006, 2010)
Wimbledon	3R (2010)
US Open	QF (2011)
Mixed doubles
Career titles	1
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	SF (2009)
French Open	QF (2011)
Wimbledon	W (2011)
US Open	2R (2009), 1R (2012)
Team competitions
Fed Cup	11–12

Career

2005–2008

Benešová was the first player to be beaten by Ana Ivanovic in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, at the 2005 Australian Open.[1]

At the 2006 Australian Open, for the first time, she reached the third round of a Grand Slam championship by beating fifth seed Mary Pierce. She lost in the next round to former world No. 1 Martina Hingis.[2]

Entering as a qualifier in the 2008 French Open, she reached the third round, beating 15th seed and compatriate Nicole Vaidišová in the first round, but lost to Petra Cetkovská.

2009

Benešová at the 2009 French Open

Benešová started the year by playing the first edition of the Brisbane International. She lost in the first round to qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva. A week later, Benešová lost in the final of the tournament in Hobart to fellow-Czech Petra Kvitová. At the Australian Open, she lost in the second round to eventual semifinalist and fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva.

Immediately after Australian, Benešová played in front of her home crowd in the Fed Cup tie against Spain. Despite losing her singles rubber to Nuria Llagostera Vives, the Czech team advanced to the semifinals after winning the tie 4–1.

At the Open GdF Suez in Paris, she lost in the first round to world No. 1 Serena Williams. Benešová then reached the semifinals of the tournament in Acapulco, a clay-court event. In the quarterfinals, she beat Mathilde Johansson before losing in the semifinals to defending champion Flavia Pennetta.

On 6 April 2009, Benešová achieved her career-high singles ranking of world No. 25.

Seeded 6th at the first edition of the Monterrey Open, she beat fellow Czech Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová in the quarterfinals before losing in the semifinals to unseeded Li Na.

Benešová fell to Ana Ivanovic in the third round of the French Open.

At Wimbledon, she beat Britain's Katie O'Brien, before falling to Jelena Janković in the second round.

2010

In singles, she defeated Romanian Simona Halep in the final of Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem to win her first WTA Tour trophy since 2004.

In doubles, she has won three titles. Along with Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, she grabbed the titles in Paris as their opponents Cara Black and Liezel Huber withdrew and Monterrey defeating Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Vania King. Partnering with Anabel Medina Garrigues, Benešová won Fes, making her winning both singles and doubles in the tournament.

Benešová at the 2008 French Open

2011

Benešová reached the fourth round of the Australian Open,[3] but was defeated by second seed Vera Zvonareva.[4]

Along with Záhlavová-Strýcová she won four titles in doubles.

At the Wimbledon Championships, she won the mixed doubles title with partner and later husband Jürgen Melzer.[5][6]

2012

Benešová once again reached the fourth round of the Australian Open, being defeated by eventual champion Victoria Azarenka in straight sets. On 29 April 2012 she won her last title at the Stuttgart doubles, again with Záhlavová-Strýcová.

She paused from playing tournaments until February 2014, mainly due to shoulder problems.

2014

In her first tournament as Iveta Melzer, she and her partner Petra Cetkovská reached the final of the Acapulco doubles which they lost in the third set.

At the French Open she played the mixed doubles with her husband Jürgen, they lost in the first round against top seeded Alexander Peya and Abigail Spears. It was their last Grand Slam mixed appearance together, at the Wimbledon mixed doubles Jürgen Melzer partnered Anabel Medina Garrigues.

Iveta Melzer ended her career on 15 August 2014, as shoulder problems prevented her from playing her best tennis.

Personal life

On 14 September 2012, Benešová married Austrian tennis player Jürgen Melzer in Austria at Laxenburg Castle. The relationship ended in 2015 and Iveta changed her name back to Benešová.[7][8]

Grand Slam finals

Mixed doubles: 1 title

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	2011	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Jürgen Melzer	Mahesh Bhupathi Elena Vesnina	6–3, 6–2

WTA career finals

Singles: 8 (2 titles, 6 runner-ups)

Legend
Tier I / Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (0–0)
Tier II / Premier (0–0)
Tier III, IV & V / International (2–6)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	18 October 2002	WTA Bratislava	Hard (i)	Maja Matevžič	0–6, 1–6
Winner	1.	7 March 2004	Abierto Mexicano TELCEL, Acapulco	Clay	Flavia Pennetta	7–6^(7–5), 6–4
Runner-up	2.	20 April 2004	Portugal Open, Estoril	Clay	Émilie Loit	5–7, 6–7^(1–7)
Runner-up	3.	28 August 2004	Forest Hills, Queens	Hard	Elena Likhovtseva	3–6, 2–6
Runner-up	4.	16 January 2006	Moorilla Hobart International	Hard	Michaëlla Krajicek	1–6, 2–6
Runner-up	5.	20 May 2008	Portugal Open, Estoril	Clay	Maria Kirilenko	4–6, 2–6
Runner-up	6.	16 January 2009	Moorilla Hobart International	Hard	Petra Kvitová	5–7, 1–6
Winner	2.	1 May 2010	Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Fes	Clay	Simona Halep	6–4, 6–2

Doubles: 26 (14 titles, 12 runner-ups)

Legend
Tier I / Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (1–3)
Tier II / Premier (5–2)
Tier III, IV & V / International (8–7)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	18 July 2004	Bank of the West Classic, Stanford	Hard	Claudine Schaul	Eleni Daniilidou Nicole Pratt	2–6, 4–6
Winner	1.	13 February 2005	Open Gaz de France, Paris	Carpet (i)	Květa Peschke	Anabel Medina Garrigues Dinara Safina	6–2, 2–6, 6–2
Runner-up	2.	24 April 2005	Family Circle Cup, Charleston	Clay (green)	Květa Peschke	Conchita Martínez Virginia Ruano Pascual	1–6, 4–6
Runner-up	3.	18 June 2005	Ordina Open, 's-Hertogenbosch	Grass	Nuria Llagostera Vives	Anabel Medina Garrigues Dinara Safina	6–4, 2–6, 7–6^(11–9)
Runner-up	4.	15 October 2006	Kremlin Cup, Moscow	Carpet (i)	Galina Voskoboeva	Francesca Schiavone Květa Peschke	4–6, 7–6^(7–4), 1–6
Runner-up	5.	6 January 2007	Gold Coast, Queensland	Hard	Galina Voskoboeva	Dinara Safina Katarina Srebotnik	3–6, 4–6
Winner	2.	30 September 2007	Fortis Championships Luxembourg, Luxembourg City	Hard (i)	Janette Husárová	Victoria Azarenka Shahar Pe'er	6–4, 6–2
Winner	3.	23 February 2008	Copa Colsanitas, Bogotá	Clay	Bethanie Mattek	Jelena Kostanić Tošić Martina Müller	6–3, 6–3
Runner-up	6.	1 March 2008	Abierto Mexicano Telcel, Acapulco	Clay	Petra Cetkovská	Nuria Llagostera Vives María José Martínez Sánchez	2–6, 4–6
Runner-up	7.	18 May 2008	Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Rome	Clay	Janette Husárová	Chuang Chia-jung Chan Yung-jan	6–7^(5–7), 3–6
Winner	4.	3 August 2008	Nordea Nordic Light Open, Stockholm	Hard	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Petra Cetkovská Lucie Šafářová	7–5, 6–4
Runner-up	8.	2 March 2009	Monterrey Open	Hard	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Mara Santangelo Nathalie Dechy	3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	9.	13 July 2009	ECM Prague Open	Clay	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Kateryna Bondarenko Alona Bondarenko	1–6, 2–6
Runner-up	10.	29 August 2009	Pilot Pen Tennis, New Haven	Hard	Lucie Hradecká	Nuria Llagostera Vives María José Martínez Sánchez	2–6, 6–7
Winner	5.	25 October 2009	BGL Luxembourg Open, Luxembourg City	Hard (i)	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Vladimíra Uhlířová Renata Voráčová	6–1, 0–6, [10–7]
Winner	6.	14 February 2010	Open Gaz de France, Paris	Hard (i)	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Cara Black Liezel Huber	w/o
Winner	7.	7 March 2010	Monterrey Open	Hard	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Anna-Lena Grönefeld Vania King	3–6, 6–4, [10–8]
Winner	8.	1 May 2010	Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Fes	Clay	Anabel Medina Garrigues	Lucie Hradecká Renata Voráčová	6–3, 6–1
Winner	9.	2 October 2010	Toray Pan Pacific Open, Tokyo	Hard	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Shahar Pe'er Peng Shuai	6–4, 4–6, [10–8]
Runner-up	11.	24 October 2010	BGL Luxembourg Open, Luxembourg City	Hard (i)	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Timea Bacsinszky Tathiana Garbin	4–6, 4–6
Winner	10.	14 January 2011	Medibank International Sydney	Hard	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik	4–6, 6–4, [10–7]
Winner	11.	6 March 2011	Monterrey Open	Hard	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Anna-Lena Grönefeld Vania King	6–7^(8–10), 6–2, [10–6]
Winner	12.	1 May 2011	Barcelona Ladies Open	Clay	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Natalie Grandin Vladimíra Uhlířová	5–7, 6–4, [11–9]
Winner	13.	25 October 2011	BGL Luxembourg Open, Luxembourg City	Hard (i)	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Lucie Hradecká Ekaterina Makarova	7–5, 6–3
Winner	14.	29 April 2012	Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Stuttgart	Clay (i)	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Julia Görges Anna-Lena Grönefeld	6–4, 7–5
Runner-up	12.	2 March 2014	Abierto Mexicano Telcel, Acapulco	Hard	Petra Cetkovská	Kristina Mladenovic Galina Voskoboeva	3–6, 6–2, [5–10]

ITF finals

Singles (4-1)

$75,000 tournaments

$50,000 tournaments

$25,000 tournaments

$10,000 tournaments

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	13 May 2001	Prešov, Slovakia	Clay	Michala Bzduseková	3–6, 6–2, 6–2
Winner	2.	22 October 2001	Opole, Poland	Carpet (i)	Eva Fislová	6–1, 6–3
Winner	3.	2 February 2004	Urtijëi, Italy	Carpet (i)	Virág Németh	6–3, 6–1
Winner	4.	30 March 2008	Latina, Italy	Clay	Sesil Karatantcheva	6–0, 6–2
Runner-up	5.	6 April 2008	Torhout, Belgium	Hard (i)	Elena Baltacha	7–6^(5), 1–6, 4–6

Doubles (4–4)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	31 July 2000	Toruń, Poland	Clay	Lenka Novotná	Gabriela Chmelinová Jana Macurová	6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	2.	11 December 2000	Mallorca, Spain	Clay	Lenka Novotná	Olga Vymetálková Gabriela Chmelinová	3–5, 4–2, 4–0, 1–4, 2–4
Winner	3.	25 March 2001	Rome, Italy	Clay	Zuzana Kučová	Claudia Ivone Roberta Vinci	4–6, 6–4, 6–4
Winner	4.	20 May 2001	Szczecin, Poland	Clay	Martina Babáková	Anastassia Belova Darya Kustova	6–4, 7–6^(4)
Runner-up	5.	28 April 2002	Cagnes-sur-Mer, France	Clay	Caroline Dhenin	Dally Randriantefy Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro	2–6, 4–6
Runner-up	6.	14 September 2003	Bordeaux, France	Clay	Olga Vymetálková	Maret Ani Libuše Průšová	3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	7.	8 December 2003	Ostrava, Czech Republic	Carpet (i)	Michaela Paštiková	Libuše Průšová Barbora Strýcová	2–6, 4–6
Winner	8.	15 December 2003	Valašské Meziříčí, Czech Republic	Hard (i)	Michaela Paštiková	Maret Ani Libuše Průšová	w/o

Singles performance timeline

Tournament	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	W–L
Australian Open	LQ	1R	LQ	1R	3R	2R	LQ	2R	2R	4R	4R	11–8
French Open	2R	1R	1R	2R	2R	1R	3R	3R	1R	1R	1R	7–11
Wimbledon	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	2R	1R	2R	1R	2R	1R	3–11
US Open	1R	1R	2R^1	1R	1R	1R	2R^2	1R	2R	1R	1R	3–11
Win–Loss	1–3	0–4	1–3	1–4	3–4	2–4	3–3	4–4	2–4	4–4	3–4	24–41
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics	NH		1R	Not Held			2R	Not Held			-	1–2
Premier Mandatory tournaments
Indian Wells		2R	3R	3R	2R	2R	1R	2R	1R	2R	1R	9–11
Key Biscayne		1R	A	1R	2R	2R	A	QF	1R	3R	3R	10–8
Madrid	Not Held			Not Tier 1				1R	1R	2R	1R	1–4
Beijing	Not Play							1R	A	1R	A	0–2
Premier 5 tournaments
Dubai	Not Held & Tier I								1R	1R	2R	1–3
Rome											2R	1–1
Cincinnati	Not Held & Tier I							1R	3R		LQ	2–2
Montreal / Toronto									1R		LQ	0–1
Tokyo			LQ	QF			LQ	QF	1R		A	6–3
Year-end ranking	81	140	36	54	60	119	43	39	60	54	81

Grand Slam doubles performance timeline

Tournament	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	W–L
Australian Open	1R	1R	1R	1R	3R	2R	2R	3R	2R	7–9
French Open	1R	3R	3R	1R	1R	2R	3R	1R	1R	7–9
Wimbledon	1R	1R	2R	1R	2R	3R	3R	3R	2R	9–9
US Open	2R	1R	1R	2R	2R	2R	3R	QF	2R	10–9
Win–Loss	1–4	2–4	3–4	1–4	4–4	5–4	7–4	7–4	3–4	33–36

References

1. "Ten years of Djokovic and Ivanovic at the Grand Slams". The Roar. 17 January 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
2. "Venus Oz Open jinx continues, mixed luck for Indians". The Statesman. 23 January 2009.
3. "Australian Open 2011: Home hopes crushed as Sam Stosur exits". The Guardian. 22 January 2011. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
4. "Australian Open 2011: Kim Clijsters tested but reaches quarter-finals". The Guardian. 24 January 2011. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
5. "Melzer-Benesova win Wimbledon mixed doubles title". The Sacramento Bee. 3 July 2011. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
6. "Straight win in mixed doubles". The Mercury. 5 July 2011. p. 44.
7. "Jürgen Melzers Ehe ist gescheitert". www.news.at. News Networld. 10 June 2015.
8. "Open Letter". Iveta Benesova. 15 July 2015. Archived from the original on 16 July 2015.

External links

• Iveta Benešová at the Women's Tennis Association
• Iveta Benešová at the International Tennis Federation
• Iveta Benešová at the Billie Jean King Cup