Sun Tiantian

Sun Tiantian ( zh, s=孙甜甜, p=Sūn Tiántián; ; born 12 October 1981) is a Chinese tennis player. She won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in women's doubles along with her partner Li Ting.

Sun reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 77 in March 2007, winning her only WTA Tour singles title at the 2006 Tashkent Open, and a career-high in doubles of No. 16 in October 2007, winning eleven WTA Tour titles and reaching the quarterfinals of three Grand Slam tournaments, and winning the mixed doubles event at the 2008 Australian Open alongside Nenad Zimonjić.

Career

In September 2000, Sun won two successive $10k singles titles, a feat she would repeat in June 2001 with another pair of back-to-back $10k singles titles ource: [WTA Official Websitehttps://www.wtatennis.com/)">TA Official Website">ource: TA Official Websitehttps://www.wtatennis.com/)

In 2002, Sun continued her success at the next level, winning two $25k tournaments: firstly in April at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where she defeated Zheng Jie in the semifinal and Jeon Mi-ra in the final ource: [WTA Official Websitehttps://www.wtatennis.com/)], and then in August at Beijing, overcoming Zheng Jie again in the semifinal and Rika Fujiwara in the final ource: [WTA Official Websitehttps://www.wtatennis.com/)">TA Official Website">ource: [WTA Official Websitehttps://www.wtatennis.com/)

In 2003, she reached the final of a $50k tournament in Modena, entering as a lucky loser and defeating several high-quality opponents such as Martina Suchá, Maret Ani, and Gala León García before losing to Melinda Czink in the final [source: ennis Abstracthttps://www.tennisabstract.com/)].

That year, Sun also made notable appearances in several WTA Tournament Awards, WTA tournaments. She qualified for Doha, defeating Yuliana Fedak, Ľubomíra Kurhajcová, and María Sánchez Lorenzo, but lost in three sets to Nicole Pratt in the opening round ource: TA Official Website">ource: [WTA Official Websitehttps://www.wtatennis.com/) At the US Open, after a victory over Selima Sfar">US Open (tennis)">US Open, after a victory over Selima Sfar, she was defeated by Saori Obata">Selima_Sfar.html" ;"title="US Open (tennis)">US Open, after a victory over Selima Sfar">US Open (tennis)">US Open, after a victory over Selima Sfar, she was defeated by Saori Obata in the first round [source: [US Open Official Site](https://www.usopen.org/)]. By the end of 2003, she was ranked world No. 141 ource: [WTA Official Websitehttps://www.wtatennis.com/)">TA Official Website">ource: [WTA Official Websitehttps://www.wtatennis.com/)

In 2004, Sun qualified for several prominent tournaments, including the Australian Open, where she won against Roberta Vinci ource: [Australian Open Official Sitehttps://ausopen.com/)">ustralian Open Official Site">ource: [Australian Open Official Sitehttps://ausopen.com/) and again at Doha. She secured significant victories in Miami and Amelia Island, and at Wimbledon Championships, Wimbledon, she won her first-round match against Tathiana Garbin before losing to Anne Kremer [source: [Wimbledon Official Site](https://www.wimbledon.com/)]. At the end of the year, she lost a tight three-set final in the first $50k Shenzhen tournament to Li Na and ended the year ranked No. 118 ource: TA Official Website">ource: [WTA Official Websitehttps://www.wtatennis.com/)

Sun also competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics, where she won a gold medal in women's doubles with her partner Li Ting, defeating Conchita Martínez and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain">Virginia Ruano Pascual">Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain in the final [source: [Olympics Official Website">Spain.html" ;"title="Virginia Ruano Pascual">Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain">Virginia Ruano Pascual">Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain in the final [source: [Olympics Official Websitehttps://olympics.com/)].

In 2005, Sun achieved her first WTA Tour singles quarterfinal at Hyderabad, where she defeated Tamarine Tanasugarn 6–2, 6–1 but lost to Anna-Lena Grönefeld ource: TA Official Website">ource: [WTA Official Websitehttps://www.wtatennis.com/) She also performed well at Los Angeles and the US Open, where she qualified with wins over Marlene Weingärtner">US Open (tennis)">US Open, where she qualified with wins over Marlene Weingärtner and Ľudmila Cervanová, and defeated Samantha Stosur before losing to Anabel Medina Garrigues [source: [US Open (tennis), US Open Official Site](https://www.usopen.org/)]. Her career-best win came at Beijing, where she defeated Serena Williams in the second round before losing to Maria Kirilenko ource: [WTA Official Websitehttps://www.wtatennis.com/)">TA Official Website">ource: [WTA Official Websitehttps://www.wtatennis.com/) This performance propelled her to a career-high ranking of No. 88 ource: [WTA Official Websitehttps://www.wtatennis.com/)], although she ended the year at No. 105 ource: [WTA Official Websitehttps://www.wtatennis.com/)">TA Official Website">ource: TA Official Websitehttps://www.wtatennis.com/)

In early 2006, Sun faced tough draws, including close losses to Amélie Mauresmo at the Australian Open and Nuria Llagostera Vives at Gold Coast Suns, Gold Coast ource: [Australian Open Official Sitehttps://ausopen.com/)]. At the Tashkent Open, she won her first WTA Tour title by defeating Iroda Tulyaganova in the final ource: [WTA Official Websitehttps://www.wtatennis.com/)">TA Official Website">ource: [WTA Official Websitehttps://www.wtatennis.com/)and reached a career-high ranking of No. 81 on 9 October 2006 ource: [WTA Official Websitehttps://www.wtatennis.com/)">TA Official Website">ource: [WTA Official Websitehttps://www.wtatennis.com/)

Sun is one of only two active players with a winning record against Serena Williams. She defeated Williams 6–2, 7–6 in the round of 16 at Beijing in 2005 ource: [WTA Official Websitehttps://www.wtatennis.com/)">TA Official Website">ource: [WTA Official Websitehttps://www.wtatennis.com/)

On 27 January 2008, Sun captured her first Grand Slam title in mixed doubles at the Australian Open, partnering with Nenad Zimonjić to defeat Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi in straight sets ource: [Australian Open Official Sitehttps://ausopen.com/)].

Grand Slam tournament finals

Mixed doubles: 1 (title)

Other significant finals

Olympic Games

Doubles: 1 (gold medal)

WTA Tour finals

Singles: 1 (title)

Doubles: 21 (11 titles, 10 runner-ups)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 11 (6–5)

Doubles: 21 (13–8)

See also

* Tennis in China

References

Chinese duo win Olympic tennis gold
, China Daily 2004-08-23

External links

*
*
*
*
*
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sun, Tiantian
1981 births
Living people
Chinese female tennis players
21st-century Chinese sportswomen
Olympic gold medalists for China
Olympic tennis players for China
Sportspeople from Zhengzhou
Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Olympic medalists for China in tennis
Asian Games medalists in tennis
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles
Tennis players from Henan
Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2002 Asian Games
Tennis players at the 2006 Asian Games
Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games
Asian Games bronze medalists for China
Australian Open (tennis) champions