Lucie Hradecká

Lucie Hradecká (; born 21 May 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. A three-time Grand Slam doubles champion and 26-time WTA Tour doubles titlist, she reached her career-high doubles ranking of world No. 4 in October 2012. She was also an integral member of the Czech Republic's national team and helped her country to win five titles at the Fed Cup (now Billie Jean King Cup) between 2011 and 2016, in addition to winning two Olympic medals in both women's doubles with Andrea Sestini Hlaváčková in 2012 and in mixed doubles with Radek Štěpánek in 2016. Hradecká also reached the top-45 in singles and placed runner-up in seven tour-level singles finals. She announced her retirement from the sport upon the end of the 2022 season.

In 2006, Hradecká won her first WTA Tour title in doubles in 2006 with partner Renata Voráčová at the Slovenia Open. Five years later, she made her breakthrough at the Grand Slam tournaments when she won her first of two women's doubles major titles at the 2011 French Open with Hlaváčková. In 2012, despite losing her next two major finals, she won the silver medal at the Summer Olympics and won her first WTA Premier 5 (now WTA 1000) title in Cincinnati, both with Hlaváčková. Her continued success led her to a second major title at the US Open in the following year before placing runner-up at the 2016 Australian Open and 2017 US Open.
Hradecká was also an accomplished mixed doubles player, having won the 2013 French Open with František Čermák in addition to reaching two finals at the 2013 Australian Open (with Čermák) and the 2015 French Open (with Marcin Matkowski) and the mixed doubles bronze in 2016 with Štěpánek.

In singles, Hradecká achieved her highest ranking on the WTA Tour of world No. 41 in June 2011. She reached her first final in 2008 at the Austrian Open and reached six additional finals but did not win them. Her best result at a major was at the 2015 Australian Open, where she defeated former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic en route to the third round.

Career

2002–2008: Career beginnings, first pro tour titles

She won her first doubles title on the WTA Tour in 2006 at Portorož with partner Renata Voráčová, as the fourth-seeded team. In the final, the Czech team defeated Eva Birnerová and Émilie Loit, the second seeds, by walkover. They also had a victory over the top-seeds Maria Elena Camerin and Emmanuelle Gagliardi in the semifinal.

As qualifiers, she reached the third round of doubles competition with Hana Šromová at the 2006 Wimbledon Championships before going down to fifth seeds Meghann Shaughnessy and Anna-Lena Grönefeld. En route they defeated 12th-seeds Svetlana Kuznetsova and Amélie Mauresmo, both Grand Slam singles champions at the time and the previous year's Wimbledon doubles runner-ups by walkover.

In 2007, she made the doubles semifinals of the Indian Wells Open tournament with Voráčová. En route, the team defeated Janette Husárová and Meghann Shaughnessy, the seventh seeds, in the first round, and legendary team and third-seeded Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suárez in three sets in the quarterfinals, before losing to top seeds Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur.

Later that year, Hradecká and Voráčová won at Bad Gastein beating Ágnes Szávay and Vladimíra Uhlířová. She again won the 2007 Portorož title with Voráčová, beating Elena Likhovtseva and Andreja Klepač in the final.

Hradecká reached her very first singles final at Bad Gastein in July 2008, where, as a qualifier, she got to the final, but lost to the fourth-seed Pauline Parmentier 4–6, 4–6, after leading 4–1 in the first set. She also reached the doubles final.

2009–11: 2011 French Open doubles champion, top 50 singles debut

At the 2009 Wimbledon Championships, Hradecká held two match points over 13th seeded Ana Ivanovic in the first round. However, she was unable to close it out, losing 7–5, 2–6, 6–8.

At her home tournament, the Prague Open, she pleased her fans with a dramatic comeback to defeat Stefanie Vögele in the first round. She came back from 1–5 down in the first set to win 7–6, 6–2. In the second round she crushed fellow double-hander Monica Niculescu, 6–2, 6–1, and reached the semifinals before losing to Ágnes Szávay. A year later at the same tournament, Hradecká was the winner, defeating qualifier Paula Ormaechea in the final.

She paired-up with Andrea Hlaváčková to win her first Grand Slam title at the French Open, defeating Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina in the final.

2012: Wimbledon doubles final, Olympic silver medal, world No. 4

Lucie kicked off the 2012 season at the Auckland Open. She defeated Alberta Brianti and upset second seed Peng Shuai to book a place in the quarterfinals, where she fell to eventual champion Zheng Jie. Then, Lucie went to the Hobart International, where she was overpowered by Shahar Pe'er in round one.

Going into the Australian Open, Hradecká crushed Evgeniya Rodina in the first round. She lost to Vera Zvonareva in the second. Next, at the Tennis Classic in Midland, she made it to the quarterfinals, where she lost to Jamie Hampton. At the Memphis International, Hradecká defeated Anna Tatishvili before falling to Lesia Tsurenko.

She then suffered two-first round defeats at the Premier Mandatory events Indian Wells Open and the Miami Open, falling to Zheng Jie and Irina-Camelia Begu, respectively. Then, at the Oaks Club Challenger, she made it to the quarterfinals, with wins over Melinda Czink and Eugenie Bouchard, where she was beaten by Edina Gallovits-Hall. Next, Hradecká went on to beat Urszula Radwańska in the first round of the Charleston Open, before losing to Stefanie Vögele.

After losing early in Estoril, Hradecká qualified for Madrid. She caused the two biggest upsets in the tournament by beating both the world No. 4, Petra Kvitová (who also was the defending champion) and the world No. 5, Samantha Stosur, on the way to her first ever semifinals appearance at the Premier level, where she lost to Serena Williams in straight sets, 6–7⁽⁵⁾, 0–6 and won just six points in the second set.

Lucie and Andrea Hlaváčková reached their second Grand Slam final at Wimbledon, losing to the Williams sisters. At the Summer Olympics in London, she and Radek Štěpánek lost in the first round of the mixed doubles, but she and Andrea Hlaváčková were much more successful, winning the silver medal.

2015: Singles success: First Grand Slam third round

Hradecká started 2015 ranked 141st in the world, and thus had to qualify for the main draw of the Australian Open, which she successfully did with three wins in the qualifying rounds. The first round saw her pitted against world No. 5 Ana Ivanovic. After losing the first set winning only one game, Hradecká would come back to win this match in three sets, marking the biggest victory of her career thus far. She would go on to reach as far as the third round defeating Polona Hercog before falling to Julia Georges as her best career showing in singles at any Grand Slam.

2016: First Australian Open doubles final, top 10 year-end doubles ranking

Hradecká reached the 2016 Australian Open final partnering Andrea Hlaváčková where they were defeated by Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza in the final.

2017: Third US Open doubles final

Hradecká reached another final at the 2017 US Open (tennis) partnering with Kateřina Siniaková, where the pair was defeated by Martina Hingis and Chan Yung-jan in the final.

2018-20: Two back-to-back Cincinnati Open titles and semifinal

2021: Retirement in singles, two major doubles quarterfinals

2022: Two WTA 1000 semifinals, retirement in doubles

She announced her retirement in doubles in October, one of her last matches being at the Ostrava Open partnering 17th year-old Linda Noskova where they lost to eventual champions Alycia Parks and Caty McNally. Her last match was at the Guadalajara Open.

Performance timelines

''Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.''

Singles

''Current through the 2021 Wimbledon.''

Doubles

''Current through the 2022 Guadalajara Open.''

Significant finals

Grand Slam tournament finals

Doubles: 6 (2 titles, 4 runner-ups)

Mixed doubles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

Tour Championships finals

Doubles: 1 (runner-up)

Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 finals

Doubles: 5 (3 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Olympic Games medal matches

Doubles: 2 (1 silver medal)

Mixed doubles: 1 (bronze medal)

WTA career finals

Singles: 7 (7 runner-ups)

Doubles: 53 (26 titles, 27 runner-ups)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 27 (20 titles, 7 runner–ups)

Doubles: 50 (35 titles, 15 runner–ups)

Notes

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hradecka, Lucie
1985 births
Living people
Czech female tennis players
Tennis players from Prague
French Open champions
Tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Olympic tennis players of the Czech Republic
Olympic medalists in tennis
Olympic silver medalists for the Czech Republic
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles
Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles
US Open (tennis) champions
Olympic bronze medalists for the Czech Republic
Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Hopman Cup competitors