Chanelle Scheepers ( ; born 13 March 1984) is a retired South African
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player.
She won one singles and one doubles title on the
WTA Tour, as well as 12 singles and 20 doubles titles on the
ITF Women's Circuit
The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, previously known as the ITF Women's Circuit, is a series of professional tennis tournaments run by the International Tennis Federation for female professional tennis players.
History
It serves as a developmenta ...
in her career. On 10 October 2011, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 37. On 10 April 2014, she peaked at No. 42 in the doubles rankings.
Career
Scheepers turned pro in 2000 and played two ITF events.
In 2001, she reached four finals on ITF level and won all, with three of them coming from Durban, South Africa a local tournament, and one in the United States.
In 2002, she reached three ITF finals winning one in
Mackay, Australia and losing in the other two in
Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...
and Switzerland.
In 2003, she played her first tour-level event in the
Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts and won her first main-draw tour-level match after getting through the qualifying draw over
Samantha Stosur
Samantha Jane Stosur (born 30 March 1984) is an Australian former professional tennis player. She is a former List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she first achieved on 6 February 2006 and ...
but lost to
Tathiana Garbin in the next round. She then had a 19 match losing streak in the qualifying draws of tour-level and ITF events and main draw of ITF events.
2004 was a better year for Scheepers, she returned playing in ITF events where she won four titles; two in
Benin City
Benin City serves as the Capital city, capital and largest
Metropolitan area, metropolitan centre of Edo State, situated in Nigeria, southern Nigeria. It ranks as the List of Nigerian cities by population, fourth-most populous city in Niger ...
, Nigeria and two in
Pretoria
Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country.
Pretoria strad ...
, South Africa. She also reached four other finals in
Torre del Greco
Torre del Greco (; ; "Greek man's Tower") is a ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Naples in Italy, with a population of c. 85,000 . The locals are sometimes called ''Corallini'' because of the once plentiful coral in the nearby sea, and becaus ...
and
Taranto
Taranto (; ; previously called Tarent in English) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Taranto, serving as an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base.
Founded by Spartans ...
both in Italy, in
Pétange,
Luxembourg
Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...
and
Lagos
Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...
, Nigeria.
In 2005, Scheepers once again started playing in the qualifying draw of tour-level events, but she did not produce results, as she only reached one semifinals and one quarterfinals in ITF events.
2006 was not a better year for Scheepers, despite returning to the ITF circuit, as she only reached two semifinals and one quarterfinal.
In 2007, Scheepers won her first ITF titles in three years, as she won two titles in Lagos, Nigeria and
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in eastern Pennsylvania, United States. The county seat of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, it is the List o ...
, United States.
In 2008, her form went down as she only reached one semifinal and two quarterfinals.
2009 was a breakthrough year for Scheepers, as she made her Grand Slam main-draw debut getting through the qualifying draw in the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
and
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
. She also made four main-draw wins and won a title in
Irapuato
Irapuato is a Mexican city and municipalities of Mexico, municipality located at the foot of the Arandas Hill (in Spanish Language, Spanish: ''Cerro de Arandas''), in the central region of the Mexican state, state of Guanajuato. It lies between the ...
, Mexico.
In 2010, Scheepers continued to play in the tour-level events, and her persistence paid off as she reached her first main-draw quarterfinals in the
Malaysian Open losing to Japanese
Ayumi Morita. She then won in the ITF event of
Fort Walton Beach, United States. In the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, after coming through the qualifying draw, she won her first Grand Slam main-draw match over Frenchwoman
Mathilde Johansson in straight sets. She then continued her form by upsetting both,
Gisela Dulko and
Akgul Amanmuradova. She lost to world No. 5,
Elena Dementieva
Elena Viacheslavovna Dementieva (, ; born 15 October 1981) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She was WTA rankings, ranked world No. 3 in women's singles and world No. 5 in women's doubles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Dem ...
in the 4th round in two sets. As a result of this performance, she was awarded a wildcard into the main draw of Wimbledon, where she lost in the 1st round to 9th seed and eventual quarter-finalist
Li Na.
In 2011, she made the 3rd round of the Australian Open. Following modest results for much of the rest of the year, Scheepers reached the third round of the US Open, where she even held match points against
Francesca Schiavone before losing the match in three sets. Following that, she won her first WTA single titles at
Guangzhou
Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...
, China as the 7th seed defeating the 8th seed
Magdaléna Rybáriková in the final. Scheepers achieved her career-high singles rank of world No. 37 following the tournament.
On 13 July 2012, she lost to
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WT ...
in the Stanford Classic.
In July 2012, she reached the second round of Mercury Insurance Open, Carlsbad losing to
Varvara Lepchenko.
At the
2013 Wimbledon Championships
The 2013 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 127th edition of the The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon C ...
, she teamed with
Shuko Aoyama to advance to the semifinals in women's doubles.
In 2015, after the Family Cup in Charleston, she retired from the WTA Tour and later started coaching American tennis player
Alison Riske.
Personal life
Scheepers married Roger Anderson, her former coach, on 10 November 2012, in the
KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.
Performance timelines
''Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.''
Singles
Doubles
WTA career finals
Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Doubles: 5 (1 title, 4 runner-ups)
ITF Circuit finals
Singles: 19 (12 titles, 7 runner-ups)
Doubles: 36 (20 titles, 16 runner-ups)
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheepers, Chanelle
1984 births
South African expatriates in the United States
Afrikaner people
South African people of Dutch descent
Living people
South African female tennis players
Tennis players from Pretoria
People from Harrismith
Tennis players from the Free State (province)
21st-century South African sportswomen