Claire Liu (born May 25, 2000) is an American professional
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. On 30 January 2023, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 52.
Liu has won one singles title and one doubles title on the
WTA Challenger Tour as well as six titles in singles and one doubles title 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 2017, she was the world No. 1 in the junior rankings, after winning the
Wimbledon girls' singles title, and finishing runner-up at 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 ...
. Liu also won a junior
Grand Slam doubles title at
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
with
Usue Arconada in 2016.
Personal life
Liu grew up in Thousand Oaks, California. Both her parents are
Chinese immigrants. In 2023, she began maintaining a blog that recounts her experiences on the professional tennis tour and personal life.
Career
Juniors
Grand Slam results - Singles:
* Australian Open: –
* French Open: F (2017)
* Wimbledon: W (2017)
* US Open: 2R (2013, 2016)
Grand Slam results - Doubles:
* Australian Open: –
* French Open: QF (2017)
* Wimbledon: W (2016)
* US Open: QF (2016)
Liu won the
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
junior doubles tournament in 2016 with fellow American
Usue Maitane Arconada, defeating
Mariam Bolkvadze and
Caty McNally in the final, in straight sets. The following year, after losing 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 ...
junior final to
Whitney Osuigwe, she came back to win the
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
singles title against
Ann Li, making her the first American girl to win the event since
Chanda Rubin in 1992. With this Grand Slam success, Liu rose to world No. 1 in the girls' junior rankings.
2015: First professional title, mixed doubles major debut
She won her first professional title in March 2015, at an Orlando clay-court tournament 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 ...
. At age 14, Liu was the youngest tennis player to win a professional tournament since
Anna Kournikova in 1996.
On her debut at the
US Open, Liu was granted a wildcard into the qualifying tournament. She beat
Verónica Cepede Royg
Verónica Cepede Royg (; born 21 January 1992) is a Paraguayan former tennis player.
On 7 August 2017, she reached her highest WTA singles ranking of No. 73. Her best doubles ranking is No. 85, achieved on 19 September 2016. Cepede Royg has wo ...
and ninth seed
Jana Čepelová
Jana Čepelová (; born 29 May 1993) is a Slovak former professional tennis player.
Čepelová won seven singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 12 May 2014, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 50. On 18 Ma ...
in her first two matches, before losing to the 26th seed,
Alexandra Panova
Alexandra Alexandrovna Panova (; born 2 March 1989) is a Russian professional tennis player who specializes in doubles.
She has a career-high WTA doubles ranking of world No. 30 achieved on 28 October 2024. She peaked at No. 71 in singles on 3 ...
, in the final round. Liu, alongside
Taylor Fritz, was also given a wildcard for the
mixed-doubles draw; they were defeated in the first round by the fourth seeds and eventual champions,
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis (, ; born 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 209 weeks ( fifth-most of all time) and as the world No. ...
and
Leander Paes
Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player and the first Asian man to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players of all-tim ...
.
2017: Grand Slam debut in singles and doubles
After securing two ITF tournament wins in 2017, Liu was granted again a wildcard into the qualifying for the
US Open. She defeated all three of her opponents in the qualifying tournament, earning her a spot in the singles main draw of a Grand Slam championship for the first time. There, she was defeated in the first round, in straight sets by
Duan Yingying.
In their doubles main-draw debut at a major, Liu and
Taylor Johnson lost in the first round of the
US Open.
2018: First Grand Slam match win
At the
2018 Wimbledon Championships
The 2018 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tennis tournament which took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The main tournament began on Monday, 2 July 2018 and ...
, Liu advanced to the main draw by winning all of her qualifying matches. She lost in the second round to the eventual champion
Angelique Kerber
Angelique Kerber (; born 18 January 1988) is a German 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 (WTA) for 34 wee ...
. Liu was the only player in the tournament to win a set against Kerber.
2019–2021: Top 100 debut
In October 2019, Liu won her fourth title on the ITF Circuit at a $25k tournament in
Florence, South Carolina
Florence is a city in and the county seat of Florence County, South Carolina, United States. It lies at the intersection of Interstates 20 and 95 and is the eastern terminus of the former. It is the primary city within the Florence metropol ...
.
After finishing as a runner-up in two tournaments in 2020 and another two in 2021, Liu won consecutive tournaments in May 2021 at the $60k event in
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the county seat, seat of government of Albemarle County, Virginia, Albemarle County, which surrounds the ...
and the $100k
Charleston Pro Tennis. As a result, she entered the top 100 on 23 August 2021.
2022: Maiden Tour final, first top-10 win
In May, Liu reached her maiden WTA Tour final in
Rabat
Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...
, losing to
Martina Trevisan who was also a first-time tour finalist. As a result, she reached the top 75 on 23 May 2022.
She made it through to the semifinals at the
Jasmin Open in
Monastir, Tunisia
Monastir, also called Mestir ( ', from the Greek "hermit's cell, monastery"), is a city on the central coast of Tunisia, in the Sahel area, some south of Sousse and south of Tunis. Traditionally a fishing port, Monastir is now a major tourist ...
, defeating seventh seed
Kateřina Siniaková
Kateřina Siniaková (; born 10 May 1996) is a Czech professional tennis player. She is the current List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles. She also has a best singles WTA rankings, ranking of No. 27 by the W ...
in the second round and top seed
Ons Jabeur in the quarterfinals for her first win over a top-10 ranked player. Her run was ended in the last four by fifth seed and eventual champion
Elise Mertens
Elise Mertens (; born 17 November 1995) is a Belgian professional tennis player. She became List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles on 10 May 2021, the third Belgian to hold the top ranking in either singles or ...
.
2023: WTA 1000 third round, Chicago Challenger final
At 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 ...
, Liu overcame
Madison Brengle to reach the second round where she lost to 12th seed
Belinda Bencic.
She reached the third round of a WTA 1000 for the first time at the
2
Miami Open defeating Kateřina Siniaková by retirement and lucky loser
Julia Grabher before she lost to 25th seed Martina Trevisan.
At the
Italian Open, Liu got the better of wildcard
Camilla Rosatello in a first round match that went to three sets, before losing to 32nd seed
Marta Kostyuk. She reached the second round at 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 ...
thanks to a win over qualifier
Ylena In-Albon, but lost to top seed and eventual champion
Iga Świątek
Iga Natalia Świątek (; born 31 May 2001) is a Polish professional tennis player. She has been 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, Women’s Tenn ...
.
Liu defeated alternate
Oana Gavrilă and
Irina Khromacheva at the
Swedish Open to set up a quarterfinal meeting with
Louisa Chirico which she lost in three sets. The following week at the
Hungarian Open, gained revenge by defeating Louisa Chirico in the first round, before recording wims over fourth seed
Yulia Putintseva
Yulia Antonovna Putintseva (, ; born 7 January 1995) is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 20 on 27 January 2025 and a doubles ranking of No. 76 on 17 March 2025.
Puti ...
and eighth seed
Anna Karolína Schmiedlová to reach the semifinals where she lost to
Kateryna Baindl.
Wins over
Irina Fetecău,
Storm Hunter, sixth seed
Rebeka Masarova and
Cristina Bucșa, saw Liu make it through to the final at the
Chicago Challenger where she lost to
Viktoriya Tomova.
She reached the quarterfinals at the
Korea Open, defeating qualifier
Ku Yeon-woo and seventh seed
Arantxa Rus
Arantxa Rus (; born 13 December 1990) is a Dutch professional tennis player.
She won one WTA Tour singles title at the 2023 Hamburg European Open – Women's singles, 2023 Hamburg Open and four in doubles.
Her biggest singles successes to date ...
. She lost in the last eight to top seed and eventual champion
Jessica Pegula.
2024: Miami Open second round
Liu qualified for the
Miami Open and defeated
Petra Martić
Petra Martić (; born 19 January 1991) is a Croatian professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA rankings, singles ranking of world No. 14, achieved in January 2020. Martić has won two singles titles on the WTA Tour, one singles and o ...
, before losing to 10th seed
Daria Kasatkina
Daria Sergeyevna Kasatkina (born 7 May 1997) is a Russian-born Australian professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 8 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA, achieved in October 2022. Kasatkina ha ...
by retiring.
She also qualified for the
Charleston Open
The Charleston Open, currently sponsored by Credit One, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in America with a $1,064,510 purse. The t ...
but lost her main-draw match to wildcard
Shelby Rogers.
In May 2024, Liu won the
ITF tournament in
Saint-Gaudens, France, defeating
Séléna Janicijevic in the final. Later that month she lost in the first round of qualifying for 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 ...
to
Veronika Erjavec in three sets.
Liu took the rest of the season off for a mental health break.
2025: Comeback
Seven months after her previous match, Liu returned to competitive tennis at the ITF W75 event in
Nonthaburi
Nonthaburi (, ) is the principal city of the district and province of the same name in Thailand.
On 15 February 1936, Nonthaburi town municipality ('' thesaban mueang'') was established, which only covered Suan Yai subdistrict (''tambon''), j ...
, Thailand, in January, reaching the semifinals before withdrawing due to a neck problem.
[
She qualified for the WTA 1000 tournament in Indian Wells in March, but lost to ]Polina Kudermetova
Polina Eduardovna Kudermetova (, ''Polina Eduardovna Kudermetova'', born 4 June 2003) is a Russian professional tennis player. She has been ranked by the WTA as high as world No. 56 in singles, achieved on 31 March 2025, and No. 283 in double ...
in the first round. Liu also qualified for the Miami Open, but again was eliminated in the first round, this time by Linda Fruhvirtová.
Performance timelines
''Only main-draw results in WTA Tour
The WTA Tour (also known as the Hologic WTA Tour for sponsorship reasons) is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women and organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125 series, and third-tier is the ITF Wome ...
, Grand Slam tournaments, Billie Jean King Cup, United Cup, Hopman Cup and Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...
are included in win–loss records.''
Singles
''Current through the 2023 Tunis Open.''
Doubles
''Current through the 2023 Wimbledon Championships
The 2023 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam (tennis), major tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom.
Tournament
The tournament was played on grass courts, wi ...
.''
WTA Tour finals
Singles: 1 (runner-up)
WTA Challenger finals
Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
ITF Circuit finals
Singles: 11 (7 titles, 4 runner–ups)
Doubles: 1 (title)
Junior Grand Slam tournament finals
Girls' singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner–up)
Girls' doubles: 1 (title)
Head-to-head records
Record against top 10 players
* She has a 1–8 () record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.
Notes
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Claire
2000 births
Living people
American female tennis players
Sportspeople from Thousand Oaks, California
Tennis players from California
Wimbledon junior champions
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' doubles
American sportswomen of Chinese descent
American tennis players of Chinese descent
21st-century American sportswomen