Clarisa Fernández (born 28 August 1981) is a retired Argentine tennis player. She is best known for her semifinal appearance at the

2002 French Open The 2002 French Open was the second Grand Slam event of 2002 and the 106th edition of the French Open. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from late May through early June, 2002. Both Gustavo Kuerten and Jennifer Capria ...

, the first Argentine since Sabatini in 1992 to reach that stage. Fernández was ranked 87th in the world at the time of her shocking result. She defeated, in order,

Lubomira Bacheva Lubomira Bacheva ( bg, Любомира Бачева, born 7 March 1975) is a retired tennis player from Bulgaria. She reached her career-high ranking of world No. 68 on 1 November 1999. Tennis career As a junior, Bacheva won the European Champi ...

, Jelena Kostanić, Kim Clijsters, Elena Dementieva (No. 13), and Paola Suárez, before losing to second-seeded Venus Williams in straight sets. Fernández, a crafty left-handed player, turned professional in 1998. She did not have much success before her appearance at the French Open. She has six ITF titles to her name, including one in 2006. Since 2003, Fernández had been plagued with injuries. She suffered from tendinitis in her left shoulder, an injury to her left wrist, and to her right knee. Fernández enjoyed playing on hard and grass courts. She was coached by Leonardo Lerda. Her tennis inspirations were

Pete Sampras Petros "Pete" Sampras ( el, Πέτρος Σάμπρας; born August 12, 1971) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. His professional career began in 1988 and ended at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating longtime rival Andre ...

and

Martina Navratilova Martina Navratilova ( cs, Martina Navrátilová ; ; born October 18, 1956) is a Czech–American, former professional tennis player. Widely considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, Navratilova won 18 major singles titles, 31 maj ...

. In April 2008, Fernández announced her retirement from professional tennis after a lengthy battle with knee injuries.

ITF finals

Singles: 10 (7–3)

Doubles: 10 (6–4)

Head-to-head records

Record against top-ten players

Fernández' match records against players who have been ranked in the top 10, with those who have been ranked No. 1 in boldface * Kim Clijsters 1–0 * Elena Dementieva 1–0 * Petra Kvitová 1–0 * Mary Pierce 1–0 * Ai Sugiyama 1–0 * Paola Suárez 1–1 * Anastasia Myskina 1–3 * Flavia Pennetta 1–4 * Lindsay Davenport 0–1 * Daniela Hantuchová 0–1 * Justine Henin 0–1 * Martina Hingis 0–1 *

Magdalena Maleeva Magdalena Georgieva Maleeva ( bg, Магдалена Георгиева Малеева, ; born 1 April 1975) is a Bulgarian former professional tennis player. She played on the WTA Tour competing in singles and doubles, from April 1989 to Octo ...

0–1 * Amélie Mauresmo 0–1 *

Alicia Molik Alicia Molik (born 27 January 1981) is an Australian former professional tennis player. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8 and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 6. Molik won a bronze medal in singles for Australi ...

0–1 * Nadia Petrova 0–1 * Venus Williams 0–1 *

Barbara Schett Barbara Schett Eagle (; born 10 March 1976) is an Austrian former professional tennis player, who reached her highest singles ranking of world No. 7 in September 1999. Between 1993 and 2004 she played in 48 matches for the Austria Fed Cup team, ...

0–3

References

External links

* * * 1981 births Living people Argentine female tennis players Argentine people of Spanish descent Sportspeople from Córdoba, Argentina Tennis players at the 1999 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for Argentina Pan American Games medalists in tennis Competitors at the 1998 South American Games South American Games gold medalists for Argentina South American Games bronze medalists for Argentina South American Games medalists in tennis Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games 21st-century Argentine women {{Argentina-tennis-bio-stub