Claudine Punipuao Toleafoa (born 28 February 1970) is a former 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 from New Zealand.

Biography

Early years

Toleafoa was born in Auckland and is of Samoan heritage, with her father Afamasaga Fa'amatala coming from

Fasito'o Tai Fasito'o Tai is a village situated on the northwest coast of Upolu Island in Samoa. The village is part of A'ana Alofi 4 Electoral Constituency (''Faipule District'') which formas part of the larger A'ana political district. The population of Fas ...

on the island of

Upolu Upolu is an island in Samoa, formed by a massive basaltic shield volcano which rises from the seafloor of the western Pacific Ocean. The island is long and in area, making it the second largest of the Samoan Islands by area. With approximate ...

. Her mother, Phillipa Lousley, is from Dunedin. As a child she lived for a time in Samoa and represented the country in tennis at the

1985 South Pacific Mini Games The 1985 South Pacific Mini Games were held at Rarotonga in the Cook Islands from 31 July to 9 August 1985. It was the second edition of the South Pacific Mini Games. The new stadium built for the games had a grass track but several South Pacif ...

. During her junior career she made the girls' doubles quarter-finals at both the 1987 and 1988 US Open competitions.

Tennis career

Toleafoa began playing for the New Zealand Federation Cup team in 1989 and won her debut match over Italy's world number 25

Sandra Cecchini Anna-Maria "Sandra" Cecchini (; born 27 February 1965) is a retired tennis player from Italy. Career Cecchini turned professional in 1984. She won 12 singles and 11 doubles titles on the WTA Tour. She had career wins over Chris Evert, Arantxa ...

, 10–8 in the third set, to help the side win the World Group tie. On the WTA Tour her best results came at her home tournament, the

Wellington Classic The Wellington Classic (also known by its corporate title of the Fernleaf Classic) is a defunct WTA Tour affiliated tennis tournament played from 1988 to 1992. It was held in Wellington in New Zealand and was played on outdoor hard courts. Betwe ...

. In 1990 she beat two seeded players,

Donna Faber Donna Faber (born July 5, 1971) is a former 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 ea ...

and

Sandra Wasserman Sandra Wasserman (born 10 March 1970) is a former professional tennis player from Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital ...

, to reach the semi-finals, then in 1991 made the quarter-finals, beating third seed

Larisa Neiland Larisa Savchenko-Neiland (, ; née Savchenko; also Larisa Neiland; born 21 July 1966) is a tennis coach and former professional player who represented the Soviet Union and Latvia. A former world No. 1 doubles player, Neiland won six Grand Slam t ...

en route. In addition to her singles performances at Wellington she also twice made the semi-finals of the doubles. She appeared in the main singles draw of the

1991 Australian Open The 1991 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Flinders Park in Melbourne in Victoria in Australia. It was the 79th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 14 through 27 January 1991. Seniors Men's ...

and made the second round, defeating Stephanie Rottier, which resulted in her career best ranking of 121 following the tournament. At the

1991 French Open The 1991 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament was held from 27 May until 9 June. It was the 90th staging of the French Open, and the second Grand ...

she fell in the qualifying draw, then lost in the final round of qualifying at the 1991 Wimbledon Championships, but received entry into the main draw as a lucky loser. She lost in the opening round of Wimbledon to

Julie Halard Julie Halard-Decugis (born 10 September 1970) is a French former professional tennis player. Tennis career Halard-Decugis lived in La Baule, France, during the initial stages of her career and later moved to Pully, Switzerland. She turned profes ...

, in three sets. In 1992 she played

Steffi Graf Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) 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 a r ...

in a Federation Cup tie, then from 1993 until her retirement in 1996 only came up against opponents from the Asia/Oceania Zone, as New Zealand had dropped out of the World Group. She finished her Federation Cup career with a 17/16 overall record, from 25 ties.

Personal life

Toleafoa is married to Australian former professional tennis player

Carl Limberger Carl Limberger (born 24 January 1964) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. Limberger won one doubles title and reached eight doubles finals when on the ATP Circuit. His highest singles ranking was World Number 71 on 11 May 19 ...

. She now works in Auckland as a lawyer and was previously a prosecutor for NZ Police.

ITF finals

Singles (0-3)

Doubles (3-3)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Toleafoa, Claudine 1970 births Living people New Zealand female tennis players New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent Tennis players from Auckland 21st-century New Zealand lawyers 21st-century New Zealand women lawyers