Sylvia Harper (née Lance; 1 October 1895 – 21 October 1982) was an Australia

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 who won the singles title at the 1924

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. She reached the singles final there two other times, in 1927, losing to Esna Boyd, and in 1930, losing to Daphne Akhurst. Harper won the women's doubles title at the Australian Championships three consecutive years. In 1923, her partner was Boyd, and in 1924 and 1925, her partner was Akhurst. She reached the final an additional three times with three different partners, in 1927, 1929, and 1930. Harper won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Championships in 1923 with Horace Rice and was the runner-up in that event in 1925. According to A. Wallis Myers of ''

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'' and the ''

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'', Harper was ranked World No. 10 in 1924, the only year she was included in those rankings. Harper competed overseas on two occasions; in 1920 she competed at Wimbledon and, in 1925, captained the first women's tennis team to represent Australia internationally. At Wimbledon, she made the second round of the ladies singles, where she lost to Dorothy Shepherd, the ladies doubles, where she partnered Daphne Akhurst and the mixed doubles, where she partnered E. T. Lamb. She married businessman Robert Rainy Harper on 28 May 1924 and they had one son.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 3 (1 title, 2 runners-up)

Doubles: 6 (3 titles, 3 runners-up)

Mixed doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

¹Through 1923, the French Championships were open only to French nationals. The World Hard Court Championships (WHCC), actually played on clay in Paris or Brussels, began in 1912 and were open to all nationalities. The results from that tournament are shown here for 1920 through 1923. The Olympics replaced the WHCC in 1924, as the Olympics were held in Paris. Beginning in 1925, the French Championships were open to all nationalities, with the results shown here beginning with that year.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Sylvia Lance 1895 births Australasian Championships (tennis) champions Australian female tennis players Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's singles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Place of birth missing 1982 deaths 20th-century Australian sportswomen