Anna Smashnova

Anna Smashnova

Country (sports)	Israel
Born	(1976-07-16) July 16, 1976 (age 48) Minsk, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union
Height	1.57 m (5 ft 2 in)
Turned pro	January 1991
Retired	July 2007
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	$2,274,431
Singles
Career record	401–304
Career titles	12 WTA, 7 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 15 (February 3, 2003)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	3R (1995, 2003, 2005)
French Open	4R (1995, 1998)
Wimbledon	3R (2000)
US Open	3R (1994)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	1R (2002)
Olympic Games	1R (2004)
Doubles
Career record	31–45
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 275 (July 10, 2006)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	1R (2006, 2007)
French Open	1R (2005, 2006)
Wimbledon	1R (2005, 2006)
US Open	2R (2005)

Anna Aleksandrovna Smashnova (Hebrew: אנה סמשנובה, Russian: Анна Александровна Смашнова; born July 16, 1976) is a Soviet-born Israeli former tennis player. She retired from professional tour after Wimbledon 2007.

Smashnova reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 15 in 2003. She reached 13 finals, and won 12 of them. In addition, she won a junior Grand Slam title, the 1991 French Open girls' singles championship.

Smashnova, born in Minsk, is of Russian-Jewish descent.^[1][2][3] Her father Sasha is an engineer, and her mother is Zina. She has a brother, Yura, who is a software analyst.^[4] Smashnova graduated from American International High School outside Tel Aviv in 1995.^[4] She completed her service in the Israel Defense Forces in 1997.^[4]

Her family immigrated to Israel in September 1990, after Freddy Krivine, one of the founders of the Israel Tennis Centers, invited her to immigrate.^[4][5]

Smashnova began playing tennis when she was six. She became the No. 1 junior in the Soviet Union at the age of ten.^[6] She was the number one junior in the Soviet Union from age ten until she moved to Israel at age 14.^[4] She won the girls' Soviet Union youth championship in 1989 at the age of 14.^[5]

After immigrating to Israel at age 15, Smashnova trained at the Israel Tennis Centers.^[6][7] In 1991, she won the girls' singles title at the French Open at age 14.^[1][4]

Smashnova was named Tennis Magazine/Rolex Watch Female Rookie of the Year in 1994.^[4] At the 1994 French Open she upset world No. 5, Jana Novotná, 6–4, 6–2.^[1] At the US Open in that year, she upset world No. 14, Lori McNeil, in straight sets.^[1] She reached the fourth round of the French Open in 1995 and 1998.^[1][8]

At the 1996 Australian Open, she defeated world No. 15, Natasha Zvereva, in three sets.^[1] She won her first top-level WTA Tour singles title in 1999 at the Tashkent Open. She won her second career title in 2000, winning the Sanex Trophy in Belgium. Smashnova defeated Anna Kournikova in straight sets in her semifinal match, and went on to win the final against top seed Dominique Van Roost.^[1][8]

She had a breakthrough in 2002, winning four titles and beating 11 players ranked in the top 20, including Jelena Dokić, Justine Henin, and Kim Clijsters. In January 2002, Smashnova defeated Tatiana Panova at the Auckland Open and top-seeded Tamarine Tanasugarn at the Canberra Classic. In March 2002, she upset world No. 13, Meghann Shaughnessy, at Indian Wells. In April, she defeated world No. 7, Justine Henin in Miami, and world No. 9, Jelena Dokić in Charleston. In May at the German Open, she upset world No. 3, Kim Clijsters, and world No. 14, Daniela Hantuchová, both in three sets.^[1]

On 16 June 2002, Smashnova defeated defending champion Iroda Tulyaganova at the Austrian Open. In August, she beat world No. 13, Elena Dementieva, in San Diego. In September 2002, she beat Anna Kournikova in the finals of the Shanghai Open. According to The New York Times, Smashnova "was precise and controlled throughout the match, hitting perfect winners in stride... Kournikova didn't score a point until the third game of the first set when Smashnova hit a shot wide. 'She was like a wall today, hitting everything back', Kournikova said."^[8] In October, she beat world No. 13, Chanda Rubin, in Zurich. She played in the 2002 WTA Tour Championships, and lost in the first round to world No. 1, Serena Williams.^[1]

On December 7, 2002, Anna married Claudio Pistolesi, her former coach (whom she later divorced), and played for a period of time as Anna Pistolesi and Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi.^[8][5]

She won the 2003 Sopot Open in Poland, beating Klára Koukalová in the finals in straight sets. Smashnova eliminated Karolina Šprem in the Nordic Light Open semifinal in Helsinki and defeated Jelena Kostanić in the final. At the Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven, she posted wins against Anastasia Myskina and Vera Zvonareva.^[8] In October 2003, she defeated then world No. 13 Nadia Petrova in Moscow.^[1]

She was on the Israeli Olympic Team in 2004.^[4]

At the 2005 Australian Open, Smashnova defeated María Sánchez Lorenzo in the first round and Tamarine Tanasugarn in the second. She lost to Venus Williams (seeded eighth) in the third round.^[8] In July 2006, Smashnova won her 12th tour title at Budapest, maintaining a 100% winning record in WTA Tour finals – a record she held alone for players who had won double-digit titles. This streak ended in August 2006, when she lost in the final of the Forest Hills Tennis Classic women's event to Meghann Shaughnessy.^[1]

In March 2007, Smashnova announced on Israeli radio that she would retire from professional tennis after Wimbledon.^[9] As it turned out, she lost in the first round to German Martina Müller by the "double bagel" scoreline, 0–6, 0–6.^[1]

She was on the Israeli Fed Cup team from 1992-2005.^[4] Smashnova holds the record for most ties played in Fed Cup competition – 61. Her win–loss record is 43–30 in Fed Cup competition for Israel from 1992–2006, including 7–3 on hardcourts in singles.^[10]

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1.	Jun 1999	Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan	Hard	Laurence Courtois	6–3, 6–3
Win	2.	Jul 2000	Knokke-Heist Open, Belgium	Clay	Dominique van Roost	6–2, 7–5
Win	3.	Jan 2002	Auckland Open, New Zealand	Hard	Tatiana Panova	6–2, 6–2
Win	4.	Jan 2002	Canberra International, Australia	Hard	Tamarine Tanasugarn	7–5, 7–6(7–2)
Win	5.	Jun 2002	Austrian Open	Clay	Iroda Tulyaganova	6–4, 6–1
Win	6.	Sep 2002	Shanghai Open, China	Hard	Anna Kournikova	6–2, 6–3
Win	7.	Aug 2003	Sopot Open, Poland	Clay	Klára Zakopalová	6–2, 6–0
Win	8.	Aug 2003	Nordic Light Open, Finland	Clay	Jelena Kostanić	4–6, 6–4, 6–0
Win	9.	May 2004	Austrian Open	Clay	Alicia Molik	6–2, 3–6, 6–2
Win	10.	Jul 2005	Internazionali di Modena, Italy	Clay	Tathiana Garbin	6–6 ret.
Win	11.	Aug 2005	Budapest Grand Prix, Hungary	Clay	Catalina Castaño	6–2, 6–2
Win	12.	Jul 2006	Budapest Grand Prix	Clay	Lourdes Domínguez Lino	6–1, 6–3
Loss	1.	Aug 2006	Forest Hills Classic, U.S.	Hard	Meghann Shaughnessy	6–1, 0–6, 4–6

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	25 November 1991	ITF Ramat HaSharon, Israel	Hard	Tessa Price	4–6, 3–6
Winner	2.	11 July 1993	ITF Erlangen, Germany	Clay	Isabel Cueto	6–3, 6–1
Runner-up	3.	29 November 1993	Ramat HaSharon, Israel	Hard	Petra Thorén	3–6, 3–6
Runner-up	4.	2 June 1997	ITF Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Hard	Angélica Gavaldón	3–6, 2–6
Runner-up	5.	14 July 1997	ITF Getxo, Spain	Clay	Ségolène Berger	6–3, 3–6, 1–6
Winner	6.	17 November 1997	ITF Jaffa, Israel	Hard	Tzipora Obziler	6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	7.	6 October 1997	ITF Indian Wells, United States	Hard	Miho Saeki	1–6, 4–6
Runner-up	8.	29 March 1998	ITF Woodlands, United States	Hard	Elena Pampoulova	6–2, 1–6, 5–7
Winner	9.	12 April 1998	ITF Athens, Greece	Clay	Rita Kuti-Kis	1–6, 6–2, 6–2
Runner-up	10.	4 May 1997	ITF Cardiff, Great Britain	Clay	Květa Peschke	5–7, 4–6
Winner	11.	17 May 1998	ITF Porto, Portugal	Clay	Alexia Dechaume-Balleret	6–2, 6–2
Winner	12.	4 October 1998	ITF Santa Clara, United States	Hard	Amy Frazier	2–6, 6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	13.	3 October 1999	ITF Santa Clara, United States	Hard	Cara Black	2–6, 1–6
Winner	14.	17 October 1999	ITF Largo, United States	Hard	Marissa Irvin	7–6(2), 6–1
Runner-up	15.	9 September 2001	ITF Fano, Italy	Clay	Zuzana Ondrášková	6–3, 1–6, 5–7
Runner-up	16.	16 September 2001	ITF Bordeaux, France	Clay	Lubomira Bacheva	6–4, 1–6, 0–6
Winner	17.	11 June 2006	ITF Prostějov, Czech Republic	Clay	Romina Oprandi	w/o

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	20 April 1997	ITF Bari, Italy	Clay	Tzipora Obziler	Sandra Načuk Dragana Zarić	4–6, 2–6
Runner-up	2.	17 November 1997	ITF Jaffa, Israel	Hard	Tzipora Obziler	Nataly Cahana Maaike Koutstaal	2–6, 1–6

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1991	French Open	Clay	Inés Gorrochategui	2-6, 7–5, 6–1

Smashnova's win–loss records against certain players who have been ranked world No. 10 or higher is as follows:

Players who have been ranked world No. 1 are in boldface.

• List of select Jewish tennis players

• Anna Smashnova at the Women's Tennis Association
• Anna Smashnova at the International Tennis Federation
• Anna Smashnova at the Billie Jean Cup
• Anna Smashnova at ESPN.com
• Anna Smashnova at Olympedia
• Anna Smashnova at the Jewish Virtual Library
• Anna Smashnova at JewsInSports.org (archived)