Anna Smashnova


Anna Smashnova is a Belarusian-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 was in 13 finals, and won 12 of them. In addition, she won a junior Grand Slam title, the 1991 French Open girls' singles championship.

Early life

Smashnova was born in Minsk, Belarus SSR, is of Russian-Jewish descent. Her father Sasha is an engineer, and her mother is Zinal. She has a brother, Yura, who is a software analyst. Smashnova graduated from American International High School outside Tel Aviv in 1995. She completed her service in the Israel Defense Forces in 1997.
Her family immigrated to Israel in September 1990, after Freddy Krivine, one of the founders of the Israel Tennis Centers, invited her to immigrate.

Tennis career

Smashnova began playing tennis when she was six. She became the No. 1 junior in the Soviet Union at the age of ten. She was the number one junior in the Soviet Union from age ten until she moved to Israel at age 14. She won the girls' Soviet Union youth championship in 1989 at the age of 14.
After immigrating to Israel at age 15, Smashnova trained at the Israel Tennis Centers. In 1991, she won the girls' singles title at the French Open at age 14.
Smashnova was named Tennis Magazine/Rolex Watch Female Rookie of the Year in 1994. At the 1994 French Open she upset world No. 5 Jana Novotná, 6–4, 6–2. At the US Open in that year, she upset world No. 14 Lori McNeil in straight sets. She reached the fourth round of the French Open in 1995 and 1998.
At the 1996 Australian Open, she defeated world No. 15 Natasha Zvereva in three sets. She won her first top-level WTA Tour singles title in 1999 at Tashkent. 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.
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 in the ASB Classic at Auckland 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.
On June 16, 2002, Smashnova defeated defending champion Iroda Tulyaganova at the Wien Energie Grand Prix. 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." 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.
On December 7, 2002, Anna married Claudio Pistolesi, her former coach, and played for a period of time as Anna Pistolesi and Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi.
She won the 2003 Idea Prokom 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. In October 2003, she defeated then world No. 13 Nadia Petrova in Moscow.
She was on the Israeli Olympic Team in 2004.
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 in the third round. 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.
In March 2007, Smashnova announced on Israeli radio that she would retire from professional tennis after Wimbledon. As it turned out, she lost in the first round to German Martina Müller by the "double bagel" scoreline, 0–6, 0–6.

Fed Cup

She was on the Israeli Fed Cup team from 1992-2005. 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 hard courts in singles.

WTA career finals

Singles 13 (12–1)

OutcomeNo.DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScore
Winner1.June 13, 1999Tashkent, UzbekistanHard Laurence Courtois6–3, 6–3
Winner2.July 23, 2000Knokke-Heist, BelgiumClay Dominique van Roost6–2, 7–5
Winner3.January 6, 2002Auckland, New ZealandHard Tatiana Panova6–2, 6–2
Winner4.January 13, 2002Canberra, AustraliaHard Tamarine Tanasugarn7–5, 7–6
Winner5.June 16, 2002Vienna, AustriaClay Iroda Tulyaganova6–4, 6–1
Winner6.September 15, 2002Shanghai, ChinaHard Anna Kournikova6–2, 6–3
Winner7.August 2, 2003Sopot, PolandClay Klára Zakopalová6–2, 6–0
Winner8.August 10, 2003Helsinki, FinlandClay Jelena Kostanić4–6, 6–4, 6–0
Winner9.May 22, 2004Vienna, AustriaClay Alicia Molik6–2, 3–6, 6–2
Winner10.July 17, 2005Modena, ItalyClay Tathiana Garbin6–6 ret.
Winner11.August 31, 2005Budapest, HungaryClay Catalina Castaño6–2, 6–2
Winner12.July 30, 2006Budapest, HungaryClay Lourdes Domínguez Lino6–1, 6–3
Runner-up1.August 26, 2006Forest Hills, United StatesHard Meghann Shaughnessy6–1, 0–6, 4–6

ITF finals

Singles: 17 (7–10)

OutcomeNo.DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScore
Runner-up1.25 November 1991Ramat HaSharon, IsraelHard Tessa Price4–6, 3–6
Winner2.11 July 1993Erlangen, GermanyClay Isabel Cueto6–3, 6–1
Runner-up3.29 November 1993Ramat HaSharon, IsraelHard Petra Thorén3–6, 3–6
Runner-up4.2 June 1997Tashkent, UzbekistanHard Angélica Gavaldón3–6, 2–6
Runner-up5.14 July 1997Getxo, SpainClay Ségolène Berger6–3, 3–6, 1–6
Winner6.17 November 1997Jaffa, IsraelHard Tzipora Obziler6–3, 6–2
Runner-up7.6 October 1997Indian Wells, United StatesHard Miho Saeki1–6, 4–6
Runner-up8.29 March 1998Woodlands, United StatesHard Elena Pampoulova6–2, 1–6, 5–7
Winner9.12 April 1998Athens, GreeceClay Rita Kuti-Kis1–6, 6–2, 6–2
Runner-up10.4 May 1997Cardiff, Great BritainClay Květa Peschke5–7, 4–6
Winner11.17 May 1998Porto, PortugalClay Alexia Dechaume-Balleret6–2, 6–2
Winner12.4 October 1998Santa Clara, United StatesHard Amy Frazier2–6, 6–4, 6–2
Runner-up13.3 October 1999Santa Clara, United StatesHard Cara Black2–6, 1–6
Winner14.17 October 1999Largo, United StatesHard Marissa Irvin7–6, 6–1
Runner-up15.9 September 2001Fano, ItalyClay Zuzana Ondrášková6–3, 1–6, 5–7
Runner-up16.16 September 2001Bordeaux, FranceClay Lubomira Bacheva6–4, 1–6, 0–6
Winner17.11 June 2006Prostějov, Czech RepublicClay Romina Oprandiw/o

Doubles: 2 (0–2)

Head-to-head records against other players

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.