Catalina Castaño
Catalina Castaño Álvarez is a retired tennis player from Colombia. Her highest singles WTA ranking of 35 she achieved in 2006.
In her career, she won ten titles on the ITF Women's Circuit, six in singles, as well as one doubles title on tournaments of the WTA 125K series.
Castaño has defeated top 20 players such as Nicole Vaidišová, Anna-Lena Grönefeld, Patty Schnyder, Paola Suárez, Li Na and Lucie Šafářová. She was coached by Peruvian-born British citizen Pablo Giacopelli since 2004.
Career summary
1999–2004
In 1999 she won her first ITF title in Santiago. The following year she won two ITF titles in Midlothian and Cali. In 2001, she reached the quarterfinals in her home tournament of Bogotá, Colombia. In 2002, Castaño advanced the semifinals in Bogotá. She reached four ITF finals, winning two of them - in Gorizia and Campobasso. She won 39 matches in the year and lost 18. In 2004, she reached the quarterfinals in Bogotá for the third time. She also has the distinction of being the last player to be defeated by Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon in the ladies singles, losing the match 0–6, 1–6. She won her sixth ITF title in Orbetello.2005
In April, she won five matches in Miami including back-to-back wins over world No. 19 Paola Suárez and world No. 13 Patty Schnyder, before falling to world No. 9 Venus Williams in three sets in the round of 16. In May, she won four matches in Rome before losing to world No. 10 Vera Zvonareva in the round of 16. In August, she reached her first ever WTA Tour final in Budapest. She lost to the top seed Anna Smashnova in the final, in straight sets. In October, she reached the semifinals in Seoul but lost to the eventual champion Nicole Vaidišová.2006
She commenced January with a semifinal showing in Canberra and passed the first round of the Australian Open for the first time. In Charleston in mid April, Catalina reached her first Tier I quarterfinal after she defeated Ashley Harkleroad, Nicole Vaidišová and Marion Bartoli. Her twi-sets win over Vaidišová, who was ranked 14 at the time, was her best win of the year. The following week in Berlin, Catalina beat Anna-Lena Grönefeld, who was ranked 14 at the time. It was Catalina's second win over a top 15 player in as many weeks. In May, she reached the quarterfinals in Istanbul for the first time. She reached her highest ranking of No. 35 on July 16.2007
Catalina commenced the new season with a solid start, recording two quarterfinal appearances at the Gold Coast and Hobart in January. At the Gold Coast, she defeated Li Na who was ranked 21 at the time.2014
Castaño retired from professional tennis after a diagnosis of breast cancer.WTA career finals
Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Runner-up | 1. | 31 July 2005 | Budapest Grand Prix, Hungary | Clay |  Anna Smashnova | 2–6, 2–6 |
Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Winner | 1. | 22 July 2012 | Swedish Open, Båstad | Clay |  Mariana Duque Mariño |  Eva Hrdinová  Mervana Jugić-Salkić | 4–6, 7–5, |
| Runner-up | 1. | 2 March 2013 | Abierto Mexicano Telcel, Acapulco | Clay | Mariana Duque Mariño |  Lourdes Domínguez Lino Arantxa Parra Santonja | 4–6, 6–7 |
WTA 125K series finals
Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)
Doubles: 1 (1 title)
ITF finals
Singles (6–7)
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Winner | 1. | 29 March 1999 | Santiago, Chile | Clay |  María Fernanda Landa | 6–4, 6–2 |
| Runner-up | 1. | 18 October 1999 | Nashville, United States | Hard | Florencia Labat | 1–6, 1–6 |
| Winner | 2. | 8 May 2000 | Midlothian, Canada | Clay |  Evelyn Fauth | 6–3, 7–5 |
| Runner-up | 2. | 23 April 2000 | San Luis Potosí, Mexico | Clay |  Milagros Sequera | 4–6, 6–3, 5–7 |
| Runner-up | 3. | 13 November 2000 | Naples, United States | Clay |  Yvette Basting | 0-4, 0-4, 2-4 |
| Winner | 3. | 10 December 2000 | Bogotá, Colombia | Clay | Fabiola Zuluaga | 4-1 ret. |
| Runner-up | 4. | 14 October 2001 | Hallandale Beach, United States | Clay | Fabiola Zuluaga | 6–3, 3–6, 4-3 ret. |
| Winner | 4. | 1 June 2003 | Campobasso, Italy | Clay |  Nina Bratchikova | 6–2, 6–2 |
| Runner-up | 5. | 9 June 2003 | Grado, Italy | Clay |  Martina Suchá | 1–6, 2–6 |
| Winner | 5. | 16 June 2003 | Gorizia, Italy | Clay | Michaela Paštiková | 7–6, 6–4 |
| Runner-up | 6. | 1 September 2003 | Fano, Italy | Clay | Cristina Torrens Valero | 3–6, 7–5, 3–6 |
| Winner | 6. | 29 June 2004 | Orbetello, Italy | Clay |  Alona Bondarenko | 2–6, 6–2, 6–3 |
| Runner-up | 7. | 24 June 2012 | Montpellier, France | Clay |  Séverine Beltrame | 2–6, 6–7 |
Doubles (4–3)
Singles performance timeline
Doubles performance timeline
Head-to-head records against other players
Players who have been ranked World No. 1 are in boldface.- Nadia Petrova 0-1
- Serena Williams 0–1