Barbara Schett

Barbara Schett Eagle (born 10 March 1976) is an Austrian former professional tennis player, who reached her highest singles ranking of world No. 7 in September 1999.

She played mostly at the ITF Circuit, and won the ITF tournament in Zaragoza in 1992.

Between 1993 and 2004 she played in 48 matches for the Austria Fed Cup team, winning 30.

In 1993, Schett broke into the top 200, and reached the quarterfinals at Kitzbühel and Montpellier.

In Kitzbühel, Schett defeated world No. 17 Katerina Maleeva in the third round, and lost in the quarterfinals to Judith Wiesner.

In 1994, Schett played her first Grand Slam tournament, qualifying at the Australian Open.

She fell in the second round of qualifications.

Schett reached her first semifinal at the WTA Tour at the Generali Ladies Linz, losing to Sabine Appelmans.

She made her grand slam debut at the French Open, but was defeated in the first round.

On 4 April 1994, Schett broke into the top 100 at No. 99.

The following year, she reached the semifinal of the Internazionali Femminili di Palermo and the quarterfinal of the ECM Prague Open, and also made her Fed Cup debut for Austria versus the United States.

Having started the season playing at the ASB Classic in Auckland, and the Medibank International in Sydney, Schett reached the fourth round at the Australian Open, losing to German player Anke Huber.

In the third round, she defeated Helena Suková.

The year's singles highlights of Schett include the quarterfinal of the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, her first title at the Internazionali Femminili di Palermo (victory over Sabine Hack), the first Tier I semifinal at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, and the defeat over world No. 8 Magdalena Maleeva at the Bausch & Lomb Championships.

That was her first victory over the top-10 player.

She also played for Austria in the Fed Cup versus Germany, losing her singles match to Steffi Graf.

Schett also reached the semifinals of the Mutua Madrileña (with Patty Schnyder), the Palermo title (with Janette Husárová) and the final of the Tier I Kremlin Cup (with Silvia Farina Elia, losing to the second seeds Natalia Medvedeva and Larisa Neiland).

This was the first year that Schett finished as a top 50 player, at the No. 38.

She started the season with the loss at the first round of ASB Classic in Auckland, and then lost at the Hobart International, also in the first round.

She reached the third round of the Australian Open, losing to the fourth seed and eventual winner Martina Hingis.

Schett then made the chain of three consecutive first-round losses, at the Open Gaz de France (Paris), in Hanover and at the Pacific Life Open (Indian Wells).

She then reached the fourth round of Miami Masters (lost to Iva Majoli in three sets, 2–6, 6–4, 2–6) and the third round in Hilton Head (lost to Martina Hingis with 3–6, 3–6).

Schett reached the second round of Bausch & Lomb Championships (lost in the second round to Jana Novotná), the quarterfinals in Hamburg (lost to Ruxandra Dragomir), the second round of the Italian Open (lost to Monica Seles) and the second round of the German Open (lost to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario).

Playing with Silvia Farina Elia, Schett reached the semifinals of the women's doubles tournament in Paris, and the quarterfinals of Hanover and Rome (Rome with Patty Schnyder).

At the second Grand Slam tournament of the season, the French Open, Schett retired from her first-round match.

Her next tournament was at Wimbledon where she lost in the second round to Magdalena Grzybowska (6–4, 3–6, 2–6).

Schett then reached her first consecutive final at Palermo, but lost to the second seed Sandrine Testud; also won the doubles title with Silvia Farina Elia.

She then lost in the first round of J&S Cup in Warsaw to Virginia Ruano Pascual.

Schett won her second tournament at the WTA Austria tournament in her native Austria, in Maria Lankowitz.

She defeated Henrieta Nagyová in the final.

She then made the chain of four consecutive second round losses, at the Atlanta tournament (lost to Sarah Pitkowski), US Open (lost to Kimberly Po), in Leipzig (lost to Iva Majoli) and in Filderstadt (lost to Anna Kournikova).

Schett finished the 1997 season at the Zurich Open.

She retired from her match of the first round, played against Ai Sugiyama.

Schett lost in the first round of ASB Classic to Julie Halard-Decugis; then reached the quarterfinal of Moorilla Hobart International (lost to Patty Schnyder).

She also reached the fourth round of the Australian Open, but was defeated by Conchita Martínez in straight sets, 6–3, 6–3.

After losses in early phases of the tournaments (Open Gaz de France, Hanover, Indian Wells, Miami, Hilton Head and Amelia Island), Schett reached the semifinal in Hamburg; she lost to the first seed Martina Hingis.

In Hamburg, she also captured the doubles title with Patty Schnyder.

She also represented Austria at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in singles and doubles, reaching the quarterfinals of the singles event.

She retired after the 2005 Australian Open and now works for Eurosport as a commentator and presenter.

Barbara Schett made her debut at the WTA Tour as a wildcard entrant for the tournament in Kitzbühel.