Iva Majoli

Iva Majoli (born 12 August 1977) is a Croatian former professional tennis player who played for both Yugoslavia and Croatia.

In her early years, Iva Majoli was coached by her father Stanko, Jelena Genčić, and Nick Bollettieri, whose academy she joined in 1990.

She turned professional in September the same year, when she played her first professional match in Makarska, representing Yugoslavia, losing in the first round to Ruxandra Dragomir.

Majoli had her WTA main draw debut at the 1992 Virginia Slims of Houston in April.

Aged 14 and ranked ranked No. 537, she reached the quarterfinals as a wildcard entry, beating Lindsay Davenport and world no. 24 Lori McNeil, before losing to the eventual finalist Zina Garrison.

Later that year she played her first Grand Slam at the 1992 US Open, reaching the 2nd round.

She reached two more WTA quarterfinals that year, at the 1992 Bank of the West Classic in Oakland (beat Karina Habšudová and Lori McNeil, lost to world no.1 Monica Seles) and at the Indianapolis Tennis Classic (beat world no. 14 Nathalie Tauziat in the 2nd round).

She finished her first full WTA season ranked no. 50, improving 748 spots.

Majoli reached two quarterfinals in 1993, at the 1993 Virginia Slims of Chicago in February (lost to Mary Joe Fernández in 3s) and at the Bank of the West Classic in Oakland (lost to no. 3 Martina Navratilova in 3s).

At the 1993 French Open, she reached the second week of Roland Garros in her first attempt without dropping a set, beating the 15th seed Sabine Hack of Germany, and losing to Steffi Graf 4:6 6:7 in the 4th round, having led 4:2 in the first set and 6:5 in the second.

After the match, the media dubbed her "the new Monica Seles".

She finished the year ranked no 46 and received the WTA Newcomer of the Year award.

In 1994 Majoli reached three WTA finals, at the Asia Women's Tennis Open Osaka (lost to Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere in 3s in the last match of Maleeva's career), at the Barcelona Ladies Open (beat Conchita Martínez and Magdalena Maleeva, lost to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario), and at the Nokia Grand Prix Essen (beat Anke Huber, lost to Jana Novotná).

Other notable results include a semifinal showing at Indian Wells (lost to Graf), a semifinal at Hilton Head (beat world no.6 Gabriela Sabatini for her first career top-10 victory, lost to Conchita Martínez in 3s), and at the Acura U.S. Women's Hardcourt Championships where she beat Pam Shriver and Mary Joe Fernández, before losing to Sánchez Vicario.

She also defended her 4th-round points at the French Open and reached the 4th round at the US Open.

On June 20, 1994, she entered the top 20 ranking, aged 16 years and 10 months.

In November, Majoli qualified for the year-end championship at the Virginia Slims of New York for the first time in her career, losing to Novotná in the first round.

She finished the year at a career-high ranking of world no. 13.

Majoli started the 1995 season reaching the semifinals in Tokyo in January and Paris in February.

In April, she again reached the finals of WTA Barcelona, and again lost to Sánchez Vicario.

In June she reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career, beating Mary Pierce in the 4th round at the French Open (l. to Kimiko Date in the quarterfinals).

In October the same year she recorded a 10-match winning streak which included four top-10 victories and her first two WTA titles in two consecutive weeks.

Majoli's first career title came at the WTA Zurich, a Tier 1 tournament, where she scored upsets over Jana Novotná, Chanda Rubin and Mary Pierce in the final, winning the title with a 6-4 6–4 scoreline.

The following week Majoli won the WTA Filderstadt, again beating Pierce and Rubin and upsetting Gabriela Sabatini in the final 6-4 7–6.

After Filderstadt, Majoli reached her new career-high ranking of world no. 9 in October 1995, at the age of 18 years and 2 months.

She would stay in the top 10 for 138 consecutive weeks.

At the end of the year Majoli qualified for the WTA finals for the second year in a row, again losing in the first round, this time to C. Martinez after leading 6:1 4:1.

She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4, in February 1996.

Majoli was born in Zagreb in SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia to Stanko (father), and Dragica (mother).

She has an older brother Drago and an older sister Nina.

Majoli started the 1996 by playing at the Australian open for the first time in her career.

She went on to reach the quarterfinals without dropping a set, and then lost to the eventual champion Monica Seles.

After the Australian Open, Majoli captured her second Tier I title in Tokyo, where she beat the reigning world no. 1 Monica Seles in the quarterfinals, the future no. 1 Martina Hingis in the semifinals, and the former no. 1 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the final.

After Tokyo, Majoli reached her career-high ranking of world no. 4. at the age of 18 years, 5 months and 24 days.

She kept this ranking for 51 weeks in total.

After Tokyo, Majoli reached the final of WTA Paris (l. to Julie Halard-Decugis 5-7 6–7) and won WTA Essen (beat Novotná in the final 7–6 in the third set).

After reaching at least the final in three of the last four tournaments, Majoli lost in the quarterfinals of Hilton Head and the second round of WTA Bol in her native Croatia.

She bounced back at the 1996 Rome where she reached the semifinals (l. to C. Martinez) and the semifinals of Berlin (l. to Graf).

After Berlin, Majoli briefly led the Championships Race standings.

She won three WTA Tier I singles tournaments and upset Martina Hingis to win the women's singles title at the French Open in 1997.