Aravane Rezaï

Aravane Rezaï is an Iranian-French tennis player born in Saint-Étienne, France to Iranian parents. She is the current French No. 2 in women's tennis. Rezaï took up tennis after a childhood stint as her older brother's ball girl. She has defeated many top players on the WTA, such as, Jelena Janković, Justine Henin, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, Dinara Safina, Francesca Schiavone, Caroline Wozniacki, Marion Bartoli, Victoria Azarenka, Flavia Pennetta, and Ai Sugiyama, . Her career high rank was No. 15, achieved on October 11, 2010.

At the 2010 Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, Rezaï caused a huge upset in the first round, defeating the former World No. 1 and four-time French Open champion Justine Henin 4–6 7–5 6–0. In the second round, she won the match against Klára Zakopalová 6–3 7–5. In the third round, she defeated Andrea Petkovic in two sets 6–4 7–6 (10–8). Then and in the fourth round, she made another big upset by defeating Jelena Janković in two straight sets 7–5, 6–4. In Semi-final she won the match against Lucie Šafářová 6–1, 0–0 retired, reaching the most important final in her career. She defeated Venus Williams in the final 6–2, 7–5, coming back from a 2–5 deficit and overcoming numerous set points to win. She now heads to the French Open with shortened odds. Because of her performance in this tournament, Rezaï reached a new high career ranking as number 16. Seeded 15th at the 2010 French Open, Rezaï fell to #19 Nadia Petrova in the third round in three sets.

At the grass season rezai played at the 2010 AEGON Classic cruising thorugh the semifinals without dropping a set but fell to eventual champion Li Na 6–1 3–6 6–3. She then played at the 2010 AEGON International, where she upset top seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-4 1-6 6-3 in the first round before retiring against María José Martínez Sánchez in the second round being down 6–2 3–0. At the 2010 Wimbledon Championships as the 18th seed she was upset by Klara Zakopalova 5–7 6–3 6–3 in the second round.

At the 2010 Swedish Open Rezai cruised through the finals with wins over Arantxa Parra Santonja and Lucie Šafářová where she faced Gisela Dulko and won 6–3, 4–6, 6–4 despite giving up a 4–0 lead in the third set but eventually won the last two games.

At the 2010 Cincinnati Open, Rezai was upset by 98th seed Bojana Jovanovski 4-6 6-3 6-4, even though she had breathtaking strokes, her serve was erratic with a high number of unforced errors.

Her disappointing level of play continued right up until the end of her season as she lost in the first round of the 2010 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions. She won the title in 2009 but lost to Alisa Kleybanova in the first round 6-1, 6-2.

stats
Country : Iran (2001-2005)
France(2005-present)
Residence : Saint-Étienne, France
Date of birth : March 14, 1987 (1987-03-14)
Height: 5'5" / 1.65m
Weight: 137 lbs. (62 kg)
Place of birth : Saint-Étienne, France
Career prize money : $2,463,634
Singles
Career record : 209 - 130
Career titles : 4 WTA, 7 ITF
Highest ranking : No. 15 (October 11, 2010)
Current ranking : No. 19 (November 8, 2010)