Sonja Molnar-Palmer (born April 29, 1990) is a Canadian former professional tennis player. She reached a career- high singles ranking of 488 by the WTA in January 2014. She played for the Iowa Hawkeyes from 2009 to 2012 and turned professional after. Molnar played her last match in August 2015 at the Challenger de Gatineau.[1]

Sonja Molnar-Palmer
Country (sports) Canada
ResidenceGuelph, Ontario, Canada
Born (1990-04-29) April 29, 1990 (age 34)
Brampton, Ontario
Height1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Turned pro2012
Retired2015
PlaysRight (two-handed backhand)
CollegeIowa Hawkeyes
Prize money$28,639
Singles
Career record68–62 (52.3%)
Career titles3 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 488 (January 6, 2014)
Doubles
Career record44–48 (47.8%)
Career titles1 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 274 (October 27, 2014)

Tennis career edit

2008–12 edit

Molnar made her debut in July 2008 at the $25k event in Waterloo, reaching the second round in singles and the quarterfinals in doubles.[2] Molnar decided to go to College instead of turning professional in 2009 and was a four-time All-Big Ten performer for the Iowa Hawkeyes until 2012. She was also named Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2009 and finished her career with 100 singles victories for only 32 losses, the third highest total in program history.[3] She also amassed a 69–44 record in doubles.[4] In August 2012, Molnar was awarded a wildcard to play qualifying at the WTA tournament in Montreal, but lost to Mirjana Lučić-Baroni in the first round.[5]

2013 edit

Molnar won her first professional singles title at the beginning of January at the $10k event in Fort-de-France with a victory over Shérazad Reix.[3] She also reached a week later her first professional doubles final at the $10k tournament in Saint Martin.[6] In October, Molnar made it to semifinals in doubles of the $25k event in Tampico.[7] Molnar reached at the end of October the semifinals in doubles of the $50k Toronto Challenger.[8]

2014–15 edit

In mid-January 2014 at the $10k event in Saint Martin, Molnar made it to the second professional singles final of her career, but was defeated by Hsu Ching-wen.[9] At the Sumter $10k event in May 2014, she reached the second professional doubles final of her career, but lost to Sophie Chang and Andie Daniell.[10] A week later at the $10k event in Hilton Head, Molnar won her first pro doubles title with a straight-sets win over Lauren Albanese and Macall Harkins.[11] At the end of June 2014, Molnar won the second singles title of her career with a victory over Tori Kinard at the $10k event in Victoria.[12] In September 2014 at the Coupe Banque Nationale, she was awarded a wildcard in doubles which was her first WTA Tour main draw. She lost in the quarterfinals to Barbora Krejčíková and Tatjana Maria.[13] In late October 2014, Molnar reached her biggest doubles final to date at the $50k Saguenay Challenger where she was eliminated by Ysaline Bonaventure and Nicola Slater.[14] In late January 2015, Molnar reached the doubles final of the $10k event in Saint Martin but lost in straight sets to Alexa Guarachi and Ayaka Okuno.[15] In June 2015, she won her third pro singles title after defeating Alexa Graham at the $10k event in Bethany Beach.[16] She played her last match in August 2015 at the Challenger de Gatineau[1]

ITF Circuit finals edit

Legend
$100,000 tournaments
$75,000 tournaments
$50,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments

Singles: 4 (3 titles, 1 runner-up) edit

Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Jan 2013 Fort-de-France, France 10,000 Hard   Shérazad Reix 6–2, 6–0
Loss 1–1 Jan 2014 Saint Martin, France 10,000 Hard   Hsu Ching-wen 6–4, 4–6, 0–6
Win 2–1 Jun 2014 Victoria, Canada 10,000 Hard (i)   Tori Kinard 6–4, 7–5
Win 3–1 Jun 2015 Bethany Beach, United States 10,000 Clay   Alexa Graham 6–1, 7–5

Doubles: 5 (1 title, 4 runner-ups) edit

Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Jan 2013 ITF Saint Martin, France 10,000 Hard   Erin Clark   Estelle Cascino
  Léa Tholey
3–6, 3–6
Loss 0–2 May 2014 ITF Sumter, United States 10,000 Hard   Caitlin Whoriskey   Sophie Chang
  Andie Daniell
1–6, 3–6
Win 1–2 Jun 2014 ITF Hilton Head, United States 10,000 Hard   Caitlin Whoriskey   Lauren Albanese
  Macall Harkins
6–3, 6–4
Loss 1–3 Oct 2014 Challenger de Saguenay, Canada 50,000 Hard (i)   Caitlin Whoriskey   Ysaline Bonaventure
  Nicola Slater
4–6, 4–6
Loss 1–4 Jan 2015 ITF Saint Martin, France 10,000 Hard   Lena Litvak   Alexa Guarachi
  Ayaka Okuno
5–7, 3–6

Record against top 100 players edit

Molnar's win–loss record against players who were ranked world No. 100 or higher when played is as follows:[17]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "ITF profile - Sonja Molnar". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved May 8, 2017.
  2. ^ "Drawsheet: $25,000 Waterloo". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  3. ^ a b "Molnar wins professional tournament - Former Hawkeye takes home Martinique championship". HawkEyeSports.com. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  4. ^ "Iowa Hawkeyes profile - Sonja Molnar". HawkEyeSports.com. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  5. ^ "Peliwo, Pokrajac bow out of Rogers Cup qualifying". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  6. ^ "Drawsheet: $10,000 Saint Martin (Guadeloupe)". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  7. ^ "Drawsheet: $25,000 Tampico". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved October 12, 2013.
  8. ^ "Drawsheet: $50,000 Toronto". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
  9. ^ "Drawsheet: $10,000 Saint Martin (Guadeloupe)". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  10. ^ "Drawsheet: $10,000 Sumter, SC". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved June 16, 2014.
  11. ^ "Drawsheet: $10,000 Hilton Head Island, SC". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved June 16, 2014.
  12. ^ "Drawsheet: $10,000 Victoria, BC". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
  13. ^ "Doubles main draw" (PDF). WTATennis.com. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
  14. ^ "Drawsheet: $50,000 Saguenay". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
  15. ^ "Drawsheet: $10,000 Saint Martin (Guadeloupe)". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
  16. ^ "Drawsheet: $10,000 Bethany Beach, DE". ITFTennis.com. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  17. ^ "Results". WTATennis.com. Retrieved July 24, 2016.

External links edit