Sunitha Rao

Sunitha Rao
	Rao at the 2008 Coleman Vision Tennis Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Country (sports)	United States (2000–09); India (2007–09; Fed Cup and Olympic tournaments only)
Residence	Bradenton, Florida
Born	October 27, 1985 (age 39); Jersey City, New Jersey
Height	5 ft 7 in (170 cm)
Turned pro	2004
Retired	2009
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$ 238,224
Singles
Career record	196–188
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 144 (July 7, 2008)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	Q3 (2003, 2005)
French Open	Q2 (2005, 2006)
Wimbledon	Q3 (2003)
US Open	Q3 (2007)
Doubles
Career record	107–105
Career titles	8 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 108 (May 19, 2008)
Other doubles tournaments
Olympic Games	2R (2008)

Sunitha Rao (born October 27, 1985) is an Indian-American former professional tennis player, who represented India in international tournaments. She won eight doubles titles on the ITF Circuit in her career. On July 7, 2008, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 144.^[1] On May 19, 2008, she peaked at No. 108 in the doubles rankings.

Playing for India Fed Cup team, she has a win–loss record of 5–6.^[2] Rao also is the fourth female tennis player in history representing India to enter the top-200 world rankings, after Nirupama Sanjeev, Shikha Uberoi, and Sania Mirza.

Personal life

Rao was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1985 and was raised by her Indian immigrant parents Manohar and Savithri, who were from Chennai.^[3]

Career

2002–2007

Rao played her first WTA Tour match at the 2002 Brasil Open, where she defeated Vanessa Henke in the first round. She was beaten by Anastasia Myskina in the second round.

Rao played at the 2004 Korea Open where she was beaten by Miho Saeki in the first round. Rao participated at the 2005 Internationaux de Strasbourg, but was overpowered by Iveta Benešová in the first round. Then she played at the Sunfeast Open where she beat Neha Uberoi in the first round before falling to Elena Likhovtseva.

She took part at the 2006 Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic, where she lost to Angelique Widjaja in the first round. She also suffered a first-round defeat at the 2006 Sunfeast Open to Nicole Pratt. Rao defeated Sandy Gumulya in the first round of the 2007 Sunfeast Open to advance to the second round where she lost to Anne Keothavong. She then lost in the first round of the 2007 Challenge Bell to Alina Jidkova.

2008

Rao received an entry into the PTT Pattaya Open via a lucky loser spot. She beat Junri Namigata before losing to Ekaterina Bychkova. Then, at the Copa Colsanitas, she lost to Edina Gallovits in the first round.

Rao received the best result of her WTA career at the 2008 DFS Classic in Birmingham. She beat Petra Kvitová (who would be the future world No. 2 and Wimbledon titlist) in the first round and Naomi Cavaday in the second before falling to Alona Bondarenko in the third round.

She partnered with Sania Mirza, representing India in the women's doubles event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.^[4]^[5] They got a walkover in round one, but lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina of Russia in round two.

Rao announced retirement from tennis in 2009. She graduated from the Babson College in 2014 and works in the real estate business.^[6]

ITF finals

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

Singles (0–7)

Result	No.	Date	Location	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1.	February 24, 2002	Mumbai, India	Hard	Peng Shuai	3–6, 6–7^(3–7)
Loss	2.	November 10, 2002	Mexico City	Hard	Olga Vymetálková	6–7^(2–7), 3–6
Loss	3.	October 17, 2004	Mackay, Australia	Hard	Evie Dominikovic	5–7, 3–6
Loss	4.	October 24, 2004	Rockhampton, Australia	Hard	Evie Dominikovic	0–6, 0–2 ret.
Loss	5.	July 8, 2007	Southlake, United States	Hard	Alexa Glatch	2–6, 5–7
Loss	6.	October 14, 2007	San Francisco, United States	Hard	Ashley Harkleroad	1–6, 2–6
Loss	7.	March 22, 2008	Noida, India	Hard	Anastasija Sevastova	2–6, 1–6

Doubles (8–7)

Result	No.	Date	Location	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1.	January 18, 2004	Tampa, United States	Hard	Milangela Morales	Alisa Kleybanova Mayumi Yamamoto	2–6, 4–6
Loss	2.	May 16, 2004	Charlottesville, United States	Clay	Vilmarie Castellvi	Erica Krauth Jessica Lehnhoff	0–6, 1–6
Win	1.	November 14, 2004	Port Pirie, Australia	Hard	Casey Dellacqua	Daniella Dominikovic Evie Dominikovic	4–6, 6–3, 7–6⁽⁶⁾
Win	2.	November 13, 2005	Port Pirie, Australia	Hard	Gréta Arn	Monique Adamczak Christina Horiatopoulos	6–4, 3–6, 6–2
Win	3.	November 27, 2005	Mount Gambier, Australia	Hard	Ryōko Fuda	Gréta Arn Anastasia Rodionova	6–1, ret.
Win	4.	May 7, 2006	Charlottesville, United States	Clay	Marie-Ève Pelletier	Maria Fernanda Alves Lilia Osterloh	6–7⁽⁶⁾, 6–2, 6–3
Loss	3.	July 23, 2006	Hammond, United States	Hard	Ryōko Fuda	Christina Fusano Raquel Kops-Jones	6–7⁽³⁾, 6–4, 1–6
Loss	4.	October 8, 2006	Traralgon, Australia	Hard	Casey Dellacqua	Christina Horiatopoulos Raquel Kops-Jones	2–6, 6–7⁽⁵⁾
Win	5.	October 15, 2006	Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Casey Dellacqua	Daniella Dominikovic Evie Dominikovic	6–3, 6–2
Loss	5.	January 20, 2007	Fort Walton Beach, United States	Hard	Marie-Ève Pelletier	Angelika Bachmann Tetiana Luzhanska	7–5, 6–7⁽⁷⁾, 6–7⁽⁴⁾
Win	6.	June 2, 2007	Carson, United States	Hard	Kim Grant	Angela Haynes Lindsay Lee-Waters	6–4, 6–4
Win	7.	June 17, 2007	Allentown, United States	Hard	Ryōko Fuda	Angela Haynes Lindsay Lee-Waters	6–7⁽³⁾, 6–4, 6–1
Loss	6.	March 14, 2008	New Delhi, India	Hard	Aurélie Védy	Ji Chunmei Sun Shengnan	6–2, 2–6, [4–10]
Win	8.	May 11, 2008	Zagreb Ladies Open, Croatia	Clay	Melinda Czink	Stéphanie Foretz Jelena Kostanić Tošić	6–4, 6–2
Loss	7.	October 5, 2008	Troy, United States	Hard	Angela Haynes	Raquel Kops-Jones Abigail Spears	2–6, 0–6