Iveta Benešová

Iveta Benešová (Czech pronunciation: [ˈɪvɛta ˈbɛnɛʃovaː]) (formerly Melzer, Czech: Melzerová; born 1 February 1983) is a Czech former professional tennis player. She began playing tennis at age of 7 and turned professional in 1998 in Prague. She has won two WTA Tour events and one Grand Slam in mixed doubles partnering with Jürgen Melzer at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships. On 14 September 2012 she married Jürgen Melzer and adopted his family name. She announced her retirement from professional tennis via her Facebook page 13/08/2014. In 2015, she divorced Melzer and reverted to using her maiden name.

2005–2008

Benešová was the first player to be beaten by Ana Ivanovic in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, at the 2005 Australian Open.

At the 2006 Australian Open, for the first time, she reached the third round of a Grand Slam by beating fifth seed Mary Pierce. She lost in the next round to former world number 1 Martina Hingis.

Entering as a qualifier in the 2008 French Open, she reached the third round, beating 15th seed and compatriate Nicole Vaidišová in the first round, but lost to Petra Cetkovská.

2009

Benešová at the 2009 French Open

Benešová started the year by playing the first edition of the Brisbane International. She lost in the first round to qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva. A week later, Benešová lost in the final of the tournament in Hobart to fellow-Czech Petra Kvitová. At the Australian Open, Benešová lost in the second round to eventual semifinalist and fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva.

Immediately after the Australian Open Series, Benešová played in front of her home crowd in the Fed Cup tie against Spain. Despite losing her singles rubber to Nuria Llagostera Vives, the Czech team advanced to the semifinals after winning the tie 4–1.

At the 2009 Open GDF Suez in Paris, Benešová lost in the first round to world number 1 Serena Williams. Benešová then reached the semifinals of the tournament in Acapulco, a clay court event. In the quarterfinals, Benešová beat Mathilde Johansson before losing in the semifinals to defending champion Flavia Pennetta.

On 6 April 2009, Benešová achieved her career-high singles ranking of world number 25.

Benešová was seeded sixth at the first edition of the Monterrey Open. She beat fellow Czech Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová in the quarterfinals before losing in the semifinals to unseeded Li Na.

Benešová fell to Ana Ivanovic in the third round of the 2009 French Open.

At the 2009 Wimbledon Championships, Benešová beat Britain's Katie O'Brien in the first round, before falling to Jelena Janković in the second round.

2010

In singles, she defeated Romanian Simona Halep in the final of 2010 Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem to win her first WTA Tour trophy since 2004.

In doubles, she has won three titles. Along with Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, she grabbed the titles in Paris as their opponents Cara Black and Liezel Huber withdrew and Monterrey defeating Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Vania King. Partnering with Anabel Medina Garrigues, she won Fes, making her winning both singles and doubles in the tournament.

Benešová at the 2008 French Open

2011

Benešová reached the fourth round of the 2011 Australian Open, but was defeated by second seed Vera Zvonareva.

Along with Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová she won four titles in doubles.

At the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, Benešová won the mixed doubles title with partner and later husband Jürgen Melzer.

2012

Benešová once again reached the fourth round of the 2012 Australian Open, being defeated by eventual champion Victoria Azarenka in straight sets.

On 29 April 2012 she won her last title at the Stuttgart doubles, again with Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová.

She paused from playing tournaments until February 2014, mainly due to shoulder problems.

2014

In her first tournament as Iveta Melzer, she and her partner Petra Cetkovska reached the final of the Acapulco doubles which they lost in the third set.

At the French Open she played the mixed doubles with her husband Jürgen, they lost in the first round against top seeded Alexander Peya and Abigail Spears. It was their last Grand Slam mixed appearance together, at the Wimbledon mixed doubles Jürgen Melzer partnered Anabel Medina Garrigues.

Iveta Melzer ended her career on 15 August 2014, as her shoulder problems prevented her from playing her best tennis.

On 14 September 2012 she married Austrian tennis player Jürgen Melzer in Austria at Laxenburg Castle. The relationship ended in 2015 and Iveta changed her name back to Benešová.

Mixed Doubles (1–0)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	2011	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Jürgen Melzer	Mahesh Bhupathi Elena Vesnina	6–3, 6–2

Singles: 8 (2 titles, 6 runners-up)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	18 October 2002	WTA Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia	Hard (i)	Maja Matevžič	0–6, 1–6
Winner	1.	7 March 2004	Abierto Mexicano TELCEL, Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	Flavia Pennetta	7–6(7–5), 6–4
Runner-up	2.	20 April 2004	Estoril Open, Estoril, Portugal	Clay	Émilie Loit	5–7, 6–7(1–7)
Runner-up	3.	28 August 2004	Forest Hills, Queens, Forest Hills, United States	Hard	Elena Likhovtseva	3–6, 2–6
Runner-up	4.	16 January 2006	Moorilla Hobart International, Hobart, Australia	Hard	Michaëlla Krajicek	1–6, 2–6
Runner-up	5.	20 May 2008	Estoril Open, Estoril, Portugal	Clay	Maria Kirilenko	4–6, 2–6
Runner-up	6.	16 January 2009	Moorilla Hobart International, Hobart, Australia	Hard	Petra Kvitová	5–7, 1–6
Winner	2.	1 May 2010	Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Fes, Morocco	Clay	Simona Halep	6–4, 6–2

Doubles: 26 (14 titles, 12 runners-up)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	18 July 2004	Bank of the West Classic, Stanford, United States	Hard	Claudine Schaul	Eleni Daniilidou Nicole Pratt	2–6, 4–6
Winner	1.	13 February 2005	Open Gaz de France, Paris, France	Carpet	Květa Peschke	Anabel Medina Garrigues Dinara Safina	6–2, 2–6, 6–2
Runner-up	2.	24 April 2005	Family Circle Cup, Charleston, United States	Clay (green)	Kveta Peschke	Conchita Martínez Virginia Ruano Pascual	1–6, 4–6
Runner-up	3.	18 June 2005	Ordina Open, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Nuria Llagostera Vives	Anabel Medina Garrigues Dinara Safina	6–4, 2–6, 7–6(11-9)
Runner-up	4.	15 October 2006	Kremlin Cup, Moscow, Russia	Carpet	Galina Voskoboeva	Francesca Schiavone Květa Peschke	4–6, 7–6(7-4), 1–6
Runner-up	5.	6 January 2007	Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast, Australia	Hard	Galina Voskoboeva	Dinara Safina Katarina Srebotnik	3–6, 4–6
Winner	2.	30 September 2007	Fortis Championships Luxembourg, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Hard	Janette Husárová	Victoria Azarenka Shahar Pe'er	6–4, 6–2
Winner	3.	23 February 2008	Copa Colsanitas, Bogotá, Colombia	Clay	Bethanie Mattek	Jelena Kostanić Tošić Martina Müller	6–3, 6–3
Runner-up	6.	1 March 2008	Abierto Mexicano Telcel, Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	Petra Cetkovská	Nuria Llagostera Vives María José Martínez Sánchez	2–6, 4–6
Runner-up	7.	18 May 2008	Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Rome, Italy	Clay	Janette Husárová	Chuang Chia-jung Chan Yung-jan	6–7(5–7), 3–6
Winner	4.	3 August 2008	Nordea Nordic Light Open, Stockholm, Sweden	Hard	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Petra Cetkovská Lucie Šafářová	7–5, 6–4
Runner-up	8.	2 March 2009	Monterrey Open, Monterrey, Mexico	Hard	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Mara Santangelo Nathalie Dechy	3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	9.	13 July 2009	ECM Prague Open, Prague, Czech Republic	Clay	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Kateryna Bondarenko Alona Bondarenko	1–6, 2–6
Runner-up	10.	29 August 2009	Pilot Pen Tennis, New Haven, United States	Hard	Lucie Hradecká	Nuria Llagostera Vives María José Martínez Sánchez	2–6, 6–7
Winner	5.	25 October 2009	BGL Luxembourg Open, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Hard (i)	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Vladimíra Uhlířová Renata Voráčová	6–1, 0–6, [10–7]
Winner	6.	14 February 2010	Open Gaz de France, Paris, France	Hard (i)	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Cara Black Liezel Huber	w/o
Winner	7.	7 March 2010	Monterrey Open, Monterrey, Mexico	Hard	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Anna-Lena Grönefeld Vania King	3–6, 6–4, [10–8]
Winner	8.	1 May 2010	Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Fes, Morocco	Clay	Anabel Medina Garrigues	Lucie Hradecká Renata Voráčová	6–3, 6–1
Winner	9.	2 October 2010	Toray Pan Pacific Open, Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Shahar Pe'er Peng Shuai	6–4, 4–6, [10–8]
Runner-up	11.	24 October 2010	BGL Luxembourg Open, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Hard (i)	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Timea Bacsinszky Tathiana Garbin	4–6, 4–6
Winner	10.	14 January 2011	Medibank International Sydney, Sydney, Australia	Hard	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik	4–6, 6–4, [10–7]
Winner	11.	6 March 2011	Monterrey Open, Monterrey, Mexico	Hard	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Anna-Lena Grönefeld Vania King	6–7(8–10), 6–2, [10–6]
Winner	12.	1 May 2011	Barcelona Ladies Open, Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Natalie Grandin Vladimíra Uhlířová	5–7, 6–4, [11–9]
Winner	13.	25 October 2011	BGL Luxembourg Open, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Hard (i)	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Lucie Hradecká Ekaterina Makarova	7–5, 6–3
Winner	14.	29 April 2012	Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Stuttgart, Germany	Clay	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Julia Görges Anna-Lena Grönefeld	6–4, 7–5
Runner-up	12.	2 March 2014	Abierto Mexicano Telcel, Acapulco, Mexico	Hard	Petra Cetkovská	Kristina Mladenovic Galina Voskoboeva	3-6, 6-2, [5-10]