Shahar Pe'er (Hebrew: שחר פ×?ר, pronounced: SHAH-ḥar PEH-er ) (born May 1, 1987, Jerusalem, Israel) is a 1.71 m (5' 7") right-handed professional female tennis player. On January 29, 2007, she achieved her highest WTA ranking of # 15, and (together with Anna Smashnova) became the highest ranked Israeli tennis player ever.
Pe'er started her competitive tennis career at the age of six, and won her first title at the age of 12 when she captured the Eddie Herr International Doubles title with Nicole Vaidišová (later her vanquished foe in the 2004 Australian Open junior's final). She reached the Eddie Herr singles final as well.
In the Fall of 2001, Pe'er took first place in the Nike Junior Tour International Masters tennis tournament in the Bahamas, and soon became the youngest Israeli tennis player ever to win the Israeli women's tennis championship. It was also in late 2001, that Pe'er won the 55th annual Ericsson Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships under-14 girls' title without dropping a single set, competing with 127 girls in what is considered the unofficial world championships for youth.
In March 2002 Pe'er won the Bat Yam International singles title, and was a doubles finalist. In April, she was victorious at the Haifa International doubles event and in March of the following year, won the Aamata Cup in Thailand.
Pe'er's first major accomplishment came in the 2004 Australian Open, where she won the juniors' championship, beating her partner turned nemesis, Nicole Vaidišová 6-1, 6-4, in the final.
As a 19-year-old, Pe'er joined the Israeli military, as military service is mandatory in Israel. When not abroad participating in tennis tournaments, she spends her mornings working as an administrative secretary for the Israeli military, and her afternoons practicing tennis.
Pe'er turned professional in 2004, a year during which she played both the ITF Circuit and the WTA Tour.
In 2005 Pe'er first played the main draw of a Grand Slam event, reaching the third round in both the French Open and the U.S. Open. Pe'er finished 2005 ranked 45 in the world.
In January 2006 in Canberra, Australia, she lost a marathon semi-final match against Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues that lasted 3 hours and 45 minutes, with a scoreline of 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 6-4.
In May 2006 she stunned world # 15 Anna-Lena Grönefeld of Germany in the semi-finals 6-0, 6-2, and then upset world # 12 Anastasia Myskina of Russia, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3) to win in the finals of a level III event in Turkey.
At the 2006 French Open, Pe'er defeated world # 8 Elena Dementieva of Russia in the round of 32, 6-4, 7-5, but lost to Martina Hingis, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, in their fourth-round match. In August she defeated Myskina in three sets again, this time 7-6(6), 5-7, 6-4, in Montreal.
Pe'er reached the fourth round of the 2006 U.S. Open, defeating world # 15 Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-6(3) along the way, but fell to Justine Henin Hardenne, 6-0, 6-1.
Pe'er finished 2006 ranked 20th in the world, after winning her first three WTA singles titles that year in Pattaya, Prague, and Istanbul.
In an Australian warm-up to the open, in January 2007 Pe'er defeated world # 14 Ana Ivanović of Serbia 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. In a second warm-up tournament she beat world # 9 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 7-6(3), 6-2.
At the 2007 Australian Open, Pe'er made history by becoming the first Israeli woman to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event. In the 4th round she defeated world # 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-4 6-2. In the quarterfinal she was defeated by eventual champion Serena Williams 3-6, 6-2, 8-6.
In March 2007 at Indian Wells, she defeated world # 11 Anna Chakvetadze of Russia 6-4, 7-6(2).
The following month at the 2007 Miami Masters, Pe'er made it to her first Tier 1 tournament Semifinals. In the 4th round, Pe'er again defeated Kuznetsova, now ranked # 3 in the world, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. In the quarterfinals Pe'er defeated Tathiana Garbin easily, 6-0, 6-3. In the semifinals she was defeated again by eventual champion Serena Williams, 7-6, 6-1. Pe'er received 225 ranking points and moved one place up, to 15th place.
At the 2007 Rome Masters, Pe'er was defeated in the 3rd round, again by Serena Williams, 6-3 6-3. It was her fourth career loss to Williams and the third in 2007.
After beating Kuznetsova twice earlier in 2007, Pe'er and Kuznetsova met for the third time at the fourth round of the 2007 French Open. Kuznetsova won 6-4, 6-3.
Pe'er is 15-7 in Fed Cup matches for Israel in 2002-07, having won her last 11 singles matches (she had won 15 matches in a row before losing a doubles game against Canada).
Legend
Grand Slam (0)
WTA Championships (0)
Tier I (0)
Tier II (0)
Tier III (1)
Tier IV (2)
No.
Date
Tournament
Surface
Opponent in the final
Score
1.
February 12, 2006
Pattaya City
Hard
Jelena Kostanić Tošić
6-3 6-1
2.
May 8, 2006
Prague
Clay
Samantha Stosur
4-6 6-2 6-1
3.
May 22, 2006
Istanbul
Clay
Anastasia Myskina
1-6 6-3 7-6
No.
Date
Tournament
Surface
Opponent in the final
Score
1.
February 24, 2007
Memphis, Tennessee, USA
Hard
Venus Williams
1-6 1-6
No.
Date
Tournament
Surface
Partner
Opponent in the final
Score
1.
May 14, 2006
Prague, Czech Republic
Clay
Marion Bartoli
Ashley Harkleroad
Bethanie Mattek
6-4 6-4
2.
July 30, 2006
Stanford, California
Hard
Anna-Lena Grönefeld
Maria Elena Camerin
Gisela Dulko
6-1 6-4
No.
Date
Tournament
Surface
Opponent in the final
Score
1.
November 16, 2003
Ramat HaSharon, Israel
Hard
Volha Havartsova
6-1 6-0
2.
November 30, 2003
Haifa, Israel
Hard
Volha Havartsova
6-1 6-7 6-3
3.
February 28, 2004
Bendigo, Australia
Hard
Suchanun Viratprasert
6-4 7-5
4.
December 5, 2004
Raanana, Israel
Hard
Zsofia Gubacsi
6-2 6-1
No.
Date
Tournament
Surface
Partner
Opponent in the final
Score
1.
June 13, 2004
Marseille, France
Hard
Elena Vesnina
Kildine Chevalier
Conchita Martinez Granados
6-1 6-1
2.
December 5, 2004
Raanana, Israel
Hard
Tzipora Obziler
Bahia Mouhtassine
Ä°pek ÅženoÄŸlu
6-3 6-0
3.
June 5, 2005
Raanana, Israel
Hard
Tzipora Obziler
Daniela Klemenschits
Sandra Klemenschits
7-6(2) 1-6 6-2
Tournament
Career Win-Loss
Australian Open
A
1R
QF
4-2
French Open
3R
4R
4R
8-3
Wimbledon
2R
2R
3R
4-3
U.S. Open
3R
4R
5-2
Grand Slam Win-Loss
5-3
7-4
9-3
21-10
WTA Tour Championships
A
A
0-0
Tokyo
A
A
1R
0-1
Indian Wells
A
4R
QF
5-2
Miami
3R
2R
SF
6-3
Charleston
1R
A
2R
0-2
Berlin
A
A
2R
1-1
Rome
A
1R
3R
2-2
San Diego
2R
1R
1-2
Montreal/Toronto
A
QF
3-1
Moscow
A
2R
1-1
Zurich
A
2R
1-1
Tournaments Won
0
3
0
3
Year End Ranking
45
20
N/A
A = did not participate in the tournament
