Claire Curran

Claire Curran (born 10 March 1978) is an ex-professional female tennis player from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Curran represented both Great Britain and Ireland in the Fed Cup during her career. Curran is the youngest ever Irish Fed Cup player (15 years 65 days) and before UC Berkeley was largely focussed on singles, with the highest singles win percentage of any Irish Fed Cup player.^[1]

At UC Berkeley she won the NCAA Championship, with serious injury resulting in her decision to focus on doubles post university. Curran reached a career-high doubles world-ranking of 89, and won a total of 12 ITF titles over the course of her career and was a finalist in one WTA event and was the key doubles players in the Great British Fed Cup teams of the mid 2000s. Her overall Fed Cup record has the highest win percentage of any British or Irish player who has played in over 25 matches.

Curran retired from the sport in 2007 following 6 years of professional play.^[2] Following her retirement she and Nigel Sears acted as coaches to former British No.1, Anne Keothavong, and she has also spent time coaching Laura Robson and the doubles team of Jocelyn Rae and Anna Smith. She is presently a National Coach at the Lawn Tennis Association.

Career

Early life

Curran's tennis talent was spotted first in her native Belfast, capital of Northern Ireland. She was soon winning Ulster and all-Ireland titles and being singled out by the Irish tennis authorities for a promising amateur career on the ITF junior tour.

At the age of 14, during the troubled times of Northern Ireland, beset with political and religious divisions, Curran moved to Dublin. The clubhouse where she learned to play tennis in Belfast had been destroyed by a terrorist bomb in the 1970s and she herself was frequently inconvenienced on her travels between Belfast and Dublin by bombs scares.

In Dublin, she spent her teenage years under the Irish national coaching programme of Matt Doyle. Curran travelled on the ITF junior circuit, playing at junior Wimbledon in 1996. She attained a singles ranking inside the top 100 and in 1993 became the youngest person to have represented Ireland in the Fed Cup, at the age of 15 years and 3 months.^[3]

1993–1996

Claire played her first adult match playing doubles for Ireland in the 1993 Fed Cup where she won her two doubles rubbers against competitors from Norway and Israel. She played no other adult events this year.^[4]

In 1994 she again competed in the Fed Cup for Ireland in doubles when she and Lesley O'Halloran were defeated by doubles teams from Slovakia and Zimbabwe. This was again the only adult event Claire played this year.^[4]

One year later she again competed in the Fed Cup for Ireland. She played a more prominent role this year however by competing in both singles and doubles, winning singles matches against players from Malta, Kenya and Cyprus and also winning two doubles rubbers partnering Lesley O'Halloran. Claire played no other adult events this year.^[4]

In 1996 she was not involved in doubles in the Fed Cup but she did win singles rubbers against Malta and Iceland as well as losing one to Ukraine. Curran also made her debut on the ITF circuit in 2006 in a $10,000 event in Dublin where she was beaten in the first round in both the singles and the doubles events (partnering Yvonne Doyle).^[4]

1997–2000

In 1997, Claire competed in only one event. This was the $25,000 ITF tournament held in Dublin where she was beaten in the first round of the singles and the doubles.^[4]

This was again the only ITF event Curran participated in during 1998 and she again experienced first round losses in the singles and doubles competitions.^[4]

The one ITF event Curran entered in 1999 was a $10,000 ITF event in Hilton Head where she won four matches in the qualifying competition before losing just one match short of qualification. She went one step further in the doubles however when she and Esther Knox qualified before losing in round one.^[4]

In 2000, Curran teamed up with Australian Amy Jensen to reach the semifinals of a $10,000 event in Harrisonburg. The duo then received a wild card into the doubles competition in the US Open where they drew the formidable pairing of Martina Hingis and Mary Pierce in the first round. They gave the seeded pair a scare by taking the first set 6-4 however Hingis and Pierce came back strong to take the match, 6–4 0–6 1–6.^[5] She did not compete on the ITF or WTA tour again this season.^[4]

2001–2002

Curran began 2001 with Teryn Ashley as her regular partner and with her she reached the semifinals of a $10,000 ITF in El Paso as qualifiers. They followed this success up with a tournament win in another $10,000 event in Lake Ozark, a run to the semifinals of Mount Pleasant ($25,000) and another run to the quarterfinals in Los Gatos ($50,000). July saw Curran team with Kristen Van Elden from Australia to reach the semifinals of Frinton ($10,000) before again joining with Ashley to reach the quarterfinals of a $10,000 event in Bath before having to retire from the tournament. Curran and Swedish, Helena Ejeson were runners-up in a $10,000 ITF in London in August and after this Curran played no more matches in 2001. She had a year-end doubles world-ranking of 375.^[4]

In January 2002, Claire reached the finals of a $10,000 ITF in Hull partnering fellow Irishwoman, Elsa O'Riain. They lost to Sun Tiantian and Zheng Jie, 6–7⁽⁴⁾ 5–7. Curran then partnered Amanda Augustus to reach the final in the first week of a four-week $40,000 ITF circuit in Australia. They lost to Sarah Stone and Samantha Stosur before heading to the second week of this circuit and reaching the semifinals. In April she competed in doubles for Ireland in the Fed Cup where she and O'Riain won their three doubles rubbers in the Europe/Africa Group II round robins against Egypt, Finland and Botswana. They then went on to beat a doubles team from Liechtenstein in the promotion play-offs. Curran did not compete much more this year due to problems with injuries, having to retire from a number of matches. At the end of 2002 her doubles world-ranking had fallen to 562.^[4]

2003

Curran teamed with O'Riain for her first four tournaments of the year (all $10,000 ITF), resulting in one title and three losses in the semifinals. In the Fed Cup, she and O'Riain were beaten by doubles teams from Netherlands and Great Britain but managed a victory against Poland. Following this she teamed up with Brit, Anna Hawkins, to reach the final of a $10,000 ITF in Bournemouth and then the final of a $10,000 in Edinburgh where the result was a walkover. Curran then went on to reach the semifinals in Dublin ($10,000) and win the event in London ($10,000), both partnering O'Riain. Helena Ejeson was again her partner in early September when the duo took the title in a $10,000 ITF in Sunderland. Claire teamed with İpek Şenoğlu for her next five tournaments and took one title ($25,000), reached two semifinals (both $25,000) and two quarterfinals (one $25,000 and one $50,000). Curran reached the quarterfinals of a $50,000 ITF in Shenzhen with Tzipi Obziler in her final tournament of the year. At the end of 2003, Curran's doubles world-ranking was up to 244.^[4]

2004

Curran won her first three ITF event of the year and went on to reach the semifinals in her fourth, giving her a winning streak of 14 matches at the start of the season. In June she partnered Jane O'Donoghue in the qualifying tournament for Wimbledon where they lost in the first round but were given a spot in the main draw as lucky losers where they were beaten in straight sets. In August she took the title in Lexington ($50,000) with Natalie Grandin and the two of them were also runners up in their next event in Louisville and semifinalists in their next in The Bronx (both $50,000). Curran and Grandin then entered the tier III Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic where they were beaten in the first round by Gisela Dulko and Milagros Sequera, 0–6 1–6. In her final tournament of 2004, Curran partnered Senoglu again to reach the final of a $25,000 ITF in Glasgow. Her year-end doubles world-ranking was 163.^[4]

2005

In February 2005, Curran partnered Kim Kilsdonk and the duo lost in the first round of the tier II event in Paris, the Open Gaz de France. They were beaten, 4–6 3–6, by Iveta Benešová and Květa Peschke. Following this they headed to Antwerp to compete in the Proximus Diamond Games, another tier II tournament. They won two matches to qualify and then went on to beat Francesca Lubiani and Marta Marrero in the first round, 6–3 7–6⁽³⁾. They lost to Anabel Medina Garrigues and Dinara Safina, 4–6 2–6, in the quarterfinals. After this she reached a number of quarterfinals and semifinals of higher-level ITF events before winning in a $50,000 ITF in Saint-Gaudens (with Grandin) in May. This was followed by a run to the semifinals at the İstanbul Cup (tier III) partnering Kim Kilsdonk where they lost, 3–6 3–6, to Sandra and Daniela Klemenschits. June saw Curran and Grandin knocked out in the first round of the women's doubles at Wimbledon by Nadia Petrova and Meghann Shaughnessy. Curran then partnered Kilsdonk to reach the final at the $50,000 ITF in Pétange before reaching three successive WTA quarterfinals: the Budapest Grand Prix (with Rika Fujiwara), the Nordea Nordic Light Open (partnering María José Martínez Sánchez) and the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic (with Grandin). Curran ended the year with a doubles world-ranking of 107.^[4]

2006

In Claire's first tournament of the year, she and Natalie Grandin teamed up to reach the quarterfinals in Auckland. Then, partnering Līga Dekmeijere, she reached the final of the Richard Luton Properties Canberra International, a WTA Tier IV event. They were defeated by Marta Domachowska and Roberta Vinci, 6–7⁽⁵⁾ 3–6. This was followed by a number of first-round losses in WTA tournaments before she competed with Elena Baltacha in the Fed Cup representing Great Britain. They won their three doubles rubbers and then also went on to win their doubles rubber in the promotion play-offs. In June she joined Shenay Perry to reach the quarterfinals of the Hastings Direct International Championships where they were beaten by Liezel Huber and Martina Navratilova, 4–6 2–6. She then competed in Wimbledon with Jamea Jackson but was again beaten in the first round. She did however reach the second round of the mixed doubles with James Auckland. After Wimbledon, Claire did not compete again in 2006 and her doubles world-ranking at the end of the year was 201.^[4]

2007

In February 2007, Claire teamed with Anne Keothavong to win the title in London ($25,000 ITF) and in March, she and Melanie South were runners-up in another $25,000 ITF, this one in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. In April, Curran again teamed with Baltacha to represent Britain in the Fed Cup. They won doubles rubbers against Luxembourg and Bulgaria but lost one against Poland and also lost one in the promotion play-offs against Sweden. In July, Curran and Keothavong took on the might of Venus and Serena Williams in the first round of Wimbledon doubles and lost, 1–6 3–6. For the second year in a row she reached the second round of the mixed doubles with Auckland but after Wimbledon, decided that her career as a professional tennis player had come to an end.^[2][4]

WTA tour finals

Doubles (0–1)

Result	Date	Category	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	000000002006-01-09-00009 January 2006	Tier IV	Canberra	Hard	Dekmeijere, LīgaLīga Dekmeijere	Domachowska, MartaMarta Domachowska Vinci, RobertaRoberta Vinci	6–7(5–7), 3–6

ITF circuit finals

Doubles (12–8)

Result	Date	Category	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponent	Score
Winner	000000002001-05-28-000028 May 2001	$10,000 ITF	Lake Ozark, United States	Hard	Teryn Ashley	Alison Nash Andrea Nathan	7–5, 6–1
Runner-up	000000002001-08-13-000013 August 2001	$10,000 ITF	London, Great Britain	Hard	Helena Ejeson	Eva Erbova Védy, AurélieAurélie Védy	6–7(4–7), 3–6
Runner-up	000000002002-01-21-000021 January 2002	$10,000 ITF	Hull, Great Britain	Hard (i)	Elsa O'Riain	Tiantian, SunSun Tiantian Jie, ZhengZheng Jie	6–7(4–7), 5–7
Runner-up	000000002002-03-04-00004 March 2002	$10,000 ITF	Australia Circuit Week 1	Grass	Amanda Augustus	Sarah Stone Stosur, SamanthaSamantha Stosur	0–6, 6–4, 3–6
Winner	000000002003-03-03-00003 March 2003	$10,000 ITF	Cairo, Egypt	Clay	Elsa O'Riain	Marielle Hoogland Jennifer Schmidt	6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	000000002003-04-28-000028 April 2003	$10,000 ITF	Bournemouth, Great Britain	Clay	Anna Hawkins	Marielle Hoogland Tamaëla, EliseElise Tamaëla	6–3, 2–6, 3–6
Winner	000000002003-05-05-00005 May 2003	$10,000 ITF	Edinburgh, Great Britain	Clay	Anna Hawkins	Jacqueline Frohlich Daniela Salomon	W/O
Winner	000000002003-08-11-000011 August 2003	$10,000 ITF	London, Great Britain	Hard	Elsa O'Riain	Irina Bulykina Aleksandra Kulikova	6–2, 7–6(7–5)
Winner	000000002003-09-15-000015 September 2003	$10,000 ITF	Sunderland, Great Britain	Hard (i)	Helena Ejeson	Kim Kilsdonk Kriz, NicoleNicole Kriz	6–2, 6–1
Winner	000000002003-10-13-000013 October 2003	$25,000 ITF	Cardiff, Great Britain	Hard (i)	Şenoğlu, İpekİpek Şenoğlu	Surina De Beer Ilke Gers	6–4, 2–6, 6–3
Winner	000000002004-01-19-000019 January 2004	$10,000 ITF	Hull, Great Britain	Hard (i)	Surina De Beer	Anna Bastrikova Vasilisa Davydova	6–0, 6–4
Winner	000000002004-02-09-00009 February 2004	$25,000 ITF	Sunderland, Great Britain	Hard (i)	Kim Kilsdonk	Helen Crook Müller, MartinaMartina Müller	6–4, 3–6, 6–3
Winner	000000002004-02-16-000016 February 2004	$25,000 ITF	Redbridge, Great Britain	Hard (i)	Kim Kilsdonk	Olga Vymetálková Navrátilová, GabrielaGabriela Navrátilová	6–3, 3–6, 7–6(12–10)
Winner	000000002004-07-26-000026 July 2004	$50,000 ITF	Lexington, United States	Hard	Grandin, NatalieNatalie Grandin	Dellacqua, CaseyCasey Dellacqua Nicole Sewell	7–6(8–6), 6–4
Runner-up	000000002004-08-02-00002 August 2004	$50,000 ITF	Louisville, United States	Hard	Grandin, NatalieNatalie Grandin	Ditty, JulieJulie Ditty Gallovits, EdinaEdina Gallovits	6–1, 4–6, 2–6
Runner-up	000000002004-10-04-00004 October 2004	$25,000 ITF	Glasgow, Great Britain	Hard (i)	Şenoğlu, İpekİpek Şenoğlu	Baker, LeanneLeanne Baker Lubiani, FrancescaFrancesca Lubiani	3–6, 7–5, 4–6
Winner	000000002005-05-09-00009 May 2005	$50,000 ITF	Saint-Gaudens, France	Clay	Grandin, NatalieNatalie Grandin	María José Argeri Leticia Sobral	6–3, 6–1
Runner-up	000000002005-07-19-000019 July 2005	$50,000 ITF	Pétange, Luxembourg	Clay	Kim Kilsdonk	Beygelzimer, YuliyaYuliya Beygelzimer Klösel, SandraSandra Klösel	4–6, 0–6
Winner	000000002007-01-31-000031 January 2007	$25,000 ITF	Sutton, Great Britain	Clay	Keothavong, AnneAnne Keothavong	Hlaváčková, AndreaAndrea Hlaváčková Kachliková, KatarinaKatarina Kachliková	4–6, 6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	000000002007-03-13-000013 March 2007	$25,000 ITF	Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain	Hard	South, MelanieMelanie South	Cîrstea, SoranaSorana Cîrstea Gojnea, MădălinaMădălina Gojnea	6–4, 6–7(5–7), 4–6

Performance timelines

Doubles

Mixed Doubles

Fed Cup

For Ireland

Europe/Africa Group I
Date	Venue	Surface	Round	Opponents	Final match score	Match	Opponent	Rubber score
13–15 May 1993	Nottingham, Great Britain	Hard (O)	RR	Norway	3–0	Doubles (with Karen Nugent)	Andersen/Instebo	6–4, 6–4 (W)
			QF	Israel	1–2	Doubles (with Karen Nugent)	Berger/Segal	6–4, 7–5 (W)
19–20 May 1994	Bad Waltersdorf, Austria	Clay (O)	RR	Zimbabwe	1–2	Doubles (with Karen Nugent)	Black/Wagstaff	1–6, 3–6 (L)
				Slovenia	0–3	Doubles (with Lesley O'Halloran)	Križan/Lušnic	6–4, 2–6, 5–7 (L)
Europe/Africa Group II
Date	Venue	Surface	Round	Opponents	Final match score	Match	Opponent	Rubber score
8–13 May 1995	Nairobi, Kenya	Clay (O)	RR	Cyprus	3–0	Singles	Anna Anastasiou	6–2, 6–1 (W)
						Doubles (with Lesley O'Halloran)	Anastasiou/Pivlava Papanikolaou	6–1, 6–1 (W)
				Kenya	3–0	Singles	Shaila Ali	6–1, 6–2 (W)
				Malta	3–0	Singles	Helen Asciak	7–6(8–6), 6–0 (W)
						Doubles (with Lesley O'Halloran)	Camenzuli/Wetz	6–3, 6–2 (W)
			QF	Norway	1–2	Doubles (with Lesley O'Halloran)	Borgersen/Jonsson-Raaholt	W/O (W)
26–28 Mar 1996	Ramat HaSharon, Israel	Hard (O)	RR	Ukraine	1–2	Singles	Elena Brioukhovets	2–6, 2–6 (L)
				Iceland	3–0	Singles	Hrafuhildur Hannesdotter	6–0, 6–2 (W)
				Malta	3–0	Singles	Helen Asciak	6–0, 6–2 (W)
9–12 Apr 2002	Pretoria, South Africa	Hard (O)	RR	Botswana	3–0	Doubles (with Yvonne Doyle)	Marobela/Mogapi	6–0, 6–0 (W)
				Finland	3–0	Doubles (with Yvonne Doyle)	Nieminen/Suomalainen	6–1, 6–2 (W)
				Egypt	3–0	Doubles (with Elsa O'Riain)	Farid/Khalil	6–1, 6–1 (W)
			PO Promotional	Liechtenstein	3–0	Doubles (with Elsa O'Riain)	Batliner/Schädler	6–1, 6–1 (W)
Europe/Africa Group I
Date	Venue	Surface	Round	Opponents	Final match score	Match	Opponent	Rubber score
21–24 Apr 2003	Estoril, Portugal	Clay (O)	RR	Great Britain	1–2	Doubles (with Kelly Liggan)	Baltacha/Pullin	3–6, 2–6 (L)
				Poland	1–2	Doubles (with Elsa O'Riain)	Domachowska/Bieleń-Żarska	6–2, 6–2 (W)
				Netherlands	1–2	Doubles (with Elsa O'Riain)	Boogert/Oremans	0–6, 0–6 (L)

For Great Britain

Europe/Africa Group I
Date	Venue	Surface	Round	Opponents	Final match score	Match	Opponent	Rubber score
18–22 April 2006	Plovdiv, Bulgaria	Clay (O)	RR	Ukraine	3–0	Doubles (with Elena Baltacha)	Antypina/V.Bondarenko	6–4, 6–4 (W)
				Bulgaria	2–1	Doubles (with Elena Baltacha)	Krastevitch/Pironkova	6–1, 1–6, 6–2 (W)
				Hungary	2–1	Doubles (with Elena Baltacha)	Nagy/Németh	6–1, 7–6(7–5) (W)
			PO (1st–4th)	Slovakia	1–2	Doubles (with Elena Baltacha)	Cibulková/Husárová	6–4, 6–3 (W)
18–21 April 2007	Plovdiv, Bulgaria	Clay (O)	RR	Bulgaria	3–0	Doubles (with Elena Baltacha)	Alawi/Mladenova	6–4, 6–2 (W)
				Luxembourg	1–2	Doubles (with Elena Baltacha)	Kremer/Philippe	6–4, 3–6, 6–3 (W)
				Poland	0–3	Doubles (with Elena Baltacha)	Domachowska/A.Radwańska	3–6, 4–6 (L)
			PO (9th–12th)	Sweden	0–3	Doubles (with Elena Baltacha)	Andersson/Larsson	0–6, 1–6 (L)

References

External links^[1]

• Claire Curran at the Women's Tennis Association
• Claire Curran at the International Tennis Federation
• Claire Curran at the International Tennis Federation Junior Profile
• Claire Curran at the Fed Cup

1. ↑ "Getting To Know... Laura Robson". Women's Tennis Association. Retrieved 2016-07-28.