Jill Craybas biography
Date of birth : 1974-07-04
Date of death : -
Birthplace : Huntington Beach, California, U.S.
Nationality : American
Category : Sports
Last modified : 2011-05-11
Credited as : Professional Tennis player, WTA tour, Wimbledon
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CAREER:
A 14-year tour veteran, Jill Craybas won Tokyo in 2002. She also pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Wimbledon history in 2005, when she defeated Serena Williams to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time. Craybas also represented the U.S. in the 2008 Olympics. She graduated from the University of Florida in 1996 with a degree in telecommunications.
She began 2007 by reaching the semifinals of a Tier IV event in Auckland, New Zealand. She beat all of her opponents in straight sets before bowing out to Russian Vera Zvonareva 6–3, 7–5. She next took part in the Tier II event in Sydney, where she lost in the last round of qualifying to Russian Vera Dushevina 6–1, 3–6, 6–1. At the first Grand Slam tournament of the year at the Australian Open, she suffered a first-round loss to the tenth-eeded Nicole Vaidišová 6–4, 5–7, 6–1. Craybas bounced back into winning form at her next tournament in the U.S., at an ITF tournament in Midland, Texas. As the top-seeded, she beat all of her opponents in straight sets until a hard-fought 2–6, 6–3, 6–3 victory over second-seeded and fellow American Laura Granville. Because of her lower ranking, she suffered in tough draws, not going further than the second round of any tournament since.
Jill Craybas at the 2008 US Open
At the start of 2008, Craybas entered the Pattaya Women's Open in Pattaya, Thailand, where, as the seventh-seed, she played some of the best tennis of her career and beat Olga Savchuk 6–1, 6–1 in the first round, Renata Voráčová 2–6, 6–1, 6–3 in the second round and Andreja Klepač 6–4, 6–4 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals she beat Akgul Amanmuradova 6–4, 6–0 and lost to the top seed Agnieszka Radwańska in a tie-break in the third set, 6–2, 1–6, 7–6. Craybas's ranking improved from World No. 77 to World No. 60 because of these results.
Craybas won the Istanbul Cup in doubles.
Craybas represented the United States at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the tennis singles event. She became the last qualifier for the event, replacing Tamira Paszek of Austria. The opening came available when fellow American Ashley Harkleroad elected to skip the games after she became pregnant.
Singles Titles
2002: Tokyo
Doubles Titles
2008: Istanbul, Tokyo
2004: Cincinnati
2003: Madrid
PERSONAL:
Coached by Raj Chaudhuri; father is Norbert, mother is Camille; brother, Matt, played college soccer; sister, Jody, played college tennis
Graduated from University of Florida in 1996 (degree in telecommunications).
