Maria Sanchez

2012

In Sanchez's first full season on tour, she climbed over 530 spots in the WTA world rankings. Her first sign of promise came at The Bahamas Women's Open $100,000 ITF in February, where, as a wildcard entry, she took out Urszula Radwańska and Eva Birnerová before falling to Bojana Jovanovski in the quarter-finals. Sanchez went on to reach the 2012 Audi Melbourne Pro Tennis Classic $50,000 ITF final, losing to Grace Min and finishing runner-up to Melanie Oudin in the race for the USTA 2012 French Open main draw wildcard. A few weeks later, Sanchez captured the 2012 FSP Gold River Women's Challenger $50,000 title in front of friends and family in Northern California, defeating Jessica Pegula in a three-set final. The win marked Sanchez's first pro title. Sanchez quickly added a second title at the Coleman Vision Championships $75,000 ITF event in Albuquerque, New Mexico in September, where she defeated American teenager Lauren Davis 6–1, 6–1.

College

Sanchez attended the University of Southern California where she was a three-time All-American in singles and doubles. She was the No. 1 collegiate player throughout the 2011–2012 season and was named the ITA Senior Player of the Year. She was upset in the NCAA Round of 16 by Mallory Burdette and reached the semi-finals of doubles with Trojan teammate Kaitlyn Christian. Sanchez graduated with a degree in Real Estate. While at USC, star quarterback Matt Barkley was quoted as saying that Sanchez was his favorite athlete on campus.

Personal

Sanchez has four older brothers and is an avid sports fan who enjoys rooting for her Northern California teams, namely, the San Francisco Giants and San Francisco 49ers. In high school, Sanchez was a two-sport star on the basketball and tennis courts at Davis High in Modesto. She eschewed offers to play college basketball in order to focus on tennis at USC. Sanchez, who is of Mexican American descent, speaks fluent Spanish and has been featured in multiple videos on ESPN Deportes Los Angeles.