Sharon Fichman

Early and personal life

Fichman, who is Jewish, was born and raised in Toronto. She is a citizen of both Canada and Israel. Her parents, Julia and Bobby, emigrated from Romania to Israel in 1982, and then to Canada in 1989. Bobby was a semi-pro tennis player, and is now a nuclear engineer. Her mother is a computer engineer.

Fichman started playing tennis at the age of 6. She won her first tournament at six. By age 13, she was the World's No. 2 player under 14. In 2004, at the age of 13, she was Canada's Under-18 Indoor & Outdoor National girls champ, and also won the doubles title with partner Mélanie Gloria. In 2006, Fichman and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova dominated doubles at the Grand Slam Juniors by winning the Australian Open and French Open. At the 2006 U.S. Open Juniors, Fichman quartered in singles and came close to capturing her third Grand Slam in doubles with a finalist showing. She lost in the finals of the Canadian Open Junior Championship in both singles and doubles. She attended Forest Hill Collegiate Institute, a public high school, which she graduated from in July 2008.

Her idol is Belgian Justine Henin.

2005

In 2005, Fichman won the gold medal in women's singles at the 17th Maccabiah Games in Israel, at the age of 14. She defeated 23-year-old Nicole Ptak of the United States in straight sets in the final. "I represented my religion and my country", she said after beating Ptak. "These Games are not just all about sports but meeting people, learning about culture and building friendship. Being the No. 1 Jewish female tennis player in the world is also not too shabby." Fichman also won a bronze medal in the women's doubles, and wrapped up the event with silver medal in mixed doubles. She was also Canada's flag-bearer at the Games.

2006–10

In October 2006, while still 15, she beat world No. 114 Hana Šromová. In August 2007, at the age of 16, Fichman beat world No. 90 Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro of France in Toronto. She finished 2007 with a singles record for the year of 16–8. In October 2008, 17 years of age, Fichman beat world No. 137 Jelena Pandžić. She finished 2008 with a singles record for the year of 25–16. In January 2009, she won the singles title at the Ace Sports Group Tennis Classic Lutz, Florida tournament, dropping only one set, and also won the doubles title with Kimberly Couts.

In April 2009, she won the Osprey, Florida tournament. Fichman reached the ITF 100K Biella Challenger singles final in September 2009, but lost to Petra Martić. In February 2010 at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, Fichman defeated her first Top 50 player when she beat world No. 40 Sorana Cîrstea in the first round. She also won two ITF 100K doubles titles in July 2010 (in Biarritz and in Pétange).

2011–12

In January 2011, Sharon won her first tournament of the year, the $25,000 ITF in Plantation, by defeating Alexandra Cadanțu in the final. At the 2011 Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas WTA tournament, she reached the second round but lost to Catalina Castaño, despite having two match points in the second set. In July, she won her second tournament of the year at the $50,000 ITF in Waterloo, where she defeated Julia Boserup.

In July 2012, Fichman won the $50,000 ITF Cooper Challenger for the second straight year with a win over Julia Glushko in the championship match. She won in September the $25,000 ITF in Mamaia, defeating Patricia Maria Ţig in the final.

2013

At the end of January, Fichman won the eighth singles title of her career at the $25,000 ITF in Port St. Lucie, with a victory over Tadeja Majerič. In August, she reached the final of the ITF $100,000 in Vancouver, but was defeated by Johanna Konta. She won the doubles title alongside Maryna Zanevska. A week later at the Rogers Cup, she reached the second round for the first time of her career in singles after defeating compatriot Stéphanie Dubois in her opening match. She also made it to the semi-finals in doubles with fellow Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski, after an upset over first seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci. They were eliminated by Jelena Janković and Katarina Srebotnik.

In August at the US Open, Fichman qualified for her first-ever Grand Slam main draw with a victory over Alexandra Panova. She lost to world No. 22 Sorana Cîrstea in the first round. In September, Fichman made it to the WTA Premier Mandatory main draw in Beijing with wins over Paula Ormaechea and Yaroslava Shvedova in first and last round of qualifying respectively. She was eliminated by Galina Voskoboeva in the first round.

2014

At the first tournament of her season, the ASB Classic, Fichman qualified and upset world No. 22 Sorana Cîrstea in the first round to record the second Top 50 win of her career (she also beat Cîrstea in 2010). The same week, she won her first WTA doubles title alongside Maria Sanchez with a victory over Lucie Hradecká and Michaëlla Krajicek in the final. In February, at the ITF $100,000 in Midland, Fichman scored her third Top 50 win when she beat world No. 45 Urszula Radwańska to reach the semi-finals. She was defeated by Ksenia Pervak in the next round. At the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in late February, Fichman upset world No. 39 Yvonne Meusburger in her opening match to advance to the second round. She lost to Caroline Garcia in her next match.

At the beginning of March, she qualified for the WTA Premier Mandatory in Indian Wells and defeated Shahar Pe'er in the first round. She was eliminated by world No. 10 Sara Errani in the second round. In May, Fichman reached her first singles final of the season at the ITF 100K in Cagnes-sur-Mer, where she won the biggest tournament of her career so far with a victory over Timea Bacsinszky. At the French Open in May, Fichman earned direct entry in the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time, but was eliminated in the opening round by world No. 7 Jelena Janković in three sets. At Wimbledon, Fichman was defeated by Timea Bacsinszky in the first round. At the US Open, her first tournament after having knee surgery at the end of July, she lost to world No. 5 Agnieszka Radwańska in the opening round.

2015

In August at the Rogers Cup, Fichman reached the quarterfinals in doubles with compatriot Carol Zhao.

Style of play

Fichman is an aggressive counter puncher, and is known for her tenacity as well as her feistiness on the court.

Record against top-50 players

Fichman's win-loss record (4–7, 36%) against players who were ranked world No. 50 or higher when played is as follows:
Players who have been ranked world No. 1 are in boldface.