Country (sports) Madagascar Role Tennis Player Name Zarah Razafimahatratra | Career titles 0 WTA, 5 ITF Career titles 0 WTA, 1 ITF | |
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Born 24 August 1994 (age 29)
Antananarivo, Madagascar ( 1994-08-24 ) Plays Right Handed (Double Handed Backhand) Highest ranking No. 545 (9 December 2013) Highest ranking No. 489 (12 August 2013) | ||
Zarah Razafimahatratra (born 24 August 1994) is a Malagasy tennis player. She is, as of 2013, Madagascar's top female tennis player. In 2012, she won one ITF singles title and one ITF title in doubles, both in Potchefstroom, South Africa. Razafimahatratra was also runner-up at another tournament in doubles, also in Potchefstroom.
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In 2013, Razafimahatratra made her debut for the Madagascar Fed Cup team. She made her maiden appearance against Cyprus in Moldova on the 9th of May, helping the team to a win following a decade of absence.
On the junior circuit, she achieved her career high ranking of world number 22 on 29 January 2012.
2012
Razafimahatratra began her 2012 season with back-to-back Grade 1 junior tournaments in South America, losing in the first round of both, the first being in Costa Rica and the second in Venezuela. In March, she headed to South Africa to play three consecutive Grade 2 tournaments in Potchefstroom. She reached the quarterfinals of all three tournaments. After this, Razafimahatratra travelled to Europe for the big junior clay court season, playing four tournaments, both Grade 1 and Grade A, with her best result being a quarterfinal. She then lost in the second round of three consecutive junior tournaments.
As it turned out, these would be the last junior tournaments Razafimahatratra would play. In October, she began focusing on her pro career, and played a $25,000 tournament in Lagos, Nigeria, under a wildcard entry. In the first round, she defeated Indian Kyra Shroff before another win over Bulgaria's Viktoriya Tomova in the second round. In the quarterfinals, however, she met the top seed from Russia, Nina Bratchikova, and despite taking the first set, the eighteen-year-old was eventually defeated. In doubles, she reached the quarterfinals alongside Valeria Patiuk. The following week, Razafimahatratra played another $25,000 event in Lagos, but was forced to qualify. She did so, and after defeating Maria Sakkari in the first round lost to Lu Jiajing of China in the second. She reached the quarters of the doubles tournament with Patiuk.
Zarah's final tournaments of the year were back-to-back $10,000 events in Potchefstroom, South Africa. She reached the semifinals of the first tournament before being blasted out by Chanel Simmonds, winning not a single game. In doubles, however, she reached the final alongside Lynn Kiro, but they lost against Kim Grajdek and Keren Shlomo. In the second tournament in Potchefstroom, Zarah was crowned singles and doubles champion. This made her singles ranking crack the top 600 at number 599 for the first time.
2013
Razafimahatratra's 2013 campaign began with four consecutive $10,000 tournaments in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. In the first event, she lost a three set match against eventual champion Adrijana Lekaj, but went on to win the doubles with Romanian Ilka Csöregi. The following week, she lost in the second round to the second seed, but once more lifted the doubles trophy with Csöregi. In the third tournament, however, she fared better in singles, reaching the semifinals without dropping a set, before being defeated by Darya Lebesheva.