Florența Mihai

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Florența Mihai (born September 2, 1955 , † October 14, 2015 ) was a Romanian tennis player . She was the first Romanian to have reached both an individual and a mixed final in a Grand Slam tournament .

Career

Florența Mihai competed in Grand Slam tournaments from the mid-1970s, but never at the Australian Open . As a qualifier, she was eliminated in the first round of the French Open in 1975 against Fiorella Bonicelli from Uruguay (3: 6, 2: 6). The following year , after victories over French Nathalie Fuchs and American Kathy Kuykendall, she advanced to the semi-finals of the French Open, where she was defeated by Czechoslovak Renáta Tomanová in two sets (5-7, 6-7). The British Times then predicted an “exciting future” for Mihai after she had already made it into the top four at the tennis tournament in Rome. In the same year Mihai played first round games at the Wimbledon Championships and the US Open and won the Spanish Open together with the Brazilian Patricia Medrado with a final victory (6: 2, 6: 4) over Nathalie Fuchs and Michèle Gurdal .

1977 was Mihai's most successful year. At the French Open, she competed both individually and with the Colombian Iván Molina in mixed competition. In the individual, after victories over the German Helga Masthoff and the American Janet Newberry, she made it into the women's final. After the introduction of the Open rules in 1968, she was the third unseeded player after Helen Gourlay (French Open 1971) and Tomanová (French Open 1976) to succeed and at the same time the first Romanian individual player to stand in a Grand Slam final . Mihai met the top seeded Yugoslav Mima Jaušovec there . After losing the first set 2-6, she won the second in the tie-break ; the decisive third set finally went to Jaušovec with 1: 6. With Iván Molina, who had already won the French Open in 1974 as a partner of Martina Navrátilová , she also reached the mixed final. Mihai was also the first Romanian tennis player to reach a mixed final at a Grand Slam tournament. However, they were left behind against the Americans Mary Carillo and John McEnroe (6: 7, 3: 6). On the sidelines of the French Open, Mihai criticized the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) computer ranking as “inconsistent” and that it disadvantaged Eastern European players. In the last three tournaments Mihai would have made it into the 16 best, but had been downgraded from world number 41 to 56. The US American Betsy Nagelsen , who is in 40th position, did not play a tournament in the previous month and still moved up to 36th place.

In the same year Mihai won the Westchester tournaments (6: 4, 3: 6, 6: 4 against Betsy Nagelsen) and the Swedish Open in Båstad (6: 4, 6: 4 against the American Mary Struthers ), achieved that Hilton Head Island finals , the second round at Wimbledon and the third round at the US Open. Together with her Romanian teammate Virginia Ruzici , she also won the women's doubles for the first time in 1977 at the Universiade in Sofia, Bulgaria . This success was to be repeated both in 1979 in Mexico City and in 1981 in Bucharest .

In 1978 Mihai finished 30th in the WTA world rankings at the beginning of May; in the run-up to the French Open, she was ranked 10th on the seeding list. In the first round, however, she was eliminated 5-7 and 2-6 against the French Brigitte Simon , who should reach the quarter-finals during the course of the competition. With Mihais in second place compatriot Virginia Ruzici, a Romanian player won a Grand Slam tournament in singles for the first time. After another first round off at Wimbledon, Mihai was unable to build on earlier successes in the following years. In 1979 she reached the second round of the US Open, in 1980 she failed in round one at Wimbledon.

Mihai had been able to convince at the beginning of her career (especially in 1976/77) with outstanding athleticism and self-assured, aggressive style of play, followed by six first round defeats in 1978. She also experienced a series of injuries - tennis elbow , twisted ankle, broken ribs and kidney injuries from a car accident, and knee problems. In October 1980 she was only listed at number 112 in the world rankings. After losing the first round at the Daihatsu Challenge in Brighton , she admitted that she had lost her confidence and enthusiasm: “It is possible to start over, but I've been through this before. And so many younger people play so well. I feel a little bit left out. ”In 1981 she reached the final of the Chichester tennis tournament, where she was defeated by the South African Rene Uys (4: 6, 3: 6). In 1983 she started again for the Romanian Fed Cup team ; their Fed Cup record: nine wins and nine defeats.

After her playing days, Florența Mihai stayed connected to tennis and became a coach. In 1992 she was the captain of the Romanian Fed Cup team. In 2010 a tennis tournament ("Turneul Florența Mihai") was named after her in Bucharest. A competition and a tennis stadium in Iași also bear her name. On October 14, 2015, she succumbed to cancer.

Performing in Grand Slam tournaments

singles

competition 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 Career
French Open 1 HF F. 1 - - F.
Wimbledon Championships - 1 2 1 - 1 2
US Open - 1 3 - 2 - 3

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bellamy, Rex: An early convention for the American men . In: The Times, June 16, 1976, No. 59731, 11.
  2. ↑ AP : Women's Grand Slam Unseeded Finalists . Jan 30, 2010, 7:43 PM GMT (accessed via LexisNexis Economy ).
  3. ↑ Amur, Neil: Americanization of Pro Tennis Feared and Criticized in Europe . In: The New York Times , June 8, 1977, p. 65.
  4. ↑ Rumanian Wins Final Net, Defeating Miss Nagelsen . In: The New York Times, Feb.7, 1977, p. 45.
  5. ^ Wallace, William N .: Tim Gullikson Captures Newport Final . In: The New York Times, Jul 11, 1977, p. 42.
  6. ↑ Connors Defeats Alexander . In: The New York Times, March 21, 1977, p. 34.
  7. ↑ Amdur, Neil: Teen-Age Stars of Women's Tennis . In: The New York Times, May 8, 1978, pp. C1, C8.
  8. ↑ Bellamy, Rex: Tennis US pick Miss Jaeger for Wightman Cup . In: The Times, Oct 21, 1980, No. 60755, p. 9.
  9. ^ Friskin, Sydney: Confidence is the key to Krulevitz's success . In: The Times, May 11, 1981, No. 60924, p. 9.
  10. ↑ Names and dates for the Federation Cup: an overview of all 32 teams . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , July 17, 1992, p. 49.
  11. ↑ Trofeul Florenta Mihai at tenis.info.ro, June 4, 2010 (Romanian; accessed May 29, 2011).
  12. ↑ Florența Mihai, un nume de legendă al tenisului românesc at sport365.ro, September 8, 2010 (Romanian; accessed May 29, 2011).
  13. ↑ GAME, SET, MECI: Florența Mihai, prima finalistă a României la Roland Garros, sa stins din viață . România Liberă , October 14, 2015.
  14. ↑ Obituary: Florenta Mihai (fedcup.com October 15, 2015, accessed October 21, 2015)
personal data
SURNAME Mihai, Florența
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Romanian tennis player
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd September 1955
DATE OF DEATH October 14, 2015