Laura duPont

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Laura duPont Tennis player
Nation: United StatesUnited States United States
Birthday: May 4, 1949
Date of death: February 20, 2002
singles
Career record: 79: 122
Career title: 0 WTA , 0 ITF
Highest ranking: 9
Grand Slam record
Double
Career record: 117: 119
Career title: 5 WTA, 0 ITF
Grand Slam record
Mixed
Grand Slam record
Sources: official player profiles at the ATP / WTA and ITF (see web links )

Laura duPont (born May 4, 1949 in Louisville , Kentucky , † February 20, 2002 in Durham , North Carolina ) was an American tennis player . She was both the first woman to win a national title for the University of North Carolina in a sport and the first woman from her university to be voted into an All-American selection. Her best placement in the WTA world rankings was position 9.

Career

In her hometown of Louisville, Laura began playing tennis in public courts. As a teenager, she moved to North Carolina, where she showed promising talent in youth tournaments.

During her studies at the University of North Carolina, she won the Mid-Atlantic Singles Collegiate Championship three times (1968, 1970 and 1971), and in 1970 she also won the doubles competition. She also played on her university's basketball team . In 1970, she was named North Carolina AAU Athlete of the Year ( AAU University Athlete of the Year in North Carolina).

Two years later she completed her studies with a bachelor's degree and joined the international tennis circuit. She won the Canadian (1979), Argentine, New Zealand (singles and doubles) and German singles championships and was ranked 10th in women's tennis in 1977.

Her success continued when she won the South African Doubles Championships in 1976 after losing out in both singles and doubles finals a year earlier. In 1976 she was in the final of the US double championship on clay and was able to win the singles title at this tournament the following year. In 1984 she also won the title of the women’s competition over 35 in singles.

From 1975 to 1981 she played on the WTA Tour and was also treasurer for the WTA.

Laura duPont was inducted into the North Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame in 1977 and into the Charlotte Catholic High School Hall of Fame in 2000.

After she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she moved back to North Carolina in 1997, where she died on February 20, 2002 at Duke University Hospital in Durham.

Tournament wins (WTA)

Double

No. date competition Topping Partner Final opponents Result
1. January 13, 1980 United StatesUnited States Cincinnati Carpet (hall) United StatesUnited States Pam Shriver Yugoslavia Socialist Federal RepublicYugoslavia Mima Jaušovec Ann Kiyomura
United StatesUnited States 
6: 3, 6: 3
2. March 28, 1980 United StatesUnited States Carlsbad Hard court United StatesUnited States Pam Shriver United StatesUnited States Rosie Casals JoAnne Russell
United StatesUnited States 
6: 7, 6: 4, 6: 1
3. September 27, 1981 United StatesUnited States Atlanta Hard court United StatesUnited States Betsy Nagelsen United StatesUnited States Rosie Casals Candy Reynolds
United StatesUnited States 
6: 4, 7: 5
4th October 24, 1982 JapanJapan Tokyo Hard court United StatesUnited States Barbara Jordan JapanJapan Naoko Sato Brenda Remilton
AustraliaAustralia 
6: 2, 6: 7, 6: 1
5. November 6, 1982 Hong Kong 1959Hong Kong Hong Kong sand United StatesUnited States Alycia Moulton South Africa 1961South Africa Jennifer Mundel Yvonne Vermaak
South Africa 1961South Africa 
6: 2, 4: 6, 7: 5

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b http://www.wm.edu/tenniscenter/dupont.html ( Memento from August 31, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  2. Inventory of the Office of the Women's Tennis Coach of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1976-2004
  3. a b Laura DuPont, 52, tennis star, managed club for Shriver . In: The Baltimore Sun , February 24, 2002. Retrieved May 4, 2012.