Laura duPont

Laura duPont
Nation:	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	Cincinnati	Carpet (hall)	Pam Shriver	Mima Jaušovec Ann Kiyomura	6: 3, 6: 3
2.	March 28, 1980	Carlsbad	Hard court	Pam Shriver	Rosie Casals JoAnne Russell	6: 7, 6: 4, 6: 1
3.	September 27, 1981	Atlanta	Hard court	Betsy Nagelsen	Rosie Casals Candy Reynolds	6: 4, 7: 5
4th	October 24, 1982	Tokyo	Hard court	Barbara Jordan	Naoko Sato Brenda Remilton	6: 2, 6: 7, 6: 1
5.	November 6, 1982	Hong Kong	sand	Alycia Moulton	Jennifer Mundel Yvonne Vermaak	6: 2, 4: 6, 7: 5

Web links

• WTA profile Laura duPont (English)
• ITF profile of Laura duPont (English)
• Inventory of the Office of the Women's Tennis Coach of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1976–1999 , in the University Archives, UNC-Chapel Hill

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.