Polona Hercog

Polona Hercog
Nation:	Slovenia
Birthday:	20th January 1991 (age 29)
Size:	185 cm
Weight:	70 kg
1st professional season:	2006
Playing hand:	Right, two-handed backhand
Prize money:	$ 3,683,196
singles
Career record:	412: 276
Career title:	3 WTA , 17 ITF
Highest ranking:	35 (September 12, 2011)
Current placement:	45
Grand Slam record
Double
Career record:	76:74
Career title:	2 WTA, 5 ITF
Highest ranking:	56 (January 31, 2011)
Current placement:	1241
Grand Slam record
Mixed
Grand Slam record
Last update of the infobox: March 16, 2020
Sources: official player profiles at the ATP / WTA and ITF (see web links )

Polona Hercog (born January 20, 1991 in Maribor , Yugoslavia ) is a Slovenian tennis player .

Career

Polona Hercog, who started playing tennis at the age of four, moved to Italy when she was 14 because she found better training opportunities there. Even as a junior, she enjoyed great success. In 2008 she won the junior doubles competitions at the French Open and Wimbledon alongside Jessica Moore . In the final in Paris they prevailed against Lesley Kerkhove and Arantxa Rus , in the final in London they defeated Isabella Holland and Sally Peers . Thanks to the triumphs, Hercog climbed to eighth place in the junior tennis world rankings .

She gained her first experience in 2006 on the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour , where she won her first two professional titles in 2007, including winning a $ 25,000 tournament in her native Maribor . In the same year she competed in Portorož with a wildcard , her first match on the WTA tour, in which she was defeated by Jelena Wesnina in just three sets. In the following year she was allowed to start in Portorož, but lost again in the first lap. She then made her debut in the qualification of a Grand Slam tournament at the US Open 2008 , but was also eliminated there at the beginning.

Polona Hercog (2009)

In 2009 Hercog made his breakthrough on the WTA tour on clay court. So she won her first main round game in a WTA tournament in Marbella coming out of qualification against Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro , which was followed by her first entry into a quarter-finals in Fez . At the French Open she then made her debut in the main field of a Grand Slam tournament after successfully qualifying and immediately reached the second round after defeating Alissa Kleibanowa , in which she failed in three sets against Aravane Rezaï . In addition, she was able to win four more titles on the ITF Tour during the season, including one in the $ 100,000 category in Cuneo and two more in the $ 50,000 category in Zagreb and Zlín . On the hard court, however, she achieved her only major round success in Luxembourg . Nevertheless, based on her victories on the clay court alone, she was able to confidently finish the year among the top 100 in the world. In 2010 Hercog reached after another ITF title in the $ 75,000 category in Cali , in Acapulco, her first final on the WTA tour, in which she had to admit defeat to Venus Williams in three sets. In doubles, however, she won the tournament on the side of Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová and won her first WTA title. She then advanced to the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time at the French Open , in which she was defeated by Flavia Pennetta and reached a WTA semi-final on hard court for the first time in front of a home crowd in Portorož, but lost it to Anna Tschakwetadze in three sets. Together with Julia Görges , she secured her second WTA title in doubles in Seoul . With four further WTA quarter-finals, Hercog made it into the top 50 of the world rankings for the first time at the end of the year.

In 2011, Hercog moved into the third round as a qualifier for the first time after moving into her first WTA semi-final on hard court in Monterrey , in Rome , where she failed to Samantha Stosur after she had previously beaten Andrea Petković in the game . She showed herself to be in top form on the small clay court tour following the Wimbledon grass tournament . First she won her first WTA title in Båstad after beating Johanna Larsson in the final . A week later she reached the final in Palermo , but this time lost to Anabel Medina Garrigues . After she mastered the opening round at the US Open for the first time, she achieved her best world ranking position to date with 35th place. Towards the end of the season she was again in a WTA semi-final in Seoul . The following year Hercog defended her title in Båstad after a three-set win in the final over Mathilde Johansson . She also reached the semi-finals in Charleston after a victory in the third round over Marion Bartoli , in which she went down against Lucie Šafářová with 0: 6, 0: 6. Her best result of the season on hard court was the move into the round of 16 in Beijing , in which she was defeated by Maria Sharapova in two sets. In the four Grand Slam tournaments, she was eliminated in the first round.

Due to an injury that she suffered during the break of the season, Hercog dropped out of the top 100 in the world at the beginning of 2013 and spent the clay court season on the ITF tour and was able to celebrate her second title in Maribor. After she was eliminated in qualifying at the French Open , she won a tournament in the $ 100,000 category in Olomouc without losing a set. Through her participation in three WTA quarter-finals and her return to the round of 16 in Beijing , she was able to finish the season clearly in the top 100 in the world. In early 2014, she incapacitated an injury to her shoulder and ribs that left her in shape until the end of the year she did not play in the WTA semi-finals. At the French Open , she survived the opening round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 2011. In 2015, Hercog only made it to the semi-finals in Bucharest , but was able to hibernate among the top 100 in the world for the seventh year in a row due to reaching the third round at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, in which she was defeated by Ana Ivanović .

In 2016, the physical problems at Hercog continued. In Bol she reached the final at a tournament of the WTA Challenger Series , but lost there against Mandy Minella . After she had to give up in the opening match of the US Open against Angelique Kerber because of an infection, she ended the season outside the top 100 for the first time since 2008. A stress fracture in the shoulder and injuries to the left knee and right wrist forced her to do so To start the season again late in 2017. In Paris she was eliminated in the qualification, but then surprised with the first entry into the third round of Wimbledon , in which she was defeated by Svetlana Kuznetsova . After missing the qualification for the main draw of the US Open , she played a series of low-class ITF tournaments on clay to work her way up the ranking again. In total, she won six ITF tournaments this season, including two in the $ 60,000 category, and finished the year just outside the top 100.

In 2018 Hercog returned primarily to the WTA level and reached the final in Istanbul , which she lost in three sets against Pauline Parmentier . Then she was in a semi-final in Bucharest, but had to give up there due to an injury to the eventual winner Anastasija Sevastova . The following year, eight years after her last triumph, she celebrated her third WTA title in Lugano after beating Iga Świątek in the final . In addition, she was in the third round at both the French Open and Wimbledon and also reached the round of 16 in Eastbourne and Beijing , so that at the end of the year she was among the top 50 in the world for the first time since 2012.

In 2007, Hercog played for the Slovenian Fed Cup team for the first time in a 3-0 win over Estonia . Since then she has played 21 singles and doubles games for her country, of which she has won twelve (individual balance 9: 7).

Tournament victories

singles

No.	date	competition	category	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	August 19, 2007	Pesaro	ITF $ 10,000	sand	Stephanie Vogt	6: 2, 2: 6, 6: 1
2.	August 25, 2007	Maribor	ITF $ 25,000	sand	Tereza Hladíková	4: 6, 6: 1, 4: 1 exercise
3.	February 9, 2008	Mallorca	ITF $ 10,000	sand	Inés Ferrer Suarez	6: 3, 6: 1
4th	February 16, 2008	Mallorca	ITF $ 10,000	sand	Stephanie Vogt	4: 6, 6: 1, 6: 3
5.	April 19, 2009	Civitavecchia	ITF $ 25,000	sand	Andrea Petković	6: 2, 6: 4
6th	May 10, 2009	Zagreb	ITF $ 50,000	sand	Maša Zec Peškirič	7: 5, 6: 2
7th	June 14, 2009	Zlín	ITF $ 50,000	sand	Zuzana Kučová	6: 3, 6: 1
8th.	4th July 2009	Cuneo	ITF $ 100,000	sand	Varvara Lepchenko	6: 1, 6: 2
9.	February 14, 2010	Cali	ITF $ 75,000	sand	Mariana Duque Mariño	6: 4, 5: 7, 6: 2
10.	July 9, 2011	Båstad	WTA International	sand	Johanna Larsson	6: 4, 7: 5
11.	July 22, 2012	Båstad	WTA International	sand	Mathilde Johansson	0: 6, 6: 4, 7: 5
12.	2nd June 2013	Maribor	ITF $ 25,000	sand	Ana Konjuh	3: 6, 6: 3, 6: 3
13.	July 21, 2013	Olomouc	ITF $ 100,000	sand	Katarzyna Piter	6: 0, 6: 3
14th	June 11, 2017	Brescia	ITF $ 60,000	sand	Hanna Posnichirenko	6: 2, 7: 5
15th	September 9, 2017	Balatonboglár	ITF $ 25,000	sand	Greta Arn	6: 1, 6: 2
16.	September 24, 2017	Saint Malo	ITF $ 60,000	sand	Diāna Marcinkēviča	6: 3, 6: 3
17th	15th October 2017	Pula	ITF $ 25,000	sand	Valentina Iwachnenko	6: 1, 6: 0
18th	October 22, 2017	Pula	ITF $ 25,000	sand	Renata Zarazúa	6: 4, 6: 1
19th	5th November 2017	Pula	ITF $ 25,000	sand	Cristina Dinu	6: 1, 6: 4
20th	April 14, 2019	Lugano	WTA International	sand	Iga Świątek	6: 3, 3: 6, 6: 3

Double

No.	date	competition	category	Topping	Partner	Final opponents	Result
1.	January 18, 2007	Algiers	ITF $ 10,000	sand	Rushmi Chakravarthi	Barbora Matusová Anna Savitskaya	6: 2, 6: 0
2.	February 15, 2008	Mallorca	ITF $ 10,000	sand	Stephanie Vogt	Leticia Costas-Moreira Maite Gabarrus-Alonso	7: 6 2 , 6: 3
3.	May 3, 2008	Makarska	ITF $ 50,000	sand	Stephanie Vogt	Tadeja Majerič Maša Zec Peškirič	7: 5, 6: 2
4th	September 13, 2008	Sarajevo	ITF $ 25,000	sand	Alberta Brianti	Çağla Büyükakçay Julia Glushko	6: 4, 7: 5
5.	February 13, 2010	Cali	ITF $ 75,000	sand	Edina Gallovits-Hall	Estrella Cabeza Candela Laura Pous Tió	3: 6, 6: 3, [10: 8]
6th	February 26, 2010	Acapulco	WTA International	sand	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Sara Errani Roberta Vinci	2: 6, 6: 1, [10: 2]
7th	September 25, 2010	Seoul	WTA International	Hard court	Julia Goerges	Natalie Grandin Vladimíra Uhlířová	6: 3, 6: 4

Performing in Grand Slam tournaments

singles

competition	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	Balance sheet	Career
Australian Open	-	2	1	1	1	1	2	1	-	1	1	2	3: 9	2
French Open	2	3	2	1	-	2	2	2	-	1	3		9: 9	3
Wimbledon	-	1	2	1	-	2	1	1	3	1	3		6: 9	3
US Open	1	1	2	1	1	2	2	1	-	1	1		3:10	2

Double

competition	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	Balance sheet	Career
Australian Open	-	1	1	AF	1	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	2: 5	AF
French Open	-	1	1	1	-	1	-	-	-	1	1		0: 6	1
Wimbledon	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	-		0: 3	1
US Open	1	AF	2	1	AF	-	1	-	-	-	-		5: 6	AF

Web links

Commons : Polona Hercog  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• WTA profile of Polona Hercog (English)
• ITF profile of Polona Hercog (English)
• Fed Cup Statistics for Polona Hercog (English)
• Polona Hercog in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Web site Polona Hercog (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Peng Shuai advances in Morocco. In: africa.espn.com. April 23, 2014, accessed July 24, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Polona Hercog called out by Donna Vekic after Slovenian called it quits during the US Open first-round clash with Angelique Kerber. In: dailymail.co.uk. August 29, 2016, accessed on July 24, 2020 . 
3. ↑ Wimbledon 2017: Polona Hercog happy to make it till 3rd round despite loss to Svetlana Kuznetsova. In: firstpost.com. July 8, 2017, accessed on July 24, 2020 .