Rossana de los Ríos
Full name | Rossana Neffa de los Rios |
---|---|
Country (sports) | Paraguay |
Residence | Miami, United States Asunción, Paraguay |
Born | Asunción, Paraguay | 16 September 1975
Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) |
Turned pro | 1989 |
Retired | 2010 |
Plays | Right-handed (two-handed backhand) |
Prize money | $1,077,550 |
Singles | |
Career record | 447–314 (58.7%) |
Career titles | 11 ITF |
Highest ranking | No. 51 (12 November 2001) |
Grand Slam singles results | |
Australian Open | 2R (2001, 2002) |
French Open | 4R (2000) |
Wimbledon | 2R (2002, 2009) |
US Open | 2R (2002, 2008) |
Doubles | |
Career record | 119–140 (45.9%) |
Career titles | 7 ITF |
Highest ranking | No. 52 (12 May 2003) |
Grand Slam doubles results | |
Australian Open | 1R (2002, 2003) |
French Open | 2R (2003, 2008) |
Wimbledon | 1R (2002, 2003) |
US Open | 2R (2002) |
Rossana Neffa de los Rios (born 16 September 1975) is a former tennis player from Paraguay. She was born in the Paraguayan capital, Asunción,[1] and now resides in Miami, Florida, with her daughter Ana Paula Neffa de los Ríos,[2] who is also a professional tennis player, and her husband Gustavo Neffa, a retired Paraguayan Association football player who played for Boca Juniors. De los Ríos achieved career-high WTA rankings of No. 51 in singles and 52 in doubles. She played doubles with Grand Slam champions such as Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, as well as Jelena Janković and Dinara Safina. She is also a former world-number-one junior player, having won the 1992 Roland Garros Juniors event.[1] De los Ríos participated in six editions of the Australian Open (1994, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2009 and 2010). She was the only female tennis representative for Paraguay in the 1992 and 2000 Olympic Games. De los Ríos was also in Paraguay's Fed Cup team in 1991 and 1992, and the Pan American team in 1999.[3]
Career
1989–1994
As a 14-year-old, de los Ríos played just three matches, and won the first match of her career on the
At the 1992 Summer Olympics, she would meet her future partner, Gustavo Neffa, who was at the tournament representing the Paraguay national under-23 football team whilst they were representing Paraguay's tennis team.[5]
In 1993, she made the final in Caserta in June as she turned professional. As the world number 118, she caused a big upset at the Puerto Rican Open by defeating top seed and world No. 30, Brenda Schultz-McCarthy in the first round, finishing the year with 20 wins and 18 losses. In 1994, she only played until April, and won only two of ten matches, before retiring to start a family.
1995–1999
De los Ríos married Gustavo Neffa in 1994,[6] and gave birth to Ana-Paula on January 17, 1997. With the marriage, she suspended her career until 1999-2000 when she returned to the WTA Tour in June 1999, after a five-year absence.[5] In just her fifth tournament back, she won her fifth ITF title, in Buenos Aires, dropping just nine games in five matches. Her win–loss record for the year was 31–9.
2000
The year 2000 was the most successful year on the
2001
Did not win two matches back-to-back until Madrid in May. In the first round, she defeated Cristina Torrens Valero 6–1, 6–0, and then recorded her greatest victory to date, with a three-set win over world No. 6 (at the time), Monica Seles.
The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Sport:
I knew that I could beat Monica, but when I was near victory I was thinking a lot of things, and I had to concentrate very hard to win. This is my most important victory, and I dedicate it to my husband.
She was defeated in the quarterfinals, however. At the French Open in June, Rossana defeated
On 12 November 2001, she ranked 51.[8]
2002
Advanced to the second round of the Australian Open for the first time in January. Reached the quarterfinals of Bogotá in February. Won just three of her next 13 matches until the French Open in June, where she recorded a third-round appearance but fell to Elena Dementieva. Advanced to the second round of Wimbledon but was defeated at the hands of Monica Seles. In September, Rossana reached the quarterfinals of Bali (Tier III) by upsetting top seed Tamarine Tanasugarn. She was then defeated by Conchita Martínez in straight sets. In Bratislava (Tier V), Rossana stunned Francesca Schiavone in straight sets and reached the quarterfinals. She led Slovenian Maja Matevžič 6–1, 5–2 but bowed out 6–1, 5–7, 1–6. She won 21 matches in total during the year, and lost 30.
2003
Rossana had a disappointing 2003 season. She did not reach the quarterfinals or better in any WTA Tour tournament, but on the ITF Circuit she did manage to advance to the semifinals of Troy in October. She lost in the opening rounds of the Australian Open and the French Open, and was defeated 6–0, 6–0 by Kim Clijsters in the first round at Wimbledon. She won 29 matches (18 of which were in qualifying) and lost 29 matches. In 2003, de los Ríos ranked 52 in doubles.[9]
2004–2005 and injuries
In 2004, Rossana did not compete in any WTA or ITF tournament until May due to injury. She won two matches in qualifying for the French Open in just her second tournament of the year, but lost in the final round. The following week she made the semifinals of Allentown on the ITF Circuit, as well as the final of College Park in July. She lost in the first round of qualification at the US Open in September, but rebounded with a semifinal at Ashburn on the ITF Circuit and more impressively, qualified for Philadelphia (Tier II) and reached the second round before being defeated by Anastasia Myskina. She won 19 matches during the year and lost a total of 13.
Things began well for Rossana in 2005, starting with a semifinal appearance in Waikoloa. However, a knee injury kept them out of play from February to October. Upon them return to the ITF Circuit, Rossana had fallen over 100 positions on the WTA rankings- from No. 186 to 289. In her return tournament, she impressively reached the semifinals of Pelham, Alabama. In October, she reached the quarterfinals of San Francisco. She won nine matches out of 16 for the year.
2006
Was Rossana's second most successful year on the WTA Tour. Although she won just five of her first nine matches, it was Indian Harbour Beach in May which saw Rossana reach her first ITF final since College Park in 2004. Ranked as low as No. 452, she came through in qualifying, winning seven consecutive matches en route to the final. She was defeated by Edina Gallovits despite Rossana leading 5–0 in the final set and having six match points. Despite the loss, next week Rossana went on to reach the final in
In November, she recorded her worst loss of the year in qualifying for Pittsburgh, but reversed it the next week with an impressive win over sixth seed Aleksandra Wozniak, to record her best win of the year. She went on to reach the semifinals. Two weeks later in December, de los Ríos claimed her first ITF title since 1999, winning the Santaluz Club Open tournament in San Diego, United States,[9] beating sixth seed Ivana Abramović 6–0, 6–2 in the final. The win for Rossana encouraged them to compete in Australia in 2007, and resurrected her ranking to just outside the top 200.
She climbed 117 ranking positions in the year, from No. 386 to No. 209 in the twelve months, and won 31 matches compared to 14 losses.
2007
To commence 2007, Rossana suffered a first round defeat in $50k Waikoloa to start her 2007 season. In her next tournament, she reached the Semifinals of $25k Palm Desert, beating top seed Edina Gallovits 6–2, 6–1. In February, she fell in the first round of $75k Midland the next week but still secured a position inside the top 200 at No. 193- the first time she had broken into the top 200 since 2004. In late February, she competed in Acapulco (Tier III) at the
Fresh from victory, Rossana quickly flew to Paris for the first time since 2004 to compete in the qualification event of
After this loss, she took some time off, and her next tournament was the US Open qualifying event. There, she lost in the first round to Carla Suarez Navarro. Next, Rossana went to the $50k Mestre in Italy. There, as the fifth seed, she won her second tournament of 2007, beating Alisa Kleybanova in the final. Straight after her victory, she went to the $100k Bordeaux but lost in the first round to the No. 7 seed, Ekaterina Bychkova, despite winning the first set. The next week, Rossana claimed her biggest ITF title to date and the eighth of her career in Albuquerque ($75k). The victory marked her second title in just three weeks. En route to the title in Albuquerque, Rossana won five matches- three of them in three sets- resulting in her ranking rising from 136 to No. 114. Rossana then made two back to back quarterfinal appearances in $50k San Francisco and $50k Lawrenceville, Georgia. She lost in the first round of Quebec City and fell in the quarterfinals of $25k Mexico City to conclude the year.
2008
On 23 June, Rossana was beaten by then-world No. 1, Ana Ivanovic, in the first round at Wimbledon. Rossana then played at Palermo and defeated fifth seed Aravane Rezaï.
2009
In January 2009, Rossana played in the
2010
At the 2010 Australian Open, de los Ríos was eliminated in the first round by Marion Bartoli.[13] In the 2010 Roland Garros, she was defeated 4–6, 6–1 and 6–0 by Samantha Stosur.[14][15] She has not played in any WTA or ITF tournaments since the 2010 US Open.
WTA Tour finals
Doubles: 2 (2 runner-ups)
Winner – Legend |
---|
Grand Slam (0–0) |
Tier I (0–0) |
Tier II (0–1) |
Tier III, IV & V (0–1) |
Result | W/L | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Loss | 0–1 | May 2002 | Madrid, Spain | Clay | Arantxa Sánchez Vicario | Martina Navratilova Natasha Zvereva |
2–6, 3–6 |
Loss | 0–2 | Sep 2002 | Bahia, Brazil | Hard | Émilie Loit | Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez |
4–6, 1–6 |
ITF finals
$75,000 tournaments |
$50,000 tournaments |
$25,000 tournaments |
$10,000 tournaments |
Singles (11–14)
Result | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Win | 1. | 13 May 1991 | Francavilla, Italy | Clay | Ginevra Mugnaini | 6–3, 7–5 |
Loss | 1. | 17 June 1991 | Modena, Italy | Clay | Sybille Niox-Château | 0–6, 1–6 |
Win | 2. | 23 September 1991 | Lima, Peru | Clay | Larissa Schaerer | 6–3, 6–1 |
Win | 3. | 28 September 1992 | Santa Maria, Italy | Clay | Marzia Grossi | 6–4, 6–0 |
Loss | 2. | 26 October 1992 | Asunción, Paraguay | Clay | Larissa Schaerer | 5–7, 1–6 |
Loss | 3. | 30 November 1992 | Mildura, Australia | Hard | Tessa Price | 3–6, 3–6 |
Loss | 4. | 7 June 1993 | Caserta, Italy | Clay | Sarah Pitkowski-Malcor | 5–7, 3–6 |
Win | 4. | 30 August 1999 | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Clay | Melisa Arévalo | 6–0, 6–2 |
Loss | 5. | 10 April 2000 | La Cañada, United States | Clay | Yi Jingqian | 6–3, 5–7, 3–6 |
Loss | 6. | 1 May 2000 | Virginia Beach, United States | Clay | Marie-Ève Pelletier | 6–7(5–7), 2–6 |
Loss | 7. | 9 October 2000 | Miramar, United States | Clay | Alina Jidkova | 6–1, 6–7(2–7), 2–6 |
Loss | 8. | 6 November 2000 | Pittsburgh, United States | Hard | Sandra Cacic | 5–7, 6–1, 2–6 |
Loss | 9. | 11 July 2004 | College Park, United States | Hard | Olga Puchkova | 5–7, 6–4, 2–6 |
Loss | 10. | 6 May 2006 | Indian Harbour Beach, United States | Clay | Edina Gallovits-Hall | 6–3, 6–7(5–7), 6–7(0–7) |
Loss | 11. | 16 May 2006 | Palm Beach, United States | Clay | Jorgelina Cravero | 2–6, 4–6 |
Win | 5. | 29 November 2006 | San Diego, United States | Hard | Ivana Abramović | 6–0, 6–2 |
Win | 6. | 8 May 2007 | Palm Beach, United States | Clay | Brenda Schultz-McCarthy | 7–5, 6–4 |
Win | 7. | 3 September 2007 | Save Cup, Italy | Clay | Alisa Kleybanova | 6–4, 3–6, 6–1 |
Win | 8. | 17 September 2007 | Albuquerque, United States | Hard | Maret Ani | 7–6(8–6), 1–6, 6–2 |
Loss | 12. | 31 March 2008 | Pelham, United States | Clay | Raquel Kops-Jones
|
3–6, 4–6 |
Loss | 13. | 15 September 2008 | Albuquerque, United States | Hard | Julie Ditty | 4–6, 6–7(3–7) |
Loss | 14. | 3 February 3009 | Cali, Colombia | Clay | Anastasia Yakimova
|
3–6, 0–6 |
Win | 9. | 30 March 2009 | Pelham, United States | Clay | Jorgelina Cravero | 6–4, 6–1 |
Win | 10. | 1 November 2009 | Bayamón, Puerto Rico | Hard | Mirjana Lučić
|
6–3, 6–4 |
Win | 11. | 6 December 2009 | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Clay | Paula Ormaechea | 7–5, 6–1 |
Doubles: 10 (7–3)
Result | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Win | 1. | 26 August 1991 | São Paulo, Brazil | Clay | Larissa Schaerer | María José Gaidano Cintia Tortorella |
6–4, 6–4 |
Win | 2. | 23 September 1991 | Lima, Peru | Clay | Larissa Schaerer | María Dolores Campana Janaina Mercadante |
6–2, 6–3 |
Win | 3. | 30 September 1991 | La Paz, Bolivia | Clay | Larissa Schaerer | Paula Cabezas Janaina Mercadante |
6–3, 7–5 |
Win | 4. | 30 August 1999 | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Clay | Geraldine Aizenberg | Eugenia Chialvo Jorgelina Cravero |
7–5, 6–1 |
Win | 5. | 19 September 1999 | Asunción, Paraguay | Hard | Larissa Schaerer | Mariana Mesa Aliénor Tricerri |
6–2, 6–3 |
Win | 6. | 14 November 1999 | Monterrey, Mexico | Hard | Mariana Díaz Oliva | Clarisa Fernandez
|
4–6, 7–6(6), 6–3 |
Loss | 1. | 15 October 2000 | Miramar, United States | Clay | Samantha Reeves | Liezel Huber Lisa McShea |
3–5, 1–4, 1–4 |
Loss | 2. | 19 October 2003 | Sedona, United States | Clay | Alina Jidkova | Yan Zi Zheng Jie |
6–7(2), 6–7(3) |
Loss | 3. | 10 June 2007 | Zubr Cup, Czech Republic | Clay | Edina Gallovits
|
Lucie Hradecká Renata Voráčová |
7–5, 3–6, 2–6 |
Win | 7. | 19 November 2007 | Mexico City, Mexico | Hard | Surina De Beer | Daniela Múñoz Gallegos Valeria Pulido |
6–3, 6–1 |
Grand Slam singles performance timeline
W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
Tournament | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | W–L |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australian Open | A | 1R | A | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | 2R | 1R | A | A | A | A | LQ | 1R | 1R | 2–6 |
French Open | A | LQ | A | A | A | A | A | 4R | 2R | 3R | 1R | LQ | A | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 7–8 |
Wimbledon | A | LQ | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | A | A | A | LQ | 1R | 2R | 1R | 2–7 |
US Open | 1R | A | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | 1R | 2R | LQ | LQ | A | LQ | LQ | 2R | 1R | LQ | 2–6 |
Win–loss | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 3–3 | 2–4 | 5–4 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 1–4 | 1–3 | 13–27 |
Personal life
She was known for changing her fame for love, when she married Paraguayan footballer Gustavo Neffa.[1] Their wedding was on 26 December 1994.[3] De los Ríos and Neffa have a daughter named Ana Paula,[1] who was born on 17 January 1997.[3] De los Ríos stopped playing for five years to dedicate time to her daughter, returning to tennis in 2000.[1]
In 2002, de los Ríos commented about being one of the few mothers on the WTA Tour:
Being a person who gives birth was more important than being tennis player. Tennis was just my job. I always thought I stop for good. After practicing and practicing, I do well. It was hard with my daughter. My husband traveled with me, but we still needed a nanny sometimes. For us it is still not easy. Ana is five and she likes to watch tennis. Most of the bigger tournaments have nurseries, which helps. My mind has changed after Ana. It is easy for the men. They are not having the babies. Still, is good that they are fathers. It's important to be parent.
— [16]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Tiempo, Editorial Medio. "Rossana, la tenista que cambió fama por el amor a un futbolista". Mediotiempo. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
- ^ "Gustavo Neffa: "Yo veo muy bien a la selección de mi país" - Deportes - ABC Color".
- ^ a b c "Rossana De Los Ríos Bio | Bio & Career – WTA Official".
- ^ "La Nación / Víctor, Ramón, Rossana, Montserrat brillaron en Roland Garros y ahora quiere, Verónica".
- ^ a b Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Entrevista a Rossana de los Ríos". YouTube.
- ^ "Y ahora es su momento". March 2007.
- ^ "Diario deportivo Olé - Notiolímpico". edant.ole.com.ar. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
- ^ "Player. Rossana de los Ríos". itftennis.com. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
- ^ a b "Inicio - D10 - Deportes Paraguay". d10.ultimahora.com. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
- ^ "Rossana de los Ríos entrena aquí mirando al 2009 - Deportes - ABC Color".
- ^ "Livescores - Soccer - Scoresway".
- ^ "Debut y despedida: Rossana de los Ríos cae en Australia".
- ^ "Debut y eliminación de Rossana De los Ríos en el Abierto de Australia". paraguay.com (in Spanish). January 18, 2010. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
- ^ "Rossana de los Ríos: "No me van a querer más en Paraguay"". Paraguay.com (in Spanish). Archived from the original on April 7, 2014. Retrieved April 6, 2014.
- ^ "Stosur acaba con la ilusión de Rossana en el Roland Garros". paraguay.com (in Spanish). May 28, 2010. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
- ^ Garber, Greb (September 16, 2003). "Parents on Tour". ESPN. Retrieved May 16, 2009.