 Dulko at the2009 Italian Open | |
| Country (sports) |  Argentina |
|---|---|
| Residence | Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Born | (1985-01-30)30 January 1985 (age 40) Tigre, Argentina |
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) |
| Turned pro | January 2001 |
| Retired | 18 November 2012[1] |
| Plays | Right–handed (two–handed backhand) |
| Prize money | $4,246,105 |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 309–242 |
| Career titles | 4 |
| Highest ranking | No. 26 (21 November 2005) |
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| Australian Open | 3R (2010) |
| French Open | 4R (2006,2011) |
| Wimbledon | 3R (2004,2006,2008,2009) |
| US Open | 4R (2009) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 305–182 |
| Career titles | 17 |
| Highest ranking | No.1 (1 November 2010) |
| Grand Slam doubles results | |
| Australian Open | W (2011) |
| French Open | QF (2007,2010) |
| Wimbledon | SF (2010) |
| US Open | QF (2010) |
| Other doubles tournaments | |
| Tour Finals | W (2010) |
| Team competitions | |
| Hopman Cup | F (2005) |
Gisela Dulko (Spanish pronunciation:[xiˈselaˈðulko];[2] born 30 January 1985) is an Argentine former tennis player. Although she enjoyed modest success in singles, reaching a career-high ranking of world No. 26 and winning fourWTA titles, her speciality was doubles, where she achieved theworld No. 1 ranking and won 17 WTA titles. Partnering withFlavia Pennetta, Dulko won the2010 WTA Tour Championships and the2011 Australian Open. She also reached the mixed-doubles final at the2011 US Open, withEduardo Schwank. During her career, Dulko upset a number of top players on the tour, includingMaria Sharapova in the second round of Wimbledon in 2009,Samantha Stosur in the third round of Roland Garros in 2011, andMartina Navratilova in the second round of Wimbledon in2004 and in Navratilova's finalGrand Slam singles match.
Dulko retired from professional tennis on 18 November 2012, aged 27.[3]
Gisela was born and raised inTigre,Buenos Aires Province. Her brother Alejandro, who is seven years her senior, was her coach.[4] Gisela was born to Ana and now deceased Estanislao Dulko, who was ofHungarian descent.[5] At the age of twelve, she moved from Argentina toMiami, Florida, to pursue a professional tennis career.[4]
As a junior, she won three Grand Slam events in doubles: the2000 US Open withMaría Emilia Salerni, the2002 Australian Open withAngelique Widjaja, and the2001 Wimbledon Championships withAshley Harkleroad.[6]
On 29 April 2007, she won her first WTA title by defeatingSorana Cîrstea of Romania in the final of the Tier-III event in Budapest. On 25 August 2007, Dulko won her second WTA title at theForest HillsTier-IV event, defeatingVirginie Razzano. On 4 May 2008, she won her third WTA title at theGrand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem Tier-IV event, defeatingAnabel Medina Garrigues.[6]
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In January, she played at theHong Kong Tennis Classic with two Americans,CoCo Vandeweghe andVenus Williams, and then started the year with a quarter-final appearance at theHobart International, losing toIveta Benešová. At theAustralian Open she lost to the eventual champion,Serena Williams, in the second round.[7] In the first round of theFed Cup, she gave her team their only wins when she defeated AmericansMelanie Oudin andJill Craybas. In theCopa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas she reached her first final of the year, but lost toMaría José Martínez Sánchez. She then reached the quarter-finals of theMonterrey Open and thePorsche Tennis Grand Prix, and the third round of mandatory events inIndian Wells andMiami. However, she lost in the second rounds of theInternazionali BNL d'Italia andInternationaux de Strasbourg and made first round exits at theMadrid Open and theAegon International.
She reached the third round in the next two Grand Slams, losing toDominika Cibulková at theFrench Open, and then toNadia Petrova atWimbledon after she had upset the 24th seed,Maria Sharapova, in three sets in the second round.
At theSwedish Open, she lost again to Martínez Sánchez, this time in the semi-finals. She then made first-round exits in theInternazionali Femminili di Palermo, theLA Women's Tennis Championships and thePilot Pen Tennis, and failed to qualify for theRogers Cup. At theUS Open, she made it to the round of 16 before falling toKateryna Bondarenko 0–6, 0–6 in just 47 minutes. Her last tournament of the year was at theToray Pan Pacific Open, where she reached the second round before losing to Benešová in three sets.
She again played at theHong Kong Tennis Classic, and won Silver Group Championships withVenus Williams andMichael Chang, and then she started the year at theHobart International, where she reached the quarter-finals, losing to Medina Garrigues. At theAustralian Open, she upsetAna Ivanovic in the second round before losing to the ninth seedVera Zvonareva. She then played inCopa BBVA-Colsanitas as the top seed, and made it to the semi-finals before being upset byAngelique Kerber. At the same tournament, she won the doubles title withEdina Gallovits. She then played in theAbierto Mexicano Telcel as the third seed, but lost to the fifth-seededCarla Suárez Navarro in the semi-finals.
Seeded 31st at theBNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, she gained the biggest victory of her career by defeating the former world No. 1,Justine Henin. In the third round, she lost to the No. 5 seed,Agnieszka Radwańska.
Unseeded at theSony Ericsson Open, Dulko reached the third round by defeatingOlga Govortsova and the No. 21 seedAlona Bondarenko. She then lost toMarion Bartoli. In the doubles, Dulko andFlavia Pennetta won their firstWTA Premier title, beating Petrova andSamantha Stosur in three sets.
Dulko and Pennetta also won thePorsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart and theInternazionali d'Italia in Rome, and extended their winning streak to 19 matches before losing in the final of theMadrid Open to Serena and Venus Williams.
Dulko caused the first upset of theFrench Open with a first round victory over the No. 10 seed,Victoria Azarenka. Dulko was then defeated byChanelle Scheepers in the second round.[8] Dulko lost in the first round of her Wimbledon campaign byMonica Niculescu. She and Pennetta reached the semi-finals of the doubles event.
Dulko then played at theSwedish Open in Båstad, where she was seeded 4th. Although Dulko overcame Pennetta in the semi-finals, she fell in the final to the French No. 2 seed,Aravane Rezaï, in three sets.[9] Dulko and Pennetta went on to defend their doubles title by defeating the Czech pair ofRenata Voráčová andBarbora Záhlavová-Strýcová.
Dulko and Pennetta won a marathon doubles final at theRogers Cup in Montreal, beatingKvěta Peschke andKatarina Srebotnik, for their fifth title of the season. Their next event together was theUS Open, in which they were the top seeds but lost in the quarter-finals toVania King andYaroslava Shvedova, the eventual champions. In the singles, Dulko reached to the third round before losing to the No. 20 seed,Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.[10]
At theChina Open in Beijing, Dulko made it to the second round before falling toMaria Kirilenko. In the doubles, Dulko and Pennetta lost in the final toOlga Govortsova andChan Yung-jan, and then won their sixth event of the season at theKremlin Cup in Moscow.[11] Dulko and Pennetta were invited to theTour Championships in Doha as the top seeds, and defeated Peschke and Srebotnik in the final to win the year-end championship.[12]
On 1 November 2010, Dulko became the world No. 1 ranked doubles player.[13]
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Dulko and Pennetta to won their first Grand Slam event title at the2011 Australian Open, defeating Azarenka and Kirilenko 2–6, 7–5, 6–1 in the final.[14][15]
Dulko reached her first singles final of the year at theAbierto Mexicano Telcel, where she was the fourth seed. There she defeatedArantxa Parra Santonja to win her fourth career singles title. She struggled in her next few tournaments, losing in the first rounds of Miami, Madrid, and Rome, and only reaching the second round at theBNP Paribas Open, but found form again at theFrench Open, advancing to the fourth round by defeating the 2010 finalist Stosur in three sets. However, she was forced to retire due to a leg injury in the second set of her match against Bartoli.[16]
PartneringEduardo Schwank, Dulko was runner-up in the mixed doubles at the2011 US Open, losing toMelanie Oudin andJack Sock in the final which went to a deciding champions tiebreak.[17]
Aged 27, Dulko announced her retirement from professional tennis in November 2012, stating that she no longer had the "same drive" and willingness to make the "sacrifices" needed to compete on the WTA circuit.[18][19]
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 2011 | Australian Open | Hard |  Flavia Pennetta |  Victoria Azarenka Maria Kirilenko | 2–6, 7–5, 6–1 |
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 2011 | US Open | Hard | Eduardo Schwank |  Melanie OudinJack Sock | 7–6(7–4), 4–6, [10–8] |
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
| Tournament | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | W–L | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Slam tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||
| Australian Open | A | A | 2R | 2R | QF | 3R | 1R | 2R | QF | W | 3R | 19–8 | ||||||
| French Open | A | 2R | 3R | 2R | 3R | QF | 1R | 2R | QF | QF | 2R | 17–10 | ||||||
| Wimbledon | 1R | 1R | 3R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 2R | SF | A | A | 6–9 | ||||||
| US Open | A | 1R | 1R | 3R | 1R | 3R | 2R | 3R | QF | 3R | A | 12–8 | ||||||
| Win–loss | 0–1 | 1–3 | 5–4 | 4–4 | 5–4 | 7–4 | 2–4 | 5–4 | 13–4 | 9–1 | 3–2 | 54–35 | ||||||
| Year-end championships | ||||||||||||||||||
| WTA Finals | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | W | SF | A | 2–1 | ||||||
| Titles/Runner-ups | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–3 | 8–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 17–11 | ||||||
| Year-end ranking | 125 | 96 | 34 | 26 | 29 | 23 | 132 | 27 | 1 | 9 | 46 | N/A | ||||||
Dulko was married to the Argentine international footballerFernando Gago.[20] The couple has two sons[21] and a daughter.[22] The couple separated in 2021, after he had an affair with one of her friends.[23][24]
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | WTA Doubles Team of the Year (with Flavia Pennetta)2010 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Serena Williams & Venus Williams | ITF Doubles World Champion (with Flavia Pennetta)2010 | Succeeded by Katarina Srebotnik & Květa Peschke |
Gisela DulkoAchievements | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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