Mercedes Paz

Mercedes María Paz (Spanish pronunciation: [meɾˈseðes maˈɾi.a ˈpas]; born 27 June 1966) is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. She won three singles titles on the WTA Tour and reached a career-high ranking of world No. 28 in April 1991. Her best Grand Slam result was the fourth round at the 1986 French Open and the 1990 French Open.

Mercedes Paz

Paz at the 2021 Billie Jean King Cup play-offs
Country (sports)	Argentina
Residence	Tucumán, Argentina
Born	(1966-06-27) 27 June 1966 (age 58) Tucumán
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro	1984
Retired	1998
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	$1,154,319
Singles
Career record	280–279
Career titles	3
Highest ranking	No. 28 (29 April 1991)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	1R (1991, 1992, 1995)
French Open	4R (1986, 1990)
Wimbledon	2R (1994, 1996)
US Open	2R (1985, 1987, 1988)
Doubles
Career record	385–245
Career titles	22
Highest ranking	No. 12 (24 September 1990)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	3R (1991, 1992)
French Open	SF (1991)
Wimbledon	QF (1990)
US Open	SF (1991)

Paz unexpectedly defeated defending champion Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the second round of the 1990 French Open. Later that year, at the Virginia Slims of Worcester, Paz also defeated Sánchez Vicario in the round of 16. Five years before, in the semifinals of the 1985 Brazil Open, she beat top-seeded Gabriela Sabatini en route to beating Peruvian Laura Arraya for the title. In so doing, Paz became the first Argentinian woman to capture a major WTA event. In addition to wins over Sánchez Vicario and Sabatini, she also defeated top-seeded Jana Novotná in three sets to reach the semifinals of the Belgian Ladies Open in Brussels in 1989. The previous year, at the 1988 Hilton Head tournament, Paz had defeated Novotná in the round of 32 for the first time.

WTA career finals

Singles 6 (3 titles, 3 runner-ups)

Legend
Virginia Slims (1–1)
Tier I (0–0)
Tier II (0–0)
Tier III (0–0)
Tier IV & V (2–2)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1.	Mar 1985	São Paulo Open, Brazil	Clay	Laura Arraya	5–7, 6–1, 6–4
Loss	1.	Oct 1986	Singapore Open	Hard (i)	Gigi Fernández	6–4, 2–6, 6–4
Loss	2.	Oct 1988	Puerto Rico Open	Hard	Anne Minter	2–6, 6–4, 6–3
Win	2.	Nov 1988	Guarujá Cup, Brazil	Hard	Rene Simpson	7–5, 6–2
Loss	3.	Jul 1989	Belgian Open	Clay	Radka Zrubáková	7–6(8–6), 6–4
Win	3.	May 1990	Internationaux de Strasbourg, France	Clay	Ann Grossman	6–2, 6–3

Doubles 40 (22 titles, 18 runner-ups)

Legend
WTA Championships (0–1)
Virginia Slims (7–2)
Tier I (0–1)
Tier II (1–5)
Tier III (2–1)
Tier IV & V (12–8)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1.	Oct 1984	Japan Open	Hard	Ronni Reis	Emilse Raponi-Longo Adriana Villagrán	6–4, 7–5
Win	2.	Mar 1985	São Paulo Open, Brazil	Clay	Gabriela Sabatini	Csilla Bartos Niege Dias	7–5, 6–4
Win	3.	Aug 1985	VS New York, U.S.	Hard	Gabriela Sabatini	Kateřina Böhmová Andrea Holíková	5–7, 6–4, 6–3
Win	4.	Nov 1986	Puerto Rico Open	Hard	Lori McNeil	Gigi Fernández Robin White	6–2, 3–6, 6–4
Win	5.	Dec 1986	Argentine Open	Clay	Lori McNeil	Manon Bollegraf Nicole Muns-Jagerman	6–1, 2–6, 6–1
Loss	1.	Mar 1987	South Carolina Open, U.S.	Clay	Candy Reynolds	Laura Arraya Tine Scheuer-Larsen	6–4, 6–4
Win	6.	Apr 1987	Family Circle Cup, U.S.	Clay	Eva Pfaff	Zina Garrison Lori McNeil	7–6(8–6), 7–5
Win	7.	Nov 1987	Argentine Open	Clay	Gabriela Sabatini	Jill Hetherington Christiane Jolissaint	6–2, 6–2
Loss	2.	Dec 1987	Brasil Open	Hard	Jill Hetherington	Katrina Adams Cheryl Jones	6–4, 4–6, 6–4
Win	8.	Jul 1988	Swedish Open	Clay	Sandra Cecchini	Linda Ferrando Silvia La Fratta	6–0, 6–2
Win	9.	Jul 1988	Belgian Open	Clay	Tine Scheuer-Larsen	Katerina Maleeva Raffaella Reggi	7–6(7–3), 6–1
Win	10.	Nov 1988	Guarujá Cup, Brazil	Hard	Bettina Fulco	Carin Bakkum Simone Schilder	6–3, 6–4
Win	11.	May 1989	Ilva Trophy, Italy	Clay	Sabrina Goleš	Sophie Amiach Emmanuelle Derly	6–2, 6–2
Loss	3.	May 1989	Italian Open	Clay	Manon Bollegraf	Elizabeth Smylie Janine Thompson	6–4, 6–3
Win	12.	May 1989	Internationaux de Strasbourg, France	Clay	Judith Wiesner	Lise Gregory Gretchen Magers	6–3, 6–3
Loss	4.	Jul 1989	Arcachon Cup, France	Clay	Brenda Schultz-McCarthy	Sandra Cecchini Patricia Tarabini	6–3, 7–6(7–5)
Winner	13.	Jul 1989	Belgian Open	Clay	Manon Bollegraf	Carin Bakkum Simone Schilder	6–1, 6–2
Win	14.	Jul 1989	Swedish Open	Clay	Tine Scheuer-Larsen	Sabrina Goleš Katerina Maleeva	6–2, 7–5
Win	15.	Dec 1989	Guarujá Cup, Brazil	Hard	Patricia Tarabini	Cláudia Chabalgoity Luciana Corsato	6–2, 6–2
Loss	5.	Apr 1990	Family Circle Cup, U.S.	Clay	Natasha Zvereva	Martina Navratilova Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–2, 6–1
Win	16.	Apr 1990	Amelia Island Championships, U.S.	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Regina Kordová Andrea Temesvári	7–6(7–5), 6–4
Win	17.	Apr 1990	Tampa Open, U.S.	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Laura Arraya Sandra Cecchini	6–2, 6–0
Win	18.	Apr 1990	Barcelona Open, Spain	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Sabrina Goleš Patricia Tarabini	6–7(7–9), 6–2, 6–1
Win	19.	Jul 1990	Swedish Open	Clay	Tine Scheuer-Larsen	Carin Bakkum Nicole Muns-Jagerman	6–3, 6–7(10–12), 6–2
Loss	6.	Aug 1990	LA Championships, U.S.	Hard	Gabriela Sabatini	Gigi Fernández Jana Novotná	6–3, 4–6, 6–4
Loss	7.	Oct 1990	Filderstadt Grand Prix, West Germany	Hard (i)	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Mary Joe Fernández Zina Garrison	7–5, 6–3
Loss	8.	Nov 1990	WTA Championships, New York	Carpet (i)	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Kathy Jordan Elizabeth Smylie	7–6(7–4), 6–4
Loss	9.	Apr 1991	Amelia Island Championships, U.S.	Clay	Natasha Zvereva	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Helena Suková	4–6, 6–2, 6–2
Loss	10.	May 1991	Internationaux de Strasbourg, France	Clay	Manon Bollegraf	Lori McNeil Stephanie Rehe	6–7(2–7), 6–4, 6–4
Loss	11.	Jul 1991	Internazionali di Palermo, Italy	Clay	Laura Garrone	Petra Langrová Mary Pierce	6–3, 6–7(5–7), 6–3
Loss	12.	Jul 1991	San Marino Open	Clay	Laura Garrone	Kerry-Anne Guse Akemi Nishiya	6–0, 6–3
Loss	13.	Nov 1991	VS Indianapolis, U.S.	Hard (i)	Katrina Adams	Patty Fendick Gigi Fernández	6–4, 6–2
Win	20.	Dec 1991	São Paulo Open, Brazil	Clay	Inés Gorrochategui	Renata Baranski Laura Glitz	6–2, 6–2
Loss	14.	May 1992	Internationaux de Strasbourg, France	Clay	Lori McNeil	Patty Fendick Andrea Strnadová	6–3, 6–4
Loss	15.	Aug 1992	San Diego Open, U.S.	Hard	Conchita Martínez	Jana Novotná Larisa Neiland	6–1, 6–4
Loss	16.	Apr 1993	Ilva Trophy, Italy	Clay	Petra Langrová	Debbie Graham Brenda Schultz-McCarthy	6–0, 6–4
Loss	17.	Jul 1993	New Haven Open, U.S.	Hard	Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere	Elizabeth Smylie Helena Suková	6–1, 6–2
Win	21.	Jan 1994	Auckland Open, New Zealand	Hard	Patricia Hy	Jenny Byrne Julie Richardson	6–4, 7–6(7–3)
Win	22.	Apr 1995	Bol Open, Croatia	Clay	Rene Simpson	Laura Golarsa Irina Spîrlea	7–5, 6–2
Loss	18.	Jul 1997	Internazionali di Palermo, Italy	Clay	Florencia Labat	Silvia Farina Elia Barbara Schett	2–6, 6–1, 6–4

ITF Circuit finals

$75,000 tournaments

$50,000 tournaments

$25,000 tournaments

$10,000 tournaments

Singles (2–3)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	11 June 1984	ITF Lyon, France	Clay	Katerina Maleeva	6–7, 6–3, 2–6
Runner-up	2.	25 February 1985	ITF São Paulo, Brazil	Clay	Helena Dahlström	7–5, 4–6, 4–6
Winner	1.	10 March 1985	ITF Curitiba, Brazil	Clay	Renee Blount	6–1, 6–2
Winner	2.	1 April 1985	ITF Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Mariana Pérez Roldán	6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	3.	30 September 1996	ITF Newport Beach, United States	Hard	Elena Brioukhovets	2–6, 4–6

Doubles (9–3)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	29 January 1984	ITF Miami, United States	Hard	Ronni Reis	Heather Crowe Rene Mentz	4–6, 3–6
Winner	1.	11 June 1984	Lyon, France	Clay	Ronni Reis	Isabelle Demongeot Nathalie Tauziat	1–6, 6–3, 6–3
Winner	2.	15 November 1993	La Plata, Argentina	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Cláudia Chabalgoity Larissa Schaerer	6–1, 6–4
Winner	3.	14 November 1994	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Patrícia Marková Yuka Tanaka	6–4, 6–3
Winner	4.	25 February 1996	Bogotá, Colombia	Clay	Christína Papadáki	Virág Csurgó Kateřina Kroupová-Šišková	7–6, 6–2
Winner	5.	30 September 1996	Newport Beach, United States	Hard	Rene Simpson	Erika deLone Nicole Pratt	6–3, 6–1
Runner-up	2.	20 October 1996	Hayward, United States	Hard	Annabel Ellwood	Jill Hetherington Kathy Rinaldi	5–7, 2–6
Runner-up	3.	23 February 1997	Bogotá, Colombia	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Seda Noorlander Christína Papadáki	6–7, 6–4, 5–7
Winner	6.	27 July 1997	Istanbul, Turkey	Hard	Laura Golarsa	Sylvia Plischke Marlene Weingärtner	3–6, 6–3, 6–3
Winner	7.	5 October 1997	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Celeste Contín Romina Ottoboni	4–6, 6–2, 6–4
Winner	8.	2 November 1997	Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil	Clay	Laura Montalvo	Miriam D'Agostini Vanessa Menga	6–2, 6–0
Winner	9.	27 September 1998	ITF Tucumán, Argentina	Clay	Patricia Tarabini	Luciana Masante Laura Montalvo	5–7, 6–4, 7–6

Notes

External links

• Mercedes Paz at the Women's Tennis Association
• Mercedes Paz at the International Tennis Federation
• Mercedes Paz at the Billie Jean King Cup

Awards
Preceded by Gretchen Rush	Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award 1990	Succeeded by Judith Wiesner