Sun Tiantian

Sun Tiantian (Chinese: 孙甜甜; pinyin: Sūn Tiántián; Mandarin pronunciation: [swə́n tʰjɛ̌n tʰjɛ̌n]; born 12 October 1981) is a Chinese tennis player. She won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in women's doubles along with her partner Li Ting.^[1]

In this Chinese name, the family name is Sun (孙).

Sun Tiantian
孙甜甜

Country (sports)	China
Residence	Beijing
Born	(1981-10-12) 12 October 1981 (age 43) Zhengzhou, Henan
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Turned pro	1999
Retired	2010
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$1,019,657
Singles
Career record	217–156
Career titles	1 WTA, 6 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 77 (19 March 2007)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	1R (2006, 2007)
French Open	2R (2006)
Wimbledon	2R (2004, 2006)
US Open	2R (2005)
Doubles
Career record	268–154
Career titles	11 WTA, 13 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 16 (22 October 2007)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	QF (2007)
French Open	QF (2005)
Wimbledon	QF (2007)
US Open	3R (2005)
Mixed doubles
Career titles	1
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open	W (2008)
French Open	SF (2007)
Wimbledon	3R (2007, 2004)
US Open	2R (2006)
Team competitions
Fed Cup	16–10
Medal record Olympic Games 2004 Athens Doubles

Sun reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 77 in March 2007, winning her only WTA Tour singles title at the 2006 Tashkent Open, and a career-high in doubles of No. 16 in October 2007, winning eleven WTA Tour titles and reaching the quarterfinals of three Grand Slam tournaments, and winning the mixed doubles event at the 2008 Australian Open alongside Nenad Zimonjić.

Career

In September 2000, Sun won two successive $10k singles titles, a feat she would repeat in June 2001 with another pair of back-to-back $10k singles titles [source: [WTA Official Website](https://www.wtatennis.com/)].

In 2002, Sun continued her success at the next level, winning two $25k tournaments: firstly in April at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where she defeated Zheng Jie in the semifinal and Jeon Mi-ra in the final [source: [WTA Official Website](https://www.wtatennis.com/)], and then in August at Beijing, overcoming Zheng Jie again in the semifinal and Rika Fujiwara in the final [source: [WTA Official Website](https://www.wtatennis.com/)].

In 2003, she reached the final of a $50k tournament in Modena, entering as a lucky loser and defeating several high-quality opponents such as Martina Suchá, Maret Ani, and Gala León García before losing to Melinda Czink in the final [source: [Tennis Abstract](https://www.tennisabstract.com/)].

That year, Sun also made notable appearances in several WTA tournaments. She qualified for Doha, defeating Yuliana Fedak, Ľubomíra Kurhajcová, and María Sánchez Lorenzo, but lost in three sets to Nicole Pratt in the opening round [source: [WTA Official Website](https://www.wtatennis.com/)]. At the US Open, after a victory over Selima Sfar, she was defeated by Saori Obata in the first round [source: [US Open Official Site](https://www.usopen.org/)]. By the end of 2003, she was ranked world No. 141 [source: [WTA Official Website](https://www.wtatennis.com/)].

In 2004, Sun qualified for several prominent tournaments, including the Australian Open, where she won against Roberta Vinci [source: [Australian Open Official Site](https://ausopen.com/)], and again at Doha. She secured significant victories in Miami and Amelia Island, and at Wimbledon, she won her first-round match against Tathiana Garbin before losing to Anne Kremer [source: [Wimbledon Official Site](https://www.wimbledon.com/)]. At the end of the year, she lost a tight three-set final in the first $50k Shenzhen tournament to Li Na and ended the year ranked No. 118 [source: [WTA Official Website](https://www.wtatennis.com/)].

Sun also competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics, where she won a gold medal in women's doubles with her partner Li Ting, defeating Conchita Martínez and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain in the final [source: [Olympics Official Website](https://olympics.com/)].

In 2005, Sun achieved her first WTA Tour singles quarterfinal at Hyderabad, where she defeated Tamarine Tanasugarn 6–2, 6–1 but lost to Anna-Lena Grönefeld [source: [WTA Official Website](https://www.wtatennis.com/)]. She also performed well at Los Angeles and the US Open, where she qualified with wins over Marlene Weingärtner and Ľudmila Cervanová, and defeated Samantha Stosur before losing to Anabel Medina Garrigues [source: [US Open Official Site](https://www.usopen.org/)]. Her career-best win came at Beijing, where she defeated Serena Williams in the second round before losing to Maria Kirilenko [source: [WTA Official Website](https://www.wtatennis.com/)]. This performance propelled her to a career-high ranking of No. 88 [source: [WTA Official Website](https://www.wtatennis.com/)], although she ended the year at No. 105 [source: [WTA Official Website](https://www.wtatennis.com/)].

In early 2006, Sun faced tough draws, including close losses to Amélie Mauresmo at the Australian Open and Nuria Llagostera Vives at Gold Coast [source: [Australian Open Official Site](https://ausopen.com/)]. At the Tashkent Open, she won her first WTA Tour title by defeating Iroda Tulyaganova in the final [source: [WTA Official Website](https://www.wtatennis.com/)] and reached a career-high ranking of No. 81 on 9 October 2006 [source: [WTA Official Website](https://www.wtatennis.com/)].

Sun is one of only two active players with a winning record against Serena Williams. She defeated Williams 6–2, 7–6 in the round of 16 at Beijing in 2005 [source: [WTA Official Website](https://www.wtatennis.com/)].

On 27 January 2008, Sun captured her first Grand Slam title in mixed doubles at the Australian Open, partnering with Nenad Zimonjić to defeat Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi in straight sets [source: [Australian Open Official Site](https://ausopen.com/)].

Grand Slam tournament finals

Mixed doubles: 1 (title)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	2008	Australian Open	Hard	Nenad Zimonjić	Sania Mirza Mahesh Bhupathi	7–6(4), 6–4

Other significant finals

Olympic Games

Doubles: 1 (gold medal)

Outcome	Year	Location	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Gold	2004	Athens	Hard	Li Ting	Conchita Martínez Virginia Ruano	6–3, 6–3

WTA Tour finals

Singles: 1 (title)

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

Result	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	8 October 2006	Tashkent Open	Hard	Iroda Tulyaganova	6–2, 6–4

Doubles: 21 (11 titles, 10 runner-ups)

Legend: Before 2009	Legend: Starting in 2009
Tier I (0–1)	Premier Mandatory
Tier II (1–1)	Premier 5
Tier III (6–4)	Premier
Tier IV & V (4–3)	International (0–1)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1.	14 June 2003	Austrian Open	Clay	Li Ting	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	6–3, 6–4
Loss	1.	12 October 2003	Tashkent Open	Hard	Li Ting	Yuliya Beygelzimer Tatiana Poutchek	3–6, 6–7(0)
Win	2.	2 November 2003	Tournoi de Québec	Hard(i)	Li Ting	Els Callens Meilen Tu	6–3, 6–3
Win	3.	9 November 2003	Pattaya Open	Hard	Li Ting	Wynne Prakusya Angelique Widjaja	6–4, 6–3
Loss	2.	22 February 2004	Bangalore Open	Hard	Li Ting	Liezel Huber Sania Mirza	6–7(1), 4–6
Win	4.	3 October 2004	Guangzhou Open	Hard	Li Ting	Yang Shujing Yu Ying	6–4, 6–1
Loss	3.	12 February 2005	Bangalore Open	Hard	Li Ting	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	4–6, 1–6
Win	5.	1 May 2005	Estoril Open	Clay	Li Ting	Michaëlla Krajicek Henrieta Nagyová	6–3, 6–1
Win	6.	12 February 2006	Pattaya Open	Hard	Li Ting	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	3–6, 6–1, 7–6(5)
Loss	4.	4 March 2006	Qatar Open	Hard	Li Ting	Daniela Hantuchová Ai Sugiyama	4–6, 4–6
Win	7.	7 May 2006	Estoril Open	Clay	Li Ting	Gisela Dulko María Sánchez Lorenzo	6–2, 6–2
Win	8.	1 October 2006	Guangzhou Open	Hard	Li Ting	Vania King Jelena Kostanić Tošić	6–4, 2–6, 7–5
Loss	5.	15 April 2007	Charleston Open	Hard	Peng Shuai	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	5–7, 0–6
Loss	6.	26 May 2007	Internationaux de Strasbourg	Clay	Alicia Molik	Zheng Jie Yan Zi	3–6, 4–6
Loss	7.	17 June 2007	Birmingham Classic	Grass	Meilen Tu	Chuang Chia-jung Chan Yung-jan	6–7(3), 3–6
Loss	8.	19 October 2007	Guangzhou Open	Hard	Vania King	Peng Shuai Yan Zi	6–3, 6–4
Win	9.	7 October 2007	Japan Open	Hard	Yan Zi	Chuang Chia-jung Vania King	1–6, 6–2, [10–6]
Win	10.	14 October 2007	Bangkok Open	Hard	Yan Zi	Ayumi Morita Junri Namigata	w/o
Win	11.	9 March 2008	Bangalore Open	Hard	Peng Shuai	Chan Yung-jan Chuang Chia-jung	6–4, 5–7, [10–8]
Loss	9.	21 September 2008	Guangzhou Open	Hard	Yan Zi	Mariya Koryttseva Tatiana Poutchek	4–6, 6–4, [8–10]
Loss	10.	20 September 2009	Guangzhou Open	Hard	Kimiko Date-Krumm	Olga Govortsova Tatiana Poutchek	6–3, 2–6, [8–10]

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 11 (6–5)

$50,000 tournaments

$25,000 tournaments

$10,000 tournaments

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1.	16 April 2000	ITF Shenyang, China	Hard	Li Na	0–6, 4–6
Loss	2.	4 June 2000	ITF Shenzhen, China	Hard	Kim Eun-ha	4–6, 3–6
Win	3.	4 September 2000	ITF Hangzhou, China	Hard	Zheng Jie	6–2, 6–2
Win	4.	17 September 2000	ITF Hohhot, China	Hard	Ding Ding	6–4, 6–3
Win	5.	17 June 2001	ITF Seoul, South Korea	Hard	Choi Jin-young	3–6, 6–3, 6–1
Win	6.	24 June 2001	ITF Inchon, South Korea	Hard	Chung Yang-jin	6–4, 6–3
Win	7.	14 April 2002	ITF Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	Hard	Jeon Mi-ra	6–3, 6–4
Loss	8.	13 May 2002	ITF Shanghai, China	Hard	Zheng Jie	2–6, 2–6
Win	9.	6 August 2002	ITF Beijing, China	Hard	Rika Fujiwara	6–3, 6–0
Loss	10.	20 July 2003	ITF Modena, Italy	Clay	Melinda Czink	3–6, 3–6
Loss	11.	31 October 2004	ITF Shenzhen, China	Hard	Li Na	3–6, 6–4, 2–6

Doubles: 21 (13–8)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponents	Score
Win	1.	13 June 1999	ITF Shenyang, China	Hard	Chen Yan	Chen Yin Tuo Qi	6–2, 6–4
Win	2.	10 September 2000	ITF Zhejiang, China	Hard	Chen Yan	Zheng Jie Yan Zi	6–3, 7–5
Win	3.	10 September 2000	ITF Hohhot, China	Clay	Chen Yan	Ding Ding Tang Yan	6–0, 6–3
Loss	4.	4 June 2001	ITF Hohhot, China	Hard	Chen Yan	Zheng Jie Yan Zi	4–6, 6–2, 3–6
Loss	5.	29 July 2001	ITF Guangzhou, China	Hard	Chen Yan	Li Ting Tong Ka-po	5–7, 3–6
Win	6.	27 January 2002	ITF Hull, United Kingdom	Hard (i)	Zheng Jie	Claire Curran Elsa O'Riain	7–6(4), 7–5
Loss	7.	10 February 2002	ITF Redbridge, United Kingdom	Hard (i)	Helen Crook	Magda Mihalache Ekaterina Sysoeva	6–4, 4–6, 4–6
Win	8.	11 August 2002	ITF Beijing, China	Hard	Li Ting	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	7–5, 6–3
Win	9.	23 February 2003	ITF Columbus, United States	Hard (i)	Li Ting	Bruna Colósio Joana Cortez	6–3, 6–1
Win	10.	2 March 2003	ITF Saint Paul, United States	Hard	Li Ting	Teryn Ashley Abigail Spears	6–3, 6–1
Win	11.	30 March 2003	ITF Atlanta, United States	Hard	Li Ting	Leanne Baker Francesca Lubiani	4–6, 6–4, 6–4
Loss	12.	16 June 2003	ITF Gorizia, Italy	Clay	Li Ting	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	6–7(5), 6–1, 4–6
Win	13.	23 June 2003	ITF Fontanafredda, Italy	Clay	Li Ting	Maria Geznenge Dragana Zarić	6–4, 6–3
Loss	14.	30 June 2003	ITF Orbetello, Italy	Clay	Li Ting	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	2–6, 5–7
Win	15.	13 July 2003	ITF Modena, Italy	Clay	Li Ting	Rika Fujiwara Trudi Musgrave	3–6, 7–5, 7–5
Win	16.	30 November 2003	ITF Changsha, China	Hard	Li Ting	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	6–4, 6–2
Win	17.	7 December 2003	ITF Shenzhen, China	Hard	Li Ting	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	6–3, 3–6, 6–4
Loss	18.	6 June 2005	ITF Beijing, China	Hard	Li Ting	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	1–6, 5–7
Win	19.	16 August 2005	Bronx Classic, United States	Hard	Li Ting	Tatiana Poutchek Anastasiya Yakimova	2–6, 6–2, 6–4
Loss	20.	17 May 2009	Open de Saint-Gaudens, France	Clay	Kimiko Date	Rika Fujiwara Chanelle Scheepers	5–7, 4–6
Loss	21.	10 August 2009	ITF Quanzhou, China	Hard	Hao Jie	Han Xinyun Kao Shao-yuan	6–1, 2–6, [6–10]

See also

• Tennis in China

References

1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Sun Tiantian". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016.

• Chinese duo win Olympic tennis gold Archived 17 January 2006 at the Wayback Machine, China Daily 2004-08-23

External links

• Sun Tiantian at the Women's Tennis Association
• Sun Tiantian at the International Tennis Federation
• Sun Tiantian at the Billie Jean King Cup
• Sun Tiantian at Olympedia
• Sun Tiantian at Olympics.com
• Sun Tiantian at the Chinese Olympic Committee (archived, also available in Chinese)