Iroda Tulyaganova (nickname Iri) is a powerful, exciting, and very sexy tennis-player from Uzbekistan. The days when women used to have to be consistent and just keep the ball in court are well behind us! :-)
Iroda is a very powerful girl who goes for her shots and hits many spectacular winners - fierce from both flanks - especially with her searing two-handed backhand. She's a rhythmic hitter, with good weight-transference into the ball. She also has a fast serve - up to 121 mph - despite being only 5'7" tall. She's an amazing athlete, too - she has great foot-speed both laterally and forwards, so a shot has to be something exceptional to be a winner against Iroda!
Iroda is remarkably versatile, able to adapt to all surfaces, and to adopt the role of brilliant baseliner or serve-and-volleyer as appropriate. She can mix up her game with dropshots, lobs, volleys, and sliced backhands (the offshoot of a back-injury in 1997, which forced her to play one-handed for a while). She's a very ambitious shotmaker.
Iroda hits her forehand with an extreme Western grip. This facilitates topspin, and enables her to hit extremely acute angles that would not be possible with a more orthodox forehand, but it could cause her problems with low-bouncing balls, especially on grass (which doesn't tally with the description of her as a "grass-court specialist" in the Junior Tennis section of the book World Of Tennis 2000) and when her opponents use slice.
"My style of game is comparable to Venus Williams, since we are both powerful with our serve and groundstrokes, yet can mix up our shots," Iroda said in an interview in 2001. "I would say my serve and backhand are the strongest parts of my game. I would say that I need to improve the amount of winners I hit from my backhand side."
����������� That's the spirit! From when I saw Iroda play Jelena Dokic in the semi-finals of Linz 2001, I would say Iroda needs to improve the way she moves her opponent around the court, as Jelena was dominating the rallies by doing this much better than Iroda. The brilliance of Iroda is in her direct winners, but rally-construction is important against the very top players.
Consistency could be the major problem in Iroda's career, though I hope she will overcome it with experience, yet still keep going for her shots! She needs to maintain a high level of tennis for longer periods of time - both within a match, and from match to match. If she does this, she could be in the top ten and then higher! :-)
Sadly, Iroda has suffered more than her fair share of injuries so far, which I feel really restricted her progress even before she was sidelined for fifteen months (July 2003 to October 2004) after elbow-surgery. I feel that her extraordinary movement and Western-grip forehand unfortunately make her more injury-prone. As of the end of 2008, Iroda has not played since 29th May 2008, due to lower-back and left-wrist injuries - having suffered from the former since November 2006.
The highlights of Iroda's junior-career were winning the girls' singles at Wimbledon 1999 and the girls' doubles at the US Open 1999. She won her first title on the WTA Tour at her home-town of Tashkent in June 2000. She won her second title at Vienna in July 2001, and her third (and latest) at Knokke-Heist a week later. Her highest ranking has been #16 - held for one week in June 2002. Notable victims include Major champions Justine Henin, Arantxa S�nchez-Vicario, Mary Pierce, Iva Majoli, Conchita Mart�nez, Kim Clijsters and Anastasia Myskina. Iroda has also won four WTA doubles-titles.
Iroda has two sides to her on-court personality. On the one hand, she's very determined and fiesty, and believes she can beat anyone. On the other hand, when things aren't going well, she can get into a negative frame of mind, reacting with poor body-language when she loses a point, and hitting silly dropshots or sliced backhands. Either way, she always wears her heart on her sleeve - talking to herself and showing a lot of emotion on court - so it's easy to tell whether she's pumped up or negative.
Iroda has a charming off-court personality: cheerful, funny, extroverted, and very generous (she donates funds, tennis-equipment and time to an orphanage in Mehrijon). She is very modest, and generous in her praise for others. She speaks Russian, Uzbek, English, German and Croatian. She is also more Internet-sympathetic than most players, occasionally posting messages to the www.iroda-tulyaganova.com guestbook (not since 2004) or James Storms's guestbook - and she reads his mailing-list: the IrodaT Yahoo! Group.
It was on 31st March 2001 that Iroda first caught my eye, when I saw the photo of Iroda, Karina Hab�udov� and Elena Likhovtseva from Canberra 2001 that had just been posted to the Karina Hab�udov� Yahoo! Club. Iroda looks immensely sexy in that photo, and I absolutely fancied the pants off her! ;-> I immediately searched the Internet to find out about her, and I found a good discussion of her on the now sadly defunct Sanex WTA Tour Web Board. It was clear from the descriptions there that she is a very powerful and exciting tennis-player as well as an absolute stunner! ;-)
From that day on, I had a major hunch about Iroda, that I might well become a fan of hers one day. I had to wait until I was sure, of course - for me, to become a fan of a player means to take a solemn and irrevocable vow to follow and support her forever, so it's not something I undertake lightly at all. That's why Iroda was only the sixth player I inducted into my Eternal Fanship since I started following tennis in 1992. I made my vow of Eternal Fanship on 7th January 2002: Iroda's 20th birthday.
But it was in mid-November 2001 that I really fell in love with Iroda, when I discovered www.iroda-tulyaganova.com. Before I saw the off-court photo-shoot from Knokke-Heist 2001 at that site, I had thought that Iroda was one of the sexiest girls in tennis. When I saw it, I found her to be the sexiest, and I got the hots for her in a major way. She has a gorgeous voluptuous body, she knows how to dress to my fetishes, she just oozes sex-appeal, and she has a lovely smile. And she often wears the most flamboyant, colourful, sparkling dresses on court - no wonder there's a shop in Tashkent city-centre called "Tulyaganova Fashion"!
Iroda was born in Tashkent on 7th January 1982. Although Uzbekistan is in Central Asia, Iroda is of half-Russian descent, and is very much an East-European girl. Her father is Batir (an Uzbek), her mother is Anna (a Russian), and she has a younger sister called Nargiza: a singer who apparently has released an album that includes a track devoted to Iroda! (The only Nargiza Tulyaganova track I've heard of is "Yo'q-yo'q" on a compilation called Salom, Yoshlar 5.)
The earliest Iroda result I've come across is when she was runner-up to Anna Alexeeva 2-6 6-4 6-2 in the final of a junior-tournament at Tashkent in April 1995, when she was thirteen.
Iroda played an ITF challenger - her first tournament counting towards the WTA rankings - at Tashkent in June. She lost to fifth seed Anique Snijders 6-7 6-4 6-1 in the first round. She played doubles there with compatriot Lilya Biktyakova, losing in the first round 7-5 6-3 to Shiri Burstein and Limor Gabai.
Iroda also played the Jurmula challenger in October, losing 6-2 6-1 to fourth seed Vera Zhukovets in the first round. In the doubles with Biktyakova, she beat Marta Rubina and Viktorija Tepluka 3-6 6-1 6-3, and lost in the second round to Piret Ilves and Liina Suurvarik 3-6 6-1 6-4.
Iroda was runner-up at a junior-tournament at Beer Sheva, Israel in April, losing to R. Teperberg 6-1 6-3 in the final.
Iroda returned to the Tashkent challenger, but lost 6-2 6-2 to Kirstin Freye in the first round. She and Lilya Biktyakova lost 6-4 6-0 to Erika de Lone and Nicole Pratt in the first round of the doubles.
Iroda won a junior-tournament at Winchester, England on 19th July, beating R. Faurfelt 6-2 6-4 in the final.
Iroda did not return to Jurmula, but instead played the Jaffa challenger in November, where she enjoyed the first singles-victories of her senior career: she thrashed Rotem Magnani 6-1 6-0 and sixth seed Limor Gabai 6-3 6-2, and lost to second seed Tzipora Obziler 6-4 6-0 in the quarter-finals.
����������� She played doubles with Audrey Wilmart, beating Gulbert Gultekin and Leyla Ogan 6-2 6-2 in the quarter-finals, and losing to Tzipora Obziler and Anna Smashnova 6-2 6-3 in the semi-finals.
Iroda played six ITF challengers in 1998, starting with another at Jaffa in March, where she beat Cornelia Grunes 6-3 3-6 6-2, and lost to top seed Tzipora Obziler 6-4 6-1 in the second round. She played the Ashkelon challenger the following week, losing to fifth seed Nadejda Ostrovskaya 6-4 4-6 7-6 in the first round. Iroda entered the WTA rankings for the first time at around #816.
Iroda was runner-up at a junior-tournament in Namangan, Uzbekistan in April, losing to E. Voropaeva 7-5 7-5 in the final. She got revenge in Tashkent a week later, beating Voropaeva 6-1 6-3 in the final.
Iroda played the Tashkent challenger in June once again, losing 6-2 7-5 to Tzipora Obziler 6-2 7-5 in the first round.
Playing her first junior Wimbledon, Iroda beat Lauren Kalvaria 6-3 6-2 in the first round, but lost to 14th seed Zs�fia Gubacsi 6-4 3-6 6-1 in the second round. She was runner-up in the girls' doubles with Petra Rampre, beating Lauren Kalvaria and Alexandra Stevenson 7-5 6-4, Stanislava Hrozensk� and Dora Krstulovic 6-2 6-4, and Katar�na Basternakov� and Daniela Hantuchov� 6-4 7-6. They were beaten by Eva Dyrberg and Jelena Kostanic 6-2 7-6 in the final.
Iroda won another junior-tournament at New Orleans in September, thrashing M. Horvath 6-1 6-0 in the final. In October, she reached the semi-finals of the World Super Junior Championships in Japan - which had the same status as the junior Major tournaments - losing 6-3 4-6 6-4 to junior world number one Jelena Dokic.
Iroda returned to the ITF Futures Circuit in November, playing three challengers in France. At Moulins she reached the semi-finals, beating Stephanie Rizzi 7-5 6-3, seventh seed Marina Escobar 6-4 6-3, Cindy Schuurmans 7-5 6-1, and losing to Stephanie de Ville 6-4 6-2 in the semis. She won the doubles at Moulins with Diane Asensio, beating Debby Haak and Andrea van den Hurk 7-5 2-6 6-2 in the final.
����������� At Le Havre, Iroda beat Laetitia S�nchez 6-2 6-3 and top seed Emmanuelle Curutchet 6-2 6-2, but lost to Sophie Erre 6-4 6-4 in the quarter-finals. She won the doubles at Le Havre with Cindy Schuurmans, beating Chloe Carlotti and Stephanie Foretz 6-2 7-5 in the final.
����������� At Deauville she beat Aurelie Vedy 6-2 4-6 6-3 and fifth seed Stephanie Foretz 6-3 7-6, and lost to second seed Gabrielle Kucerov� 7-6 7-5 in the quarter-finals. This gave her an end-of-year ranking of around #573.
Seventeen-year-old Iroda continued to mix junior-tennis with ITF challengers, and started playing on the WTA Tour in April. She was coached by Vladimir Kaplan.
At the Istanbul challenger, Iroda thrashed Marina Petrovic 6-2 6-1, but lost to third seed Nadejda Ostrovskaya 7-5 6-4 in the second round. But she won the doubles title at Istanbul with Tatiana Perebiynis: ironically they beat Ostrovskaya and Alienor Tricerri 6-3 6-4 in the final. At the Dubai challenger, she trounced Miriam Schnitzer 6-3 6-1, but lost to Irina Selyutina 6-4 3-6 6-3 in the second round.
Iroda played her first-ever WTA tournament at the Japan Open at Tokyo in April, but failed to qualify. She beat Adrieen Hegedus 6-3 6-2 and Keiko Nagatomi 6-0 6-4, but lost to Yoon Jeong Cho in the third round of qualifying. She won three matches to qualify for the Gifu challenger, but lost to Selesian player Nana Miyagi 6-1 6-1 in the first round of the main draw.
While she was in Japan, Iroda won a junior-tournament in Japan, beating Suchanan Viratprasert 6-0 6-3. Then she won the Asian Open junior-tournament, beating Melissa Dowse 7-6 6-2 in the final. She squeezed these tournaments in between the Japan Open and Gifu challenger.
Iroda won singles and doubles at the Seoul challenger. In singles she beat Ju-Yeon Choi 6-2 6-2, Young-Ja Choi 6-0 6-0, Yang-Jin Chung 6-2 6-2, Martina Nejedly 6-3 6-1, and Shiho Hisamatsu 6-2 6-2 in the final. Her ranking rose from #416 to #287. She won the doubles with Samant Schoeffel, beating Young-Ja Choi and Eun-Sook Kim 6-3 4-6 6-4 in the final.
The Tashkent tournament was promoted to the WTA Tour in 1999, so it was there that Iroda - courtesy of a wild card - played her first-ever main draw in a WTA tournament. She upset seventh-seeded Selesian player Seda Noorlander 6-1 6-3 in the first round, and lost 6-2 2-6 6-3 to Tina Pisnik in the second.
Iroda won the girls' singles at Wimbledon, beating C. Carter 6-3 6-4, Kathy Vymetal 6-4 5-7 6-1, Ansley Cargill 6-3 7-6, Eleni Daniilidou 6-0 6-3, Tatiana Perebiynis 7-5 6-1, and Lina Krasnoroutskaya 7-6 (7/3) 6-4 in the final. As at Wimbledon 1998, she was runner-up in the girls' doubles, this time with Tatiana Perebiynis: they beat J. Smith and Kathy Vymetal 4-6 6-1 8-6, Laura Bao and C. Charbonnier 6-1 4-6 6-2, Leanne Baker and K. Berecz 6-3 6-4, top seeds Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci 6-3 6-4, but lost to second seeds Daja Bedanov� and Maria Emilia Salerni 6-1 2-6 6-2 in the final.
Iroda tried to qualify for Sopot - her third WTA event - but lost to Tina Pisnik 6-7 6-1 6-3 in the first qualifying round.
Iroda won the US Open girls' doubles with Daniela (Daja) Bedanov�, beating Galina Fokina and Lina Krasnoroutskaya 6-3 6-4 in the final. But Krasnoroutskaya reversed the result of the junior Wimbledon final by beating Iroda in the semi-finals of the girls' singles; Krasnoroutskaya went on to take the title and finish the year as junior world number one, while Iroda finished the year as junior world number six.
Iroda suffered an ignominious 6-0 6-2 defeat by Shinobu Asagoe in the first qualifying round for the WTA Tokyo Princess Cup. But she bounced back to win her second Seoul challenger of the year without dropping a set, beating Shiho Hisamatsu 7-6 6-4, Petra Rampre 6-2 6-4, second seed Miroslava Vavrinec 6-3 6-3, Marketa Kochta 6-2 7-5, and top seed Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-0 6-2 in the final! She rose from #258 to #188.
Iroda lost to Sandra Kleinov� 6-4 7-6 in the first round (main draw) of the WTA tournament at Bratislava, and to Annabel Ellwood 7-6 3-6 6-4 in the first qualifying round for Kuala Lumpur. She won three matches to qualify for Pattaya (including a 6-1 6-3 revenge over Yoon Jeong Cho in the third qualifying round), but lost 6-0 6-2 to eighth seed Nicole Pratt in the first round of the main draw. She finished the year ranked #186.
Iroda played her first Major when she tried to qualify for the Australian Open, but lost to Gloria Pizzichini 6-1 2-6 6-4 in the first qualifying round. She lost to Magdalena Maleeva in the first qualifying round for the Tokyo Pan Pacific Open, to Jing-Qian Yi in the quarter-finals of the Chengdu City challenger, and retired while trailing Katalin Marosi-Aracama 6-7 2-2 in the semi-finals of the Haikou challenger.
Moving on to Europe, Iroda upset top seed Annamaria Foldenyi 6-4 4-6 7-5 in the first round of the Taranto challenger, but lost to Tatiana Kovalchuk in the quarter-finals. She won the Cagnes sur Mer challenger, beating Anna Zaporozhanova 6-4 6-3, Ekaterina Syssoeva 6-3 6-4, Stephanie Foretz 7-6 6-3, Yvette Basting 7-6 6-1, and top seed Giulia Casoni 6-2 6-3 in the final. This boosted her ranking to #150.
Iroda lost to Emilie Loit in the first round of the Gelos challenger, and to Libuse Prusov� in the second round of qualifying for Warsaw. Iroda beat Daniela Hantuchov� 6-4 6-4 in the final qualifying round for Strasbourg 2000, but by an amazing coincidence, Daniela came back as a lucky loser and beat her by the same score in the first round of the main draw! Iroda lost 6-2 6-3 to Catalina Castano in the first qualifying round for the French Open.
Iroda won her first WTA Tour title at Tashkent. She beat Selesian player Adriana Serra-Zanetti 6-2 6-3, Ting Li 6-1 6-3, then had a remarkably lucky route to the final as Elena Bovina retired at 6-3 3-0 in their quarter-final, and Sarah Pitkowski gave Iroda a walkover in the semi-finals. She beat Francesca Schiavone 6-3 2-6 6-3 in the final. Her ranking rose from #166 to #114.
Iroda tried to qualify for Wimbledon, but as at the previous two Majors, she fell in the first qualifying round - this time Melanie Schnell did the dirty deed, inflicting a traumatic 0-6 6-4 8-6 defeat on Iroda.
Iroda successfully qualified for Palermo with three victories, but lost to Nuria Llagostera in the first round of the main draw. She also won three matches to qualify for Knokke-Heist, but lost to Marlene Weing�rtner in the first round. She won the doubles at Knokke-Heist with Giulia Casoni, beating Catherine Barclay and Eva Dyrberg 2-6 6-4 6-4 in the final.
Iroda played Daniela Hantuchov� for the third time at the Bronx Challenger, where Daniela qualified, upset Iroda 7-6 6-7 6-2 in the first round, and went on to win the tournament. But Iroda's ranking was now high enough for direct acceptance into the US Open, where she beat Vanessa Webb 3-6 6-3 6-4 in the first round, and lost to 11th seed Sandrine Testud 6-4 6-3 in the second round.
Iroda received one of the fourteen ITF wild cards for the Sydney Olympics (the 64-player draw was made up of 48 players based on the rankings as of 10th July 2000 (but no more than three players of each nationality), fourteen wild cards awarded by the ITF, and two `tripartite' wild cards awarded jointly by the ITF, the IOC, and national Olympic committees). She lost to Kristie Boogert 6-2 6-2 in the first round, but the highlight for me was spotting her in the Uzbekistan team in the opening ceremony (I didn't recognise her at the time, but watched it again on video when I became an Iroda fan).
Iroda lost to Daja Bedanov� in the third qualifying round for the Tokyo Princess Cup, but successfully qualified for the Japan Open at Tokyo a week later, and lost to Tamarine Tanasugarn in the first round of the main draw.
She reached her second WTA Tour final at Shanghai, where she beat eighth seed Rita Kuti Kis 6-1 3-6 6-2, Wynne Prakusya 6-1 6-3, second seed Jelena Dokic 6-3 6-4, and scored a 6-1 6-4 revenge over third seed Tamarine Tanasugarn in the semis. She lost 7-6 7-5 to Meghann Shaughnessy in the final. Her ranking rose from #112 to #79.
Iroda also won four matches at Kuala Lumpur, albeit three to qualify plus a 6-4 6-3 win over Adriana Gersi to reach the second round, where she retired with Pavlina Nola leading 7-5 4-0. Iroda lost to junior world number one Maria Emilia Salerni in the third qualifying round for Pattaya, got into the main draw as a lucky loser, and lost 7-5 6-4 to Iva Majoli in the first round. She finished the year ranked #75.
Iroda enjoyed the most successful year of her career, winning her second and third WTA titles, reaching the top twenty - and transforming my view of her from a strange name that took me much longer than usual to memorise, to pretty much that which the opening section of this biography best articulates into words.
Not that the year started out along those lines, for she lost 6-1 6-2 to third seed Kristina Brandi in the first round of Hobart, and 6-4 2-6 6-4 to Anne Kremer in the first round of the Australian Open. She lost to Diana Ospina in the second round of qualifying for the Tokyo Pan Pacific Open, but did rather better at Doha, beating Olga Barabanschikova 6-3 7-6 before losing to fourth seed Barbara Schett 6-7 6-2 6-1 in the second round. Iroda beat Rossana de los R�os 6-2 6-4 at Dubai, and lost 7-6 6-4 to second seed Mary Pierce in the second round. She beat Elena Bovina 6-4 6-3 in the first round of Indian Wells.
It was a different Iroda who turned up at the Ericsson Open. She beat Fang Li 6-0 1-0 retired and Anne-Ga�lle Sidot 7-6 6-3, then put up a very impressive performance against Serena Williams in the third round, who eventually beat her 3-6 6-3 6-2. It was shortly after that - on 31st March to be precise - that I saw that sexy photo that started my interest in Iroda and triggered me to read up on her! ;-)
So I've been following Iroda's career with great interest since April 2001. She beat Katarina Srebotnik 6-4 7-6 in the first round of Porto, and lost 6-4 6-4 to third seed Mag�i Serna in the second round. She lost 6-2 6-3 to Miroslava Vavrinec in the first round of Antwerp.
Iroda beat reigning French Open champion Mary Pierce 3-6 6-3 6-1 in the first round of Strasbourg (sadly Pierce had a back injury, and didn't play another match until January 2002), then beat Lilia Osterloh 4-6 7-5 6-2 to reach her first quarter-final of the year, where she lost 6-7 6-2 6-3 to Silvia Farina Elia. She won the doubles at Strasbourg - ironically with Farina Elia - beating Amanda Coetzer and Lori McNeil 6-1 7-6 (7/0) in the final.
Iroda lost 6-3 7-5 to Mag�i Serna in the first round of the French Open. Defending her Tashkent title, she beat Anastasia Rodionova 6-2 6-2 and Nadejda Ostrovskaya 6-3 7-5, but bowed out to Cristina Torrens-Valero 7-5 6-1 in the quarter-finals.
Iroda upset third seed Elena Dementieva (who, it has to be said, hates grass) 7-5 6-3 in the first round of 's-Hertogenbosch, then beat Ruxandra Dragomir-Ilie 7-6 3-6 7-5 and seventh seed Tatiana Panova 1-6 7-6 6-4 to reach the semi-finals, where she lost 6-3 6-2 to second seed Justine Henin. Her ranking rose from #68 to #55.
I particularly kept my eyes peeled for Iroda at Wimbledon, which is the one tournament with wall-to-wall BBC coverage (their lack of coverage of women's tennis is disgraceful). She beat British wild-card Lorna Woodroffe 7-6 6-4 in the first round, and the BBC showed the match-point of "Woodroffe's loss": Iroda hit a good serve followed by a forehand which, although it looked very high from the appalling camera-angle, did force an error from Woodroffe.
����������� Iroda beat Selesian player Adriana Serra-Zanetti 6-3 6-7 6-2 in the second round, but then blew her chances of winning my fanship at Wimbledon 2001 by losing 6-0 6-3 to Nathalie Tauziat, who was a nightmare to play on grass because she messed up your rhythm. The BBC showed two points of "Tauziat's win": forcing weak, short backhands from Iroda, Tauziat hit a smash-winner and, on match-point, a forehand-winner. Nevertheless, I did copy the three Iroda points onto a separate video-cassette so that I could watch all the tennis I had of Iroda together! ;-)
����������� Iroda broke into the top fifty after Wimbledon as she ascended to #48.
As I tried to come to terms with the 50-week wait until the next Wimbledon, Iroda enjoyed an amazing surge of form. At Vienna (the week after Wimbledon), Iroda beat Andrea Glass 6-2 6-2, then proved that her 's-Hertogenbosch win over Dementieva was no grass-court fluke by beating the top seed in the second round 6-4 0-6 7-6, despite being 1/5 down in the third-set tiebreak.
����������� She was rewarded for that gritty fightback by going on to win the title, beating Marta Marrero 4-6 6-3 6-2 in the quarter-finals, fifth seed Paola Su�rez 6-0 7-5 in the semi-finals, and eighth seed Patty Schnyder 6-3 6-2 in the final to claim the second WTA Tour singles-title of her career. I loved the headline on ITV Teletext, "Red-hot Iroda waltzes to title"! :-) Her ranking rose to #34.
The next week, at Knokke-Heist, was even more amazing! Iroda beat Eleni Daniilidou 6-3 7-6, Mar�a Jos� Mart�nez 6-1 6-4, and fourth seed Angeles Montolio 6-2 6-4 in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, Iroda thrashed Kim Clijsters - the player who had narrowly lost the French Open final, and who would beat Lindsay Davenport in the Stanford final the following week - 6-0 6-4!! It was then that I revealed myself to the Iroda Tulyaganova fan-community, although I was not yet a confirmed Iroda fan myself. She beat Gala Le�n Garc�a 6-2 6-3 in the final for her third WTA title. She went up to #24.
As Iroda moved from those two claycourt-tournaments to the American hardcourt-circuit, her form mysteriously evaporated. She lost her opening match of her next three tournaments (to Marlene Weing�rtner at San Diego, to Nicole Pratt at Manhattan Beach, and to Meilen Tu at Toronto), and although she beat Marta Marrero 6-1 6-4 in the first round of the US Open 2001, she lost to Jana Nejedly 1-6 6-3 6-4 in the second round.
Iroda continued to be inconsistent, losing 6-4 6-1 to Liezel Huber in the first round of the Tokyo Princess Cup and 7-5 6-1 to Francesca Schiavone in the first round of Leipzig. She thrashed Tatiana Panova 6-2 6-2 at Moscow, and lost 7-5 4-6 7-6 to sixth seed Silvia Farina-Elia in the second round. She thrashed Lina Krasnoroutskaya 6-4 6-1 at Zurich, but lost 6-2 6-4 to fifth seed Nathalie Tauziat in the second round.
Iroda found her form spectacularly for Linz. She thrashed Anastasia Myskina 6-2 6-2 in the first round, then scored her second great upset of the year, beating second-seeded Wimbledon finalist Justine Henin 6-7 (1/7) 6-0 6-3 in the second round. With a 6-2 6-4 victory over Tatiana Panova she advanced to the first Tier II semi-final of her career, where Jelena Dokic beat her 6-2 4-6 6-0 in a mouthwatering match. This elevated Iroda to a year-end singles ranking of #20, and made her the singles alternate for the WTA Sanex Championship.
At Pattaya, for which Iroda was the top seed, she suffered a shock defeat to Julia Vakulenko in the first round. It seems that our Iroda is averse to playing in hot conditions - I hope she does plenty of heat-training for Australia! Nevertheless, Iroda did recover to win her third WTA doubles-title at Pattaya with �sa Carlsson, beating Liezel Huber and Wynne Prakusya 4-6 6-3 6-3 in the final.
Desperate to see Iroda play, I managed to acquire on 21st December 2001 a video-copy of the Jelena v Iroda semi-final from Linz. This vindicated my faith in Iroda's talent, as she played some great tennis and hit some spectacular winners. I have written up a detailed report of this match.
I decided I would like nothing better than to start the 2002 season as an Iroda fan, so I decided in mid-November 2001 that 7th January 2002 would be as good a date as any to take my vow of fanship, being Iroda's 20th birthday and the day of her first match of 2002. I regarded that period as being `engaged to become a fan of Iroda', and I prepared the Iroda Tulyaganova section of my website in secret. 8-)
I had a feeling, ever since I first `noticed' Iroda, that 2002 was going to be her year. There was always something futuristic about her, right down to her silver nail-varnish! :-) She just needed more experience playing the top players in Tier I/II tournaments and Majors, and a big breakthrough at one of these tournaments should make the whole tennis-world sit up and take notice of her!
Unfortunately it didn't really happen for Iroda the way I wanted it to in 2002, as she was plagued by inconsistency and injury. But the year was not without its highlights: a final at Vienna, a career-high ranking of #16, me getting to see Iroda play in the flesh (and what flesh! ;-)) at Eastbourne, and winning the Gold Medal at the Asian Games in October.
Sadly, the magical 7th January was marred by a first-round defeat in Sydney by qualifier Alexandra Stevenson, 6-1 6-7 7-5 (Stevenson vindicated Iroda's loss somewhat by beating 2001 and 2002 Australian Open champion Jennifer Capriati in the second round).
Iroda reached her second Major third round at the Australian Open, beating qualifiers Maria Emilia Salerni and Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-3 6-4 and 6-4 6-1 respectively. But she was hampered by a left-thigh injury as she lost to Rita Grande (seeded four places lower at 20) 6-3 5-7 6-4 in the third round.
She lost to Grande again in the first round of the Tokyo Pan Pacific Open, 7-6 6-3. But a mouthwatering one-off partnership of Iroda and Jelena Dokic reached the semi-finals, losing 1-6 7-5 7-5 to top seeds Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs. She went up one place to #19 in the singles rankings.
Iroda was taken ill in Dubai, where she lost 6-2 6-2 to Barbara Rittner. She thrashed Jelena Kostanic 6-3 6-3 at Indian Wells, but suffered a disappointing 6-2 6-3 upset at the hands of Ai Sugiyama in the third round.
Miami was once again a highlight for Iroda, as she beat Martina M�ller 6-3 6-2 and reversed her Indian Wells defeat with a 3-6 6-4 7-5 win over Ai Sugiyama to reach the fourth round. There she put up a fantastic performance against Jennifer Capriati, winning the first set 7-5. But she sustained left-knee tendinitis running from sideline to sideline (a prime example of the downside of her amazing athleticism) late in the second set, which she lost 7-5 and the third 6-1.
Iroda's claycourt season started in disastrous fashion, with a 6-0 6-1 to Francesca Schiavone in the first round of Hamburg. At Berlin she beat Gala Le�n Garc�a 6-4 6-0 and Eva Dyrberg 7-5 6-3, but couldn't repeat her Miami heroics against Jennifer Capriati, and went down tamely 6-2 6-0. At the Italian Open she beat Tathiana Garbin 6-3 6-2, but lost 6-2 3-6 7-6 to qualifier Virginia Ruano Pascual. She lost to Eleni Daniilidou in the first round of Strasbourg.
Iroda reached the third round of the French Open, beating Eva Dyrberg 7-6 6-3 and Christina Wheeler 6-1 6-4, but as at the Australian Open she was upset by the 20th seed in the third round as she lost 7-5 7-6 to Patty Schnyder. Her ranking went up to #17.
Iroda reached the final of Vienna, beating claycourt experts Conchita Mart�nez 4-6 7-6 6-3 and Iva Majoli 3-6 6-2 7-5. She thrashed Petra Mandula 6-0 6-3 in the semi-finals, but lost to Anna Smashnova (Pistolesi) 6-4 6-1 in the final. Her ranking rose to a career-high #16.
Iroda's chance for revenge came immediately, as she drew Smashnova in the first round of Eastbourne. The change of surface (clay to grass) suited Iroda, as she served and volleyed her way to a 6-3 6-7 6-1 victory. I attended that match in person, and have written up a detailed report. Sadly she had to retire in the second round against Amy Frazier, as she had a nasty fall at 5-6 0/40, strained her right knee and had to be carried off court on a stretcher. Her ranking dropped back to #20.
Iroda played Wimbledon with her knee taped up, and scored a gutsy 2-6 6-2 6-4 victory over Silvija Talaja in the first round. But in the second round she had the misfortune to draw unseeded Eastbourne champion Chanda Rubin, who beat her 6-3 6-1. The BBC's drip-feed of inadequate Iroda-coverage continued as they showed only the final point (Iroda hit a forehand-pass long). She was out of action until 29th July, by which time her ranking had dropped to #41 due to the points from her 2001 titles in Vienna and Knokke-Heist coming off.
Iroda lost to Marie-Ga�an� Mikaelian in the first round of San Diego, but she and Paola Su�rez upset top seeds Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs 6-4 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the doubles; they lost 6-4 6-3 to Daniela Hantuchov� and Ai Sugiyama in the semi-finals. At Manhattan Beach Iroda squeezed past Selesian player Adriana Serra-Zanetti 3-6 6-3 7-5, and lost 6-4 6-2 to Nathalie Dechy in the second round. She lost 6-1 6-2 to Fabiola Zuluaga in the first round of Montr�al.
Iroda impressed at New Haven, beating Arantxa S�nchez-Vicario 7-6 6-3, and pushing Lindsay Davenport to 6-4 7-6 in the second round. Iroda served great against Davenport, with eight aces. Davenport said: "I haven't played somebody that served quite that hard, except maybe Venus Williams."
Iroda dished up the second double bagel of her career at the US Open as she beat Adriana Serra-Zanetti 6-0 6-0 in the first round. But she bowed out 6-1 3-6 7-6 to Nathalie Dechy in the second round. She lost to Emilie Loit at Bahia.
Iroda won the Gold Medal for tennis (singles) at the Asian Games at Busan in October. She beat Napaporn Tongsalee 6-1 6-3, Wynne Adiati Prakusya 6-2 6-3, Cho Yoon Jeong 3-6 6-3 6-2, and thrashed top seed Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-1 6-3 in the final. She also won a Copper Medal for reaching the semi-finals of the mixed doubles with Oleg Ogorodov (they lost to Manisha Malhotra and Mahesh Bhupathi 6-4 2-6 6-3).
At Bratislava, Iroda beat the gorgeous Alina Jidkova 6-4 6-4, but lost to Lubomira Kurhajcov� 1-6 6-0 6-2 in the second round. She missed Linz with injuries to her right elbow and shoulder, so her ranking dropped again and she finished the year at #55.
By now, Dimitri Tomaschevich was Iroda's coach. The first half of 2003 was very encouraging compared with 2002, but then she was cruelly struck down by injury.
Iroda played Hopman Cup for Uzbekistan with Oleg Ogorodov. They won the qualifying tie 2:1 over Paraguay (Iroda lost to Rossana Neffa-de los R�os 6-4 6-2, but she and Oleg beat Neffa-de los R�os and Ramon Delgado 6-4 7-6). Their round-robin results weren't terribly good, I'm afraid, but Iroda did get the valuable experience of playing Serena Williams (3-6 3-6) and Kim Clijsters (3-6 2-6), and she beat Virginia Ruano Pascual 7-6 6-0.
Iroda lost 5-7 6-4 6-3 to qualifier Conchita Mart�nez Granados (not to be confused with Wimbledon 1994 champion Conchita Mart�nez) in the first round of Canberra. She was suffering from a right-shoulder injury that restricted the power of her serve, and was rumoured to be considering surgery after the Australian Open.
So it seemed like bad news when Iroda drew on-form Alicia Molik in the first round of the Australian Open. Ironically it was Molik who retired injured, with the score at 3-6 6-4 from Iroda's perspective. Iroda put up a spirited challenge against 2000 champion Lindsay Davenport in the second round, winning the first set 7-6 (9/7) after saving seven set-points! Davenport won the next two 6-4 7-5, but Iroda continued to hammer fierce winners on both flanks, and was a break up early in the third.
Far from going under the knife, Iroda built on her impressive Australian Open by reaching the final of Hyderabad, beating Katalin Marosi 6-3 6-3, Saori Obata 7-5 6-3, Tzipora Obziler 4-6 6-2 6-0, Selesian player Akiko Morigami 2-6 6-3 6-2 ("It was a tough match, but I changed my strategy in the second set"), but Tamarine Tanasugarn played very well in the final to take a 6-4 6-4 revenge for the 2002 Asian Games final.
����������� Iroda won the doubles title at Hyderabad with Elena Likhovtseva, beating Evgenia Koulikovskaya and Tatiana Poutchek 6-4 6-4 in the final.
Iroda lost to Likhovtseva in the second round of Doha, but had a very good week at Dubai, beating Gala Le�n Garc�a 6-3 4-6 7-6 and seventh seed Magdalena Maleeva 7-6 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals, where she lost to the great Monica Seles 6-1 7-5. She went up from #52 to #43 in the rankings. But she lost to Shinobu Asagoe in the first round of Indian Wells.
Iroda reached the fourth round of Miami for the second year in a row, beating Tatiana Perebiynis 6-4 6-2, 16th seed Elena Bovina 6-4 7-5, and Nicole Pratt 4-6 6-1 6-3. But she couldn't repeat her 2001 heroics against Serena Williams, going down 6-0 6-4 to the world number one.
Iroda upset eighth seed Tatiana Panova 6-3 7-5 in the first round of Sarasota, but lost 5-7 6-0 7-5 to Iva Majoli in the second round. She lost 6-2 6-2 to Elena Dementieva in the first round of Charleston, and 6-0 7-5 to Anca Barna in the first round of Amelia Island.
Iroda reached the quarter-finals of Berlin, beating Barbara Rittner 6-1 6-1, Dinara Safina 6-3 3-6 6-4, and eighth seed Jelena Dokic 4-6 6-2 7-6 (7/0). She went down to fifth seed Am�lie Mauresmo 7-6 6-4, then lost 2-6 6-3 6-0 to Amanda Coetzer in the first round of the Italian Open. Her ranking rose to #38.
Iroda reached her second semi-final of the year at Madrid, beating Flavia Pennetta 6-4 6-2, Amy Frazier 6-4 6-1 and Cara Black 7-5 6-4. She was outplayed 6-0 6-4 by top seed Chanda Rubin in the last four. Her ranking rose to #34.
Iroda beat Antonella Serra-Zanetti 6-2 7-5 in the first round of the French Open to set up a repeat of her Australian Open second round against Lindsay Davenport. Iroda started brightly, and had Davenport facing three set-points on her serve at 4-5 0/40. After that, though, she caught one single game as Davenport won the match 7-5 6-1. Iroda briefly touched her highest ranking of the year - #33 - but dropped back to #41 as her Vienna 2002 points came off.
Sadly for me, Iroda chose 's-Hertogenbosch instead of Eastbourne as her pre-Wimbledon grasscourt-tournament. She beat Lina Krasnoroutskaya 6-3 6-0 and Anca Barna 6-3 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals, but moving gingerly on the damp grass after her nasty experience at Eastbourne 2002, she lost 6-2 6-1 to Barbara Rittner.
At Wimbledon, Iroda made her Centre Court d�but (courtesy of an early finish to the day's planned order of play) with a 7-5 6-4 win over sixteen-year-old qualifier Carly Gullickson in the first round. She beat Petra Mandula 6-3 6-4 in the second round, but 16th seed Vera Zvonareva was too good for her in the third round: Iroda lost an emotional encounter 6-3 7-5 after fighting back from a 5-2 lead for Vera in the second. Iroda's defeat left her still searching for her first Major fourth round.
����������� Iroda came within match-point of reaching the semi-finals of the mixed doubles with Nenad Zimonjic. They upset top seeds Paola Su�rez and Mahesh Bhupathi 6-3 6-4 in the last sixteen. In the quarter-finals against Milagros Sequera and Jordan Kerr, they had match-point on Sequera's serve at 5-7 5-6 30/40, but went on to lose 5-7 7-6 8-6.
Iroda lost 6-2 6-2 to Jelena Kostanic in the first round of Sopot, and it proved to be her last match of a year plagued by injuries to her right shoulder and elbow. She missed the US Open, fell from #38 to a year-end ranking of #50, and in October we learned that she had undergone surgery on her right elbow.
Iroda tried to come back early in the year, but secondary injuries to her ankle and knee - perhaps as a result of overcompensating for her elbow-injury - meant that she would appear on commitment-lists only to disappear from them a few weeks before the tournament. By the end of April, the WTA were giving "continuing left elbow injury" as the reason for Iroda's withdrawals from tournaments (it was her right elbow that she had surgery on). She missed the French Open and Wimbledon due to a "right elbow injury".
Her ranking, which began the year at #47, slid down in her absence, dropping out of the top 100 on 5th April. On 21st June, she dropped out of the rankings altogether because she had played fewer than three tournaments in 52 weeks. Her last ranking before she dropped out was #218, but on her return she should be eligible for an injury-protected ranking of #39 - as she was after her last tournament (Sopot, week of 28th July 2003) - for the purpose of entering her first eight tournaments back, plus one Major.
We got some very exciting news on 26th September, as Iroda herself posted the following message in the www.iroda-tulyaganova.com guestbook!
HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! every one:)
I will play my first tournament in Tashkent my home city. and tehn in Linz, and $50.000 in France, so hope to see u there all:) tahnk u very much best regards
Iroda T.
Sure enough, Iroda's name appeared in the Tashkent draw - next to that of top seed Marion Bartoli, a Selesian player! Not only that, but Iroda actually played the match on 12th October and beat Bartoli 6-4 6-4! This generated some much-needed publicity for Iroda. "I wanted to make my comeback here, in Tashkent, my hometown, where my fans will come to watch."
����������� Sadly, Iroda's comeback was short-lived as she crashed out to Antonella Serra Zanetti 6-4 6-2 in the second round. "I was very tired after my first-round effort. I didn't have the power like I had then. I made far too many mistakes throughout."
Iroda didn't play Linz, but the $50,000 ITF tournament in France turned out to be Deauville. She crashed out in the first round 6-1 6-0 to qualifier Tessy van de Ven, and also lost 6-2 6-3 to Sanda Mamic at ITF Poitiers the following week. "I practised only for one month, and that is not enough. My serve is only 50% of what it was when I was at my peak." [Iroda after beating Marion Bartoli at Tashkent]
These three tournaments meant that Iroda reentered the WTA Rankings at #545 on 29th November, and she finished 2004 at #550.
Iroda plans to play on with fewer tournaments per year than in the early '00s. "I will play for my pleasure and earn some money. I am professional tennis-player after all. I am in a good shape, and my new coach Dmitriy Tomaschevich helps me a lot."
Iroda suffered a desperately disappointing year, as injuries forced her to pull out of more tournaments than she actually played, and she only managed a rise of #550 to #371 in the rankings.
After pulling out of Pattaya and Hyderabad due to illness, Iroda tried to qualify for Dubai, but lost 6-2 6-3 to Mar�a Vento-Kabchi in the first qualifying round.
Iroda then came through qualifying to reach the quarter-finals at ITF St. Petersburg. In qualifying she beat Maria Babich 6-2 6-1 and Krist�na Czafikov� 6-4 6-4. In the first round of the main draw, she scored an impressive 6-3 2-6 6-2 victory over third seed Henrieta Nagyov� - a fan who saw the match said that the level was much higher from both players than anyone else in the draw. She beat Lenka Tvaro�kov� 6-4 6-2 in the second round, but retired from her quarter-final after dropping the first set 6-1 to Nika Ozegovic, due to an ankle-sprain sustained late in her match against Tvaro�kov�.
����������� Her ranking rose from #556 to #444 when the points from this tournament were added.
Iroda then disappeared for ten weeks, to return in June at ITF Grado. She lost in the final qualifying round to Karin Knapp, and again at ITF Gorizia to Masa Zec-Peskiric.
Iroda won six matches in a row to qualify and reach the semi-finals at ITF Fontanafredda. In qualifying she beat Lucia Gonzales 6-1 6-4, Renata Voracov� 7-5 6-2, and Karolina Kosinska 6-3 2-6 6-4. In the main draw she beat Alicja Rosolska 6-0 6-3, Matea Mezak 6-2 7-6, third seed Mervana Jugic-Salkic 6-2 6-2, and lost to Alice Canepa 6-3 3-6 6-4 in the semis.
����������� Iroda was rewarded with a climb from #462 to #360 in the rankings.
Iroda pulled out of ITF Sezze, and lost 6-0 6-4 to Valentina Sassi in the first round of ITF Martina Franca. She beat Oksana Karyshkova 4-6 7-5 6-2 in the first round of ITF Moscow, but sadly she reinjured her elbow and pulled out before the second round.
Iroda played in the Asian Tennis Championships at Tashkent, which offered an Australian Open 2006 wildcard to its champion. In the first round she beat qualifier Isha Lakhani 6-2 6-3, "delivering aces and whipping shots on either flank with delightful ease" [Press Trust of India]. She beat Denise Dy 7-6 6-1 in the second round, and Ksenia Palkina 6-3 7-5 in the quarter-finals, but lost to Selesian player Hsieh,Su-Wei 6-4 7-6 in the semi-finals. "My elbow is getting better and I am feeling good about my game," said Iroda after her first-round win.
Iroda withdrew from ITF Tbilisi and ITF Batumi, but returned to the scene of her comeback, WTA Tashkent. In qualifying, she beat Daria Kustava 7-6 6-4 and Anastassia Rodionova 6-4 6-3. In the first round of the main draw she beat Olga Savchuk 6-2 6-2, but lost in the second round to Antonella Serra Zanetti - just as she had in 2004 - 6-4 2-6 6-1. Apparently Iroda was way below her brilliant best in terms of her serve and movement.
����������� Because Tashkent was a week earlier in 2005 than in 2004, Iroda jumped up from #363 to #316 for a week, then dropped back to #364.
Iroda pulled out of ITF Minsk at the last minute, and also withdrew from ITF Deauville and ITF Poitiers. She finished the year ranked #371.
Iroda made a slow start to the year, playing no tournaments until May, but after some modest results in ITF tournaments, she enjoyed a spectacular return to form towards the end of the year! The catalyst for this was winning the Asian Championships at Tashkent in September; she returned to the WTA Tour with a semi-final at Kolkata and a final at Tashkent, and looked well on her way back to the top 100.
Iroda dropped to #396 at the start of the year, when the WTA decided to remove everybody's quality-points from the rankings (points based on the rankings of defeated opponents). She dropped to #449 when the points for ITF St. Petersburg came off.
After withdrawing from three ITF tournaments in March and April, Iroda played Fed Cup for Uzbekistan, who were in the Asia/Oceania Zone, Group I. They were unsuccessful in the round-robin section, losing 2:0 to Korea (Iroda lost to Chang,Kyung-Mi 6-0 6-3) and 2:0 to Australia (Iroda lost to Nicole Pratt 6-4 6-4). But they avoided relegation to Group II by beating New Zealand 2:1 (Iroda beat Leanne Baker 6-3 7-5).
After three more ITF-withdrawals, ITF Campobasso was Iroda's first tournament since October 2005, and she came through qualifying to reach the quarter-finals. She beat Maria-Belen Corbalan 6-2 6-1 and Gianna Doz 6-4 6-2 to qualify, then beat Ekaterina Ivanova 6-2 6-1 and Barbara Schwartz 6-3 6-0 - a player who had beaten Monica Seles in Fed Cup 2002, but was now ranked #823. In the quarter-finals, Iroda lost to Mario Ancic's sister Sanja 7-6 6-0. But impressive scorelines on the four wins!
Iroda was runner-up at ITF Galatina the next week, beating Paula Garc�a 6-2 7-6, Darya Kustava 6-4 6-2, Silvia Disderi 7-6 6-2 and Giulia Gabba 6-3 6-7 6-1 to reach the final, where she lost to qualifier Corina-Claudia Corduneanu 6-3 6-4. Her ranking shot up from #453 to #337 when the points from Campobasso and Galatina were added, although it slipped back to #379 when ITF Fontanafredda 2005 came off.
Iroda's next tournament was ITF Dnepropetrovsk: she beat Vasilisa Davydova 6-2 6-1 and Irina Kuzmina 6-4 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals, where she lost 6-4 6-7 6-1 to Vesna Manasieva. Her ranking improved from #381 to #362.
Iroda went one better the following week at ITF Les Contamines: she beat Kildine Chevalier 6-2 6-2, Dominika Nociarov� 6-1 6-0 and Julie Coin 6-4 4-6 6-1 to reach the semi-finals, where she lost 6-2 6-3 to Sandra Z�hlavov�. This elevated her ranking to #330. She withdrew from ITF Vigo the following week.
Iroda won the Asian Championships at Tashkent (week of 4th September) to earn herself a main-draw wild card for the Australian Open 2007! She beat Liu,Wanting 6-4 6-3, Albina Khabibulina 7-6 (7/0) 6-0, second seed Chan,Chin-Wei 2-6 6-2 6-4, fourth seed Shikha Uberoi 5-7 6-2 6-2 and, in the final, top seed Chan,Yung-Jan 5-7 6-2 7-5. But it didn't count towards her ranking, which dropped to #346.
Iroda reached the semi-finals of Kolkata - her first WTA tournament for eleven months. Finding the Greenset surface to her liking, she qualified with ease, thrashing Meghha Vakaria 6-1 6-0 and Sandy Gumulya 6-1 6-3.
����������� In the main draw, she continued this form to beat Chuang,Chia-Jung 6-4 6-1 and Casey Dellacqua 6-3 6-2, mixing big serves and groundstrokes with heavy slice to unsettle her opponents. In the quarter-finals she had to work a bit harder to beat Alla Kudryavtseva 4-6 6-2 6-2. In the semi-finals, she lost to rising star Olga Poutchkova 6-4 6-4.
����������� Iroda's run at Kolkata boosted her ranking from #342 to a much healthier #222.
Iroda (during Kolkata): "I injured my right elbow, stopped playing and had it operated on in 2002, but my father forced me to keep playing for another eight months with the pain, because I had so many points to defend. I think I'd overdone it; my bone gave way. It broke, and took me three years to rehabilitate."
����������� She also revealed that she was currently living with her mother Anna, sister Nargiza, her aunt, possibly two female cousins (my source for this is ambiguous), and her dog Chema - the only male in the house! Apparently her father Batir doesn't live with them now. Iroda said, "I was angry with him, but he's still my father and we're okay now."
����������� Iroda also discussed her financial problems, saying that she had to sell her car in order to travel, and couldn't afford a coach at this time (my understanding is that she was still coachless as of the end of 2006, and put in a request to the Uzbek tennis-federation).
Iroda was runner-up at her hometown WTA tournament: Tashkent. She upset fifth seed Anastasiya Yakimova 6-3 7-6 (7/5) in the first round - by far the highest-ranked player she'd beaten all year at #68 - then scored routine wins over Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-4 6-1 and Kateryna Bondarenko 6-1 6-2.
����������� In the semi-finals, Iroda avenged her Kolkata loss with a 6-4 6-0 drubbing of world #58 Olga Poutchkova, who self-destructed in the second set. "She has great self-belief," said Iroda. "But I wanted to show her that I have self-belief too - twice that self-belief."
����������� But in the final, Iroda suffered a disappointing 6-2 6-4 defeat to unseeded Sun,Tiantian, who broke her six times. Iroda was nervous, couldn't find her rhythm, and showed only flashes of brilliance against Sun's unspectacular, consistent, error-free tennis. Iroda said, "It is not a loss for me, it's a win, because I've come back from all of my injuries, and reached the final at the Tashkent Open."
����������� This elevated Iroda's ranking from #221 to #158.
Iroda finished her season with three weeks in China, going one better at each successive tournament. At ITF Beijing, she upset eighth seed Chan,Chin-Wei 6-4 6-2, beat Miho Saeki 6-4 6-7 6-4, but suffered a crushing 6-1 6-1 loss to beautiful Marina Erakovic (the eventual champion) in the quarter-finals. Her ranking rose from #161 to #151.
At ITF Shanghai she reached the semi-finals, starting with a 6-0 6-1 demolition of Anik� Kapros. She then avenged her Tashkent loss to Sun,Tiantian, upsetting the fourth seed 6-3 6-4. And she avenged the previous week's loss to Marina Erakovic: 6-2 7-5.
����������� But Iroda was on the wrong end of a revenge in the semi-finals, as second seed Tamarine Tanasugarn beat her 6-4 6-1 (Iroda had beaten her by that score at Tashkent). She was runner-up in the doubles with compatriot Akgul Amanmuradova.
����������� This boosted her ranking to #140.
Iroda reached the final of ITF Shenzhen, beating Ayami Takase 6-3 6-2, Nudnida Luangnam 7-6 6-2, Xie,Yan-Ze 6-4 6-4 and Sun,Sheng-Nan 6-4 6-3.
����������� In the final against third seed Yuan,Meng, Iroda stood on the brink of her first ITF or WTA singles-title for over five years, as she served for the match at 6-4 5-3. But sadly she suffered a back-injury (for which she had treatment at 5-5) and lost 6-4 5-7 6-1 - she was also struggling with a right-shoulder injury. She then retired from the doubles-final (with Akgul Amanmuradova) after losing the first two games.
����������� This elevated her ranking to #131, which was also her ranking at the end of the year (despite minor fluctuations due to ITF tournaments in the off-season).
Iroda finished her year with the Asian Games at Doha in December. In the Women's Team competition, Uzbekistan reached the semi-finals, beating Indonesia 2:1 (Iroda beat Sandy Gumulya 6-1 4-6 6-2) and China 2:0 (Iroda fought back from 2-4 down to beat world #21 Li,Na 6-4 1-6 6-1). But they lost to India 0:2 (Iroda lost 6-3 6-0 to Sania Mirza).
����������� In the Women's Singles - of which Iroda was the defending champion after winning a Gold Medal at Busan in 2002 - she thrashed Bermet Duvanaeva 6-1 6-0 and Czarina Mae Arevalo 6-1 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals. But she could repeat her win over Li,Na, losing 3-6 7-5 6-2 after squandering two break-points for *3-0 in the third set!
After the encouraging last four months of 2006, Iroda endured a desperately disappointing year, dropping from #131 to #318 in the rankings. It seems that the back-injury she suffered in November 2006 continued to affect her. With her ranking enabling her to play on the WTA Tour again, she failed to reach the second round of a main draw all year - until she played a couple of ITF tournaments in the off-season, reaching the quarter-finals of $75k ITF Dubai in December.
But the highlight of this miserable season was her successful defence of the Asian Championships at Tashkent, which earned her a wild card into the Australian Open 2008. Another positive was that she got a new coach - George Akopian - having been unable to afford one in 2006.
After all the hard work Iroda had put into earning her wild card for the Australian Open 2007, she squandered it in 1h14m as she lost 6-1 6-4 to fellow wild card Monique Adamczak: a #241-ranked Australian. After holding her opening service-game, Iroda lost seven games in a row, and was soon 1-6 *1-4 down. Only then did Iroda make it competitive, and she broke back after Adamczak had served for the match at *5-3 (40/15). Iroda had a lifeline at *4-5 (40/30), but three points later, Adamczak had converted her third match-point.
After pulling out of Pattaya City, Bangalore, Dubai and Doha, Iroda's next stop was the qualifying for Indian Wells. In the first qualifying-round, she beat #79-ranked Julia Schruff 6-3 6-4 (her only win over a top-100 player in 2007). In the second qualifying-round, she lost 7-5 7-6 (9/7) to #127 Yvonne Meusburger. Iroda squandered endless break-points in this match, including 5-6* (40/0). In the second set, she led *5-4; in the tiebreak she led *4/1 and had set-point at *7/6.
����������� Iroda's ranking had gradually slid from #131 at the start of the year to #136, but her win here boosted it to #129 - her highest since her 15-month lay-off of 2003/2004.
Iroda received a main-draw wild card for Miami, where she suffered a bizarre loss to #111-ranked qualifier Tatiana Poutchek in the first round. Iroda won all her games to lead 6-0 3-0*, but then tweaked something in her back and could hardly move; Poutchek won all her games as Iroda took a time-out for the injury at *3-3, and retired after dropping the second set 3-6.
After pulling out of ITF Latina and ITF Dinan, Iroda played Fed Cup at Christchurch, New Zealand on 17th-19th April: Uzbekistan being in Group I of the Asia/Oceania Zone. In the round-robin phase, they beat Singapore 3:0 without Iroda, lost 1:2 to Hong Kong China (Iroda lost 6-3 1-6 7-5 to Chan,Wing-Yau Venise, taking a medical timeout for her back), beat Korea 2:1 (Iroda and Akgul Amanmuradova won the doubles-rubber), and beat Thailand 2:1 (Iroda lost 6-3 6-2 to Tamarine Tanasugarn, but won the doubles-rubber with Amanmuradova). In the third-place play-off, Uzbekistan beat India 3:0 without Iroda.
After failing to appear in the draws of Warsaw, Berlin or Rome, Iroda tried to qualify for the French Open, but lost 6-2 6-3 to world #187 Angelika Bachmann in the first qualifying-round. Iroda's ranking nosedived from #137 to #153 as her first points from 2006 came off.
In June, Iroda competed in the Eredivisie Proftennis: a top-league team-competition in the Netherlands featuring mainly Dutch players and some foreigners. Iroda played for G. van Alem Schoonmaak TC Groenekan. In the first tie (2nd June), they tied Amstelpark Tennisschool 3:3, with Iroda beating Frederica Piedade 6-1 6-2. In the second tie (3rd June), they beat Dalessi Meppel 4:2, with Iroda beating Josine Boverhof 6-2 6-2. In the third tie (7th June), they beat Geldrop Banen Tennis & Fitness 4:2, with Iroda beating Yevgenia Savransky 6-2 6-2. By virtue of finishing fourth with a record of 11:7, they qualified for the semi-finals (16th June) but lost 2:4 to Leimonias, with Iroda losing 7-6 6-4 to Tzipora Obziler.
Playing with a heat-pad on her lower back, Iroda attempted to qualify for Wimbledon at Roehampton. In the first round, she upset #108-ranked 10th seed Youlia Fedossova 7-6 (8/6) 6-3 with big serves and forehands, only to lose 6-4 6-2 in the second round to #170-ranked Hana �romov� (who would go on to qualify and lose to Venus Williams in the second round of the main draw).
Iroda tried to qualify for the WTA Tier IV at Palermo, but bombed out to #254-ranked Agnes Szatmari 6-2 6-2 at the first hurdle. She tried to qualify for the WTA Tier III at Bad Gastein, beating Kathrin W�rle 7-6 (7/1) 6-2 in the first qualifying-round. This set up a mouthwatering date with the gorgeous Magdal�na Ryb�rikov�, but it turned sour for me when the world #451 inflicted a 6-3 6-1 hurting on Iroda, and Magda in turn was thrashed even worse in the third qualifying-round. Iroda and Magda would be firmly-established stars on the WTA Tour by now, were it not for their injuries. At least Magda, then 18, has time on her side.
Iroda pulled out of WTA Stockholm, and her next tournament was ITF Bronx - the first time she played on the ITF Women's Circuit in 2007. She lost 5-7 7-5 6-1 to Pauline Parmentier in the first round - a scoreline that implies Iroda wasn't fit enough to go the distance. Perhaps her back-injury had made it difficult to train.
Iroda tried to qualify for the US Open, beating Kristina Brandi 1-6 7-5 6-3 in the first round. But she lost 6-4 6-3 to Olivia S�nchez in the second qualifying-round, having called the trainer for a leg-injury at *2-2 (30/0) in the first set.
Iroda successfully defended the Asian Championships at Tashkent (week of 3rd September) to earn herself a main-draw wild card for the Australian Open 2008. As the top seed, she had a bye in the first round, then beat Diana Narzykulova 6-3 6-0, Yi-Fan Xu 6-4 6-3 and I-Hsuan Hwang 6-1 6-4. This set up a final against 19-year-old world #393 Tara Iyer, which Iroda won 6-2 6-2, serving 7 aces and only facing one break-point. "It was an onslaught of huge groundstokes on both flanks, and big serves," said her beaten opponent.
Iroda pulled out of ITF Kharkov (week of 10th September) after the draw was made. She attempted to qualify for WTA Beijing, beating Alina Jidkova 5-7 6-4 6-2 despite almost blowing a *5-2 lead in the second set: the situation looked pretty desperate at *5-4 (0/30). But having won that match, Iroda blew a 4-1* lead as she lost 6-4 6-3 to Marina Erakovic in the second qualifying-round.
����������� Iroda's ranking had been fluctuating between #146 and #157 since 11th June, but it took another major knock as the Kolkata 2006 points came off: she fell to #181.
Iroda's miserable season plumbed new depths at Tashkent. Her hometown WTA tournament usually brings out the best in her: she won the title in 2000, was runner-up in 2006, and had never lost in the first round. But that changed in 2007 as she crashed out 7-5 6-3 to Olga Poutchkova, who went into the match on a 12-match losing-streak that had begun with her loss to Daniela Hantuchov� in the second round of the French Open. But Iroda was the unlucky one as she tried to extend Olga's losing-streak to 13 matches.
����������� Iroda said: "I have been ill, and I have practised only four days for this match: half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening. I had no power. When I walked onto court, I wanted to get off: I was feeling very weak. I'm looking ahead to the future. I now have a coach - which I didn't have before - and I know that if I can be injury-free, I will not play badly. I'm going to come back to the top 50 soon."
����������� For failing to defend her Tashkent 2006 final or record any decent results since, Iroda's ranking plummeted from #183 to #251. This organisation does not tolerate failure.
Iroda's attempt to qualify for Moscow also failed at the first hurdle, as she surrendered in a hail of unforced errors: 6-4 6-1 to Lilia Osterloh - the second world #83 in a row that Iroda had lost to. Iroda had a break-point at 4-4*, and took a medical timeout at 4-6 *0-3. She pulled out of ITF Bratislava.
����������� With the points from her Chinese ITF tournaments at the end of 2006 coming off, Iroda's ranking went into freefall: over the next five weeks, she dropped from #248 to #363.
Iroda played in the Asian Hopman Cup on 8th/9th November. Uzbekistan lost 1:2 to Japan, with Iroda losing 6-2 6-3 to 17-year-old Selesian player Ayumi Morita. I gather that Iroda's movement was restricted, so she just tried to blast everything. Uzbekistan's second tie was even more dispapsinating: they lost 0:3 to Chinese Taipei, with Iroda losing to another Selesian, Hsieh,Su-Wei, 6-0 6-2.
Iroda pulled out of ITF Deauville (week of 12th November), then attempted to qualify for ITF Poitiers: she thrashed unranked 15-year-old Hannah Gondran 6-0 6-1 in 37 minutes, but lost 6-3 6-1 in 50 minutes to Margit R��tel in the second qualifying-round.
Burning the December oil, Iroda finished 2007 with her first quarter-final of the year that counts towards the WTA Rankings at ITF Dubai. In the first round, she beat world #310 Neha Uberoi 6-4 6-2 - "She served well and I did not," said Uberoi. In the second round, she edged past Ekaterina Dzehalevich 6-4 6-7 (4/7) 6-4, coming back from 0-3 (15/40) in the third set.
����������� This set up a mouthwatering quarter-final with Yuliana Fedak, who is one of the cutest and prettiest players on the WTA Tour, and who smiled at me at point-blank range at Birmingham 2007! Yuliana is a crafty little player who frustrates opponents by getting a lot of balls back, and she beat Iroda 6-4 6-3.
����������� Iroda said: "It was frustrating to see that I lacked the power to give of my best. I know I have the game, but what I lacked today was the fitness. Maybe it was the tiredness of playing a tough match the previous night."
����������� Yuliana said: "I had to play better as I know she tends to be aggressive from the baseline. I knew she was tired from the previous night's match. I got a bit more confident when I saw she was not moving too well on court."
����������� This tournament boosted Iroda's ranking from #359 to #317; at the turn of the year, it was #318.
Iroda's fortunes went from bad to worse in 2008, as she only managed to play six tournaments plus two weeks of Fed Cup - all before June - going 7:7 in all her singles-matches. The tournaments were a first-round loss at the Australian Open, unsuccessful attempts to qualify for Pattaya City and Bangalore, and three ITF-tournaments: two first-round losses and a quarter-final.
Iroda did not play at all after 29th May, due to lower-back and left-wrist injuries, and her ranking plummeted to #728. This leaves a large question-mark over her future, although as I update this on 7th January 2009 - Iroda's 27th birthday - I believe she is still planning to come back when she recovers from her injuries.
Iroda started her year at the Australian Open - by virtue of the main-draw wild card she had earned by winning the Asian Championships in September 2007. She had a mouthwatering first-round match with world #32 Sania Mirza, but unfortunately there was a net between them, and Iroda hit into it too often as she lost 6-4 6-2.
����������� Iroda led *3-1 in the first set - only to lose 4 games in a row. She hit some big first serves, but only 50% of them went in, and she served 11 double faults - which is monstrous for only nine service-games - and had a W:UE ratio of 15:31.
����������� Sania went on to lose to Venus Williams in the third round, though she impressed me with her groundstrokes of flairsome power and top-ten quality.
In Fed Cup play the week after the Australian Open, Iroda led Uzbekistan through Group I of the Asia/Oceania Zone at Bangkok, Thailand. Uzbekistan came through the round-robin phase 3:0 by beating Chinese Taipei 2:1 (Iroda beat #95-ranked Selesian player Hsieh,Su-Wei 6-7(5) 6-3 6-3 - avenging her losses at the Asian Tennis Championships 2005 and Asian Hopman Cup 2007), Thailand 2:1 (Iroda beat Suchanun Viratprasert 2-6 6-1 6-0) and Hong Kong 2:1 (Iroda won the deciding doubles-rubber with Akgul Amanmuradova: they thrashed Yang,Zi-Jun/Zhang,Ling 6-2 6-0).
����������� In the play-off on Saturday 2nd February, Uzbekistan beat New Zealand 2:1 (Iroda beat Sacha Jones 4-6 6-1 6-2, and again teamed up with Amanmuradova to win the doubles: they beat Leanne Baker/Marina Erakovic 4-6 6-2 7-6 (9/7)) to advance to the World Group II play-offs in April.
Iroda quickly had to travel 60 miles to Pattaya City, where she attempted to qualify. She had to play her first two qualifying-matches both on Sunday: she thrashed her #1041-ranked, 15-year-old Fed Cup teammate Albina Khabibulina 6-2 6-1, and also made short work of world #229 Chan,Chin-Wei: 6-1 6-3.
����������� The rain saved Iroda from having to play again on Monday, but it couldn't save her on Tuesday as she lost her third qualifying-match 6-2 7-5 to hard-hitting world #156 Vesna Manasieva - after a fightback from 2-5* to *5-5 in the second set.
����������� Iroda enjoyed a slight rise from #316 to #309 in the rankings due to these wins.
After three weeks off, Iroda attempted to qualify for the Tier II tournament at Bangalore. She lost to world #155 Angelika Bachmann 6-4 3-6 6-1 in the first qualifying-round.
Iroda stayed in India to play a $50k ITF-tournament at New Delhi. She lost in the first round 7-6(5) 6-4 to #152-ranked 18-year-old Yanina Wickmayer, who would impress me by reaching the Birmingham-final in June.
����������� Iroda: "I will be playing more 50ks and 25ks on the circuit. It is hard because I'm not playing my best right now, and sometimes I feel like breaking my racket, screaming, crying; but I know I can't do that if I want to play better."
����������� Iroda pulled out of the following week's ITF Noidia, and then out of various ITFs - and quite far in advance (e.g. on 25th March, she pulled out of tournaments scheduled for the week of 7th April).
����������� Iroda dropped from #307 to #326 in the rankings as her Indian Wells 2007 points came off.
Iroda's next action was in the Fed Cup World Group II play-offs, as Uzbekistan lost 0:5 to Slovakia at Bratislava on 26th/27th April. Iroda lost the second rubber 7-6(4) 7-5 to rising 18-year-old Dominika Cibulkov�: then ranked #31 and fresh off her run to the Amelia Island final.
����������� Iroda (translated from Slovak): "I am satisfied with my performance after a long break, in spite of the loss. Dominika was a little bit nervous from the beginning, which is understandable because of home-environment and the position of number-one. I was trying to force my game to not allow her to play her style of play - I knew it was my only chance. I am sorry I did not convert the set-point, but I still think that Miss Cibulkov� would not give up her play. It is hard to say if I would be fit enough to play the third set. In truth, I felt very tired at the end of the second set. Even in the unfavourable situation of 0:2, it is still valid that we have nothing to lose, and we will fight until the end."
����������� Sadly, a mouthwatering rematch with Magdal�na Ryb�rikov� did not take place, as both Iroda and Magda were replaced in the dead fourth rubber; Iroda was also replaced in the dead doubles-rubber.
Iroda's withdrawals continued, and when she finally did play another tournament - ITF Moscow (week of 19th May) - she lost in the first round 6-4 6-1 to world #276 Ksenia Pervak.
The following week, Iroda played ITF Togliatti (which is in Russia, despite the Italian-looking name) instead of the French Open. She breezed through the first two rounds, thrashing world #528 Vasilisa Davydova 6-2 6-1 and her #376-ranked compatriot Vlada Ekshibarova 6-1 6-1.
����������� In the quarter-finals, however, she came up against world #288 Nina Bratchikova, who had won the previous week's ITF Moscow by beating Ksenia Pervak in the final. Iroda lost 6-4 6-4 - and that was her last match: 29th May 2008.
����������� Iroda also played her only non-Fed-Cup doubles-match of 2008 at Togliatti: she and Julia Efremova lost to Marina Shamayko/Sofia Shapatava 6-4 7-5.
����������� Iroda's singles-ranking initially rose from #329 to #308 after Togliatti, and on 16th June, it was at its highest for the year: #304.
Iroda pulled out of ITF Marseille (week of 9th June), and didn't play again in 2008. There were rumours that she had retired, then on 23rd October, she posted the following message at James Storms's Guestbook: "Hello every one!!!!!! Is Is Iroda thank u very much for not forgeting about me!!! im not playing at the moment becouse of my lower back and left wrist injury, i dont know how long the recawer is going to be and idont know if i will have power to came back."
����������� Needless to say, Iroda's ranking went into freefall, and finished the year at #728.