Sonja Molnar
{{short description|Canadian tennis player}}
{{Infobox tennis biography
|name = Sonja Molnar-Palmer
|image =
|caption =
|country = {{CAN}}
|residence = Guelph, Ontario, Canada
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1990|04|29}}
|birth_place = Brampton, Ontario
|height = {{height|m=1.65}}
|turnedpro = 2012
|retired = 2015
|plays = Right (two-handed backhand)
|college = Iowa Hawkeyes
|careerprizemoney = $28,639
|singlesrecord = {{tennis record|won=68|lost=62}}
|singlestitles = 3 ITF
|highestsinglesranking = No. 488 (January 6, 2014)
|doublesrecord = {{tennis record|won=44|lost=48}}
|doublestitles = 1 ITF
|highestdoublesranking = No. 274 (October 27, 2014)
}}
Sonja Molnar-Palmer (born April 29, 1990) is a Canadian former professional tennis player. She reached a career- high singles ranking of 488 by the WTA in January 2014. She played for the Iowa Hawkeyes from 2009 to 2012 and turned professional after. Molnar played her last match in August 2015 at the Challenger de Gatineau.
Tennis career
=2008–12=
Molnar made her debut in July 2008 at the $25k event in Waterloo, reaching the second round in singles and the quarterfinals in doubles.{{cite web|url=http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/tournaments/women's-tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100017896|title=Drawsheet: $25,000 Waterloo|publisher=ITFTennis.com|accessdate=January 28, 2013}} Molnar decided to go to College instead of turning professional in 2009 and was a four-time All-Big Ten performer for the Iowa Hawkeyes until 2012. She was also named Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2009 and finished her career with 100 singles victories for only 32 losses, the third highest total in program history.{{cite web|url=http://www.hawkeyesports.com/sports/w-tennis/spec-rel/010813aaa.html|title=Molnar wins professional tournament - Former Hawkeye takes home Martinique championship|publisher=HawkEyeSports.com|accessdate=January 28, 2013}} She also amassed a 69–44 record in doubles.{{cite web|url=http://www.hawkeyesports.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=2314|title=Iowa Hawkeyes profile - Sonja Molnar|publisher=HawkEyeSports.com|accessdate=January 28, 2013}} In August 2012, Molnar was awarded a wildcard to play qualifying at the WTA tournament in Montreal, but lost to Mirjana Lučić-Baroni in the first round.{{cite web|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/more-sports/peliwo-pokrajac-bow-out-of-rogers-cup-qualifying/article4463762/|title=Peliwo, Pokrajac bow out of Rogers Cup qualifying|work=The Globe and Mail|accessdate=January 28, 2013}}
=2013=
Molnar won her first professional singles title at the beginning of January at the $10k event in Fort-de-France with a victory over Shérazad Reix. She also reached a week later her first professional doubles final at the $10k tournament in Saint Martin.{{cite web|url=http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/tournaments/women's-tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100028291|title=Drawsheet: $10,000 Saint Martin (Guadeloupe)|publisher=ITFTennis.com|accessdate=January 28, 2013}} In October, Molnar made it to semifinals in doubles of the $25k event in Tampico.{{cite web|url=http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/tournaments/women%27s-tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100030016|title=Drawsheet: $25,000 Tampico|publisher=ITFTennis.com|accessdate=October 12, 2013}} Molnar reached at the end of October the semifinals in doubles of the $50k Toronto Challenger.{{cite web|url=http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/tournaments/women%27s-tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100030145|title=Drawsheet: $50,000 Toronto|publisher=ITFTennis.com|accessdate=October 31, 2013}}
=2014–15=
In mid-January 2014 at the $10k event in Saint Martin, Molnar made it to the second professional singles final of her career, but was defeated by Hsu Ching-wen.{{cite web|url=http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/tournaments/women%27s-tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100031055|title=Drawsheet: $10,000 Saint Martin (Guadeloupe)|publisher=ITFTennis.com|accessdate=January 18, 2014}} At the Sumter $10k event in May 2014, she reached the second professional doubles final of her career, but lost to Sophie Chang and Andie Daniell.{{cite web|url=http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/tournaments/women%27s-tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100031507|title=Drawsheet: $10,000 Sumter, SC|publisher=ITFTennis.com|accessdate=June 16, 2014}} A week later at the $10k event in Hilton Head, Molnar won her first pro doubles title with a straight-sets win over Lauren Albanese and Macall Harkins.{{cite web|url=http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/tournaments/women%27s-tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100031511|title=Drawsheet: $10,000 Hilton Head Island, SC|publisher=ITFTennis.com|accessdate=June 16, 2014}} At the end of June 2014, Molnar won the second singles title of her career with a victory over Tori Kinard at the $10k event in Victoria.{{cite web|url=http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/tournaments/women%27s-tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100031741|title=Drawsheet: $10,000 Victoria, BC|publisher=ITFTennis.com|accessdate=June 22, 2014}} In September 2014 at the Coupe Banque Nationale, she was awarded a wildcard in doubles which was her first WTA Tour main draw. She lost in the quarterfinals to Barbora Krejčíková and Tatjana Maria.{{cite web|url=http://www.wtatennis.com/SEWTATour-Archive/posting/2014/656/MDD.pdf|title=Doubles main draw|publisher=WTATennis.com|accessdate=September 7, 2014}} In late October 2014, Molnar reached her biggest doubles final to date at the $50k Saguenay Challenger where she was eliminated by Ysaline Bonaventure and Nicola Slater.{{cite web|url=http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/tournaments/women%27s-tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100032487|title=Drawsheet: $50,000 Saguenay|publisher=ITFTennis.com|accessdate=October 24, 2014}} In late January 2015, Molnar reached the doubles final of the $10k event in Saint Martin but lost in straight sets to Alexa Guarachi and Ayaka Okuno.{{cite web|url=http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/tournaments/women%27s-tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100033824|title=Drawsheet: $10,000 Saint Martin (Guadeloupe)|publisher=ITFTennis.com|accessdate=January 24, 2015}} In June 2015, she won her third pro singles title after defeating Alexa Graham at the $10k event in Bethany Beach.{{cite web|url=http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/tournaments/women%27s-tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100034405|title=Drawsheet: $10,000 Bethany Beach, DE|publisher=ITFTennis.com|accessdate=June 15, 2015}} She played her last match in August 2015 at the Challenger de Gatineau{{cite web|url=http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/players/player/profile.aspx?playerid=100081191|title=ITF profile - Sonja Molnar|publisher=ITFTennis.com|accessdate=May 8, 2017}}
ITF Circuit finals
| class=wikitable style="font-size:85%"
!Legend |
| style="background:#f88379;"
|$100,000 tournaments |
| style="background:#f7e98e;"
|$75,000 tournaments |
| style="background:#addfad;"
|$50,000 tournaments |
| style="background:lightblue;"
|$25,000 tournaments |
| style="background:#f0f8ff;"
|$10,000 tournaments |
=Singles: 4 (3 titles, 1 runner-up)=
| class="sortable wikitable"
!Result !class="unsortable"|W–L !{{ns}}Date{{ns}} !Tournament !Tier !Surface !Opponent !class="unsortable"|Score |
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win
|1–0 |{{dts|Jan 2013}} |style="background:#f0f8ff;"|Fort-de-France, France |style="background:#f0f8ff;"|10,000 |Hard |{{flagicon|FRA}} Shérazad Reix |6–2, 6–0 |
| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss
|1–1 |{{dts|Jan 2014}} |style="background:#f0f8ff;"|Saint Martin, France |style="background:#f0f8ff;"|10,000 |Hard |{{flagicon|TPE}} Hsu Ching-wen |6–4, 4–6, 0–6 |
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win
|2–1 |{{dts|Jun 2014}} |style="background:#f0f8ff;"|Victoria, Canada |style="background:#f0f8ff;"|10,000 |Hard (i) |{{flagicon|USA}} Tori Kinard |6–4, 7–5 |
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win
|3–1 |{{dts|Jun 2015}} |style="background:#f0f8ff;"|Bethany Beach, United States |style="background:#f0f8ff;"|10,000 |Clay |{{flagicon|USA}} Alexa Graham |6–1, 7–5 |
=Doubles: 5 (1 title, 4 runner-ups)=
| class="sortable wikitable"
!Result !class="unsortable"|W–L !{{ns}}Date{{ns}} !Tournament !Tier !Surface !Partner !Opponents !class="unsortable"|Score |
| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss
|0–1 |{{dts|Jan 2013}} |style="background:#f0f8ff;"|ITF Saint Martin, France |style="background:#f0f8ff;"|10,000 |Hard |{{flagicon|USA}} Erin Clark |{{flagicon|FRA}} Estelle Cascino |3–6, 3–6 |
| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss
|0–2 |{{dts|May 2014}} |style="background:#f0f8ff;"|ITF Sumter, United States |style="background:#f0f8ff;"|10,000 |Hard |{{flagicon|USA}} Caitlin Whoriskey |{{flagicon|USA}} Sophie Chang |1–6, 3–6 |
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win
|1–2 |{{dts|Jun 2014}} |style="background:#f0f8ff;"|ITF Hilton Head, United States |style="background:#f0f8ff;"|10,000 |Hard |{{flagicon|USA}} Caitlin Whoriskey |{{flagicon|USA}} Lauren Albanese |6–3, 6–4 |
| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss
|1–3 |2014 Challenger Banque Nationale de Saguenay – Doubles |style="background:#addfad;"|Challenger de Saguenay, Canada |style="background:#addfad;"|50,000 |Hard (i) |{{flagicon|USA}} Caitlin Whoriskey |{{flagicon|BEL}} Ysaline Bonaventure |4–6, 4–6 |
| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss
|1–4 |{{dts|Jan 2015}} |style="background:#f0f8ff;"|ITF Saint Martin, France |style="background:#f0f8ff;"|10,000 |Hard |{{flagicon|USA}} Lena Litvak |{{flagicon|USA}} Alexa Guarachi |5–7, 3–6 |
Record against top 100 players
Molnar's win–loss record against players who were ranked world No. 100 or higher when played is as follows:{{cite web|url=http://www.wtatennis.com/players/player/316323/title/sonja-molnar|title=Results|publisher=WTATennis.com|accessdate=July 24, 2016}}
- {{flagicon|USA}} Madison Keys 0–1
- {{flagicon|CRO}} Mirjana Lučić-Baroni 0–1
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{WTA}}
- {{ITF profile}}
- [http://www.hawkeyesports.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=2314 Iowa Hawkeyes profile]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Molnar, Sonja}}
Category:Canadian female tennis players
Category:Racket sportspeople from Ontario