Upon winning her first round qualifying match at Roland Garros on Wednesday, Spanish veteran Anabel Medina Garrigues announced that the second Grand Slam of the year will be her last singles tournament. The 31-year-old, currently ranked No. 213 in the WTA rankings, defeated 19-year-old French wildcard Jade Suvrijn, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.
"I really wanted to come to Paris, even if I had to go through the qualifiers, because it's a very special tournament for me," she said. Medina Garrigues won the women's doubles title at Roland Garros in 2008 and 2009 with fellow Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual.
"...I'm going to concentrate on doubles from now on," she continued. "I'm glad that I got through this match. The adventure can continue for a while longer."
Medina Garrigues struggled with injuries for much of 2013, but still managed to finish in the top 100 for the 12th time in 13 years. Her most notable result was a quarterfinal showing in Madrid, where she served a bagel set to Serena Williams before falling in three sets. It was late in the year where her fortunes turned, and that continued into 2014. A loss to Shuai Zhang in the WTA 125K event in Ningbo in September kicked off a string of 10 consecutive losses for Medina Garrigues, which was not broken until she defeated Olga Govortsova in Oeiras in April.
Despite her struggles in singles this year, the Spaniard has continued to thrive on the doubles court. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 3 in the discipline in 2008, and is currently ranked No. 22. She's won two titles this year with Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova - Florianopolis in February and Charleston in April.
Over her career, Medina Garrigues made the fourth round of a Grand Slam three times: twice at the Australian Open (2002, 2009) and once in Paris (2007). She also made three appearances in the third round at both Wimbledon and the US Open. In total, she won 11 singles titles, with 10 coming on clay. She ranks second among active players to Williams in clay court titles won, and the pair were tied in clay court trophies coming into last week's tournament in Rome.
If she doesn't qualify for Roland Garros, this will be the first Grand Slam main draw Medina Garrigues has missed since the 2003 US Open, which adds up to a streak of 41 in a row. She will face No. 185 Tereza Smitkova in the second qualifying round, who upset 17th-seeded American Victoria Duval earlier Wednesday. The winner will face No. 5 seed Danka Kovinic or 16-year-old Ana Konjuh for a place in the main draw.